Author's posts
Jan 02
Dogwood Care
Flowering dogwood is one of the most beautiful small trees of the North American spring landscape. Its horizontal branches become covered with white or pink flower-like bracts before or as the leaves emerge, followed later by red fruit, colorful fall foliage, and distinctive patterned bark that provides winter interest. The classic native flowering dogwood is …
Jan 01
Magnolia Care
Magnolias are among the most dramatic flowering trees and shrubs in the garden. Depending on the species, they may cover bare spring branches with enormous pink or white flowers, produce star-shaped blooms before most other trees have leafed out, or remain evergreen and open huge fragrant flowers during late spring and summer. The genus Magnolia …
Dec 31
Forsythia Care
Forsythia is one of the unmistakable signs that spring has arrived. Before most shrubs have produced a full canopy of leaves, its bare arching branches become lined with brilliant yellow flowers, creating a burst of color at a time when much of the garden is still waking from winter. The most familiar garden forsythia is …
Dec 30
Hellebore Care
Hellebores are among the most valuable flowers for the winter and early-spring garden. At a time when many perennials are dormant and deciduous shrubs are still bare, hellebores produce nodding flowers in shades of white, cream, green, pink, rose, burgundy, purple, and almost black. The genus Helleborus belongs to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Most species …
Dec 29
Trillium Care
Trilliums are among the most recognizable wildflowers of the North American woodland. Their elegant three-petaled flowers rise above a whorl of three broad leaf-like bracts, creating a beautifully symmetrical plant that seems perfectly suited to the quiet shade of a deciduous forest. The genus Trillium belongs to the family Melanthiaceae and includes numerous species native …
Dec 28
Virginia Bluebell Care
Virginia bluebells are among the most beautiful native wildflowers for a spring shade garden. Their soft pink flower buds gradually open into nodding sky-blue bells, creating a two-tone display that can turn a moist woodland floor into a sea of blue for several weeks each spring. The botanical name is Mertensia virginica. A member of …
Dec 27
Bloodroot Care
Bloodroot is one of the earliest native wildflowers to brighten the deciduous woodlands of eastern North America. Its pure white flowers can appear almost suddenly in early spring, opening above deeply lobed blue-green foliage while most trees are still bare and many garden perennials remain dormant. The botanical name is Sanguinaria canadensis. Bloodroot is the …
Dec 26
Dutchman’s Breeches Care
Dutchman’s breeches is one of the most distinctive native wildflowers of the spring woodland. Its delicate fernlike foliage appears early in the season, followed by arching flower stems hung with rows of white blossoms shaped remarkably like tiny pairs of upside-down pantaloons. The botanical name is Dicentra cucullaria. It belongs to the poppy family, Papaveraceae, …
Dec 25
Jack-in-the-Pulpit Care
Jack-in-the-pulpit is one of the most unusual native wildflowers of the North American woodland. Rather than producing an obvious petaled flower, it sends up a hooded green, purple, or striped structure that resembles a preacher standing beneath the canopy of a tiny pulpit. Later in the season, mature plants may replace this strange spring display …
Dec 24
Sunflower Care
Few flowers are as instantly recognizable as the sunflower. Tall stems, broad leaves, and enormous golden flower heads make traditional sunflowers one of the most dramatic annuals in a summer garden, while modern cultivars expand the possibilities with compact plants, branching forms, pollen-free cut-flower varieties, and blooms in shades of cream, bronze, burgundy, orange, mahogany, …
