‘Perfect Storm’ is best planted as a container-grown nursery specimen in the spring after all danger of frost has passed. It is slow to grow each spring, among the last plants to sprout and develop, but it then grows quickly and can shoot up to 3 feet by the time it blooms in mid-summer. Even though this plant functions as a small shrub during the summer, it is a herbaceous perennial....
‘Red Charm’ has unusually dark red flowers that will please gardeners bored with the pink and white blossoms that dominate this class of peonies. ‘Red Charm’ has blossoms with a single petal outer layer and dense ruffled double petals filling the inside of the blossom. ‘Red Charm’ grows to about three feet tall and wide; it is an early-blooming peony, producing plentiful flowers in May and June. Herbaceous bush peonies are often planted as well-established potted nursery plants in spring, but planting from root divisions is normally done in fall....
Although home and garden centers often market asters as a seasonal purchase among displays of pumpkins and hay bales, asters are long-lived perennials that can become a permanent part of your landscape. These fast-growing perennials will be ready to put on a good fall display in their first year, and once established, they will hold their own for many years. Every three years or so, the root clumps should be dug up and divided to keep the plants from getting too woody and dying out in the centers....
Because they don’t tolerate hard pruning, make sure you plant the shrub somewhere they will have enough space when fully grown. Light A full sun location is best for California lilacs, but afternoon shade can be advantageous in the hotter southern regions. Too much shade, however, will result in disappointing blooms. Soil California lilacs do well in most soil types, providing they’re well-drained. They like fertile conditions that aren’t too heavy or soggy....
The plant’s dark green leaves are small, lanceolate, and leathery. Little white, fuzzy, bowl-shaped flowers come in late summer. The myrtle needs a long warm summer to produce blooms, which are followed in autumn by edible fleshy fruit that resemble the size and purplish-black color of blueberries. Each fruit produces up to 30 seeds. The cinnamon-colored bark peels and becomes furrowed with age, as the trunk thickens slowly. While it naturally has a bushy habit, the common myrtle can be trained as a low-mounding spreading shrub, an upright small tall tree, or a tiny bonsai....
Coral bells are best planted in late fall or early spring and will grow at a moderate pace, making them a great option for woodlands, rock gardens, containers, borders, and ground covers. But they are short-lived perennials; unless divided regularly, they will die out in a few years. While coral bells don’t need much maintenance, you can cut back the entire flower stalk after flowering to put the plant’s energy into growing more leaves....
Classified as a shrub or bush with upright-growing branches, Emerald Gaiety can be planted as a screen or informal hedge if kept trimmed. But it can also be grown as a vine or ground cover if you allow it to grow unchecked. As a ground cover, it is planted in mass and allowed to gradually take over a space through drooping branches that take root where they touch the ground....
These perennials have delicate but showy and lightly fragranced blooms that appear in late spring, offering vertical interest that makes them useful for design purposes. Campanula, i.e. bellflowers, make up a large family and their appearances vary, but there are several that have tall stalks covered in blooms like ladybells (whose scientific name is Adenophora bulleyana), hence the confusion and common name of false campanula. These flowers are also very similar in appearance to the creeping bellflower or Campanula rapunculoides, which, while very pretty, is also an invasive weed that can be hard to eradicate and seems able to grow almost anywhere....
Lemongrass is best planted from potted nursery starts in spring, after all danger of frost has passed. Be aware that this plant contains cyanogenic glycosides and other oils that are mildly toxic to dogs, cats, and horses. Lemongrass is fragrant and also known as a pest repellent. The smell of the plant’s oil seems to deter unwanted insects, such as mosquitos. Light Lemongrass grows best in full sun, even in hot climates....
Liatris is usually planted from potted nursery starts or corms in the spring after the last frost date. Either way, they usually flower in their first year. Starting from seeds is also possible, though it can take two years for plants to flower. Liatris takes very little care, but you may need to stake up the stems if planted in overly-rich soil, which can cause the plant to grow tall and floppy....
Lungwort is best planted in late summer to fall from potted nursery plants, though spring planting is also generally successful. It has a moderate growth rate and the rhizomatous roots will spread gradually to colonize a shady area. Overall, caring for these plants is fairly straightforward. Make sure they have adequate water and shade, and feed them annually. Light Lungwort is typically grown in partial sun to full shade. But it can tolerate quite a bit of bright light in the early spring, which is helpful because not as many trees have leafed out at that point to diffuse sunlight hitting the lungwort....
Many varieties of ninebark are used in landscaping, planted along foundations, incorporated into a hedge, or used to stabilize sloping areas, preventing erosion. Ninebark shrub needs ample space, as well as regular pruning, so that its arching branch pattern can be fully appreciated. When used in a mixed border, it works well alongside lilac and spirea. Ninebark is available in many sizes, ranging from 5 to 10 feet high and 6 to 8 feet wide at maturity....
Originally assigned the botanical name Podocarpus gracilior, the fern pine has been reclassified as Afrocarpus gracilior by some botanists. The fern pine is still generally sold under the name of Podocarpus gracilior, and literature may still refer to it by the former scientific name. The fern pine produces clusters of slender light green leaves that darken as they mature. The evergreen leaves are irregularly spaced and grow up to 4 inches in length at maturity....
Like many other types of orchids, vanilla bean orchid is a tropical species that requires high temperatures and humidity to thrive. In its native environment, this vining orchid is an epiphyte that lives on a host tree without drawing nutrients from it. The vine grows up to the treetops in a zigzag fashion, exhibiting long, succulent, lance-shaped leaves. Each blooming branch will bear one to two dozen creamy blooms for a total of several hundred flowers on a mature vine....
Light Virginia sweetspire grows best full sun but will tolerate part shade. Shady conditions may limit the flower production and mute the autumn color. Warmer climates call for more shade. Soil Plant this shrub in humusy, well-drained soil that is somewhat on the moist side. It prefers a slightly acidic pH but grows well in a range of soils. Water Water these shrubs quite often when they are young and getting established, then weekly when they mature (one inch per week)....
Wall germander bears dark-green, shiny leaves with toothed edges and a nice smell. The smell released from the leaves when crushed makes them prized for crafts. Craftspeople often dry the stems of the plant before using them in potpourri or wreath projects. Light to deep purple flowers appear in summer and early fall. Wall germander sometimes is included in the category of sub-shrubs, since it has a mounding form with a semi-woody base....
To control the spread of the plant, trim the roots away regularly before they can sucker and spread. Because the best stem color occurs on young stems, trimming away about 25 percent of the old stems early each spring will stimulate new stems and good color. Or, you can cut the entire stem down to about eight inches above the ground every three years or so to rejuvenate it....
The dense turf of zoysia grass is often used in parks, golf courses, and other places of high foot traffic. Core aeration in the early summer can help to keep zoysia grass from forming a dense mat of thatch that prevents water and fertilizer from penetrating the soil. Mowing zoysia grass often and taking off no more than a third of the grass height is better than allowing the grass to grow tall and then scalping it....
Tomatoes are warm-season, slow-growing vegetables that take as much as 150 days to mature from seed, so in all but the warmest climates, they are usually planted from well-developed nursery starts in the spring after the soil has fully warmed. If started from seed, they need to be sown indoors several weeks before the last frost of the spring. Determinate vs. Indeterminate Tomatoes Tomatoes are generally categorized as determinate types, which produce all their fruit in one confined period, or indeterminate types, which continue to produce fruit over the entire mature growing season....
