19 of the Best Companion Plants to Grow with Lavender
19.06.2024 - 14:19 / finegardening.com
My fondest memory of childhood summers is picking red raspberries from my family’s small patch. The wonderful flavor and fragrance of these berries led me up and down the rows until I reached my saturation point. Now that I’m an adult, my own garden holds a prominent place for raspberries. In fact, for 10 years I grew raspberries commercially and sold them to area restaurants.
In the wild, you can find raspberries growing at forest edges and openings from Canada all the way south to the Appalachians. The red raspberries I remember from my youth, however, are crosses between this native American species and larger-fruited European species. These hybrids do take a bit of care to grow. You want to be sure to buy virus-free stock, plant it in well-amended soil, set up a trellis to keep the canes in line, and prune regularly. But when you top a cake with dark red berries or spread some raspberry jam on your morning toast, I think you’ll agree that the effort is worth it.
Hybrid raspberries fall into two basic groups—those that produce fruit in midsummer on one-year-old canes (summer bearing) and those that produce fruit later in the season on first-year growth (everbearing). The summer-bearing varieties produce new growth at the same time that they bear fruit on last year’s canes. The new shoots, or primocanes, develop only leaves. By the following spring, these canes leaf out and produce an abundance of small white flowers. When pollinated, the flowers quickly become berries.
Everbearing raspberries have a slightly different schedule. They produce flowers and then fruit on the mature tips of first-year growth, starting in late summer and ending with fall frost. Everbearing plants typically produce a small summer crop,
19 of the Best Companion Plants to Grow with Lavender
Planting fast-growing evergreen shrubs in your landscape is an easy way to create a privacy screen, reduce noise, and add beauty to your space. Evergreens provide year-long foliage so you don't have to worry about losing leaves in the late fall and winter seasons. Plus, many evergreen shrubs are native to the Southern region and provide food and habitat for bees and birds. Consider these expert recommendations for fast-growing evergreen shrubs to grow in your yard.
Growing vines is a fun way to add foliage and colorful flowers to archways, fences, posts, and trellises in your yard. Vines add depth, dimension, and texture to a landscape and create a visually appealing space. Choosing fast-growing vines means enjoying the beauty of the season quickly and often longer, whether it's the pretty leaves, blooms, or both. Plus, many vines attract important pollinators, such as butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Garden experts recommend their favorite vines to grow that will quickly transform your garden.
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The beauty of the brightly-hued daisy-like cosmos flower is undisputed, but is there something more to it? What sets this blossom apart in the far-reaching world of blooms? Read on to find out the meaning of the Cosmos flower and why everyone should grow it!
House plants bring an extra dimension to your home. Many have evergreen foliage that adds colour and texture, and they create a natural atmosphere that helps promote feelings of calm. Tall house plants are ideal to add structural elements to a room and define the style of the space. With the huge amount of choice that’s now available, you can opt for the dramatic impact of a plant with bold foliage, such as the fiddle leaf fig, or go for a softer look with the wispy fronds of the asparagus fern or the cascading leaves of the ponytail palm.
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It’s official, the UK is a nation of gardeners! With recent Census figures showing that 87% of UK households have a garden, many Brits are now beginning to embrace their green thumbs.
It’s always a great day when I pick the first snap peas. A lot of the harvest never makes it to the kitchen. Snap peas—which snap like green beans and look and grow just like regular shelling peas—have one delicious difference: The pods are as tender and sweet as the peas inside. I could say I grow snap peas because they yield more food per square foot than shelling peas. But that’s not it. I truly enjoy the eat-it-all peas in the pod, whether I’m snacking on them in the garden, tossing them with pasta, or featuring them in a soup.
On a trip through Germany in 1971, I took a train from Frankfurt to Munich. The train was half-empty, and I looked around for a while before finding a friendly face. He was a factory worker in Germany but was originally from Italy. I don’t think we had talked more than three minutes before we were on the subject of food. He asked me if I had tasted pasta with broccoletti di rape. I assured him that I had, and he clasped his hands, rolled his eyes, and exclaimed in his beautiful dialect, “It’s so good it hurts!” What he called broccoletti di rape, or rape (pronounced rah-PAY) for short, is better known in this country as broccoli rabe. However you pronounce it or spell it, this marvelous cool-weather vegetable is a joy to grow and to cook with. Learn how to grow your own broccoli rabe from seed, and take advantage of this versatile green.
There is much to love about passion flowers (Passiflora spp. and cvs., Zones 6–11). There are over 550 different species in the genus; some are shrubs and trees, but the ones that are most familiar to gardeners are the tropical-looking, tendril-bearing, climbing, flowering vines. These are the passion flower varieties that fall into my category of favorites. Some of these beauties even produce deliciously complex-flavored, fragrant, sweet-tart fruit.