Question: We just moved to Southern California and are excited to get started in our backyard landscape. At this time of the year (August) what do we plant, prune, fertilize and mulch? Shannon, Oceanside, California Answer: Shannon, the time (August) we remind Southland gardeners that this is the month for sowing sweet peas and garden […]
Archives for July 2011
Propagate Your Own Holly
Holly selections for ornamental uses are propagated almost entirely from cuttings. This is because seed is slow to germinate and young plants are often different from the parents in fruit and foliage. Since rooted slips or cuttings produce young plants with the same characteristics as the parents, vegetative reproduction is employed to perpetuate choice varieties. […]
Progress and Prospects Chrysanthemums for the North
Gardeners in such states as Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and one or two of their near neighbors, formerly had difficulty in planning their gardens so they were full of bloom in the late Summer and early Fall months. The fact was impressed on me during a trip to the East in late Summer a […]
Spring Again With Colchicums
The so-called “autumn crocus” (Colchicum autumnale) is of easy culture and deserves to be more widely grown. In color it is a soft rose-lilac. Varieties are C. a. major, which has larger blooms of a warm lavender color, and C. a. minor, with smaller, rosy-purple flowers that appear earlier. Most striking of all is the […]
Daffodils Grow Best In Sod
The naturalizing of daffodils is a delightful hobby for anyone who has a plot where the grass can remain uncut until the foliage has thoroughly ripened and disintegrated or disappeared and pulls away easily from the bulb. If you are fortunate enough to have, in addition to open ground, some thin woodland where the sun […]
A Curious Holly
Plant materials of Ilex species have been entering this country through the efforts of the Plant Introduction Section of the U.S.D.A., since 1898. The first of these introductions was a shipment of seeds of I. aquifolium sent from France by W. T. Swingle, plant explorer for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Those seeds were […]
The Adaptable Moraine Locust – Gleditsia Triacanthos
Home owners, especially those who live in new developments, are always looking for suitable trees that will be ornamental and provide some shade. The ideal tree, that combines hardiness, rapidity of growth, toughness and resistance to diseases and pests, along with attractive foliage and desirable form, is hard to find. A tree may possess all […]
Gloxinias Are For Everyone Number 2 To African Violet
There was a time the only house plant to gain more popularity than the gloxinia was the African violet. A popularity poll made it the number two house plant in the country, a distinction which this most spectacular member in the gesneriad family richly deserves. Gloxinias were discovered in 1785 and named in honor of […]
Creating A Naturalistic Garden
If you take to casual gardening for reasons of economy, scarcity of help or even from preference, you will find it’s an intriguing game to grow an assortment of plants which can pretty much take care of themselves – plants you like and ones that enjoy your climate and exposure. In every West Coast climate […]
Anyone Can Grow These House Plants
The origin of the belief that some homes are not suited to house plant culture is difficult to explain. Consider the case of the aspidistra. This old-fashioned foliage plant has been nicknamed the cast-iron plant because apparently it rates the No. 1 spot among plants having a reputation for ruggedness and ability to survive under […]