KarensGardenTips.com Practical tips to help you get the most out of your garden.

Time 2020-12-14 18:02:46

Web Name: KarensGardenTips.com Practical tips to help you get the most out of your garden.

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Native to the woodlands of China and Japan, this slender, branched, deciduous shrub is a member of the witch hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, that also includes loropetalum, fothergill, and persian ironwood.  Growing up to 10 tall, it and has blue-green heart-shaped leaves 2-4 wide that turn dark yellow, orange, red, and purple as temperatures cool.  In the fall, plants produce tiny purplish 5-petaled flowers that have are  starfish-shaped,  3/4 wide, andmildly fragrant.  The fruit is a 2-lobed capsule containing several glossy black seeds and ripens the following fall.  Plants are note worthy for producing good fall color in light shade but should be protected from wind that will damage the foliage.  They are a good choice for borders, cottage gardens, and nautalized areas.  The genus name, Disanthus, comes from the Greek words dix meaning twice, and anthos meaning flower and refers to the position of the flowers in pairs.  The specific epithet, cercidifolius,  comes from the genus name of redbuds, Ceris, and the Latin suffix -folius, meaning leaved, and refers to the similarity of redbud leaves to the leaves of this species.   [click to continue ]Also called false Queen Anne’s lace, bishop’s flower, and bullwort, this annual is native to parts of Europe and the Middle East. It is a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae) and resembles cow parsley. The leaves are pinnate and the small white flowers are carried in compound umbels up to five inches across. The flowers appear in summer over a long bloom time and are excellent for the vase lasting up to ten days. Plants can be raised from seed sown in fall or spring but seed sown in the fall gives rise to earlier bloom and bigger more prolific plants. Outstanding selections include Queen of Africa (3-4 tall), Snowflake (3 tall, 2-3 wide flowers), and White Dill (whiter flowers than species).  Take care when handling the plants because the sap from the stems can cause skin irritation. [click to continue ]This herbaceous perennial, also known as Appalachian sunflower and hair wood sunflower, is native to southeastern US where it grows in woodlands and disturbed areas such as meadow, fields and roadways.  It is a member of the aster family, Asteraceae, that also includes daisy, yarrow, and lettuce. Plants grow 3-5 tall and have stems that are hairy  in the lower half and carry mostly basal leaves that are lanceolate to ovate, hairy and rough on top, and have crenate or serrate margins and winged petioles.  From mid to late summer plants produce 1-15 flowerheads that are up to 2 wide and have 10-15 yellow ray flowers surrounding a center of 75 or more red or purple disc flowers. The flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies and the seeds are eaten by songbirds, ruffed grouse, quail, morning doves, and small mammals.  Purple disc sunflower is an excellent choice for a wildlife, butterfly, native plant, cottage, or woodland garden. The genus name, Helianthus, comes from the Greek words helios, meaning sun, and anthos meaning flower and and may refer to the resemblance of the flowerhead to the sun.   The specific epithet, atrorubens, comes from the Latin words ater meaning black and ruber meaning red, and refers to the color of the disc flowers. [click to continue ]Aquilegia is a genus of perennials in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, that also includes monkshood, anemone, and delphinium.  It is native to many areas of the Northern Hemisphere including the US, where it grows in meadows and woodlands.  The plants are valued for their mounding foliage and unique spurred flowers.  Growing from a thick taproot, the plants produce an attractive mound of pinnately compound long petioled leaves with fan-shaped leaflets under 1 long.  The nodding or upright flowers  appear in spring to summer and have  a central column of stamens surrounded by five petals with long spurs and five petal-like sepals that may or may  not be the same color as the petals.  Aquilegias tend to be short lived but some reseed. The genus name, Aquilegia, comes from the Latin word aquila meaning eagle and perhaps refers to the resemblance of the spurs to the talons of an eagle. [click to continue ]Also known as wiry lotus, broom bird s-foot trefoil, and desert rockpea, this twiggy perennial is a subshrub native to southwestern US and Mexico from Utah and California, south to northwestern Mexico  where it grows along roadsides, on dry slopes and plains, and in the Mohave and Sonora deserts.  It is a member of the pea family, Fabaceae, that also includes lupine, mimosa, and black locust.  Plants grow 1-3 tall and have wiry upright stems covered with short bristly hairs.  The gray-green egg-shaped leaves are sparsely distributed along the stems and are compound with 3-4 leaflets 2-6 long.  From late winter to spring 1-3 yellow pea-shaped flowers appear and slowly become tinted with red as they age.  