Plant Profile: American Smoke Tree (Cotinus obovatus)
Karen American smoke tree is a deciduous large shrub or small tree native to Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, and Tennessee where it grows in woodland edges, clearings, glades, and rock…
Shakespeare’s Garden: Aconitum
Also known as wolfsbane and monkshood, Shakespeare’s Aconitum is probably the perennial A. napellus, one of 100 species of Aconitum, a genus in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. A. nepallus is…
Plant Profile: Rose ‘Parade’
The cup-shaped flowers are mildly fragrant and produced singly or in cluster of up to five. They are deep pink to cherry carmine with paler edges and have a slightly…
Book Review: Nature Crafts with a Microwave
The microwave offers crafter a quick easy way to dry plant material for a variety of craft uses. Dawn Cusick’s book, Nature Crafts with a Microwave, gives the novice crafter…
Collecting Seed: Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Orange coneflower is a perennial in the Asteraceae family and is native to North America. It grows one to three feet tall and has flowerheads two to three inches across…
Plant Profile: Silky Stewartia (Stewartia malacodendron)
Silky stewartia is a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree native to the southeastern coast from Virginia to Florida and west to Louisiana where it grows in woodlands, woodland edges, and…
Garden Plants for Flower Arrangements: Hybrid Japanese Anemone (Anemone x hybrida)
Hybrid Japanese anemone are herbaceous perennials that form a substantial mound of handsome dark green leaves carried on long stems (petioles). Each leaf is palmately compound with three toothed leaflets.…
Plant Profile: Fall Astilbe (Astilbe taquetii)
Fall astilbe is a clump forming herbaceous perennial native to China and a member of the saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae, that also includes Bergenia, foamflower (Tiarella), and coral bells (Heuchera). Hairy…
Book Review: Blueberries Grow on a Bush
As kids gobble up blueberries do they think about where they come from? Probably not yet learning a little about blueberry bushes brings a greater appreciation of food and it…
Explorer Series: Red Roses
The Explorer roses were developed at the agriculture research station in Ottawa, Ontario and l’Assumption, Quebec to withstand the cold Canadian winters. Using Rosa rugosa, R. kordesii, Hybrid Teas, and…