Flowers Ideas, Tips & Guides

Swamp flowers are a remarkable group of plants specially adapted to thrive in moist environments where other specimens fail to grow.

Joseph here, your GPOD editor. Last week I was in the Cincinnati area for a work project, and I took some time to hike in a few area parks. It was perfect time for spring wildflowers, and I saw some real beauties!

Hebes are popular evergreen shrubs, mostly native to New Zealand although some are native to Australia and South America. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and are suitable for growing in a range of sites and planting schemes. Hebes are excellent in shrub borders, used as ground cover or low-growing hedging, and are relatively low-maintenance.

The orange-tip is one of the first butterflies of the year to emerge and can be found nectaring on spring flowers such as bluebells and cuckoo flower. The male is white with orange wing tips while the female has black wing tips – both sexes have beautiful mottled underwings, which are visible when mating and resting. After mating the female lays eggs on the flower stalks of cuckoo flower and hedge mustard, but in gardens may also lay on honesty and sweet rocket.

May growing with Cel

Do you remember that garden Bunny Guinness designed at Chelsea Flower Show in 2011? You know, the one with the beautiful hazel-hurdle-raised-beds burgeoning with edibles and ornamentals. Well, if you don’t, it was stunning. I could not stop staring at its honed perfection. But, I thought at the time, ‘this is a Chelsea Garden that can’t be recreated in reality’. So, was I right? Can you combine ornamentals and vegetables without either party being compromised? Can you truly make a space that is at once pretty, productive and practical?

Mother's Day is just around the corner and it's time to show your mom just how much you appreciate her. If gift-giving isn't your strong suit, you're not alone—moms can be really hard to shop for. How can you convey all the love you have for her in a simple gift? Every year I find myself scratching my head at what to get my mother, and I'm constantly in competition with myself and my siblings.

There are many plants that look like mushrooms, but are actually not. We’ve got info on all of these mushroom look-alikes and how you can identify them.

Brigitta Stewart, the owner of the small mail-order nursery Arrowhead Alpines in Michigan, has a garden full of tiny treasures, many of them very rare—special plants that you don’t see in many gardens.

Putting plants together is the most creative and joyful part of making a garden. With colour, shape and texture, you can conjure up a living work of art, something that not only gives you sensory pleasure but also benefits wildlife and the environment. But with so many options available to us, where do we start? I always think back to the plantswoman Beth Chatto and her mantra ‘right plant, right place’ when conceiving a plan, because there is no point in rushing to place your favourite sun-loving flowers in a shady spot at the back of a north-facing house. ‘Plants, like people, have their preferences and don’t like being thrust into the nearest available hole,’ she observed.

Brazil’s rich floral diversity, with over 55,000 plant species, offers a plethora of options that you can add to your garden and home. Here are some of the most eye-catching Brazilian flowers you can grow!

If you like the warm and spicy scent of cinnamon, then you’d definitely love these plants that carry the same scent either in their foliage (when you crush the leaves) or flowers!

Left: WWD / Getty Images; Right: CARSON DOWNING

After summer's scorching heat, autumn's cooler temps signal it's time to plant spring-blooming bulbs. They may not offer instant gratification, but with minimal effort, fall-planted bulbs will provide vibrant post-winter blooms well worth the wait. 

How to Create Glorious Garden Color Schemes

Both Sempervivum and Echeverias are famous as hens and chicks, and when these succulents flower, it can be quite a sight to behold! However, most are not sure what to do when these plants bloom, and this is where this article comes in!

You can add grit and gravel, but at the end of the day, you can’t control the weather, and most of the plants will start rotting if kept in wet soil. Also, a sloppy growing medium or a soil with poor drainage can be a problem for many green specimens, but not for these shrubs that like wet soil!

