Topics
Special Series
Plant Choices
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Ravishing Rudbeckia—Coneflowers That Light up the Fall Garden
Blooming from late summer through frost, coneflowers bring saturated warm color and height—they grow anywhere from three to ten feet tall—to beds and borders. Coneflowers are easy to cultivate and good for cutting, and they mingle well with other plants as long as their flower colors are compatible.
By Barbara Blossom Ashmun -
Cape Fuchsias—Perennials With Punch
Native to South Africa, cape fuchsias (Phygelius species) will add verve to your borders with vibrant, warm-toned flowers that bloom for months in summer and fall.
By Barbara Blossom Ashmun -
Power Plants—The Origin of Fossil Fuels
Did you know that current events on this petroleum-addled planet are closely linked to weird and wonderful plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago?
By Janet Marinelli -
Daisies of All Kinds
There's enormous variation of flower color and size among daisies. There's certainly something for everyone.
By Ellen Zachos -
Garlic Mustard: A Palatable Pest
Native to Europe, this cool-season biennial is wreaking havoc on deciduous forests from New England west to Wisconsin and south to Tennessee.
By Niall Dunne -
Native Viburnums
Viburnums have long been popular garden plants, celebrated for their white, often fragrant spring flowers and their fall color.
By Richard L. Bitner -
Lofty Liatris—Drought-Tolerant Beauties for the Summer and Fall Border
Liatris is much more than a cut-flower-industry standard. It is, in fact, a group of wonderfully diverse and easy-to-grow perennials that can brighten up the outside of your home just as beautifully as they can the inside.
By Kim Hawkes -
Designing with Summer-Flowering Bulbs
Summer-flowering bulbs come into bloom at the same time that many perennials and annuals are at their best, and by adding them to your garden you can multiply the colors, textures, scents, shapes, and contrasts in your palette.
By Brent and Becky Heath -
Native Azaleas
North American azaleas have soft-colored blooms and loose, natural-looking growth habits. Some species bloom in summer and even early fall, and many have colorful autumn foliage.
By Richard L. Bitner -
Saffron Crocus—Conjuring Color and Flavor in the Autumn Garden
Long before flowers were cultivated solely for their good looks, they were grown to serve some practical, or even preternatural, purpose. This was especially true in the good old days of Minoan Crete, about 1500 BC, when a thriving industry and religious iconography grew up around Crocus sativus, the corm better known as saffron crocus.
By Ilene Harfenist Sternberg
