Tag: planting

With immense flower heads, hydrangeas flaunt an old-fashioned charm that is hard to resist. Unrivaled in the shrub world for beautiful flowers, the elegant ladies are easy to cultivate, tolerate almost any soil, and produce abundant blooms. Colors beguile with clear blue, vibrant pink, frosty white, lavender, and rose blossoms—sometimes...

Cannas are among the most colorful summer bulbs as flamboyant as their tropical American ancestry with ruffled spikes tapering to refined buds. The gorgeous cannas boast immense, often-veined, paddle-shaped leaves and sheathing leafstalks in shades of green or bronze—and flashy blooms that stand tall on their stems. With their...

Ponytail palms are a unique-looking, long-lived indoor plant that thrives on benign neglect. They are very easy to grow, provided you don’t overwater them! Here’s how to grow and care for a ponytail palm in your home. Despite its name and palm-like appearance, the ponytail palm is not a true...

Sunflowers say “summer” like no other plant. Native to North America, sunflowers are heat-tolerant, resistant to pests, and simply beautiful. You can even harvest their edible seeds. Here’s how to grow them in your garden! An annual plant, sunflowers have big, daisy-like flower faces of bright yellow petals (and occasionally red) and...

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...

Also known as “rocket” or “roquette,” arugula is a fast-growing, cool-season salad green that adds a tangy, mustard-like flavor to salads. Here’s how to plant and grow arugula in your garden. Arugula is often found in mesclun mixes. Plant early or late in the growing season and you will be...

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...

With their glossy leaves and cheerful nature, it’s not hard to understand why members of the tropical Philodendron family fall into that category of outdoor plants that people in cold climates bring indoors as houseplants. There are nearly 500 species of Philodendron, the two main types being vines and nonclimbers. Native to the West Indies and...