The Mediterranean Garden – Styling and Layout
In this sporadic series on designing gardens we have looked at a variety of different looks or styles you can give your garden. The word ‘style’ tells us that although your garden might…
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Coral Peonies
When most of us think of peonies, we probably picture big, fluffy blooms in shades of pinks, rich, velvety reds, or pure whites. There is a cluster of varieties, though, that bring something…
Garden Pinks for American Gardens
Spring is always full of beauty, and as it draws to a close, and summer approaches, we see the blooming of one of the most beautiful groups of plants – garden pinks. These…
Salvia – a Wise Garden Choice
Sage: /seɪdʒ/ noun: an aromatic plant of the genus Salvia, whose greyish-green leaves are used as a culinary herb, native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Used in names of aromatic plants of…
Karl Foerster and The Roots of Perennial Gardening
It’s hard to image a garden without perennial flowers, but once that was how gardens were. With some exceptions, mostly in England in the decades before World War I, gardens were shrubs and…
Creeping Phlox are Back in Style
If you are an older gardener, you will probably remember the days before 1980, when the range of plants for gardens was incredibly restricted, and especially in colder zones it seemed that every…
Tardiana Hosta and Friends
When confronted with the roughly 10,000 different hosta varieties available, the best way to understand them better, and so be able to choose and use them in your garden better, is to put…
Get the Most Out of Hosta – and have outstanding shade gardens
Every gardener will recognize a Hosta plant, be it blue, green, yellow or green and white. It is certainly the most popular of all shade plants, and given that almost every garden has…
What are Tetraploid Daylilies?
Daylilies are among the most beautiful of summer perennials, and what makes them so fascinating is the endless number of different colors, sizes and flower forms they come in. Starting with just a…
Hummingbird Mints – the Perfect Flowering Plants for Dry Gardens
It’s nice to have a sunny garden, but sometimes it can become a miniature Sahara, especially if your soil is sandy and naturally dry. It can be frustrating trying to find plants that…
Ring the Bell for Coral Bells
When they come into our gardens, some plants stay pretty much the same as they are in the wild, but others are changed dramatically by keen growers, who see some potential and go…
Coneflowers – Flowers of the Prairies for every Garden
The prairies are deeply embedded in the American psyche, even for people who live a thousand miles from them. Accounts of settlement and Native American hardship can complicate things, but one thing remains…
Daylilies – the Best Summer Flower for Your Garden
The old-fashioned orange daylily, with its tall stems and narrow orange trumpets, has been grown in gardens for many, many, years. It is often seen in old, neglected ones, or growing along roadsides,…
Chinese Astilbe – Top Choice for Drier Gardens
Perennial plants add an extra dimension of beauty to any garden, and ones that are pest-free, long-blooming and low-maintenance are the best ones of all. Add in weeks and weeks of summer blooming,…