22 Pretty Houseplants with Red and Green Leaves

Could you please help to settle an argument between my friend and I about whether it’s a good idea to feed garden birds? My friend is of the opinion that they’ll survive just fine without our help, and that feeding them only increases the risk of spreading disease. RS, Dublin

Growing onions is a popular task for millions of gardeners and knowing when to harvest red onions – along with yellow and white varieties – is important for success. If you harvest onions too early, it means a limited storage life. But, harvesting too late could mean a split or rotten bulb. In this article, I’m going to review two perfect times for harvesting red onions. One is ideal for fresh use and the other is best for optimizing storage life.

Uncover the charm of Beautiful Red and Black Flowers, ideal for adding drama and sophistication to gardens and arrangements. Join us as we explore these captivating blooms and their unique qualities.

Lauren Alex O’ Hagan, Cardiff University

I’m not a politician. I’m not a diplomat. I’m not an expert on foreign policy. It’s hard to watch what’s happening in Gaza and the West Bank with any equanimity; over 1300 Palestinians have been killed so far, including 315 children and and 166 women.

An ethnobotany superhero by night, my mild-mannered daytime alter ego is a science writer for the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), one of the UK’s research councils. It’s not often that those two worlds collide, although during the early summer the campus I work on is dotted with the blooms of hardy orchids.

Header image: Brooke Lark/Unsplash

It started at the garden centre, where I was helping to put newly arrived plants out in the autumn/winter ‘tub and basket’ display. There’s a good range of ornamental plants on offer, all looking very cute in their youthful stages, in various colours and textures. They might not have the showy flowers of summer bedding, but they’re all interesting plants. The winter garden doesn’t have to look dull! The ones that caught my eye were Gaultheria ‘Very Berry’, cute little plants with dark green leaves, white bell-shaped flowers (they look exactly like little blueberry flowers, because they’re related), and quite large berries ripening from white to pink (ultimately they should go red).

Last year I thought I’d planted climbing French beans in the garden, and was later disappointed to find out that I’d sown a dwarf variety! This year I rectified that issue and sowed two different climbing beans – Blauhilde and Helda at the beginning of June. I sowed some indoors and some directly into one of the raised beds, where my intention was that they would climb the sweetcorn (and be 2 of the 3 Sisters). That hasn’t worked out – for some reason the sweetcorn has been a complete failure, with most stems barely reach two feet tall. In the end I put up tripods for the beans instead, and they’re really getting going now.

Since we started feeding the birds in this garden, Ryan and I have been peacefully co-existing with a squirrel, who managed to find a (very entertaining) way to help himself to the bird seed. He is bold as brass, and we enjoy watching his antics. He’s easily recognisable, due to a tatty tail.

In 2020, Morgan Irons made space exploration history when she sent the first Earth soils to the International Space Station. Morgan joins Emma the Space Gardener to talk about the importance of soil structure on Earth, why she sent soil into space, and how we might develop living soils on Mars.

The year is 2022, and all across the United Kingdom, something extraordinary is afoot. Ten awe-inspiring projects are coming together in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of creativity, many of which involve space or plants! In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener is joined by Prof Fiona Burnett, the horticultural lead for Dandelion. Dandelion is an amazing Scotland-wide grow-your-own project this summer, bringing together art and music, harvest and cooking, and community spirit. Learn about the Cubes of Perpetual Light, the Unexpected Gardens springing up across Scotland, the Big Tattie Experiment and more!