Focus on Flowers

All of May, cranesbill geranium 'Bevan' is covered in pink flowers, and the rest of the year, he has lovely fresh-looking green leaves.

A quote by Vita Sackville West about ground covers.

Dandelions light up our lawns each spring with bright yellow flowers.

Before the invention of photography, illustrations of uncommon plants were crucial. Women were thought to be especially well suited for drawing specimens accurately. They were seen as patient, careful, and willing to work for little pay.

During the Middle Ages in Britain, the monasteries were the places with the space and the knowledge to garden.

Most gardeners I know find it convenient to buy this easy-care annual for their pots and shade beds each spring, and delight in growing such undemanding annuals.

The Cherry tree that Houseman wrote about in his poem is commonly known as bird cherry, which alas do not grow well for us in zone 6. A white tree that is a lovely substitute, however, is the white dogwood.

At this time of the year many flower lovers buy pots of Easter lilies at the grocery store to have in their homes during the Easter season

Clay soil is heavy and hard to dig compared to sandy soil, but it is also more moisture and nutrient retentive.

No plant, it seems to those of us plagued with deer, can be called really deer proof.

Regular pruning benefits all woody plants, such as shrubs, trees, and vines. Pruning keeps them vigorous and healthy, as well as improving their shape.

Cutting back plants, even small ones, helps to stimulate growth. But don't cut off all of the leaves!

There are so many lovely varieties of clematis available today. Even a single bloom floating is a bowl looks perfect.

In late winter, after months without garden flowers, we are eager to see flowers in our homes. However, there is a wonderful feeling we get when we force branches of early spring-blooming trees and shrubs.

All of the poems I will read today are about roses and all are from times long past.

The flowers associated with St. Valentine were, in Roman times, the yellow crocus and the tricolor viola that both bloom in the early spring in our gardens today. But there are also other saints associated with February...

In 1993, Christopher Lloyd hired Fergus Garrett as his head gardener and together they turned the traditional 80-year-old rose garden into an exotic tropical area. Christo was amused by the consequent criticism from traditionalists.

Great Dixter's Christopher Lloyd created his famous term "succession planting" to describe continuous bloom month after month, beginning in March and ending in October.

One of Britain's most celebrated gardens, Great Dixter is a magnificent place where one can learn and be inspired. A trip there should be on every gardener's bucket list.

In AD 830, St. Benedict said that gardening was appropriate manual labor for monks and that all monasteries should have a psychic garden, kitchen garden, cellar garden, an orchard, and a private garden for monks of high office.

The Romans were the first to create pleasure gardens in Britain.

The winter solstice marks the day with the fewest hours of sunshine in the year, which means that it is described as the shortest day.

Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects used to be the only creatures who transferred pollen from flower to flower. Nowadays, it is often a person with a fine brush.

The idea of private pleasure gardens during the Middle Ages in England was espoused by Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Most of us occasionally get little black flies that look a bit like fruit flies around our houseplants. They're fungus gnats and essentially harmless, mostly...

One of the most influential horticulturalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was William Robinson, the first to promote the idea of a wild garden.

Fall is a great time to collect the seed pods from shrubs like baptisia and hardy hibiscus and store them in paper envelopes indoors until next spring.

Houseplants that bloom help us to get through winter while awaiting next year's flowers in the garden. But often houseplants suffer from problems that we must address promptly to save a plant's life.

Betty Smith is the author of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn about a young girl who is inspired by a tree. Unfortunately, the tree happens to be an invasive species.

You do not want this junk tree anywhere near your garden, as it self-seeds aggressively and many people are highly allergic to its pollen.

Continually cut back plants that have done their stuff to allow more room for those whose bloom period is yet to come.

If you need something in bloom all through the growing seasons in your garden, check that you have these plants.

There are many common names for the pink lilies, Amaryllis belladonna, that pop up in our gardens during the hot days of August/September: naked ladies, magic lily, autumn lily, surprise lily, and resurrection lily.

