Pollinators on second shift: moths

Bees are busy all day, but who works the night shift? Moths. Youre familiar with small dull moths that bumble into your porch light, but prettier moths may be

Pollen bees - theres no honey, Honey

Pollen bees? These are the native North American bees that were responsible for all of the pollination before the Europeans brought honey bees to the New Worl

The Infamous Zucchini

Close all the windows and lock all the doors? the zucchini are coming! The much-maligned zucchini is about to multiply in gardens everywhere and soon the same

Invasive Weeds: Creeping Buttercup

A field of white daisies and yellow buttercups is a lovely sight to behold. But if creeping buttercup finds its way into your gardens, youve got trouble with

Dont Kill Those Weeds!!!

Until this gardening year I killed ALL weeds, without mercy. It was a never-ending and tedious job. No matter what weed cloth I used, no matter how thick the

Garden Photography - Choosing a Camera

Welcome to summer! Gardens across the northern hemisphere have burst into life and color. Wouldn?t it be great to capture all this beauty in an image to keep

The Tropical Iris: Neomarica and Dietes

While we are all familiar with iris, you may not be aware that there are several iris look-alikes native to more tropical environments. These iris wannabes in

The Uncommon Common Sorrel

Sorrel has been around for thousands of years, found both in edible dishes and herbal preparations, but generally under-used as a food in the United States. T

Lets go bananas!

According to official sources each French person consumes annually some 9.6kg of bananas, the most marketed fruit in the world. But although many are familiar

Is it a Huckleberry or a Blueberry?

Every summer during my childhood, my family and I picked what I always believed were huckleberries. They were the main ingredient in many tasty dumplings, cob

Tung-oil, an Environmentally Safe Wood Preservative

Memories of Granddaddy?s tung-oil tree orchard are favorites in my repository of childhood recollections. I recall running among the trees on Sunday afternoon

Alocasia robusta - the Giant that will bring you to your knees!

Impossibly huge leaves and plants are often the Holy Grail for tropical plant lovers, whether their gardens are in the deep tropics or in temperate zones. Non

Lotus for Containers: Who knew exotic could be so EASY?

I was browsing online last winter, thinking of ordering some new water lilies, when a selection of lotuses caught my eye. I?d never envisioned growing these e

Nothing Better Than A Linden Tea

Beautiful yellow flowers, looking like fireworks, with a strong scent and a delicious sweet taste, great for hot tea on a cold winter night. If you guessed li

Garbage Gardening: Grow a Pineapple Fruit Tree Plant!

Dont throw out that pineapple fruit top! Enjoy a bit of the tropics by growing your own pineapple fruit plant.

What to do with all that thyme

It?s hard to have too much time in a day. But it?s easy to have more thyme than you can use in your garden. The plants spread horizontally, forming an attract

Sago Palm care and cultivation

This article is an introduction to this common and highly ornamental cycad known as the Sago Palm (NOT a palm by the way). Included are suggestions on how to

House Plants as Décor: From Jumbled to Just Right

As gardeners we want what we want, which is generally every plant we come across. As a result, indoor gardeners often end up with a plant on every surface, si

The Sweet Gum Tree

My neighbor has a sweet gum tree in her back yard. My house sits on a diagonal downhill slope from hers, and I have the most glorious view of the tree in the

Ornamental Squash for Fall Decorating

Each fall it seems that the colorful assortment of ornamental squash and pumpkins appearing in produce departments and farm stands becomes ever more diverse.