Calibrachoas, also known as Million Bells because of their familiar bell-shape, are gorgeous annuals that will fill any basket or patio pot with ease and gusto over the summer months. If you’re wondering what to pop in your new hanging basket this summer, or perhaps are looking to decorate your patios with greatness over the season, then look no further! Calibrachoas are one of our favourite seasonal picks. To help you choose your favourites, we’ve gathered ten of our most popular and our favourite million bell blooms, giving you inspiration for the summer garden. Calibrachoa Black Cherry 

Carson Downing

Oenothera (previously known as gaura) are pretty, deciduous perennials that look great in cottage garden-style or informal plantings. Also known as wandflower, oenotheras have a relaxed habit with small, starry flowers in white or pink, appearing from early summer to autumn. They are perfect for filling gaps and can also be grown in containers, in an informal combination with grasses and trailing plants.

People often talk about the ‘May gap’, when spring plants begin to fade and the burgeoning summer growth is yet to appear. Though if, like me, you allow a little room for some wildness, May can be one of the most abundant months, with cow parsley, bluebells, hawthorn blossom, foxgloves and columbine alongside cultivated Solomon’s seal and the first hardy geraniums and delphiniums in your borders. For me, the impact of this is breathtaking: soft, green and zinging.

Zinnias are easy to care for and bloom fine, but if you want one that’s dense and shines from afar, you’ll need some pro tips and we are here with them all!.

If you’ve ever wondered how to grow peanuts or why the average home gardener would even want to, you’re in the right place—and you’re in for a treat. Peanuts are easy to grow, tasty, and protein-packed. What’s more, they’re not only good for you, but they’re also good for your soil. Much more than a garden novelty, peanuts are practical and prolific. They can be eaten fresh out of the pod, pounded into peanut butter, or otherwise preserved for the long haul. Best of all, individual plants can yield as many as 40 to 50 pods each. In this article you’ll learn all about how to grow peanuts. Meet the peanut Hailing from South America, the peanut (Arachis hypogaea) isn’t technically a nut like pecan

Many of you may be familiar with our native fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus, often called Grancy graybeard, granddaddy graybeard or old man’s beard. It is a wonderful small tree that grows throughout the state but is certainly not a common site. It begins blooming in late March with airy, off-white flowers.

Campanulas are a diverse group of plants, including small, creeping species and towering perennials (meaning they come back each year). All have beautiful, usually blue, flowers, and most are attractive to pollinators.

Derived from the seeds of Azadirachta indica, neem oil can be beneficial in a lot of ways to keep the trees safe from various pests and diseases issues, which can ultimately help it flower and fruit better. 

This week’s Q&A has prompted me to sing the praises of wall shrubs, that group of plants that usefully straddle the common ground between true climbers (plants with lax stems that twist and weave their way upwards, using walls or the branches of other plants as a scaffold) and traditional woody ornamental shrubs.

Stunning florals are synonymous with springtime, and chances are, every social channel you're scrolling through is bursting with beautiful blooms. 

Q: We got raised flower beds built last year to surround our patio, but have yet to have much success with planting them. I’m wondering what could you advise what to plant to a) offer some height to the area; and b) to be relatively fast growing, to fill out the gaps in the beds, and maybe offer a nice smell? Part of the area gets full sun, and part is shaded. FR, Dublin

Once again, a large degree of editing was required to get today’s selection down to six or thereabouts, to meet the rules of Jim’s Six on Saturday meme. Why not visit his blog to check out his six and those of other bloggers around the world?

A while back I saw a post for a pool noodle chair and thought that, since my grandson was coming to visit, I'd surprise him with a float he could 'chill' in the pool with. Using the same method, this is what I came up with. (This is my first ever Hometalk post, so on that thought...here goes.

How to Propagate Passionflower Vines

<use xlink:href="#trending-icon" xmlns:xlink=«http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink»> Trending Videos

<use xlink:href="#trending-icon" xmlns:xlink=«http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink»> Trending Videos

As part of your Premium access, you can send your gardening questions to our horticultural experts each month. They will then answer a selection of the questions they receive, and share the advice at the end of the month.

Getting the most vibrant blooms for your container and garden is not a rocket science. All you need are a few tips on how to use the right blend of soil, sunlight, and more, to achieve them easily!