Plants

The Sedge Genus That Quietly Does Everything Carex is one of the largest plant genera on Earth, a group of grass-like perennials called sedges that grow in nearly every habitat from mountaintops to coastal sand dunes. Most gardeners walk past them without a second look, which is a shame, because few plants offer so much … Read more

Determinate tomatoes are the compact, bush-type plants that grow to a set size, set fruit on the ends of their shoots, and ripen most of the crop in a short stretch. They’re also called bush tomatoes, and they’re the reason a gardener with a patio, a small bed, or a canning project can grow tomatoes … Read more

Indeterminate tomato varieties are the vining tomatoes that keep growing, flowering, and ripening fruit all season until frost shuts them down. Where a determinate plant stops at a set size and delivers most of its crop in a few weeks, an indeterminate plant keeps adding new stem, new flower clusters, and new tomatoes for months. … Read more

Determinate vs indeterminate tomatoes is the single most useful distinction on a seed packet, because it tells you how big the plant will get, how much work it needs, and when the fruit will arrive. Every tomato variety falls into one of these 2 growth habits, or lands in a middle category called semi-determinate, and … Read more

The Fragrant Shrub With a Famous Reputation for Being Fussy Gardenia is one of the most beloved fragrant shrubs in the American South, prized for waxy white blooms whose sweet, spicy scent can drift across an entire yard on a warm evening. It’s also one of the most notoriously temperamental, a plant that rewards the … Read more

Bottle tree describes a genuinely remarkable group of Australian trees built around one of the more elegant survival strategies found anywhere in the plant world: a swollen, bulbous trunk that stores water during the wet season and slowly draws on that reserve to survive months of drought. The most dramatic species in the genus look … Read more

Crowea offers a genuinely refreshing change of pace among Australian native plant genera: rather than sprawling across hundreds of species like so many of its Proteaceae relatives, this particular genus contains just 3 recognized species, each one well documented, individually distinctive, and collectively responsible for one of the more reliable splashes of color in a … Read more

Isopogon is a genus of roughly 35 to 40 Australian shrubs best known by the common name drumsticks, a direct reference to the distinctive round, woody, cone-like fruit that persists on the plant for months or even indefinitely after flowering. Closely related to grevillea and banksia within the broader protea family, Isopogon brings its own … Read more

Grevillea is a genuinely staggering genus by any measure, spanning around 360 species that range from low, ground-hugging shrubs under half a meter tall to towering trees reaching 35 meters, all unified by the distinctive spidery, nectar-rich flowers that give the genus its common name, spider flower. It’s the third-largest genus of Australian flowering plants, … Read more

Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleyanum) is a small evergreen tree or shrub grown for its attractive foliage and flavorful fruit. It belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is related to the common guava (Psidium guajava). Unlike common guava, strawberry guava usually produces smaller, round fruits with a thin skin and a distinctive sweet-tart flavor. The … Read more