Plants

Lisianthus, botanically known as Eustoma grandiflorum, is one of the most elegant flowers grown for both garden display and the cut-flower trade, prized for its delicate, rose-like blooms and long, graceful stems. Native to the warm grasslands of the southern United States, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean, lisianthus has been extensively hybridized over the … Read more

A Practical Guide to Getting More Blooms Lisianthus is one of those flowers that can fool you into thinking you are doing something wrong. The seeds are tiny. Germination can be slow. Young plants seem to grow almost painfully slowly, and months may pass before the first flower appears. Then, seemingly all at once, the … Read more

A Practical Guide to Long-Lived Winter and Spring Blooms Hellebores are unusual garden flowers. While many perennials wait for warm weather before showing signs of life, hellebores can begin flowering when the garden still looks dormant. Their nodding flowers may appear in late winter or early spring, sometimes pushing through cold weather when little else … Read more

Zinnias are among the most rewarding annual flowers a gardener can grow, known for their vivid color range, long bloom season, and remarkable ease of cultivation from seed. Native primarily to Mexico and the southwestern United States, zinnias belong to the genus Zinnia within the daisy family, and their popularity has led breeders to develop … Read more

A Practical Guide to Bigger Blooms and Healthier Plants Zinnias are the kind of flowers that make a garden look productive even when you have done very little to it. Give them sunlight, reasonable soil, enough space, and occasional water, and they can produce flowers for months. But there is an important distinction between simply … Read more

How I Grew Better Tomatoes by Changing Just Five Things: A Practical Guide Based on Observation and Gardening Science Most tomato-growing guides tell you to “plant in full sun, water regularly, and fertilize.” While that’s true, those tips alone don’t explain why one gardener harvests hundreds of healthy tomatoes while another ends up with diseased … Read more

Cosmos Flowers Thrive When You Stop Treating Them Like Delicate Garden Plants: A Practical Guide to Growing and Caring for Cosmos Few flowers offer as much beauty for so little effort as cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus and Cosmos sulphureus). Their delicate, daisy-like blooms dance above airy foliage, attracting butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects while adding … Read more

Fruit flies are among the most persistent little pests that can appear in a kitchen. You may notice only two or three hovering around a fruit bowl, but their numbers can increase surprisingly quickly when they find suitable food and breeding conditions. Ripe fruit, vegetable scraps, spilled drinks, garbage, recycling containers, and damp organic residue … Read more

Fruit flies are tiny, but a few of them can quickly become a frustrating kitchen problem. They are especially common around ripe fruit, spilled juice, garbage, recycling containers, drains, and other places where small amounts of organic material are available. The reason fruit flies can seem to appear out of nowhere is their rapid reproductive … Read more

Fruit flies can appear almost overnight, especially when ripe fruit, vegetables, spilled juice, or other moist organic material is left around the kitchen. Although these tiny insects are not usually dangerous, a large infestation can become extremely annoying and difficult to control if the breeding source is overlooked. Fruit flies are particularly attracted to fermenting … Read more