Jan 19
Angelonia is one of the best flowering plants for the point in summer when many other annuals begin looking exhausted. Heat that causes cool-season snapdragons to decline only seems to encourage Angelonia, which continues producing upright spikes of purple, lavender, pink, blue, and white flowers through hot, humid weather. That toughness explains its common name: …
Jan 19
Allium Care: How to Grow Ornamental Alliums Ornamental alliums bring one of the most distinctive flower shapes to the garden. Their spherical clusters can look like purple fireworks suspended above a border, with dozens—or sometimes hundreds—of tiny star-shaped flowers forming a single globe at the top of a tall, leafless stem. The best-known ornamental alliums …
Jan 19
Astrantia is one of those flowers that becomes more interesting the closer you look. From a distance, its blooms appear as soft clusters of pink, white, burgundy, or greenish flowers floating above leafy clumps. Up close, each flower head reveals an intricate arrangement of tiny flowers surrounded by papery, star-shaped bracts. That distinctive appearance has …
Sep 03
Orchids have a reputation for being difficult houseplants, but that reputation is often undeserved. The problem is usually not that orchids are impossibly demanding. It is that they are cared for as though they were ordinary houseplants growing in ordinary potting soil. Many popular indoor orchids naturally grow with their roots exposed to air, attached …
Jul 16
Few flowers are as instantly recognizable as a daisy. A ring of colorful or white petals surrounding a contrasting center creates one of the simplest flower shapes in the garden, yet plants described as “daisies” are remarkably diverse. Some grow as hardy perennials that return for years. Others are tender perennials grown as annuals in …
Jun 10
Few flowering plants create the same effect as a fuchsia in full bloom. Their dangling flowers look almost like tiny lanterns or ballerinas, often combining deep purple, magenta, pink, red, white, and coral within a single bloom. Trailing varieties spill beautifully from hanging baskets, upright types fill patio containers with color, and hardy fuchsias can …
Jun 03
Wax begonias are among the most dependable flowering plants for beds, borders, containers, and partially shaded gardens. Their compact growth, glossy foliage, and almost continuous production of small pink, red, or white flowers make them useful from late spring until frost, often with remarkably little maintenance. They are also more versatile than their old-fashioned reputation …
May 20
Snapdragons bring something unusual to the flower garden: tall spikes of intricate blooms that thrive during the cooler parts of the growing season when many heat-loving annuals are only beginning—or already starting to fade. Their flowers come in nearly every warm and pastel shade imaginable, including white, yellow, peach, orange, pink, red, burgundy, lavender, and …
May 13
Nasturtiums are among the easiest flowers to grow from seed, yet their combination of bright blooms, rounded leaves, trailing growth, and edible flowers makes them useful far beyond a simple beginner’s garden. A handful of seeds can become a sprawling ground cover, a cascade of flowers tumbling from a container, a compact border plant, or …
May 06
Sweet peas are among the most fragrant flowers you can grow from seed. Their delicate, ruffled blossoms appear in shades of white, cream, pink, rose, lavender, purple, blue, red, burgundy, peach, and numerous bicolors, often filling the garden with a noticeable perfume during the cooler part of the growing season. The classic annual sweet pea, …
