Plant Profile: Red Alder (Rubrus rubra)
Karen Red alder is a deciduous tree native to North America from southeast Alaska south to central coastal California with an extension inland across Washington and Oregon into northermost Montana. It…
Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wines: London Sherry Wine
Karen Meyers Sherry wine is a fortified wine made from white grapes that originated in the Cadiz area of southern Spain when the Phoenicians introduced the first vines to Jerez in Andalusia,…
Plant Profile: Poached Egg Plant (Limnanthes douglasii)
Also known as Douglas’s meadowfoam, this fast growing annual is native to grassy wet areas of California and Washington, and is a member of a small plant family, Limnanthaceae, consisting…
Plant Profile: Indian Hawthorn (Raphiolepis indica)
Also known as Hong Kong hawthorn, this dense evergreen shrub is native to south China to Indo-China and temperate eastern Asia including Japan, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. It is…
Plant Profile: Silver-Lace Vine (Polygonum aubertii aka Fallopia baldschuanica)
This deciduous woody twining perennial vine is also known as Russian-vine, Bukhara fleeceflower, Chinese bindweed, and mile-a-minute vine. It is a member of the knotweed family, Polygonaceae, that also includes…
Plant Profile: Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Native to swamps, woodland clearings, wetland forests, and outcroppings in eastern North America from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Minnesota, south to northern Florida, Alabama and Arkansas, this deciduous shrub…
Plant Profile: Hopi Blanketflower (Gaillardia pinnatifolia)
Also known as red dome blanketflower this herbaceous perennial is a native of northern Mexico, south-central and southwestern US where it grows on mesas, in grasslands, open forests and disturbed…
Plant Profile: Sea Purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum aka Portulaca portulacastrum aka Halimus portulacastrum )
Also known as shoreline purslane, this evergreen succulent perennial is native to coastal areas throughout the world where it grows in salt and freshwater marshes, along beach dunes, and in…
Plants for a Mary Garden: St. Mary’s Thistle (Silybum marianum)
Known by many names including holy thistle, milk thistle and our Lady’s thistle, this annual or biennial is a member of the aster family, Asteraceae, that also includes daisy, sunflower,…
Plant Profile: Smooth Alder (Alnus serrulata)
Also known as tag alder, brookside alder, and hazel alder, this deciduous shrub or small tree is native to eastern North America from Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick south…