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My grape vines, already many years old when I moved here, grow up the sides of the barn and one outbuilding. Underneath the vines are hundreds of nails, spikes, wires and other fasteners added over time to support the heavily-laden vines when fruiting. Not the best way to support grapes!
Today’s hybridizing techniques are taking watermelon to a new high for nutrition and health. Fresh watermelon is still available, so don’t miss out on its summertime flavor and nutritional benefits. Learn from watermelon growers on how to grow the many varieties of this super fruit in your own garden.
We continue our exploration of the varied types of leaves by focusing on leaf margins, leaf tips and leaf arrangements. These characteristics vary as widely as the others I've covered in previous articles. Knowing more about them will aid you further in properly identifying and distinguishing different plants. . .
What is the one garden tree that you don’t plant for yourself but for your grandchildren? The simple household pear is notorious for being slow to start fruiting and the but of many a rural joke when someone plants a tree. This tree might not be the most popular but, all in all, this tree is great for the garden and among the longest lived trees in the fruit world.
You were told from birth that it made you sniffle and sneeze, and you're sure it also causes the tears to flow. At the same time, it is such a beautiful sea of gold in the field next to yours, you have no choice but to admire it. Here is another look at Goldenrod.
To paraphrase that well-worn Shakespearean saw about a rose: A glad by any other name is still a glad. But...is it one gladiolus or one gladiola? Is it two gladiolus, two gladiolas, two gladioluses, or two gladioli? All of these forms of the name appear in a Google search of "gladiolus." Proper Latin would dictate only two: gladiolus (singular) and gladioli (plural). I prefer to use "glad," which avoids this confusion altogether.
Dave's Garden is a great place to share photos of your garden. Everywhere you look, people are posting photos of beautiful blooms and landscapes. Along with the incredible people that come here, beautiful photos are one of the things that keep us coming back to Dave's Garden. So many of the photos posted have that "WOW" factor that leaves you with a big smile on your face. While there are some fantastic photographers here on Dave's, there are also some not quite so fantastic photographers, like myself, that just have a good photo editor.
As leaf shapes among the Alocasia species go, this particular one is hard to beat. Although it is a challenging plant to grow, this Alocasia is well worth your effort if you have a warm greenhouse and can give your plant the attention it needs . . .
In part 3 of this 3-part series, I will discuss those hardy deciduous shrubs whose main attractive feature are their variegated leaves. This will include those shrubs with white, cream or yellow edged leaves as well as those with marbled foliage. Unlike yellow and purple foliage shrubs, these shrubs often work well in shady sites, helping to brighten up dark corners of the garden.
You know that you can use house plants to 'green' up your home. Many of you are probably familiar with flowering house plants as well; african violet, orchid, hoya and so many more. But there is another way to introduce color into your home with potted plants.
Gardens are of course attractive to most plants lovers but roses gardens have a special hint as those flowers stand high among floral kingdom and bear deep symbolism for humans. We will take a stroll in one of those magical places.
Dyckias and Hechtias are two terrestrial bromeliad species that are excellent potted as well as landscape plants, particularly for warm, arid climates. The following serves as an introduction to some of these plants and suggestions on how to grow them.
Sometimes a glimpse or a scent will carry us back to another place, another time. My friend recently gave me rootings from a plant that grew in the mountains of eastern Kentucky where she had been visiting. They were young plants with an abundance of large leaves, but no blooms. It did not take me long to remember my mother's oakleaf hydrangea.
On Saturdays, the Writer's Group would like to say thanks by presenting a "You Supply The Caption" photo. A gardening related photo will be presented, and you the Readers will provide humorous captions. The wit available on Dave's is some of the best around, so please join in the fun! This feature is not a "for compensation" article - just our way of saying Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy...now let's hear some funny stuff!
Hopefully you’ve already set up a basic Dave’s Garden Journal through the first two parts of this series. Now what on earth do the rest of all these crazy words mean? Cloning, milestones, statuses and hopefully any other questions you might have will be explained here. Now you’re really getting organized!
Birdhouses, bird feeders and songbirds- all these are favorite garden "decor." I was going to sing the praises of my faithful house wrens, but I've had to change my tune...
Orchids have a complicated naming process, especially for hybrids. With grex and clonal names replacing cultivar names, entering them into the Plantfiles has been a real chore not to mention confusing! However, the DG Admin people now have the situation under control with new fields in the Plantfiles for both the Grex and Clonal Names associated with orchids. Even the database search engine now has a specific field for orchid grex and/or clonal names. This article will explain how orchids are named and the correct procedure for entering orchids in the Plantfiles.
If you’ve decided to take the plunge and start a Dave’s Garden Journal, good choice! Once you get the journal going, you will feel more organized and I promise, if you keep up with it, you’ll never be scrambling for a plant’s name again. This part of the series will help you get a basic journal going. It’s not as hard as it looks.