Native to the Far East, crepe myrtles can be trees or but in my zone 6 garden, they usually die back to the ground each winter.

The winter-blooming clivia plant is one of the very few house plants that will produce flowers indoors in the dead of winter.

If you are looking for deer resistant shrubs to plant in your unfenced yard, the safest evergreens are spruce, juniper, and boxwood.

Early on, I longed for all the more pretentious perennials, but now I prefer the tried and true.

Angelonia produces stalks of little flowers, similar to stock flowers, that last a long time on the plant, flowering steadily all through till late summer.

The plant has the unfortunate common name of "tickseed," derived from the Greek word "Koris," meaning bed bug.

This black-eyed Susan is a plant that we can all grow and that will be with us for as long as we garden.

Our Midwest Hibiscus moscheutos, (a.k.a. swamp mallow), is an herbaceous plant that has flowers that look so exotic that it seems tropical, but it is hardy zones 5-9.

Gayfeather (Liatris spicata) is a lovely native plant that attracts butterflies, bumble bees, and other insects.

Xeroscaping is the term for gardening while conserving water.

The original perennial coneflowers were pink, but many new cultivars have been developed.

A mix of annuals, biennials, perennials, and shrubs ensures that your cutting garden always has something in bloom.

Peter Rabbit is cute, but he can be a problem for gardeners, especially when seedlings and small plants are available, and he wants them for his dinner!

Native perennials are an essential part of our ecosystem and support wildlife. Some are more likely to thrive in our region than others.

Monarch butterflies like to eat various species of milkweed, which have a bitter juice, that makes their caterpillars unappealing to predators.

If you want to get more plants from your existing flowering plants, a good way is to take cuttings.

The degree of shade is an important factor in gardening, and usually for flowering plants, partial shade is the best.

In warm climates, the showy, brightly colored bougainvillea vines romp over walls, fences, and even buildings, brightening landscapes with their vivid colors.

Both perennial and annual candytufts make excellent rock garden and edging plants.

The Star of Bethlehem name probably dates from the Crusades. The bulbs were brought home as souvenirs when ancient people made pilgrimages to the Holy Land. So, this sweet little flower has an impressive history.

Always deadhead spring bulbs after they finish blooming or they will put their energy into setting seed, which limits their rejuvenation.

There are about 125 species in the genus Oenothera, and they are commonly called sundrops, evening primroses, or golden eggs, and they are native to North and South America.

In olden times, if one wore a sprig of alyssum, no one would be angry with you.

Allelopathic plants release chemicals through their leaves and roots that prevent the germination and/or growth of nearby plants.

It's important to remove invasive, non-native plants to make more space available for plants that nourish our own native wildlife.

If you are planting a garden this spring around a condominium or in some other small garden space, you may want to consider some of the shrubs that have been developed to grow into a compact shape and size at maturity.

There is magic associated with flowers. How can it be, I wonder, that there are so many different shapes, colors, and sizes to delight the senses?

By the 18th century, it was fashionable in the colonies of North America where a garden was essential to feed a family.

In ancient times, roses were not grown for ornamental reasons but for their medicinal and mystical properties.

After the spring bloomers' flowers faded, I used to have day lily plants that grew up in my beds to disguise the decaying and unsightly bulb foliage. All that changed once the deer in my neighborhood came by in droves and ate all of the day lily foliage.

During the 20th century, growers learned to grow flowers with taller, straighter stems, less blemishes, and, also, to force blooms out of season.

Beginning in the early 18th century in England, many quaint new cottages were built surrounded by plantings of fruit trees, honey suckle, ivy, and all kinds of flowers to create intentionally romantic gardens.

Empress Josephine Bonaparte had the first European ever-blooming roses from China, and her eclectic collection allowed French hybridizers to create many new varieties.

Way back when there were no cell phones, lovers used flowers as coded messages to keep their communications unknown to chaperones.

In North America, frangipani is often associated with Hawaii because of the lovely leis that are made from their blossoms.

Starting in February we can pick garden flowers for indoors.

