Martha Washington Geranium Care

Poinsettias are a classic holiday plant used to decorate homes from November to December. When South Carolinian Joel Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, introduced the poinsettia to the United States in 1825, it is doubtful he had any idea how popular this plant would become.

How many times have you heard the phrase “Genes don’t lie?” I am an amateur genealogist who has spent years researching my family lines. Imagine my absolute delight in discovering that my 7th great-grandmother was Martha Daniell Logan (Dec 29, 1704–June 28, 1779) of Charles Town, SC. She was the daughter of Lt. Governor Robert and Martha Daniell. After her father’s death on May 1, 1718, almost fourteen-year-old Martha inherited and managed her father’s 48,000 acre estate on the Wando River. She had been influenced by her father’s nursery business and thus began her love of gardening.

Icon of the southwest, organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) is one of the best known species of cacti in the United States.Reaching up to 26 feet in height and 12 feet wide, this slow

The boys and I extend a huge thanks to Adrian, whom you can meet in the videos he’s been creating on The Post’s website. I loved this video about tomatoes, in which he combined visits with DC-area community gardeners and with our mutual friend Amy Goldman, the heirloom tomato queen who lives not far from me. Adrian’s recent story on Amy is a must-read as well.Also thanks to my very dear friend Erica Berger, who performed trick photography during the Washington Post photo shoot, so that (finally) a photo of Mother of the Frogboys that’s more recent than me at age 3 appears here.  I didn’t see any of Erica’s photos that ran in the paper, or others from her shoot including this one, on The Post’s website…just the story itself is there…

By the time I met the Chuck, Matt and Joe Heidgen 17-plus years ago, when we were  working on the former Martha Stewart garden line at K-Mart, I at least already knew that when I said Geranium that I actually meant Pelargonium, because that’s the genus our annual geraniums actually are in. But I didn’t know that one could look, and smell, nothing like Grandma’s old standards, and perform roles in the garden she’d never imagined.Today Joe Heidgen, with his brother Matt, runs the business called Shady Hill Gardens—both garden center (below) and mail-order specialists–that their father founded in Batavia 40 years ago. It’s now in Elburn, Illinois (an hour or so west of Chicago). For more than 30 years, Shady Hill has gained a national reputation as Pelargonium specialists, breeding and propagating every color, shape, size and scent imaginable (and then some). And good news: they sell them mail-order, too.Li

Special thank-you’s to photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo, and to features editor Melissa Ozawa of MSL.P.S. — A week earlier, the garden and I were in “The Washington Post,” if you missed that news.

“When I asked her about her formative years,” he writes, “I could see a mirror image of my own self in her pained experiences.”Yes, like those plants I wish I’d never planted—that I will never be rid of, such as the damn Houttuynia, and so many other decisions made out of ignorance. Or how rough I was on myself when the beds I’d make just didn’t look like those glorious photos of vast, non-stop-blooming herbaceous borders in the English garden books that were the gold standard when he and I began gardening in earnest.We both keep learning, and learning to let go.Of course as longtime garden journ

Adrian Higgins has been taking note of that in various ways in his columns for “The Washington Post” throughout the strangest and most chaotic of springs, exploring the garden as an anchor, a support. In his longtime role as gardening columnist there, Adrian always inspires readers to connect.I was so pleased to speak with Adrian, whose thoughtful work has inspired me for years. He delves beyond just horticulture and great plants—though always serving up plenty of both—regularly exploring stewardship of the environment, and even matters of the spirit. That’s his mask on the fenc

Whether you pronounce it correctly as puh-KAHNS or erroneously as PEE-cans, there’s no denying the aesthetic, nut-producing power of pecans.We link to vendors to help you find relevant products

Elm trees are some of the most majestic and resilient plants in nature. Their iconic features make them stand out amongst other species as a symbol of strength and fortitude.We link to vendors to help you find releva

Passionflower is arguably one of the most unique specimens of flora on the planet.Blooms of this vine are flamboyant and complicated,

For anyone who is interested in growing easy-to-care-for and fast-growing specimen that stays compact, Peperomia obtusifolia could be a great choice! Read on to know How to Grow Baby Rubber Plant and display it on a coffee table!