SUN Ideas, Tips & Guides

Commonly known as the Winter melon and Chinese watermelon, Ash gourd is native to Japan is found commonly throughout India. When touched, the fruit leaves an ash-like residue on hands. That’s the reason behind its interesting name! Here’s all you need to know about growing Ash gourd!

Tractor Seat Plants can be an interesting addition to shady gardens as they invite lush tropical vibes besides increasing the place’s curb appeal. Learn How to Grow Leopard Plant and add this beauty to your collection!

Hanging baskets bring gardens up to eye level, making a garden feel fuller and more complete. On the porch they create an immediate sense of welcome, while plants hanging outside windows create a connection between the indoor and outdoor worlds. Use them to dress up walls or decorate tree branches. The best plants for hanging baskets take advantage of their heightened locations, with trailing stems that cascade over a container’s edges. They also stand up to the challenging conditions of container life. Container plants need consistent moisture. Locate hanging baskets close to a water source and consider attaching a watering wand to the hose to extend your reach. Drip irrigation also works well for containers. Hanging baskets will likely need watering every day in the heat of summer. Try combining several varieties with similar needs, and experiment to find the best mix for your porch or patio.

Rob Cardillo

Pencil cactus plants look like they would be fussy, but they’re actually very easy to grow and care for.

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Most people are familiar with well-known carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps, but there are lots of other beautiful types to grow, too.

Marion Brenner

If you want to learn How to Grow Rudraksha Tree in your garden, this guide will help you with all the necessary information!

If you want your garden to keep looking good throughout the months ahead, then these fabulous plants are sure to bring a boost of colour throughout late summer and autumn. There are options to suit every colour scheme, and plants that will thrive in pots as well as your borders. Our choices include recommendations from the Gardeners’ World team and familiar faces from across the gardening industry.

Well, the answer is not tricky. Keep them well maintained, provide optimal growing conditions. Give access to full sun or provide some shade, if you’re growing a flowering plant like impatiens. Besides all these basic requirements, here is this most important tip, which can improve the productivity of your flowering plants–Deadheading.

If you don’t have much space and want to include plants on a patio or in your small yard, then check out the Best Trailing Perennials for Hanging Baskets and Plant Arrangements for a fabulous display of colors!

No other plant native to South Carolina has such fragrant and beautiful spring blooms and stunning fall color as the witch-alders. Fothergilla was named after Dr. John Fothergill, an English physician and gardener who funded the travels of John Bartram through the Carolinas in the 1700’s. These beautiful shrubs have been planted in both American and English gardens for over 200 years, including gardens of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Woody ornamentals can be damaged by cold temperatures due to three main factors: lack of hardiness, early or late-season frosts or unprotected root systems. A lot of the damage that I have personally encountered has been due to low temperatures causing bark splitting. This type of damage is often difficult to diagnose because the effects are usually very delayed.

Most items that are an integral part of our daily routine are made of plastics. Plastic is an incredibly versatile and durable material, which is why it is so popular today. Furniture, containers, appliances, packaging, and even synthetic clothing can lead to the release of tiny plastics called microplastics into our environment and water systems.

Spring bulbs will soon fade, and the foliage of hardy summer bulbs will start to emerge. Even though it may be tempting, do not remove foliage from the faded spring bulbs that have past their prime. These leaves are necessary for photosynthesis to occur which will produce carbohydrates to be stored in the bulb for next year’s flower production. Do, however, remove old blooms from the spring bulbs; this will allow the plant to send energy toward rebuilding the bulb instead of producing seeds.

A few years ago a friend, who was a native Alaskan, gave us a seed packet of alpine forget-me-nots (Myosotis alpestris) that she purchased on a visit back to her home state. We really didn’t think that a plant that flourishes in such a northerly region of the US would tolerate the heat and drought of South Carolina. However, we were pleasantly surprised!

Banana shrubs (Magnolia figo; formerly Michelia figo) are drought tolerant, evergreen shrubs with beautiful, creamy yellow flowers, which are edged in purple and look like miniature Southern magnolia blooms. This great similarity of the banana shrub flowers to those of magnolias is the reason for the recent taxonomic change to Magnolia figo.

What’s blooming at the South Carolina Botanical Garden this week!

Consider living plants as an alternative to traditional cut flowers for Valentine’s Day this year. Cyclamen, kalanchoe, and miniature roses are all great alternatives.

Tired of planting the same old marigolds, petunias, and begonias? Try some different annuals in your garden this year. Many provide pollen and nectar for pollinating insects and attract hummingbirds. Here are a few of my favorites that I always incorporate into my landscape. They will perform well in South Carolina’s hot, humid summers, and with proper care, these annuals will continually bloom until frost.

Blackberries are an excellent addition to a southeastern garden: they are easy to grow, produce abundant fruits that are delicious, highly nutritious and very healthy (blackberries are among the fruits with a highest antioxidant content). On top of this, they are versatile and can be consumed fresh or used to prepare jellies and classic southern desserts such as blackberry cobbler and pies. Also, currently there are many thornless varieties available that fit very well with the demands of backyard gardeners.

Want to brighten up a shady spot in your summer annual containers? Caladiums are an excellent choice. Due to their insignificant flowers, caladiums are grown for their colorful foliage. The leaf colors range in a wide variety of red, pink, white, and green combinations with contrasting leaf margins.

