Sundays after church, my dad would pile the family into the car and take us for a drive through the countryside just outside the boundaries of the big city. We would see miles of delicate pink flowers lining the edges of the roads, growing the cracks in the sidewalk, and on the banks of the hills. Pink evening primrose is one of the wildflowers …
Garden Plant Information
Information about how to grow, where to plant, how to propagate, soil and sun requirements, and more for garden plants and flowers. Discover new plants for your garden or learn more about plants already in your garden.
Early Spring Wildflowers of the Southeast – Trillium, Jack in the Pulpit, and Bloodroot
The first flowers to show their faces after winter are the native wildflowers. By mid to late-March, they are usually in full bloom. Bloodroot, trillium, and Jack in the pulpit are some of my favorite early-blooming southeastern native plants. Which one is your favorite? Incorporate Native Plants in Your Garden Choosing to incorporate native …
The Rarely Seen Cast Iron Plant Flower
As I was working to remove some hellebores, ferns, hydrangeas, and cast iron plants from my shade garden, I made an interesting discovery at the base of the cast iron plants, hidden under the leaves - a cluster of cast iron plant flowers! When I dug up the base of the cast iron plant and saw the flower, my first thought was, 'It's the plant from …
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Japanese Honeysuckle vs Native Honeysuckle Vine
Have you ever plucked a honeysuckle flower, turned it around, and gently sucked the nectar from the tube-shaped back of the flower? If you grew up in the southeastern U.S., I bet you did. That taste of super-sweet honey nectar always makes me think of summer nights spent chasing fireflies and summer days spent running wild and free. Imagine …
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Cypress Vine: Delicate, But Aggressive
In spring, my cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) is covered by tiny, star-shaped, brilliantly red flowers. Although the flowers are tiny, they really stand out against the light green of the leaves and vine. My favorite part about the cypress vine is its dainty, feather-like leaves. The leaves look so fragile and fairy-like that, even when it …
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Low-Maintenance Container Gardens with Cacti or Succulents
With the hot sun and high humidity of our southern summers, sprinkling many container gardens around my yard usually means I'll have to water them a lot each week. Watering my container gardens is a tedious chore. The hose gets tangled on everything, my shoes usually end up getting wet, and it gives the mosquitoes plenty of time to suck my veins …
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