Audrey is the author of the Thyme Will Tell mystery series from WaterBrook Press (Random House) and an e-book of humorous rural romances titled Love and Other Lunacies. In addition to digging up plots--both garden variety and novel--the former Master Gardener writes free articles on plant history and folklore for her Thyme Will Tell site and posts her photos at GardenPhotographs.net . Audrey also designs hay-seedy stuff and nonsense for her Rustic Ramblings Zazzle store, and indulges in mystery novels, apologetics, cryptic crosswords, old lace, beads, and Border Collies. Follow her on Google.
My aunt Marie lived all her life on the old home place, and the farmhouse became shaded over time. Her windowsill geraniums grew gangly, but her strappy fire lily (Clivia miniata) didn't seem to mind the low light levels at all, and faithfully continued to send up its 8 to 10-inch-wide cluster of gaudy orange blooms once a year. Read More
Like outdated hippies, the lily of the valley trees (Elaeocarpus spp.) sport bells with frayed edges, sometimes accompanied by "beads" of an almost psychedelic hue. Unfortunately, most are only hardy to USDA zone 10, putting them "on the fringe" in more ways than one! The type which most impressed me, the blue marble tree (Elaeocarpus angustifolius or grandis), can grow to 150 feet in the Australian rainforest with buttress roots. So it may be too much of a good thing for most landscapes anyway. Read More
This article should probably be subtitled "The Ravages of Root Rot." That malady might be called the cancer of the plant world, as it is one of the most frequent killers. Like cancer, it often seems to strike suddenly, but actually festers in secret before it becomes obvious. It can leave many an overconscientious gardener asking, "Why is my plant so sick when I take such good care of it?" Read More
At first glance, veltheimia is one of those flowers that might be called more interesting-looking than beautiful. But, hey, any blooms that appear during the winter seem spectacular to me! And, as you can confirm from Kelley's photos below, veltheimia flowers are truly exquisite close-up. They were popular parlor plants during the Victorian era, when parlors were on the chilly side. Read More
Being fond of exotic plants, I like to snoop through other nations' flora to find flowers or trees which are new to me. Because Venezuela includes tropical, subtropical, mountain and high mountain zones, it is home to over 20,000 plant species. They range from tree-hugging orchids in the rainforest to alpine species shivering on chilly peaks. Read More
Years ago I purchased some bulbs of an aquarium plant from a department store. After sticking them in the gravel at the bottom of my then very bare-looking goldfish tank, I waited. . .and waited. . .and waited. . . Those bulbs never did sprout. I'm not sure whether they eventually rotted or whether my two fish ate them. They eat about everything else in there! Read More
Many unusual fruits are misleadingly named after more common types. However, some of those exotic "imposters" are actually easier to grow than the better-known varieties -- and succulent enough to stand on their own merits! The first three listed here are only hardy in the warmer zones. Being small trees, however, they adapt well to containers. Read More
Named for its round calyxes, which resemble conical Asian hats, the Mandarin Hat Plant is also known as Chinese Hat, Parasol Flower, or Cup & Saucer. It blooms most heavily in fall and winter, a season when we all need more warm-or at least warmly hued-caps. Read More
As I briefly mentioned in a previous article, one of my blooming-est plants is a yellow bush allamanda, probably A. neriifolia. It flowers for most of the year, except during the times after I have just whacked it back. Such pruning is necessary when the plant stays under a fluorescent grow light for at least seven months of the year. Read More
For those of us who enjoy germinating "difficult" seeds, the paper towel method is almost a necessity. You can, after all, tuck a whole stack of damp paper towels into a small cardboard box at the back of your refrigerator. Your family, however, wouldn't appreciate you stashing flats of seed-starting mix back there instead--for months at a time! Read More
The Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) used to be the last perennial, with the exception of monkshood, blooming in my garden in October. Admittedly, it can grow to 10 feet and holds most of its flowers very close to its stalk, for a decidedly gangly look. In my flowerbed, the lanky latecomer also tended to slouch against nearby plants or sprawl at somewhat drunken angles, since I never got around to staking it. Read More
Like the lady's slipper about which I wrote earlier, the greater fringed gentian (Gentianopsis crinita) is one of those wildflowers which should, theoretically, grow in my region. I say "should" because I've never seen one! With lovely blue to blue-violet petals edged with long fringes, this wildling frequently succumbs to people's urge to pick it, and has become endangered in many states. Read More
I hate to admit that I completely forgot about my dahlia tubers until early July of this summer. They were stored in the cold room in the basement and, by that time, the new shoots had pushed the taped lids of their cardboard boxes open. Usually, however, even dahlias that are planted right after the last spring frost here in Zone 5 don't have time to do much blooming before the first autumn frost. Read More
As luck would have it, the bug that does the most damage to my garden is also one of the hardest to kill. The four-lined plant bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus) is especially fond of members of the mint family, and shows up most heavily on my lemon balm and spearmint plants. Read More
This is probably the wrong year to talk about providing water for the birds here in Pennsylvania, since they can find plenty of it in puddles following our recent deluge! In more normal summers, however, our weather often begins to turn hot and dry in July. Read More
Although rehmannia or Chinese foxglove is virtually unknown to U.S. gardeners, it ranks among the top 50 in China-of medicinal herbs, that is! Rehmannia glutinosa, also known as "earth yellow," is the type used for that purpose. Its furry leaves and flowers remind me of gesneriads such as gloxinia. Read More
Although often considered southern belles, spring starflowers (Ipheion or Tristagma spp.) can shine as far north as zone 5. Since that is my own zone, I planted a few bulbs at the front of a flower bed last fall, covering them with an upside-down daisy tray (a flat with a webbed bottom) to prevent our chickens from scratching them up again. Read More
A cousin stopped by in mid-July to give me a very generous amount of Aztec liliy and Peruvian daffodil bulbs she hadn't gotten around to planting earlier in the summer, due to the death of her mother. Despite it being so late, I was highly optimistic about those bulbs, because I knew from previous experience that they bloom very rapidly. Read More
Sparmannia africana, also known as cape stock rose, is one of those plants that bristles when touched. Actually, only the showy stamens of the flowers move, expanding when something brushes against them. But, if you grow the cape stock rose as a houseplant, it could cause your guests to jump back and squeal, "It's alive!" Read More
These three substances sound nasty and the latter two somewhat chemical. They are all natural, however--as well as inexpensive--and can do wonders for your seed germination rates. Read More
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