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Evening Scented Stocks are combined here with dark-purple petunias.
Country Crossroads

Evening Scented Stocks will provide wonderful perfume at night

The pleasant aroma will more than make up for this rather nondescript plant

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Plants that provide us with sensory delights in the garden are much sought after like those that exude wonderful scent to the surrounding air. Most highly scented plants emit their perfume abundantly in the evening and overnight and the Evening Scented Stock (Matthiola longipetala) is no exception. During the day this nondescript plant, whose flowers
We urban gardeners envy the space available to rural gardeners for growing lots of vegetables.
Country Crossroads

Planning and planting the veggie garden

Whether it’s a large patch or a smaller one, there’s a few things that will help to make it a success

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Growing your own vegetables is a great way to connect with nature and to gain a supply of good-quality food, and for those who prefer organic, growing your own veggies ensures control over what techniques (and chemicals) are used. There is great satisfaction in being able to grow some of your own food and I
The daisy-like blooms can be orange, yellow or red.
Country Crossroads

Start some tithonia seeds for added colour in the garden

This member of the sunflower family is also very drought tolerant

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A few weeks ago, I was looking through the seed display in the local hardware store. One of the flowers in the display was something I had grown a long time ago but have not grown since — tithonia. As I held the seed packet, deliberating whether to buy it, I tried to figure out
Seed catalogues are a good source of information about planting dates.
Use clean containers, a sterile planting medium, and don’t forget to label

Country Crossroads

It’s time to start planting!

Not all seeds should be started yet indoors but there are some that can be planted now

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It’s time! Mid-March, for avid gardeners, is like a bell ringing. We can begin to start some seeds indoors to establish plants for our outdoor gardens. Many of us have already ordered seeds from catalogues or visited seed houses that sell them. (I luckily live fairly close to a really reliable one that has been
Foxtail ferns ready for sale in a greenhouse.
Country Crossroads

Asparagus fern not a member of the asparagus family

Common name comes from the feathery, delicate-looking foliage

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Many of the plants in my sunroom in the winter are ones that I use both indoors and out. Some of them are old tried-and-true favourites, such as the asparagus fern. These are dependable, easy-to-grow plants that can put on an attractive display of foliage. An asparagus fern is delicate looking (although it really isn’t)
These small offshoots of G. maculata have been detached from the parent plant and planted into a container for future use.
Country Crossroads

Looking for a low-maintenance indoor plant?

Succulents have the ability to hold large amounts of water in their tissues

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Several of my gardening friends are very knowledgeable about plant classification and their Latin names and can identify the family name. This doesn’t interest me much but I do use this information quite frequently such as when researching a plant such as a succulent. Succulent is a term applied to plants which have the ability
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Comment: Our garden’s last stand

There was no food waste on the rural farm of my youth

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In the unseasonable heat of mid-September, the yard’s many black walnut trees began shedding their heavy fruit. Now, a month on, the stately trees are bare of nuts and most of their leaves weeks earlier than any year I can remember. Does that suggest an early winter? A long one? Time will tell. All I
A dark-pink David Austin rose bloom.
Country Crossroads

Getting David Austin rose plants ready for the cold

Now comes the real challenge of growing these plants — preparing them for a Manitoba winter

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Gardeners sometimes take on the challenge of growing a plant that is way outside their climate zone rating. We want to see if we can grow the plant and winter it successfully, or because the plant is so spectacular it is worth the extra effort required to care for it and protect it. Such plants
The large, quilted, scalloped leaves of Big Betony provide a contrast in texture to the smooth grassy leaves of a nearby daylily. 
Country Crossroads

Creating texture in your garden landscape

This can be done through touch or visual texture

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You may have heard the phrase, “Use texture to create interest in the garden,” but what exactly does that mean? Many relate to texture by the sense of touch — is the surface rough or smooth? If you run your hand over a leaf of lamb’s ears you get the sensation of a fuzzy warm
“Arnold Red” is covered with bloom 
in early June. 
Country Crossroads

A tried-and-true old favourite

Honeysuckle has been grown for decades and copes with whatever Mother Nature gives it

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Sometimes in our quest to create beautiful gardens we focus on new varieties of plants that are popular at the moment. This is particularly true of the shrubs and the plant hybridizers have recognized this and are churning out new varieties by the dozens. Although using new shrub varieties can lead to great results (some

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