a forum for local gardeners to swap plants, exchange ideas, and discuss gardening techniques.
Let’s talk begonias. Begonias are useful plants. They not only make excellent houseplants, but they can be used as bedding plants outdoors. They fit well into planters, hanging baskets, and window boxes. They are a very versatile plant. The different varieties look so different that the inexperienced gardener might be hesitant to call some of […]
Lactuca serriola This has been a great year for weeds. Not only have they proliferated like the meaning of the word but some of them have reached an extraordinary size. One that you might have noticed is prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola). This form of wild lettuce was introduced from Eurasia but now grows wild in […]
Marsilea mutica Say the word fern and people instantly conjure images of a green, feathery plant that is, well,…… ferny. But of course, the typical ferny leaf is but one body design used in this ancient and extremely variable group of plants. One of the oddball ferns, the water clover (Marsilea mutica), looks like your […]
Oenothera sp. There are 145 species of evening-primrose. Some do indeed, as their name suggests, open at night to the delight of the moths that pollinate them. Others bloom during the daytime. Some are biennial, some are annual, some are perennial and some cross the lines. Pat brought us a video of one of the […]
Ampelamus albidus Milkweed in all of its manifestations is the plant of the year because it is the host plant for the monarch butterfly. Other than the common milkweed there are other species of milkweed that the monarch caterpillar will feed on. We are all familiar with butterfly weed and swamp milkweed that are all […]