Five Favorite Heirloom Tomatoes
Karen To be a genuine heirloom tomato, the variety must be at least 50 years old (some say older) dating from the time before the extensive breeding of hybrids for commercial…
Spring Blooming Bulbs for the Cottage Garden
Bulbs always play a big role in the spring garden providing bright color to a gray landscape that has been resting for several months. Many bulbs that we grow for…
Five Favorite Heirloom Narcissi
With the increasing interest in heirloom plants the prospect of finding heirloom narcissus in bulb catalogs is very appealing. The world ‘Narcissus’ is used here as the botanical name for…
How to Select Canna Lilies
Chuck One quick and easy way to give a lush tropical look to a garden is the grow canna lilies. A lot of people grow them in the middle of a…
Five Best Bulbs for Forcing
As bulb catalogs arrive in your mailbox during the summer begin to think about how wonderful a pot of tulips, daffodils, or hyacinths would look in January. Take time now…
How to Select Autumn Blooming Bulbs
Most gardeners are familiar with the bulbs that bloom in the spring and summer but there are also bulbs that bloom in autumn. The good news about fall blooming bulbs…
How to Select Eggplants for the Home Vegetable Garden
Eggplant seems to be having a revival of sorts. As I walk through the local farmers’ market I have noticed that there are many different kinds of eggplants as well…
Best Spring Blooming Bulbs for Use as Cut Flowers
You only have to go to the supermarket in spring to see how popular daffodils and tulips are but they are only two of many bulbs that produce good cut…
How to Store Spring and Summer Blooming Bulbs
Not all bulbs are created equal when it comes to storage. Have you ever noticed that some bulbs that you buy come in peat moss, others in wood chips, and…
Factors to Consider when Selecting Annual Sunflowers for the Garden
The past 30 years has brought the humble sunflower (Helianthus annus) from a roadside weed to a garden show-stopper. Just open a seed catalog to realize that there are many…