Sep 04
Few plants can transform a garden as completely as roses. A single rose beside a patio can become a favorite summer feature, while a carefully planned rose bed can provide months of color, fragrance, flowers for cutting, and structure within the landscape. Roses can climb fences, soften foundations, fill mixed borders, form informal hedges, or …
Jun 16
Black-eyed Susans are among the most recognizable flowers in a North American summer garden. Their golden-yellow petals and dark central cones bring warm color to perennial borders, cottage gardens, prairie-style plantings, cutting gardens, and pollinator beds from summer into fall. They are also refreshingly uncomplicated plants. Once established in a suitable location, black-eyed Susans generally …
Apr 12
Red roses have an unmistakable presence in the garden. Whether the flowers are deep burgundy, velvety crimson, clear scarlet, dark cherry, or bright true red, they naturally draw the eye. A single red rose can become a focal point, while several plants grouped together can create one of the strongest color displays in a flower …
Jan 24
Snowflake flowers are graceful spring bulbs with nodding white bells tipped or spotted with green. They have the delicate appearance of woodland wildflowers, yet established plants can be surprisingly durable, gradually forming larger clumps and returning year after year with relatively little attention. These bulbs belong to the genus Leucojum. Two species are especially important …
Jan 24
Paperbush is one of those shrubs that can make a winter garden feel unexpectedly alive. While many deciduous plants are bare and dormant, Edgeworthia chrysantha produces rounded clusters of silky buds that open into fragrant cream-and-yellow flowers on leafless stems. The flowers are only part of the appeal. Once blooming finishes, large blue-green leaves emerge …
Jan 24
Mahonia is an evergreen shrub that earns its place in the garden during seasons when many other plants are quiet. Depending on the species, glossy or finely textured foliage remains attractive throughout winter, clusters of bright yellow flowers appear from fall through spring, and blue-purple berries can follow later in the season. The name Mahonia …
Jan 24
Glory of the snow is one of the earliest bulbs to bring real color back to the garden. Its small star-shaped flowers can appear while patches of snow still linger, creating carpets of blue, lavender, pink, or white close to the ground. These hardy little bulbs are best known under the traditional genus name Chionodoxa, …
Jan 23
Lenten rose is one of the most valuable perennials for bringing flowers into the garden when winter has barely finished. While many plants are still dormant, mature hellebores can produce clusters of nodding flowers in white, cream, pink, rose, burgundy, purple, green, yellow, and almost-black shades. Despite its common name, Lenten rose is not a …
Jan 23
Winterberry is one of the best shrubs for adding color to a garden after the flowers are gone and the leaves have fallen. By late fall, female plants can be covered with clusters of brilliant red berries that remain exposed on bare branches through much of winter, creating a display that is especially striking against …
Jan 23
Camellias bring something unusual to the garden: large, rose-like flowers during the months when many other shrubs are dormant. Depending on the species and cultivar, a camellia may begin flowering in fall, continue through winter, or wait until late winter and early spring. Even when they are not blooming, camellias remain attractive. Their glossy evergreen …
