Archive for the ‘Plants - Annuals/Perennials’ Category

Mistletoe is a parasite. We can’t get around that. And it carries a lot of romantic notions for those who love Christmas and Christmas decorations.  
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“You can go three times around the garden without repeating yourself,” says Julia Mackintosh who along with her husband, Robert, has owned and lovingly cared for Raleigh’s Margaret Reid Wildflower Garden since 1997.

Inspired by reading “how beautiful North Carolina was when the colonists came” and spurred on by a “desire to have my own woods,” Margaret Reid rescued wildflowers and other native plants for more than 50 years from sites across Wake County as subdivisions and shopping centers gradually took the place of fields and woods. Reid planted the rescues in her garden in natural groupings that mimic North Carolina’s natural plant communities. Read the rest of this entry »

The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) has named Amsonia hubrichtii as the 2011 Perennial Plant of the Year. Common names for the plant include Arkansas blue star, Arkansas amsonia, thread-leaf blue star, narrow leaf blue star, and Hubricht’s blue star. Read the rest of this entry »

The woodland garden is at its peak in the spring. In order to produce seed, most plants under trees flower early before the trees leaf out and create shade. Read the rest of this entry »

Tips from Gardening With Confidence™ to make your winter garden wildlife friendly.

Flowers, berries, evergreens and grasses will fill the winter garden with wildlife and give you reason to walk around.

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Everybody loves to add festive color and blooming beauty to their home with colorful poinsettias during the holidays. For many people, going to the local garden center and selecting some choice poinsettias is part of the fun of the holiday season and a nice trip out for the family. But, how do you care for your pretty baby once you’ve gotten it home?  Fear not, friends, caring for poinsettias is easy. Read the rest of this entry »

Gardeners today want exciting plants that are easy to maintain, drought-tolerant, low cost, and deer-resistant. Impossible? Ornamental grasses meet those requirements and feature ease of establishment, unusual textures, and movement, plus many of these provide winter interest, too. Read the rest of this entry »

What can you do with your tropical plants in the garden to protect them during winter? It all depends on what you have. Read the rest of this entry »

Need a tough plant for dry shade? How about long-lasting flowers for your summer container? Perhaps it’s a colorful plant for fall and winter interest that you’re after. Or even a houseplant that can tolerate some neglect and still look stunning. Read the rest of this entry »

When most people think of sunflowers, they probably conjure up the annual plant with its dinner plate-sized flowers and somewhat ungainly appearance.  While this might look cute in a vegetable plot or children’s garden, it might not work in a typical flower bed.  Instead of planting the annual species, try one of the perennial varieties. They make up for their smaller flowers, only two to three inches in diameter, with sheer numbers, hundreds covering a single plant. Read the rest of this entry »