These plants enjoy rich, moist soil that drains well, and if they're happy in their spot, they will form colonies under deciduous trees but will disappear once the trees leaf out.

King Louis XIV's pleasure gardens were places to entertain and impress, and to glorify himself and his achievements.

In AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, and huge amounts of volcanic ash covered the city of Pompeii. The ash preserved the homes and gardens that otherwise would have decayed or been destroyed over time.

Pounding can create emotional release and satisfaction for some, and the resulting images can be quite beautiful.

“Hope is like a harebell, trembling from its birth / Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth... / Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth / But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.”

If you are looking for a sweet gift for a loved one or friend, check out antique stores and thrift shops for miniature vases or cute tiny bottles.

Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote, "As long as one has a garden, one has a future and as long as one has a future, one lives."

"Love your garden and work in it, and let it give you what it surely will and let no one feel that the benefit is all on the side of the garden, for truly you will receive more than you give."

Flowering plants are forgiving, and they usually give much more than they receive.

During the 1860s, watercolor paintings by English artists depicted rural scenes with thatched cottages surrounded by profuse cottage gardens. It was an idealized version of English country life.

Lancelot "Capability" Brown, landscaper to the rich and famous in 18th-century England, died in 1783. He advocated vistas that were "simple, uncluttered and restrained."

What gardens existed around the world in In the 6th-13th centuries?

A mixed border is usually a defined space with a mix of perennials, annuals, shrubs, bulbs, and/or grasses with a walk, or path, in front and a wall or a fence behind as a backdrop. A mix of plants of different varieties ensures an extended period of interest.

Shrubs are long-lived garden residents and help create the architecture of a garden.

Streptocarpus are pretty plants to grow once one gets used to their habits.

Caryopteris (Bluebeard) has a winning combination of foliage color and pretty flowers that provide focal points in the fall garden.

As the growing season winds down, there are some plants, known in the trade as season extenders, that bridge the gap between fall and winter in gardens.

Many different flowers have been used as food garnishes. However, there are also many toxic plants in our gardens.

We love flowers, but we should always look at them in the garden, not eat them, as many have also been exposed to chemicals before we purchase them.

It's time to move the houseplants indoors…

Perennial garden plants should bloom sequentially. Plants have bloom times that overlap, hopefully, so there can be a series of different plants in bloom across an entire season.

In the late 18th century, William Morris, a prominent advocate of the Arts and Crafts movement, wanted all of England to become a garden where nothing was wasted.

Late in the summer, Prunus persica produces hard little peaches that I have never have the chance to taste, as they are always knocked off the branches by wild animals.

All azaleas are rhododendrons but not all rhododendrons are azaleas.

Some may not consider the flower pretty, so perhaps "striking” is a better adjective.

There are over 200 species of hibiscus, and they are beloved because of their big showy flowers and green, clean-looking foliage. They fall into three different major categories: tropical, perennial and hardy.

Cottage gardens are the product of the homeowner's own work and vision, and William Robinson advised, "Let the flowers tell their story to the heart."

Later in the summer when garden flowers are less abundant, I look for foliage and other things to use as filler in my vases of cut flowers.

English Lord Holland wrote a poem about his wife who got dahlia seeds from Madrid (via the New World): “The dahlias you brought to our isle, your praises forever shall speak; mid gardens as sweet as your smile, and color as bright as your cheek."

Some types of birds prefer ground level water sources also, so even a plant pot saucer can serve during hot days. You don't need feeders during the summer, but water is crucial in times of drought.

Each of these three types of geraniums is associated with long-billed wading birds.

Canna comes from the Greek word spelled kanna, which means reed, though the canna plant does not have narrow reed-like leaves.

These flowers grow wild, creating deep velvet-red carpets in Nebraskan pastures.

Oenothera fruticosa's common name is sundrops, and its nectar attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.

A suitable habitat for birds includes predictable water sources, an open area of lawn, some dense shrubs for cover, some tall trees, plants with berries, and nesting places for ground birds.

Ageratum pairs well with plants of any color.

