Focus on Flowers Podcast
1) Allium
Alliums are members of the onion family, and the bulbs are planted in the fall and extend the bloom spring-bulb season. The most spectacular is Allium giganteum with tall, stiff stems tapped with glo...Show More
2) Virginia Sweetspire
If you garden in zones 5 through 9 and are looking for a small to medium shrub that has fall color, Itea virginica, commonly called Virginia Sweetspire, may be a good candidate for you. It has an up...Show More
3) Winterberry
From late fall through winter, Ilex verticillata produces a grand display of bright red berries that persist and light up its branches long after all the leaves have fallen. Commonly called winterbe...Show More
4) Amsonia: Blue Stars
There are some perennials that provide an added bonus of foliage that changes color in the fall. For example, some species of Amsonia feature brilliant yellow foliage. The common name is blue stars, ...Show More
5) Autumn Textures
In Autumn, not only do the colors in the garden seem richer and more mellow, but textures also assume a more dominant role in plantings. The tall sedums become focal points in the perennial beds with...Show More
6) Thinking Ahead
Most of our flowering plants are past their prime in fall, exhausted after their exuberant earlier displays. As we walk around our gardens, we notice all those brown stalks we need to remove from the ...Show More
7) Fall Deadheading and Winter Potpourri
The autumnal equinox occurs during the third week of September. It is the time when the sun crosses the equator making day and night of equal length on all points of the earth. After the equinox in Au...Show More
8) Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums have been grown and hybridized for many centuries it is difficult to determine their parentage. It seems though, that they originated in China. Confucius wrote of them in 500 BC. The ...Show More
9) The Fairy Rose
Greek frescoes from the second millennium B.C. show what is believed to be the earliest known representation of a rose. The name, according to legend, is because a woman of exquisite beauty, Rhodanthe...Show More
10) Gladiolus
The name "gladiolus," is from a Latin word meaning "little sword" because of the shape of the plant's leaves. They grow from corms, which are planted flat side down, two inches apart and at least 4 in...Show More