With pineapple (Ananas comosus), you can have both. From the leafy top of a pineapple — the part you would normally discard or compost — you can grow a beautiful plant that may bloom and produce fruit. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. First, We Eat Select a healthy pineapple at the grocery store that has attractive, healthy-looking foliage....
For Asian varieties, Pyrus pyrifolia, your sense of smell or taste will let you know it’s time to pick. But for P. communis, European varieties that include ‘Bosc’ and ‘Anjou,’ you’ll rely only on your eyesight. These latter types are inedible unless you pick them while they’re still firm, and let them ripen at room temperature or maybe after chilling. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....
The soft rot caused by this fungus is either the most serious postharvest infection of stone fruits or the second most serious depending on where you live. While this fungus can infect ripe fruit on a tree, it can really go to town on postharvest produce. It can destroy a whole crate of fruit if the temperatures are right. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....
Salvia clevelandii, also known as California blue, fragrant, and most often, Cleveland sage, is a fast-growing, highly aromatic herb that is native to the coast of southern California. It’s suitable for cultivation in USDA Hardiness Zones 9-11. It is a small plant, producing gray-green foliage and leathery leaves. Growing to around four feet tall and wide, this plant bears beautiful blue-violet flowers, and also has fragrant leaves that can be used in cooking....
A low-growing cultivar with small, rosy-pink flowers and an aromatic, spicy fragrance of cloves, the flowers rise on slim stems from dense mats of silvery, blue-green foliage. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. This award-winning hybrid is easily cultivated, cold hardy, and among the most heat- and humidity-tolerant of all dianthus cultivars. It also has a long flowering season, providing a prolific display from late spring into early summer....
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Join us as we talk about how to grow and care for lungwort, and explore multiple species and cultivated varieties that may meet your landscaping needs. Here’s a preview of the topics we’ll address: Let’s start with a little background. Cultivation and History Lungwort is native to Europe and Asia....
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. It’s also easy to take care of once you have a good understanding of its needs – and that’s exactly what we’re going to cover in this article! Here’s what we’ll go over: For the purposes of this article we’re going to be talking about the houseplant known in scientific circles as Goeppertia ornata, formerly known as Calathea ornata....
If so, here’s a plant for you! The ponytail palm, Beaucarnea recurvata, has tropical-style foliage, but doesn’t require a wet environment to thrive. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Here’s what’s in store: Let’s dive in and see what makes this species so special. What Is a Ponytail Palm? Evergreen ponytail palm, Beaucarnea recurvata, is not actually a palm, but a succulent in the Asparagaceae family that also includes agave and asparagus....
Flowers are purple, pink, white, red, fuchsia, or combinations thereof, and are usually between three to six inches in diameter, depending on the cultivar and growing conditions. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Other plants in this family include hardy hibiscus (H. moscheuto and other rose mallows) and the popular tropical hibiscus (H....
While they may resemble those familiar spring-blooming members of the iris family, Colchicum is a separate genus in the Colchicaceae family that grows from bulb-like corms. Their cup-like blossoms are pink or purple, often with a white center. They may also be all white. Many have a single row of petals that open very wide, more like a lily than a crocus. Some cultivated varieties have multiple rows of petals and resemble water lilies....
One large round planter can yield up to 30-40 carrots per harvest, depending on the weather, variety, and how many you’ve planted. My favorite thing about growing them in containers is that there are no wild critter issues, since my planter is close to the house where I can keep an eye on it. What’s more, now I can easily harvest two or more crops per season, and picking and storage is incredibly simple....
They are the only species in the Caladium genus, one of many aroids, or plants in the large Arum (Araceae) family that includes calla lilies, peace lilies, philodendrons, and taro. Native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, they grow in the sun-dappled shade and moist earth beneath the canopies created by high-branched trees. Plants are suited to cultivation as tender perennials in USDA Hardiness Zones 9 to 11....
They’re fluffy, bright yellow, and a comforting small size – especially when compared to their relatives that can grow to 10 feet and taller! Scientists have even determined that the double-bloomed sunflowers in the famous paintings by Vincent van Gogh were ‘Teddy Bear’ types, but they couldn’t find the gene mutation that gave them the green centers as depicted by the artist. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....
In my area, the end of June means it’s time to start putting these flavorful fruits into pretty much every meal. That means chopped gooseberries and nuts on my morning yogurt, pickled gooseberries on my afternoon sandwich, and grilled gooseberries on my evening fish. If you’re growing your own bushes or you’re hoping to pluck some at a local U-pick farm, you’re probably wondering when and how to get the fruits away from those spiky bushes and into your mouth....
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Most of these easy-care plants require a period of cold vernalization to produce big, healthy blooms. Bulbs are typically hardy as far north as Zone 4 – with many varieties able to handle frigid Zone 3 winters as well. However, to survive freezing temperatures and winter’s inclement weather, they need a well-draining environment because wet conditions can induce bulb rot....
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. What Is Bee Balm? Bee balm is a perennial flowering herb in the mint family. Like many mints, it has a square stem, opposite leaves, and creeping rhizomes that spread rapidly under the soil. There are quite a few varieties of Monarda. Perhaps the most commonly cultivated variety, M....
To make sure you have a steady supply of this cruciferous vegetable, you’ll want to grow it in the best conditions – which, of course, includes knowing how much sun to provide it with. As with most of the important questions in life, this one doesn’t have an easy answer. How much sun this member of the Brassicaceae family will need will depend on your growing conditions. If you’re new to growing kale, check out our full growing guide....
Go on, close your eyes and imagine the trickling sound of water while you feel a soft breeze and catch a whiff of butterfly bush… It’s nice, ain’t it? In the wide world of water features, few can stand their ground when faced with the might of the iconic fountain. They act as structural features in the garden and offer a variety of angles of interest. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....
It’s not one plant, but a family of approximately 20 species, plus various subspecies. And it’s often called the Lenten, Christmas, or Winter rose. Most hellebores grown in the home garden are assorted H. orientalis hybrids that are collectively referred to as Helleborus x hybridus. They offer a “potluck” color palette, and bloom during the late winter to early spring period when many other plants are still dormant. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....
But that’s not the end of the story. There are nearly 80 different species of hydrangea. And not only that, they are not all bushes, and they do not all produce spherical clusters of blooms. Intrigued? We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Here’s what we’ll cover: Let’s find out about what makes a lacecap special....