This fungus appears white on leaves. Some plants are more susceptible than others and some varieties have more resistance to this disease than others.

Blue false indigo's flowering period is short, but the foliage always looks cool even on the hottest day of summer.

There are about 250 species of these showy herbaceous plants and nearly all are perennial and native to temperate parts of the northern hemisphere.

Native to Mexico, dahlias probably grew in Aztec gardens as they were already in cultivation when the Spaniards arrived.

So many varieties of these gorgeous flowers have travelled here from far-away lands to sweeten the air in our gardens.

Red Hot Pokers belong to the genus Kniphofia (Kniphofia uvaria) and are also known as tritoma or torch lilies.

A poem about rain in the garden by J. Redwood Anderson.

The common name "pinks” does not refer to the color but to the fringed edging of the petals that makes them look as if they had been cut with pinking shears.

When working outdoors we should tuck our pant legs into our socks, wear long sleeves, and use tick repellent often and liberally.

Many of us had grandmothers who used lavender as their signature fragrance.

Research shows that despite the commonly held idea that hummingbirds love red, that is not the case.

Spring is a time to plant perennial chrysanthemums. They'll mature during the summer and produce breathtaking fall color in your garden.

I would not be without my annual larkspur, which I have enjoyed year after year and some often self-seed and return, but in order to be sure, I always buy some seeds. I don't want to risk a year without it!

While roses take care, trial and error over time will help a gardener learn which varieties thrive best in their climate.

There is a large number of more modern hybrid cultivars now available, and some produce flowers in other shades such as white, rose, magenta, burgundy, and purple.

If you want to minimize work in the garden, you can try to plant perennials that do not like to be disturbed and so never need to be divided.

I read of a grower in lower New York who has iris in bloom continuously from February until the end of July.

A walk in the woods in early April, when the air is cool and crisp, allows us the delight of discovering sweet little flowers such as the sharp-lobed Hepatica.

“I have grown wise, after many years of gardening, and no longer order recklessly from wildly alluring descriptions, which make every annual sound easy to grow and as brilliant as a film star.” -Vita Sackville-West

Twinleaf's botanical name celebrates a U.S. president who loved gardens, Thomas Jefferson.

As winter winds down, witch hazel is the shrub to watch.

Many of our best lilacs resulted from the work of Isabella Preston, who spent her career hybridizing plants.

I have been reading a book on flower arranging by Sheila Macqueen published in 1972 in England.

I have been reading a book about women gardeners in times past and find that they have wonderful wisdom to share.

Crocus sativus' stamens are the source of saffron. Henry I of England was so fond of saffron as a spice in food that he forebade ladies in his court from using it as a hair lightener.

Many people want a low-maintenance garden, yet no garden is truly low maintenance, but one possibility is an informal garden of easy-care flowering annuals.

Celia Thaxter gardened on an island off the New England coast.

Groundhogs, whistle pigs, woodchucks--whatever you call them, they hibernate all winter and wake up in the spring feeling ravenous, ready to eat your flowers.

When Beatrix died, she left over 4000 acres to The National Trust to be preserved forever in its natural state. Many visitors come from all over the world to England’s Lake District, looking for Peter Rabbit and his creator.

“She is pleased with her Pinks."

Plants add vitality to our indoor living spaces.

Select the largest herbaceous specimens that you can afford to plant. Otherwise, you may have a large house with tiny little blobs of green lined up in front of the structure for a long time.

Cold-season bloomers are rare in the flower world.

Squirrels are such fun to watch!

James I of Scotland wrote a poem in 1413 describing his view of a densely screened pleasure garden set in a corner of the castle wall.

Dr. Nathanial Ward, a naturalist and physician living in London, discovered a way to transport and protect plants from the sea air and adverse temperatures during long sea voyages.

In the fall deer start on the woody plants and most often go after evergreens in the winter.

Quotes from Violet Stevenson and Gertrude Jekyll.

When cutting flowers from your home garden, it is important to remember that you are subjecting the plant to surgery.