False spirea is a deciduous shrub with leaves that resemble a feather. It has clusters of billowy white blossoms which move like ballet dancers in the wind. It is a tough shrub with a delicate appearance. It is not a shrub for small gardens. Nor is it for those who want compact shrubs which mind their manners. This shrub requires its own quarter. It grows rapidly and will gladly spread to fill a space of 5' to 8'. If you need a shrub that will quickly naturalize areas prone to erosion this is the shrub for you.
Whether you’re new to irises or have beds filled with hundreds of carefully labeled varieties, this is an exciting time of year! Mid to late summer is the time when growers and gardeners alike take a look at their beds and decide to divide overcrowded iris clumps for better growth and bloom. That’s great news for gardeners looking for a good deal on beautiful irises!
Puya is a little known bromeliad from South and Central America that grow as an unassuming but thorny twisted leaf mass, but also some of the most spectacular plants in the plant kingdom. The following article is an introduction to some of the more impressive as well as common species of Puyas grown in cultivation.
The Dave’s Garden Journal feature is a vast organizing tool that you need to start using today if you don’t already. It will clear your brain of all those loose cultivar names and hard-to-pronounce-much-less-remember genus and species names. Don’t be scared, once you get the hang of it you’ll be a pro. This 3 part series will guide you step by step through the powerful software to set up your own journal. In Part 1, you'll learn what the Dave's Garden Journal is, why you should use it, and how to plan for the most effective journal.
Why build a hoop house? As gardeners, we are always looking for ways to get a jump-start on spring planting, hoping we won’t have a late freeze. Mother Nature sometimes has her own ideas, and we are not always lucky. Finally we think it is safe and we plant out our precious seedlings. Unfortunately we are just as apt to catch the dreaded, unexpected weather forecast… and in sheer panic mode, we haul out all the extra sheets, blankets and anything else we can use to cover our plants.
Leaves might appear to be simple, but the closer you look, the more you realize that distinctions must be made in order to avoid confusing one plant with another. Many plants have parts so similar that, without specialized terms to distinguish them, a poisonous plant can be mistaken for a harmless or edible one. Taxonomists, or those who work on the classification and identification of plants, depend upon these distinctions to identify plants precisely. In this article, you will learn more of the terms to help you see how similar plants can really be quite different. . .
Peaches and their cousins, the nectarines, can be grown in all most all areas of the United States. They do best in warm pockets and, when trained into espaliers, can be fitted into just about any small space in the yard. Welcome to the wonderful world of peaches!
In part 2 of this 3 part series, I will discuss those hardy (zone 5 and colder) shrubs whose main claim-to-fame is their red to purplish foliage. These shrubs are wonderful additions to the landscape, complimenting blue, purple and red flowers or contrasting with yellows, oranges and white. They are available in a wide variety of sizes, so any garden can utilize examples from this group of shrubs.
It was my job to thread the beans one at a time on the long white cotton twine. That needle was longer than my fingers, but I knew that the beans would dry and all winter long my family could have shucky beans and cornbread for dinner. As long as I did everything right, nobody would ever go hungry. The grown ups told me so.
Whether you grow bush beans or pole beans in your garden, seek out snap beans at a local farmers market, or luck into a fresh delivery of green beans at the grocery store, these slender veggies are a favorite summer treat. Read on for more about growing, harvesting, and preparing these garden-fresh delights…
On a warm sunny afternoon in many gardens around the world, you will find Granny's of all shapes and sizes relaxing in the midst of flowers great and small.
Queen Anne's Lace, or Wild Carrot, or Bird's Nest, are all names for the same beautiful frilly white flower. If you live in the continental United States, this flower grows in your state! It was brought to North America by early European settlers as a medicinal herb. Is it a wildflower, a weed, a useful herb or a dangerous invader? There are certainly arguments to every side of the debate.
For many, many years, the plant known as "Philodendron selloum" has been a mainstay in tropical landscapes and indoor plantings. The plant is quite tropical looking, relatively easy to grow, and large. In fact, it grows very large at maturity. For indoor decor and interiorscaping, a smaller plant with somewhat the same look would be ideal. Such a plant became available when Philodendron 'Xanadu' hit the market . . .
Suddenly in late summer, the red spider lilies pop up in yards all over this historic Southern town. There are some places where houses were at one time but not within the memory of anyone still here. There they are: fields full of red spider lilies. What a sight to see just when the sun has beaten everything down and most plants are all a little dreary from the summer heat.
Those of us who love growing tomatoes are passionate about proper soil, nutrients, and plant selection. We baby our tomato plants, and hover over every bloom. Paths are worn from endlessly pacing from one end of the tomato patch to the other. We know every leaf, and the location of every fruit. Suddenly, without warning, leaves, blooms, and yes, tomatoes start to disappear. Beware; it is The Attack Of The Tomato Hornworms!
If you don't have a splashing fountain or waterfall in or around your water feature, you may have a drier environment around your pond than most. If this is the case, you have a virtual plethora of plants you can use in the surrounding area of your pond. You can play with textures and colors, but you want to make sure the roots won't be so vigorous they destroy your pond liner and that the leaves won't shed into the water too much.
