AMERICAN GARDENER

Hostas are often described as shade-loving plants, but that description doesn’t tell the whole story. Their real attraction is not only their flowers. It is the foliage—the broad leaves, unusual textures, and changing shades of green, blue, yellow, and cream that can give a garden structure from spring through fall. A healthy hosta can look … Read more

A Practical Guide to Tall, Healthy Blooms Hollyhocks are not subtle flowers. When they are happy, they can send tall flowering stalks several feet into the air, turning an otherwise ordinary garden border into a vertical wall of color. Their large, open flowers appear along the stems one after another, creating a display that can … Read more

Peonies are the kind of flowers that reward gardeners who are willing to think long term. A newly planted peony may look surprisingly unimpressive compared with the spectacular plant you imagined. It may produce only a few leaves, or perhaps no flowers at all during its first season. But underground, the plant is establishing the … Read more

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