It is hard to find shrubs for deep shade, as few will persist at all...but here a few ideas.

Shade gardens are usually at their best in the spring, but filtered shade gardens can provide summer color, too.

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." This hour on Harmonia, we’ll catch a fright listening to scary sounds for Halloween.

Conifer shrubs and trees need warmer soil to get their roots growing, so plant them as early as possible in the fall.

This hour on Harmonia, we’re listening to the sounds of frogs, snakes, and serpents, both real and mythological.

There are only a few perennials that thrive for many years without being divided and replanted.

Fall is the time to bring indoors all of those houseplants that have been spending the summer outside. I usually also dig up a few annual geraniums that I have had in my beds all summer.

By the end of the 1800s, most types of chrysanthemums had arrived in America.

The name chrysanthemum is from the Greek word for gold “chrysos” and “anthos,” which means flower.

Plants that can tolerate boggy, wet soil exist!

It is easy to get a renewed sense of enthusiasm for gardening when the hottest weather has passed.

Our native perennial coreopsis is a stalwart in many American gardens.

Amaryllis bulbs can be rebuilt so that they can bloom well the following winter indoors.

My current garden is a shadow of its former self...thanks to the urban deer population. However, a few stalwart plants persist.

Globe amaranth dries beautifully for winter bouquets.

Yarrow, “soldier’s woundwart,” “milfoil”—Achillea has many names and many uses.

During our hot Midwestern summers, it is good for pots to get some afternoon shade. Also, pots dry out more quickly, so it is best to plant annuals in the ground.

In very hot weather, remember to water your potted plants twice a day as the soil in pots dries out quickly.

Choose just a few plants that will need minimum attention, and plant something vigorous around the base of the post to soften it.

If I were to start over, and knowing what I now know, I would start with a plan and a clearer idea of the type of garden I wanted.

It was not until the 1920s that it was recognized that cattle that grazed on white snakeroot caused humans to die if they drank the cow’s milk.

The garden is full of plants that are poisonous. Most are not lethal, but a few are, so it is wise to err on the side of caution.

Purple Loosestrife clogs wetlands and waterways, choking out other plants and eliminating food sources for native wildlife. The plant is classified as a federal noxious weed.

Native plants are important to preserve native wildlife and the ecology of our landscape, but some natives will suit our particular climate and garden space better than others.

Some of the best plants in my garden were given to me by other gardeners or came from plant swaps held by garden clubs.

Dainty and durable and deer resistant—just my kind of plant!

There are bound to be some times of the year when there are no flowers in our gardens, and that is when we just have to buy some! A good reliable flower to buy is the South American native alstroemeria.

Brunfelsia is a long-blooming shrub from subtropical Australia, and it triggers lots of memories for me.

The spectacular blooms known as Angel’s Trumpets grow on plants that are vase-shaped shrubs or small trees.

Flowering Tobacco--for minimum effort, a gardener gets maximum results!

It's is a good idea to think about color before you buy a bunch of news plants in springtime.

Springtime = Transplant, delete, cut back.

All Pieris shrubs are evergreen and are related to rhododendrons and mountain laurels.

Calycanthus is a fine sweet shrub that also goes by the name of Carolina allspice.

Our native red and black chokeberry shrubs provide four seasons of interest and are drought tolerant once they are established in gardens

Lindera is a host plant for the promethean moth and the spicebush swallowtail butterfly.

Shrubs are easy-care and long-lived stalwarts in our landscapes in all seasons of the year.

How do we avoid a messy medley of too many plants creating chaos in the garden? I can tell you from personal experience that it isn’t easy!

Now, only about 20% of our cut flowers are grown in California, Washington State, and Oregon, where most used to be grown for domestic sale.

Where do our cut flowers come from? Often, South America. Workers in greenhouses cut each stem individually and immediately place each flower in a bucket of water...

Refrigerated trucks and unheated holds of planes are cold, helping cut flowers from abroad to stay fresh during their journey to the U.S.

Over one-hundred million roses are purchased in the United States for Valentine’s Day each year, and nearly all are red and long stemmed.

