HAVE YOU DONE your bulb shopping yet? It’s ordering time both for fall-blooming treats like Colchicum, which you can only buy now if you hurry, and for the ever-wider assortment of fall-planted, spring-into-summer blooming species.
07.08.2024 - 17:39 / finegardening.com
Cunila origanoides
Zones: 5–8
Size: 10 to 18 inches tall and wide
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-drained soil
Native range: Central and eastern United States
American dittany has much to offer, including pollinator-supporting flowers and fragrant, flavorful foliage that’s unappealing to deer and rabbits. It forms loose mounds of dark, slender stems with small, pointed leaves. The bloom season starts in July in the warmest parts of its range and in August elsewhere, with clusters of small, tubular, pinkish-purple flowers that continue into early fall. Watch for bonus “frost flowers”—curled ribbons of ice—emerging from the base of the stems when freezing weather arrives in autumn. Enjoy American dittany as an edging plant or in a container planting so you can brush by the leaves to release their warm, spicy scent.
Ceanothus americanus
Zones: 4–9
Size: 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-drained soil
Native range: Eastern North America
This deciduous shrub is charmingly ornamental, with puffs of tiny, white, fragrant flowers that show off perfectly against the rich green foliage. Blooming mostly in early to midsummer, they’re a magnet for many insects, including native bees, flies, and beetles, as well as hummingbirds and butterflies. With its naturally compact, mounded habit, New Jersey tea fits easily into suburban and even urban spaces, including foundation plantings and hellstrips. You can also use it as a low hedge, in masses to fill space or to stabilize a slope, dotted into mixed borders, or as part of a backyard wildlife habitat. This deep-rooted and drought-resistant native is a little slow to get established, but it lives for years with minimal care.
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HAVE YOU DONE your bulb shopping yet? It’s ordering time both for fall-blooming treats like Colchicum, which you can only buy now if you hurry, and for the ever-wider assortment of fall-planted, spring-into-summer blooming species.
There is no way to sugarcoat the challenges many of us in the Mid-Atlantic region have faced this summer. The inconsistency of rainfall and the extreme high temperatures have greatly impacted our efforts to garden successfully. Even with valiant efforts to apply supplemental irrigation, I have witnessed a wide range of plant material showing signs of drought stress that I have rarely witnessed in my 15-plus years of gardening in this region. To say it is cause for concern would be an understatement. As a result, in the last few months I have been repeatedly asked how we can prepare our beloved gardens to reduce heat and moisture stress for future growing seasons. One answer to this conundrum is to add organic matter to the soil in the form of compost.
Got pests? Encourage native ladybugs to inhabit your garden instead of buying wild-harvested ladybugs to manage unwanted insects. Purchased ladybugs are expensive and potentially disease-carrying, threatening native bug species already living in your garden and the surrounding area. Your best bet is to attract and encourage native ladybugs to thrive and flourish, which will responsibly deter unwanted pests.
If you're craving a pop of color in your home, Behr is here to help with their 2025 Color of the Year, Rumors.
Growers in cold climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or boost their crops, including cold frames, hoop houses, and greenhouses. Greenhouses—typically glazed structures— are often expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. But, they have their benefits, which is why underground greenhouses can be viable alternatives.
Native plants, as the name indicates, grow naturally in an area or region. There is a growing shift among many people away from a manicured garden with non-local species in support of more natural areas, and especially, for embracing native plants.
It is indeed painful to find unwanted plants taking over your carefully curated vegetation. While not all weeds are garden enemies, the ones on this list surely are! Learn to recognize the most common and persistent weeds found in the states, and save your garden from invasion now.
Espresso martinis have dominated drink menus for several years now, but a new coffee cocktail might be challenging their spot at the top of the happy hour list. Carajillos have arrived on the scene, and they’re a simpler, smaller-sized cousin of espresso martinis (tiny cocktails, anyone?). Made with just two ingredients, this espresso-based cocktail is just as tasty as an espresso martini, but much easier to recreate at home.
“Impossibly unaffordable” are two words that Californians are probably less than thrilled to hear. In a recent report from Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Frontier Centre of Public Policy (FCPP) in Canada, that’s exactly how four California metros are described. The 2024 edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability shows San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego listed among the top 10 least affordable housing markets—not just in the United States, but worldwide.
Asclepias incarnata
Penstemon eatonii
Asclepias verticillata