Each flower  is 1/4- 3/4 long and has a backward curving banner and 2 wing petals surrounding the 2 smaller keel petals. The green to reddish seed pods are slender with an up-slanted pointed tip.  Plants are a food source for desert tortoises and the flowers attract hummingbirds and bees. Shrubby deervetch is a good choice for  desert gardens and xerscapes. The genus name, Lotus, is the Greek and Latin name for a several plants including some that are not related to those in this genus.  The specific epithet, rigidus, is the Latin word meaning stiff. [click to continue ]In her book Singing Crickets, author Linda Glaser introduces readers to the life cycle of field crickets. She begins when Papa cricket rubs his musical wings to attract Mama cricket and ends with his male offspring starting the cycle over again. We learn how crickets lay eggs, hear, molt, and flee from predators, and see eggs turn into larvae, and then adults. The emphasis is on the singing of the crickets with the author making the point that male crickets can sing only after they have molted for the last time and grow wings that they rub together to produce the singing sound. [click to continue ]Rubarb (Rheum spp) is a genus of about 60 species and in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, that includes sorrel, sea grape, and the pesky Japanese knotweed. Rheum species have large deciduous triangular leaves with long fleshy stems (petioles) and although the leaves are toxic, the petioles are not. The flowers are small and carried in leafy panicles . Some species have been cultivated for their herbal qualities, others for food, and still other for their ornamental value in the garden. Rubarbs like fertile, moist soil and plenty of direct light. Rhubarbs are generally cool weather plants but hardiness varies with the species. [click to continue ]Red calico plant is an evergreen tender perennial and  a member of the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae, that also includes beets, spinach, celosia, and gomphrena.  It is native to Brazil but is grown for its foliage in tropical and subtropical gardens and as a container and house plant.  The plants grow 8-20 tall and have erect branched stems carrying  variegated foliage. The oval to spatulate leaves are green sometimes tinged with red or yellow and are carried on short petioles.  In fall 2-5 white to cream colored flowers appear in terminal or axillary globose clusters less than 1/4 in diameter. The flowers lack petals and are not interesting ornamentally.  This species is very similar to A. ficoides and is sometimes considered a variety of that species.   The genus name, Alternanthera, comes from the Latin word alternus meaning alternating and the Greek word anthos meaning flower but later used to refer to the pollen bearing part of the flower.  The term refers to the arrangement of the anthers in the flowers.  The specific epithet, bettzickiana, honors the 19th century gardener August Bettzick. [click to continue ]Carrotwood, also known as tuckeroo and beach tamarind, is a slender evergreen tree native to coastal areas and wetlands of Australia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. It is commonly used as a street tree especially in coastal areas of California but has become a problem in southern Florida where it has invaded spoil islands, beach dunes, marshes, tropical hammocks, pinelands, mangrove and cypress swamps, scrub habitats, and coastal strands. Plants have a single trunk with rough grey outer bark and orange inner bar. The compound leaves are yellow-green and glossy, and have four to twelve leaflets two to eight inches long. Separate small white to yellow male and female flowers appear on the same tree in winter and female flowers give way to capsules ¼-1” in diameter. The capsules are orange to yellow when ripe in the summer and contain three black seeds. Fruit is attractive to birds but can cause litter problems. Plant prefer full sun and wet to moist soil, but tolerate drought and salt. USDA Hardiness Zones 10-11 [click to continue ]Beefsteak plant is a clump-forming broadleaf evergreen shrub native to Polynesia and is a member of the spurge family, Euphorbaceae, that also includes poinsettia, croton, and caster oil plant.  It grows  60-79 tall and has densely branched stems carrying ovate  leaves  with pointed tips and toothed margins.  The leaves are up to 6 long and dark green variegated with pink.  Axillary catkins of male and female flowers are produced on different plants in summer.  Male catkins are  4.7 long while female catkins are 3 long.  The inconspicuous flowers are small, petaless, and greenish.  The fruits are tiny red capsules.  The plant is grown for its striking foliage that can add a tropical look to a garden as a hedge, specimen, or container plant.  If grown in a container, the plant will be smaller and can be taken in doors in the fall in hardiness zones colder than 9.   The genus name, Acalypha, comes from akalephe, the ancient Greek name for nettle, and refers to the nettle-like appearance of the leaves.  The specific epithet, godseffiana, honors Joseph Godseff (ca. 1846 1921), a professional English plant collector. 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