Focus on Flowers

Our Native Solidago

When goldenrods are in bloom, it indicates that fall is in the air...and they do NOT cause hay fever (That is ragweed!), as the pollen of goldenrod is too heavy to be dispersed by the wind. Read More »

More Recent Episodes

September 26, 2024

Our Native Lobelia

The lobelia family is extremely diverse but there are two American natives that are hardy perennials: Lobelia cardinalis and Lobelia siphilitica.

Wild Petunia

Many years ago, I bought a perennial plant at a nursery, and after I planted it, found that there was a ride-along plant in the pot. It was a wild petunia.

Our Native Liatris

There are few flowers like liatris in the flower world, as the blooms open on top of the stalks first, and the ones on the bottom open last.

Heuchera sanguinea

Coral bells flowers from spring into fall if it has moist, rich soil. Plant masses of coral bells in the front of your borders and water them well.

Eupatorium purpureum

Our native Eupatorium purpureum, commonly known as Joe Pye weed, flowers in late summer and fall, producing tall clusters of fluffy purple flowers.

Scale-like green and purple leaves of creeping thyme

Groundcovers

Ground cover plants are a bit like area rugs in our homes, as we can mix and match them or plant many of the same type of plant to cover bare patches.

VIEW MORE STORIES ▼

August 15, 2024

Helenium

In a cultivated garden, Helenium looks best with other yellow or bronze flowers that bloom in the fall, and they light up a flower bed as the growing season draws to a close.

Gaura

If you especially enjoy delicate, airy types of flowers, then you should grow Gaura to enjoy in your garden and in flower arrangements.

Tickseed

The word Coreopsis is from the Greek word koris meaning bug and opsis meaning resemblance to. This is because the seeds of coreopsis took like small ticks.

Queen Anne's Lace

Farmers don't care for wild carrots that grow in their fields and on roadsides and produce thousands of seeds that produce more plants.

Purple and white coneflowers in a garden.

Native Coneflower

Coneflowers bloom from mid-summer to early fall and combine well with most other flowering perennials.

Vita's White Garden

Vita Sackville West's white garden at Sissinghurst Castle in England is world famous. Here's a quotation, describing it in her own words.

Eastern Black Swallowtail on a purple coneflower

Butterflies in the Garden

Many butterflies that visit zone 6 gardens can also be found as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico. It is amazing that a monarch butterfly, for example, looks so delicate but can fly from here to Mexico and back.

Chrysanthemum parthenium

The botanical name for feverfew is Chrysanthemum parthenium because according to Plutarch a worker fell during the construction of the Greek parthenon, and his life was saved by this plant’s medicinal properties. The common name of feverfew is because it is used to reduce fevers.