Jan 20
Lantana is one of the toughest flowering plants you can add to a hot summer garden. When temperatures climb, rainfall becomes unpredictable, and less resilient annuals begin looking tired, lantana often keeps producing clusters of brightly colored flowers. Its blooms come in combinations of yellow, orange, pink, red, lavender, purple, white, and cream, with many …
Jan 20
Few ground covers combine brilliant flowers, succulent foliage, drought tolerance, and low maintenance as effectively as hardy ice plant. Delosperma forms a low carpet of fleshy leaves that can become covered with daisy-like flowers in shades of pink, purple, orange, yellow, red, white, and multicolored combinations. Despite its succulent appearance, many Delosperma varieties are surprisingly …
Jan 20
Gardenias have a reputation for being demanding, but their needs are actually quite specific rather than mysterious. Give them acidic soil, excellent drainage, consistent moisture, sufficient light, and protection from severe cold, and these glossy evergreen shrubs can reward you with some of the most fragrant flowers in the garden. The classic gardenia, Gardenia jasminoides, …
Jan 20
Four O’Clock flowers are old-fashioned garden plants with an unusual schedule. While many summer flowers begin closing as evening approaches, Mirabilis jalapa is just getting started. Its trumpet-shaped blooms typically open during the late afternoon or early evening, releasing a sweet fragrance and remaining open through much of the night. The flowers make Four O’Clocks …
Jan 20
Scaevola is one of those summer flowers that deserves considerably more attention than it gets. While petunias, geraniums, and calibrachoa often dominate garden centers, fan flower quietly offers many of the same benefits with remarkably little maintenance. It tolerates heat, handles periods of drought once established, blooms for months, and produces cascading stems that are …
Jan 19
False indigo is one of those perennials that gets better as the years pass. A young Baptisia may look modest during its first season or two, but once established it develops into a substantial, shrub-like clump with attractive blue-green foliage, tall spikes of pea-shaped flowers, and distinctive seedpods that provide interest long after blooming ends. …
Jan 19
Spotted dead nettle is one of the most useful ground covers for parts of the garden where grass and sun-loving perennials struggle. Its low stems spread beneath trees, along shaded borders, around shrubs, and across woodland-style beds, creating a carpet of silver-marked foliage topped with small pink, purple, or white flowers. The ornamental species most …
Jan 19
Clematis has earned its reputation as the “queen of the vines.” Few climbing plants offer such an extraordinary range of flowers, from enormous dinner-plate-sized blooms in purple, pink, red, blue, and white to clouds of smaller bells, stars, and nodding flowers that can cover fences, trellises, arbors, shrubs, and garden walls. The vines themselves can …
Jan 19
Catmint is one of the easiest flowering perennials to grow in a sunny garden. Its soft gray-green foliage forms spreading mounds covered with lavender-blue flowers, attracting bees and butterflies while asking for remarkably little attention in return. Once established, catmint tolerates drought, poor soil, summer heat, and occasional neglect. Deer and rabbits generally avoid it, …
Jan 19
Calibrachoa can turn a single hanging basket into a cascade of color from spring until frost. Often sold under the common name Million Bells, these vigorous trailing plants produce hundreds of miniature petunia-like flowers in shades of purple, pink, red, orange, yellow, blue, white, bronze, and multicolored combinations. They are particularly well suited to hanging …
