A few strategically chosen plants can turn any boring concrete pool area into a lush tropical retreat.
07.08.2024 - 15:05 / balconygardenweb.com / Suyash
Loved for their solitary long-stemmed flowers, these blooms come in a variety of bright colors. The Zinnia lookalikes in this article are equally beautiful and easy to care for.
Botanical Name: Coreopsis spp.
With single or double-disk-like blooms in shades of yellow, orange, and red, coreopsis blooms look similar to zinnias. These long-lasting flowers with airy foliage thrive in full sun with six to eight hours of sunlight. One key difference between the two is that coreopsis is a drought-resistant plant.
Botanical Name: Cosmos bipinnatus
Growing on tall, slender stems, the cosmos has a similar appearance to zinnias, but unlike them, its flowers are in the shape of a disk with single-layer petals. Both of these flowers are commonly used for hedges or border plants around gardens, and both attract butterflies and bees. Here’s why everyone should grow a cosmos!
Botanical Name: Dahlia spp.
Dahlias look like zinnias due to their bold, showy flower shape and long stems. These tuberous perennials thrive in well-drained soil and full sun. However, they are not entirely safe, as dahlias are toxic to livestock if ingested.
Botanical Name: Argyranthemum frutescens
Marguerite daisies have lovely pink, white, and yellow flowers that look like zinnias. They should be grown in moist soil but not too soggy. Their fine, feathery foliage complements the blooms beautifully.
Botanical Name: Aster
These perennials are loved for their late-season blooming time and nectar-rich flowers, which attract butterflies and bees to the garden. Aster flowers confuse many as they look like zinnias in shape and even come in almost the same colors, such as pink, purple, and white.
Botanical Name: Chrysanthemum spp.
The layered petals and rounded flower heads of
A few strategically chosen plants can turn any boring concrete pool area into a lush tropical retreat.
It may feel as though you were just setting up your backyard for the summer, but now that fall is on the horizon, it's time to think about prepping your space for the next season.
With fresh yellow petals and near-black centers, Rudbeckia hirta is a pioneer plant that blooms profusely from early summer to late fall. So, adding flowers that look like black-eyed Susans means you can enjoy golden abundance and a seamless line-up of cheery blossoms through the seasons.
The physical structure of these flowers closely resembles an artistic representation of a heart and, hence, will be a unique addition to your plant collection. The best part is that along with their peculiar beauty, they are also easy to grow! So let these flowers be the “heart” of your garden!
Scent is powerful, triggering memories from long ago and transporting us to faraway places. In the garden, fragrant perennials often connect us to childhood walks through our grandparents’ gardens or summer days spent gathering bouquets. Aromatic flowers and foliage also play upon our emotions. Some scents are soothing and can be used to enhance outdoor seating areas to help us unwind after a long day. When planted near the front door, fragrant perennials make an alluring first impression. Fragrant blooms also attract a diversity of pollinators to the garden.
We like it when anything and everything around us reminds us to rush to the garden and love up the flora in our space—even letters of the alphabet! Today, we’re focusing on trees that start with the letter R.
Just like how a little cortisol keeps us on our toes, a little stress can bring out the best hues in your succulents! We share varieties that respond to changes in their habitat by changing colors. If you want rainbow foliage in your home with the least effort, these are perfect!
We’ve all been here—when we casually step out to admire a bloom-filled garden in shorts and cuppa in hand, only to be ravaged by bloodthirsty mosquitoes! But this fear ends now! We give you plants that mosquitoes really hate—grow them and naturally repel these dreadful twilight monsters!
While most plants struggle to survive when it’s time for frost, these ones thrive! So, as you layer up in wool and fur and ready your fireplace, these plants shed their shyness and burst into the prettiest blooms in fall; some of these even continue their show in winter! We present to you the best cool-season flowers that love chilly weather. Dig in!
Chances are, if you have a lawn, you have crabgrass! This fast-growing weed thrives despite heat, humidity, or drought conditions. “It’s a prolific seed producer,” says Clint Waltz, PhD, turfgrass extension specialist at theUniversity of Georgia. “If you do nothing about it this year, expect a higher and more dense population of crabgrass next year.”
Ready to have a hoot? Whether you’re an owl enthusiast or just someone who loves a good laugh, you’re in for a treat with this bumper list of owl puns and owl jokes.
For our 2024 Idea House in the Kiawah River community on Johns Island, South Carolina, the natural surroundings proved a generous source of inspiration. This was especially true of the landscape design, notes Scott Parker, the project’s landscape architect and co-founder of Charleston-based DesignWorks. “One of the things that we wanted to do with the landscape and the garden design was really to ground it in the DNA of the Lowcountry,” he says. That meant tailoring their plant selections to mimic the maritime forest that covers parts of the property, as well as choosing more formal ones to reflect Charleston’s long-standing garden traditions.