Recently added comments

Annie Welch opens well after a cool morning, making it a good cultivar for the PNW or other cooler regions.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

Angel Sublime opens well after a cool morning and on sunless days, making it a good cultivar for the PNW or other cooler regions.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

Always Tomorrow opens well after a cool morning, making it a good cultivar for the PNW or other cooler regions.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

Along the Way is slow to open after a cool morning. There have been days when it wasn't fully open until after 4pm.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

Admiral's Braid opens well on cool mornings, which makes it a good daylily cultivar for the PNW or other cooler regions.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

I have been successful in growing this fig in a large pot (14'' clay) as a houseplant and siting it outside for the summer.This is my third year and it has produced figs all three years. This year over a dozen so far and still immature fruit on the tree.

For those growing figs in a pot inside, don't be alarmed when the tree drops all of its leaves. This is a normal cycle. It is not dying. I cut back on water when the leaves start to drop and increase water when the new shoots appear. Takes about 4-6 weeks.

[ | 2 replies ]

I have grown this cucumber several times . It is never bitter and produces well . The vines seem to be a bit smaller than some other green varieties, so I just plant a few more a bit closer together.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

I love the huge beautiful leaves with almost a purple tinge below and stems. The one I have in part sun is big and beautiful. The one that is in full shade is noticeably smaller and has been eaten by slugs or other bugs - thus has large holes in the big beautiful leaves.

[ | 1 reply ]

If I had a top 10 list of my favorite plants that I can't live without, this one is definitely on that list, and high up on the list at that.

It's hardy.
Fast growing.
Tolerant of nearly any soil.
Handles drought and heat without complaint.
Blooms repeatedly all summer long (if properly deadheaded).
If this weren't enough, it has highly fragrant blooms!
The blue color is striking in the landscape.
Astoundingly, it can handle poor drainage, too.
It's perfect for those hot, dry and difficult areas of your yard.

All this, plus the plant attracts beneficial insects, especially bees and butterflies. It's a bee magnet, which is a good thing.

To encourage repeated growth, deadhead the shrub. After it's done blooming it will start making little peppercorn sized seeds. Cut those all off and it'll prompt the plant to rebloom again. You can repeat this all summer long.

The plant responds well to heavy pruning. In fact, it is encouraged to prune it back deeply in order to promote a new flush of growth. Think "Crepe Murder" here. It's actually a good thing for this particular kind of plant.

Love love love it! Don't delay, act now! Add this amazing plant to your southern garden!

[ | 2 replies ]

This is a Southeast Asian culinary vegetable having very shiny, heart-shaped leaves. It has no official English common name, but is sometimes called 'wild betel leaf.' It prefers to grow in damp shade, a trailing groundcover plant. Piperales order; Piperaceae family. In Thai it is chaphlu/ cha phlu/cha pluu/cha pluey.

The use of the common name may cause this plant to be confused with Piper betle/Betel Pepper/Paan which is a climbing plant.

[ | 2 replies ]

When I bought my house in '05, this plant was growing in the front yard near the street. It was a nice sunflower type of plant, so I decided that I'd let it grow. No harm in letting it grow where it was. I never water it, I never feed it, I never take care of it, and it comes back every single year faithfully in the same spot. It's not invasive in my area and the flowers last 4-6 weeks (mid-late summer to mid fall). I haven't found anything to detract from it, so it stays. Anything that grows wild in my yard & produces pretty flowers like this deserves a spot!

[ | Reply to this comment ]

I have found this rose to be very heat tolerant. It blooms through months of temps of high 90s and low 100s without pause. It is not a fussy rose and can be pruned to a smaller size than shown in my photo of the plant.

It does get some blackspot when the conditions are right, but not enough to cause the plant to defoliate in my climate.

My plant is budded and I don't know how it would perform own root.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

Bred by LariAnn Garner of Aroidia Research
Hybrid Formula: Alocasia odora x Alocasia portei.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

For the past two years I've grown Oriental Silk, and I find that when the plant first starts blooming, the flowers are clear and bright. However, when the last few flowers open, they are generally paler and the flowers tend to have purple spots along the edges of the petals (although not the sepals). It doesn't appear to be caused by weather since this has happened two years in a row and this year was very different weather-wise from last year. I actually enjoy the later blooms more because with their size and spots they remind me of true lilies.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

South African native with narrow, succulent green leaves similar to an Aloe.
It can be propagated easily by stem cuttings planted and kept in a shady area. They don't need any special attention and they build strong roots in a couple of months.
Hardy to 20 degrees F, but can freeze down and resprout, so some list the hardiness down to 10°F. It has a bloom period from summer along the coast, but has something of a summer dormant period in hot interior gardens, where it will then rebloom in the fall.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

Despite what the AHS database says, going by its hybridizing behavior, STARRY DAY is a diploid, not a tetraploid. This was determined many years ago by various members of the snail mail polytepal (as the term was back then) round robins. I personally have confirmed this for myself, by various crosses against known diploids. (I still have a polymerous seedling which I have kept for many years, whose parentage involved STARRY DAY, and also the diploids SPARKLING OPAL and FOUR STAR.)

To compound and propagate the error, If you look at the three child plants listed for STARRY DAY, all of THOSE are also (imho) incorrectly registered as tetraploids. If you look at the other parents involved in the crosses - GIVE ME EIGHT, PURPLE PETALOID, FUCHSIA FOUR - those are all definitely diploid.

STARRY DAY's hybridizing behavior has been known for many, many years. I am surprised that its designation as "tetraploid" still persists in the AHS database - and now is unfortunately being propagated in this database.

[ | 4 replies ]

Nancyana aka Nancy's Revenge is a runner. It puts out side shoots and probably could get out of hand very quickly. This is the first time I've seen a "running" elephant ear try to run in a pot. Normally, in my experience with "runners," they only do this when in the ground.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

This rose is also called Martha Gonzales - at least locally - as The Antique Rose Emporium obtained its first plants from her garden in Navasota Texas. By either name the rose thrives in our hot, humid climate.

[ | 1 reply ]

Aross is a very pretty plant with a nice, graceful growth habit. It fills in quickly and is a very good reproducer.

[ | Reply to this comment ]

A 1963 introduction from USDA, Charleston Vegetable Breeding Laboratory. Parentage; Sugar Baby and Charleston Grey. Round 15-20 lb melon with Charleston Grey markings.

[ | Reply to this comment ]