Plants

A Practical Guide to More Blooms and Healthier Plants Lantana is one of those garden plants that seems to become happier as summer becomes hotter. While many flowering plants begin to struggle when temperatures rise and rainfall becomes less predictable, lantana can continue producing clusters of colorful flowers with surprisingly little attention. Its rough-textured foliage, … Read more

Amaryllis are among the most dramatic bulb flowers grown by home gardeners, celebrated for their enormous, trumpet-shaped blooms that unfurl atop tall, sturdy stems, often just in time to brighten homes during the winter holiday season. Most of the amaryllis sold and grown today actually belong to the genus Hippeastrum, native to the tropical and … Read more

A Practical Guide to Bigger Blooms and Repeat Flowering Amaryllis is often treated as a disposable holiday plant. You buy a bulb, place it in a decorative pot, watch a tall flower stalk emerge, enjoy the spectacular blooms, and then—once the flowers fade—the plant is forgotten. That is a shame. A healthy amaryllis bulb can … Read more

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