Grow a vibrant and beautiful flower garden! Discover expert tips on planting, caring for, and enjoying a stunning display of blooms.
Thanksgiving flowers usually gather in one place, and the rest of the house gets nothing. This collection spreads 45 flower arrangements across every room, from the entryway console to the porch steps, so guests meet flowers at the door, in…
Ramorum blight has no cure. The 9 strategies below keep Phytophthora ramorum out of the garden and out of the region, starting with the buying habits that stop the pathogen at the nursery gate. The pathogen is a water mold,…
You can learn how to grow butterfly pea for blue tea in a single warm season. One vine gives you fresh flowers for the cup from summer into fall. Scarify the seed, soak it for 24 hours, and sow after…
Start one 10 to 15 cm cutting in a small pot this spring and plan on 3 to 5 years before the first flower. That is how to grow night blooming cereus indoors: a jungle cactus in a pot, bright…
Hold one suspect leaf to the light and read the veins before you reach for a spray. That is the whole foliar nematode test in miniature. The rest of this page is 9 strategies, from that vein check to the…
Sow 6 papaya seeds in small pots, thin to the strongest seedlings, and keep the plants that throw long, branching flower sprays. That is how to grow papaya for flowers. The rest of this page is 16 steps, from the…
Learn how to grow Sesbania grandiflora from seed: soak the hard seed for 24 hours, sow it 6 mm deep in warm soil, and expect sprouts in 7 to 21 days at 20 to 35 degrees. In warm climates the…
Web blight is a fast foliar disease caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani. It webs leaves together with fine tan mycelium, turns them dark brown or black, and collapses whole plants in hot humid weather. The 9 strategies below stop…
Impatiens necrotic spot virus has no cure. Once the virus enters a plant, the plant stays infected for life, and western flower thrips carry the virus from plant to plant for the rest of their lives. The 9 strategies below…
Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) is a rhizomatous, semi-evergreen perennial that builds a thick, weed-resistant carpet 30 to 45 cm tall and up to 61 cm (24 inches) wide per plant, and it takes dry shade beneath trees and shrubs better…
Buy one pot-grown alstroemeria and slide the whole root ball into the ground without breaking it apart. That is how to grow alstroemeria that keeps blooming year after year. The rest of this page is 14 moves, from the pot…
Block 14 hours of light every night for 6 weeks and a spent kalanchoe sets buds again. That is the entire rebloom trick, and it is the reason most kalanchoes bloom once in the store and never again at home.…
Start with the climate, not the flower. Begonias split into 4 garden groups (wax, tuberous, cane, and rex), and each one wants a different mix of sun, cold tolerance, and winter storage. Tuberous begonias grow the largest blooms but demand…
Set an anthurium 1 to 2 meters from an east-facing window, where it catches at least 4 hours of bright, indirect light a day. Hold humidity at 60 to 80 percent and keep the room between 18 and 27 degrees…
Decide the self-seeding question before you buy the first plant, because one clump flowers for 5 months, from early summer to frost, and drops its seeds wherever the wind and the birds carry them. That is the whole game of…
Learning how to grow echinacea from seed takes a cold stretch in the refrigerator, 10 to 20 days of warm patience after sowing, and then a full quiet year before the flowers arrive. Stratify the seed cold and moist, sow…
3 plant groups wear the grass costume, but only 1 of them is a grass. True grasses belong to the Poaceae family. Strappy lilies belong to the asparagus and flax-lily families. Lamb’s ear belongs to the mint family. Anyone who…
Pin down which of the 4 common hydrangea types you own before you cut a single stem. That identification is the heart of how to grow hydrangeas well: the species sets the pruning date, the sun exposure, and whether the…
Set bare-root peony crowns with their eyes exactly 2.5 to 5 cm below the soil surface in autumn, and give them a real winter. That is how to grow peonies that actually bloom. The rest of this page is 15…
Pot one torch ginger rhizome division 2 to 3 inches deep in spring, and plan on moving a 2-to-3-foot container indoors before nights drop below 50°F (10°C). That is how to grow torch ginger (Etlingera elatior), the kecombrang of Indonesian…
