No plant says “Christmas” more than the poinsettia, a native plant of Mexico, which has become the quintessential symbol of the holiday season. Christmas cards depicting poinsettia flowers, artificial poinsettia blooms to enhance outdoor — and sometimes indoor — Christmas décor, and even holiday china painted with this enduring festive symbol abound at this time
Poinsettias and Christmas
Brighten up with a pot of tulips
My wife and I had friends visit near the end of February and they brought us a pot of tulips. Although their visit was enough to lighten our spirits on a cloudy, winter day, the tulips continued to perform that task for the next couple of weeks — long after they had departed. When it
Two quick tips
Phoney foliage I am not a great fan of fake flowers and foliage, but I do have a few sprigs of good-quality artificial foliage that I use from time to time. It came in handy this spring when I received my bunch of Cancer Society daffodils. I stuck them into a vase but the arrangement
What to know when choosing seeds
In the spring gardeners are busy planning their summer gardens, and one of the enjoyable tasks is choosing and purchasing of seeds both for the vegetable garden and for the flower border. There are a few points to keep in mind when doing this job so that the garden produces its maximum output. Rather than
Starting slips and cuttings
Most plants used in our outdoor gardens are grown from seed, and in many cases, these seeds are planted indoors in early spring to produce good-size seedlings by planting-out time. There are many plants, however, which are grown from cuttings (or what some gardeners refer to as slips) rather than seeds. It may be that
Try a Puruvian daffodil
During April, garden centres and many retail establishments have shelves loaded with bulbs, tubers and corms of exotic plants of every description. A few years ago I purchased some Puruvian daffodils. These wonderful bulbs have produced lovely blooms for my outdoor garden every year since I bought them, and the bulbs keep reproducing so that
It’s time to plant pepper seeds
It might be difficult to start thinking about the outdoor garden since it still looks very much like winter. There are plants we grow outside, however, that must be given a head start if they are going to be productive during the summer because of our short growing season. Peppers are good candidates for seeding
Basil adds zest and flavour
With variety names like “Magical Michael,” “Siam Queen,” “Red Rubin,” and “Genovese,” is it any wonder that a few sprigs of basil will perk up a salad made from store-bought greens in late winter — particularly if the basil is homegrown? The names of these basil varieties alone are enough to whet the appetite and
Interesting and unique gasteria
Gasteria plants are succulents — a term applied to plants that have the ability to hold large amounts of water in their tissues. They belong to a number of different plant families and within each plant family are a number of genera and within each genus are many species. The genus gasteria belongs to the
Brighten up with a kalanchoe
During the winter many folks like to purchase a bright, flowering plant to add a bit of cheer and colour to the indoors of their own homes or those of shut-ins and friends. Many of these are what I call “disposable” plants in that they are inexpensive, so many people enjoy their beauty while it
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
