Summer is the time when the greatest number of blooms appear in the garden. Summer temperatures are warm enough to sow or transplant out all warm-season annuals, tender bulbs, and perennials. The summer garden will include some spring-planted flowers. Flowers planted in summer are likely to give a second and even third bloom if the […] More
Springtime is a season of bare earth as well as a season of flowers and abounding life. Whether it is an entire garden devoted to spring flowers that is being planned or just a small portion of the garden, spring bloomers can interrupt the sparseness of vegetation and a mix of color. Bulbs will usually […] More
Sutera–commonly called bacopa–forms a cascade of small white or pale pink blooms and green leaves. It flowers all summer if lightly watered and fed well. Bacopa is a spreading perennial grown as an annual. It trails over the sides of containers and window boxes. Bacopa is the common name for Sutera cordata which synonymous with […] More
Stonecrop, Sedum spectabile and Sedum maximum atropurpureum, are fleshy-leafed, succulent plants. They bear tiny, star-shaped flowers grouped together into flat-topped clusters. Leaves are oval, rubbery textured, usually with a blunt end/ Sedum spectabile is the most familiar of stonecrops. It produces large, flattened pink flower heads in late summer. Ovate gray-green leaves are borne on […] More
Scaevola–commonly called fan flower–produces fan-shaped blue, lilac, or white flowers in summer. Fan flower is an evergreen perennial, often grown as an annual, with toothed green leaves on trailing stems. Fan flowers are ideal for window boxes and baskets and in warm regions can be grown in a border. Scaevola is a genus of about […] More
Tree mallow, Lavatera, is a shrub-like semi-green perennial with rounded. Showy, five-petaled saucer- or funnel-shaped flowers resemble small hibiscus and come in shades of pink and white. Lavatera is a genus of 25 species–usually tall, branching fast-growing herbaceous annuals and several shrubby perennials. Annual tree mallow is colorful with mallow-like flowers and lobed, gray-green felted […] More
Lantana is a showy semi-tropical perennial or shrub that can also be grown as a potted plant indoors. Its multi-colored small but brilliant and profuse flowers make it a standout in a border or bed. Lantana resembles Verbena to which they are related. they are native to tropical America. Lantana cultivars are mostly ow, compact, […] More
Eremurus–commonly called foxtail lily–produces tall slim spirelike spikes of white, pink, or yellow blooms that look most dramatic when planted in groups. Flowers cover upper half stems to 8-feet tall. Eremurus belong to the lily family and like other lilies, it requires a cold winter to bloom. Blooms appear in very early spring and can […] More
Mexican heather–Cuphea hyssopifolia–is a small bushy perennial that bears short racemes of light pink-purple, pink, or white flowers atop downy stems covered with narrowly lance-shaped mid to dark green leave to 1-inch long. Mexican heather is a good choice for containers or the front of beds and borders. Cuphea hyssopifolia belongs to the Cuphea genus […] More
Brugmansia–commonly called angel’s trumpet–has dangling, exotic-looking trumpet-shaped night-scented blooms. It is a semi-tropical evergreen shrub or small tree with pink and yellow pastel blooms from late spring to fall. Angel’s trumpet must be protected from frost. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Brugmansia is related to the annual and perennial jimsonweeds, Datura. All have […] More
Syngonium, sometimes called arrowhead vine, is a tropical climbing or trailing vine with fleshy stems that grow to 6 feet (2m) or more tall. Lovely, arrow-shaped leaves may be green or variegated and from 3 to 12 inches long. Syngonium leaves change shape as the plant matures; young plants are solid and triangular, the leaves […] More
Saxifraga is a low-growing colorful trailing plant well-suited for containers and hanging baskets. They can be grown as perennials outdoors where there is little frost. Saxifraga produces basal leaves. Leaves vary greatly in shape; there are about 440 species. Saxifraga stolonifera is a popular houseplant commonly known as strawberry begonia or strawberry geranium. It has […] More
Stephen Albert