Yarrow is more properly known as Achillea. Achillea 'Paprika' is just one of a large family of flowers that are not fussy about location or soil. They love the sun and butterflies love them Achillea "The Pearl' is a slightly unusual form of achillea - or yarrow. Achillea 'Terra Cotta' grows right next to my front door. I do want to say that I have seen the same yarrows growing in other gardens and the exact hue of the color…
X is for Xeric. Xeric plants are those adapted to an extremely dry habitat. While the weather/climate in my area is definitely changing with periods of drought, and heavier rains when they come. I am paying more attention to those plants that are drought tolerant, if not really xeric. These Gaillardias are a wonderful perennials that have done beautifully in my garden. After checking a list of drought resisant plants I was happy to see that I have a number…
V is for Viola, a large family of plants that includes the johnny jump up, pictured above. Viola is also my mother's name. I never thought it was a very pretty name until I knew that johnny jump ups, violets and pansies were also Violas. Now I see the first violas in the garden centers and in my garden as a first sign of spring. I see the happy blue blossoms and I think about a mother of three sons looking…
H is for Hemerocallis on the A to Z Challenge. Hemerocallis means 'beautiful for a day' and in English it means Daylily. We gardeners have been very happy for the daylily which is such a trouble free plant. It loves the sun, but is not particular about soil, although it is always wise to put in a daylily, or any plant with a good helping of compost. They are also quite tolerant of drought. This is a plant…
E is for Echinacea, possibly the most used medicinal herb/flower in the world. Recently the Daily Mail in England did an article on the efficacy of echinacea as a cold remedy. And the University of Maryland has a lot of information about the medicinal properties of echinacea here But even if you are not interesting in growing echinacea, otherwise known as coneflower , is a wonderful plant for the perennial border. For years I only knew it in…
Two years ago this week we left the cold and muddy landscape of Heath to visit Houston and our daughter Kate and her family. Because the landscape of Heath is currently cold and snowy I needed to revisit those sunny Houston days. One day we drove out to Cindy's Corner of Katy to visit her beautiful garden. Flowers everywhere. Cindy's corner garden is not large, but it is colorful and filled with every kind of flowers. Roses too. So…
Yesterday I listened to bits of Puccin's operas at our local Senior Symposium put on by Greenfield Community College. This is an engaging and enlightening series of programs featuring wonderful scholars and speakers like William Fregosi, who was for many years the technical coordinator for Theater Arts at M.I.T. He talked about Giacomo Puccini's life and times. Work! Scandal! Fame! Passion! Incredible success! His estate is still collecting royalty payments for three of his operas including Turandot. Two…
The best place to find fresh spring bloom is to look within the greenhouses at Mt. Holyoke and Smith Colleges. Both colleges are having their annual spring flower shows and giving us the strength to get through these last days of winter. This looks just the supermarket primrose that I planted years ago and that blooms every spring in the dappled shade in back of our house. Could it be that the goddess Flora has found her way to reign…
Everything is new in January. New plans and new plants and new flowers. Even those of us who say we can’t fit another plant into our garden, and love all the plants we already have, can be really tempted when we see all those bright catalog photos. Last year I added Gaillardia Arizona Sun to my garden and I just loved it. It just glowed in the garden for a really long season. I am hoping it…
Some people think that the palette of plants for deep shade provide little visual diversity in color and texture but this is not true. Variegated plants can alter that perception. First I have to say that there are all kinds of shade, from the deepest shade that you would find in a coniferous woodland, to the gay dappled shade or high shade beneath deciduous trees. It is important to remember that if you want flowers in your shade,…