Tag: gardening

Rosemary is a perennial evergreen shrub with blue flowers. It is an aromatic and distinctive herb with a sweet, resinous flavor. This plant is ideal for a rock garden or the top of a dry stone wall. In warm areas with fair humidity, rosemary can grow into a shrub...

Parsley is a biennial plant with bright green, feather-like leaves and is in the same family as dill. This popular herb is used in sauces, salads, and especially soups, as it lessens the need for salt. Not only is the perfect garnish, it’s also good for you; it’s rich...

Pole beans are simply a vining cultivar of edible beans. One reason to grow a climbing variety of Phaseolus vulgaris is for its looks: Pole beans can cover a trellis with delicate green vines. Pole beans also provide shade from summer’s heat to other edibles and flowers. Phaseolus vulgaris cultivars can produce yellow, purple, and green pods. (Dozens of...

A fast-growing flowering vine with cup-shaped purple (or sometimes white) flower, cup-and-saucer vine will quickly camouflage a fence or trellis and also can be trained as a hedge. Cobaea scandens hails from warm climated (it’s at home in Mexico and Venezuela) and should be grown as an annual in regions...

Grape growing is experiencing a renewed popularity in home gardens! And why not? Not only are grapes wonderful for eating, juicing, and winemaking, but they are also a beautiful ornamental plant. Learn how to grow, prune, and harvest your grapes. Grape vines not only produce sweet and versatile fruits, they...

Many gardeners dream of growing their own juicy apples. However, growing fruit takes long-term commitment—from pruning apple trees for good form to pest control—for success. Here’s our expert advice on planting, growing, and harvesting apples. Apples trees aren’t just for people with acres upon acres of land. Even in...

The hardy perennial hibiscus, also called rose mallow or swamp rose, adds the beauty of a tropical hibiscus to the garden, but can withstand cold winter temperatures that kill the actual tropical varieties.  Perennial hibiscus have big, disc-shaped, hollyhock-like flowers that can be 6 to 12 inches across. The perennial hibiscus species found...

The butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) is a beautiful, fast-growing, deciduous shrub with masses of blossoms long, spiked trusses that bloom from summer to autumn. Its flowers come in many colors, though butterflies seem to prefer the lavender-pink (mauve) of the species to the white and dark purple cultivars. Also called “summer...

Tarragon is a perennial herb with long, light green leaves and tiny greenish or yellowish white flowers. For cooking, use French tarragon. Russian tarragon can easily be mistaken for French, but Russian tarragon is coarser and less flavorful than French tarragon. Planting You can’t grow French tarragon from seeds....

Garden sage is easy to grow—and a wonderful culinary herb that flavors meat and bean dishes (including that Thanksgiving stuffing). Sage is a hardy perennial with pretty, grayish green leaves that like as good in a perennial border as they do in a vegetable garden. It grows spikes of spring...