What we see from our windows all through the cold days of winter is our garden’s architectural structure formed by the trees and shrubs that are the long-term residents of our gardens year round.

For twenty years Henry Mitchell’s column “Earthman” was a weekly feature in The Washington Post.

African violets are quite happy growing in pots in many of our homes and are easily propagated.

Visitors are not charged to see the 55 acres of gorgeous organic plantings in the heart of this major research university.

Emily Dickinson was a renowned poet, but during her lifetime she was known more for her gardening skills.

Here are few poems written, most of them, very long ago.

There has been so much hybridizing, that the differences between a Thanksgiving and a Christmas cactus have become blurred, so it seems reasonable to refer to them all as Holiday Cactuses nowadays.

This may be the perfect year to simplify our holiday decorations. Rather than buying new items, dig around in your closets and see what you can reinvent.

If you have gardeners on your holiday gift list, you can easily accommodate them from the comfort of your own home. Gift certificates to nurseries in the hometown of your recipients, or from catalogues, are always well received.

Most clivia plants produce orange flowers, but you can impress a gardener by ordering a clivia for them as a holiday gift that produces yellow blooms, as yellow is quite rare and treasured by knowledgeable gardeners.

As we look back on the gardening season, we can assess what worked and what didn’t – our successes and challenges in the garden.

In the fall, I leave a few cone flowers and sunflowers for the birds, otherwise I cut spent flowers right to the ground and clean up the debris. I want the beds clear before the spring daffodils and other bulbs bloom.

My garden is very crowded, and so in the fall, I am always wondering where I can plant more spring bulbs without cutting into the existing ones.

It is easy and fun to save seeds from this year’s annuals.

I used to believe that some plants—like peonies, for example—were immune to deer. Not anymore. I have seen deer eat just about every plant...

Not a pretty name for such an attractive plant.

A plant that attracts butterflies to our garden is the pincushion flower. The botanical name is Scabiosa, and these plants usually have blue, white, or pink flowers. As their common name suggests, the shape of the flower resembles a pincushion as the central florets form a rounded shape.

One often sees Veronia, a.k.a. ironweed, on roadsides and in fields and ditches. The wind disperses the seeds, which explains why it is a surprise when it appears in our gardens like an uninvited guest.

We should cut back most perennials in the fall. They don’t look good once it gets cold, so it is best to cut them to the ground and they will come back well next spring.

Joe-Pye weed looks great next to a splash of sunshine yellow from goldenrod or helianthus.

As summer transitions into fall, we usually rely on mums and asters to give us color as the growing season wanes. But here are some other reliable bloomers.

Surprise lilies bloom from late summer into early September, and their cool pink flowers do indeed surprise us when their pale lily-type blooms suddenly appear on their long bare stalks.

CORRECTION (May 2022): Goldenrod is native to North America but has naturalized and become invasive in parts of Eurasia.

“Heli” means sun and “anthus” means flower.

No Deadheading

William Shakespeare included so many botanical references in his plays that there are about 175 mentions of flowers, fruits, grains, grasses, seeds, weeds, trees, spices, herbs, and vegetables in his works.

Hot & Dry

Janae Cummings speaks with Paul Shoulberg, the writer and director of The Good Catholic and Ms. White Light.

IU Assistant Professor of Photography Elizabeth Claffey speaks with artist Ana Teresa Fernández about the ideas of immigration and gender she explores in her work, and what inspires her to create.

Host Aaron Cain speaks with author and comic Laurie Kilmartin about the anatomy of a good joke, and about how the truth isn’t always funny.

Shayne Laughter speaks with musician, dancer, teacher, and cultural ambassador Kevin Locke.

Payton Knobeloch speaks with New York Times best-selling graphic novelist Nate Powell about how graphic novels and comic books have earned a place in literary culture, and in the classroom.

David Brent Johnson speaks with writer and documentarian Sam Stephenson, about what’s inspired him to create his unique, prize-winning brand of cultural research.