What Is An Invasive Plant, And Why Should We Care?

Some plants, of course, are naturally late bloomers, like asters, helenium and chrysanthemum, but what about those that ‘should’ flower from early summer, but don’t? I am rather disappointed with the annual Chinese aster, callistephus (above), this year, as it is only just coming into bloom, especially as this variety, C ‘Duchess Blue’ is such a glorious shade. I am also growing C ‘Hulk’, which I think may be a greenish flower, which is even tardier. I have only grown these once before and was disappointed with their short flowering period, so with delayed flowering to take on boar too I might not bother again.

Brie Goldman. Food Stylist: Annie Probst

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:

Flowers are usually the first things that grab our attention when we are selecting plants to add to our landscapes. However, most plants only flower for a short period of time, so it behooves us to consider plants’ other attributes—and there are many! Sometimes the same flowers that seduced us into opening our wallets are replaced with an amazing fruit display. Colorful fruits of all shapes and sizes can add drama to our landscapes throughout the year. In addition to their visual beauty, many fruits are important sources of nutrition for wildlife, particularly birds. Here are a few examples of awesome plants whose fruit shines in the garden in summer, fall, and winter.

Growing Aglaonema from Stem Cuttings and Branches is an easy and effective way to grow new plants from your existing ones. This method can save you money and allow you to expand your collection without the need to purchase new plants.

This species of plants originate in central China. The closely related species R. molle japonicum come from Japan. Both these deciduous varieties are relatives of the popular Ghent and Knapp Hill hybrids.

It shows how long this blog has been operating. The Rio Olympics 2016 will be the third time we have commented on suitable Olympic  flowers. See Beijing 2008 and London 2012 below. Today is the ‘Anniversary Games’ in London a curtain raiser for the Brazil games. For Brazil we should start with the nut (OK so that is the author) and then the Cacti as he is a prickly sort of guy. Feeding plants and flowers with fertiliser or hormone treatment will not fall foul of the drug testing rules – there are no plant urine samples to test!

After salad crop failures in Spain and shortages of courgettes, broccoli and other ‘long distance’ vegetables gardeners could to worse than focus on traditional and non-traditional root crops.

Your book shelves wont propagate themselves but with just a bit of help from Amazon……

Modern tea gardens may seem to be a contradiction but since the 15th century the wabi tea ceremony has influenced the tea gardens purpose and design. Originally when tea plants (Camellia sensi) were introduced into Japan from China in the 6th century they were the prerogative of the ruling classes and used expensive ingredients and equipment.

I will use Shangri-la as an all encompassing name for spiritually based gardens and areas of harmonious natural beauty stealing a name from James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon.

In times of this pandemic, it is imperative that you take good care of your health, especially the respiratory system. Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (which are 10 times higher indoors than outdoors), Particulate Matter, Polluting Gases like Nitrogen Oxide andRadon, and Contaminants like Asbestos are commonly found inside homes.