As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:
21.07.2023 - 22:50 / awaytogarden.com
IN THE WAY THAT PINE CONES fascinate me, I’m taken in by the seedheads of Northern sea oats, too—and actually, they’re a little bit like a flattened cone, aren’t they? One of three shade-tolerant ornamental grasses I grow, Chasmanthium latifolium is an American native.Chasmanthium latifolium, up close:Northern (also called upland, or inland) sea oats is native to Eastern North America, says the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, specifically “from PA south to n. FL, west as far as s. IL, e. KS, and central TX,” and into northern Mexico. It’s easy to grow, and some birds enjoy its seeds, as do small mammals. Me, too.
Chasmanthium likes a semi-shady to shady spot where the soil is moist, and it can even take poor drainage. This is a low-maintenance plant suited to that hardest of spots–a shady slope—because sea oats forms strong, widening clumps, and also reseeds (some gardeners in certain locations say it does that too much; not true here). Don’t plant it in baking sun (I have had it do well in half-day sun where the soil moisture was good), and give it a bed of its own, or with other strong growers.
Its slightly blue-green foliage, which resembles a low bamboo’s and by high summer is more green than blue, sprouts early in springtime, reaching about 2 feet tall for me (and taller in some environments), arching and attractive. In fall the foliage goes bright yellow, at about the same time the seedheads (which start off green in summer, and fade to pale tan, bouncing all the while on wiry stems) go bronzy-coppery tones before turning brown. I leave the plants up in winter, to get the most from the display and any wildlife value, and clean them up during a thaw in February or March—the same way I treat bigger Asian
As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:
As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:
As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:
As native grasses such as little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium and cvs., Zones 3–9) and prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis and cvs., Zones 3–9) increasingly gain traction in gardens, exotics such as miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis and cvs., Zones 4–9) are losing favor because of their invasive tendencies. But not all exotic grasses are troublesome and need to be avoided. Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora and cvs., Zones 5–9) is a natural hybrid of C. arundinacea and C. epigejos, which are both nonnatives and prolific self-sowers, but the hybrid rarely sets fertile seed—a major plus for an exotic grass, right? So why are other reed grasses—‘Karl Foerster’ aside—so underused? To answer that question is to understand the phenomenon of ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (C. × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’).
Soil provides nutrients for plants as well as millions of microorganisms. However, this only applies if the soil is healthy. Soil conservation is the movement to keep soil healthy, fertile and productive, as well as protecting it from erosion and deterioration. Learn about different methods of soil conservation here.
Tips for Growing Honeycrisp Apples Malus domestica ‘Honeycrisp’
Discover in detail about the Dallas Plant Zones that will give you an idea about which plants to grow in which area.
You don’t have to be a Starbucks aficionado to know Americans are obsessed with coffee. They love it so much that it’s the most popular beverage in the country, with consumption being at a two-decade high, according to the National Coffee Data Trends report.
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.
According to the USDA, the two highest consumed vegetables in the United States are potatoes and tomatoes. 40% of that potato consumption was frozen and 58% of the tomato consumption was canned. We consumed 46.4 pounds of potatoes per person, and 29.6 pounds of tomatoes per person, in 2016. Why? Americans love french fries and pizza sauce.
After my first baby was born, I came to realize that with parenting comes advice. A lot of it. Advice on how to get the baby to sleep. Advice on how to give the baby a bath. And CONSTANTLY – advice on how to feed the baby. It comes from every direction, most often from your mother-in-law and frequently from complete strangers without children. Sometimes this well-intended advice is good and is followed by “because the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it”. But sometimes it is not so good and is supported with rationale like “because I fed it to you, and you turned out just fine”.
It’s late summer and crabgrass weeds have invaded some lawns. Unfortunately, crabgrass is very difficult to control with most herbicides once it develops a few tillers or branches. There are several species of crabgrass (Digitaria spp.): tropical crabgrass, smooth crabgrass, India crabgrass, large crabgrass, Southern crabgrass, and blanket crabgrass. All of them are summer annuals that germinate primarily in spring, grow during the summer, set seeds, and then die with the first frost.