Virginia creeper is a native North American, deciduous vine, which can easily climb 30 feet or higher. Its tendrils end in oval shaped disks that adhere to surfaces and can damage stucco, the mortar between bricks, and painted surfaces. This highly adaptable plant grows in full sun to full shade. Grown as a groundcover, it can provide erosion control on slopes. Virginia creeper is very drought tolerant and a vigorous grower. To control the spread of this somewhat aggressive vine, prune, mow, or weed whack in the spring.

Are you frustrated because your French or mophead (Hydrangea macrophylla) hydrangeas only bloom once? Then the Endless Summer® Hydrangea series is the answer to adding repeat blooming hydrangeas to your landscape. With proper care, they will bloom from early summer to fall. The first flush of flowers in the early summer usually bloom on old wood; therefore, any necessary pruning should be done immediately after blooming. Flower buds will then form on new wood. As these blooms fade, deadheading is recommended to encourage more flower bud production. Flower color is determined by the availability of aluminum in the soil. If the soil is more acid, the flowers will be blue in color, but in alkaline soils, they will turn pink. If the soil pH is neutral (7.0), then the flowers will be purple.

Orchids are becoming increasingly popular with many home plant hobbyists because of their beauty, long-lasting blooms, and affordability. A favorite among many is the moth orchid (Phalaenopsis species). Due to their resilience, these popular orchids are easy to grow. They can survive many of the inevitable mistakes, such as overwatering, that would kill less hearty plants.

Did you know that South Carolina has an official state grass? Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) was named the state grass in 2001. This native, warm-season, perennial grass originally grew in the natural prairies found in South Carolina four centuries ago. It was an important food source for buffalo and elk that roamed our area during that time. Years of farming and cultivation have destroyed these natural prairie habitats.

Want to add a tropical flair to your garden this spring? Elephant ears will add a bold statement to a filtered sun or high shade spot. These striking “drama queens” of the garden may be either in genera Colocasia or Alocasia. The easiest way to tell these beauties apart is that colocasias (Colocasia esculenta) will have leaves that point downward, and alocasia (Alocasia species) leaves will point upward. Depending on the species or cultivar of each genus, the size can range from 3 to 10 feet tall and 2 to 10 feet in width. Both types of elephant ears are native to the tropical regions of Southeastern Asia.

The Cornelian cherry dogwood, Cornus mas, is a little-known dogwood of note. Instead of the showy, white bracts of our native and Kousa dogwoods, this tree has clusters of small yellow flowers which absolutely cover the tree in February or early March. It is a small, dense tree with a rounded form and interesting exfoliating bark, similar to a river birch.

If sibling rivalry were found among plants, it probably would be among the salvias in the large mint family (the Lamiaceae). In my opinion, ‘Mystic Spires’ wins the competition, hands down.

Slender rush is a native, perennial plant. It has thin, hollow, dark green leaves. The plant resembles sedges because it also has three leaves near the top of the stem. However, sedges have triangular-shaped stems, and rushes have round stems. Although both sedges and rushes superficially look like grasses, it is vital to correctly identify the plant because herbicides that control grassy weeds will NOT control this plant.

The Pomegranate, as well as the fig, are often considered some of the oldest cultivated fruits. Believed to be native to the Middle East, the Pomegranate is a fruit with an interesting history and has been grown in South Carolina for centuries. The Pomegranate, Punica granatum, is a wonderful small, deciduous tree that grows between twelve and twenty feet tall and can get just as wide depending on the part of the state it is grown.

One of my favorite childhood memories was watching the first spider lily (Lycoris radiata) bloom spikes magically appear in late August or early September in my parents’ garden. It was a sure sign that fall was on the way. Bulbs collected from my parents’ garden and ruins of my great-grandmother’s garden have been planted in my landscape. My grandchildren now get to experience the same joy in spotting the first blooms.

Native grasses are an excellent choice for low-maintenance, attractive, and wildlife-friendly plants to add to your landscape. Their beauty is often more subtle than the color splashes of perennials and annuals but can add amazing depth and interest to the gardener’s palette. There are so many species of native grasses to choose from, and each one brings differing structure, texture, and color to the garden. Grasses give multi-season interest to the landscape. Perennial grasses mostly emerge in the spring and are at their peak in summer and tend to be happiest in full sun. Persistent seed heads provide structure and movement to the garden in the fall and well into the winter.

One of the lesser known fruits that grow well here in South Carolina, the Pineapple Guava, Acca sellowiana, is a large, evergreen shrub in the Myrtle Family, Myrtaceae. Native to South America, it is becoming more popular within the nursery trade due to its excellent ornamental features. It is a relatively fast-growing shrub with beautiful bluish-green leaves and gorgeous flowers opening this month and eventually producing unique fruits which ripen in the late summer. The undersides of the leaves have a silvery look to them, and the stems contrast this well with its brownish-orange bark. If planted in full sun, these produce an abundance of flowers in spring that have white petals and dark red stamens in the center. These shrubs make excellent additions to most landscapes and tend to have few issues once established. This is also an ideal plant along the coast due to its moderate salt tolerance and semi-tropical appearance.

One of my favorite native hydrangeas to use in the landscape is Annabelle Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’). It is best grown in morning sun and afternoon shade. The white flowers bloom in late May through June on new growth. Prune it back in the late winter or early spring before the new growth emerges to encourage heavier flowering. After the white flowers fade and begin to dry, they turn a soft green color.