Focus on Flowers

Focus on Flowers episodes:

• 05.02.2024

  Spring Dandelions

  Dandelions light up our lawns each spring with bright yellow flowers.

  
• 04.25.2024

  Early Botanical Artists

  Before the invention of photography, illustrations of uncommon plants were crucial. Women were thought to be especially well suited for drawing specimens accurately. They were seen as patient, careful, and willing to work for little pay.

  
• 04.18.2024

  The Middle Ages

  During the Middle Ages in Britain, the monasteries were the places with the space and the knowledge to garden.

  
• 04.11.2024

  Touch-Me-Nots

  Most gardeners I know find it convenient to buy this easy-care annual for their pots and shade beds each spring, and delight in growing such undemanding annuals.

  
• 04.04.2024

  Cherry Blossoms

  The Cherry tree that Houseman wrote about in his poem is commonly known as bird cherry, which alas do not grow well for us in zone 6. A white tree that is a lovely substitute, however, is the white dogwood.

  
• 03.28.2024

  Planting Easter Lilies

  At this time of the year many flower lovers buy pots of Easter lilies at the grocery store to have in their homes during the Easter season

  
• 03.21.2024

  The Benefits of Clay

  Clay soil is heavy and hard to dig compared to sandy soil, but it is also more moisture and nutrient retentive.

  
• 03.14.2024

  Usually Deer Proof

  No plant, it seems to those of us plagued with deer, can be called really deer proof.

  
• 03.07.2024

  Pruning Flowering Shrubs

  Regular pruning benefits all woody plants, such as shrubs, trees, and vines. Pruning keeps them vigorous and healthy, as well as improving their shape.

  
• 02.29.2024

  Cutting Back

  Cutting back plants, even small ones, helps to stimulate growth. But don't cut off all of the leaves!

  
• 02.22.2024

  Climbing Clematis

  There are so many lovely varieties of clematis available today. Even a single bloom floating is a bowl looks perfect.

  
• 02.15.2024

  Forcing

  In late winter, after months without garden flowers, we are eager to see flowers in our homes. However, there is a wonderful feeling we get when we force branches of early spring-blooming trees and shrubs.

  
• 02.08.2024

  Roses From the Past

  All of the poems I will read today are about roses and all are from times long past.

  
• 02.01.2024

  February Saints

  The flowers associated with St. Valentine were, in Roman times, the yellow crocus and the tricolor viola that both bloom in the early spring in our gardens today. But there are also other saints associated with February...

  
• 01.25.2024

  Christo's Final Years

  In 1993, Christopher Lloyd hired Fergus Garrett as his head gardener and together they turned the traditional 80-year-old rose garden into an exotic tropical area. Christo was amused by the consequent criticism from traditionalists.

  
• 01.18.2024

  The Long Border

  Great Dixter's Christopher Lloyd created his famous term "succession planting" to describe continuous bloom month after month, beginning in March and ending in October.

  
• 01.11.2024

  The Great Dixter

  One of Britain's most celebrated gardens, Great Dixter is a magnificent place where one can learn and be inspired. A trip there should be on every gardener's bucket list.

  
• 01.04.2024

  Medieval Gardens

  In AD 830, St. Benedict said that gardening was appropriate manual labor for monks and that all monasteries should have a psychic garden, kitchen garden, cellar garden, an orchard, and a private garden for monks of high office.

  
• 12.28.2023

  1st Century Gardens

  The Romans were the first to create pleasure gardens in Britain.

  
• 12.21.2023

  The Winter Solstice

  The winter solstice marks the day with the fewest hours of sunshine in the year, which means that it is described as the shortest day.

  
• 12.14.2023

  Bioengineering

  Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects used to be the only creatures who transferred pollen from flower to flower. Nowadays, it is often a person with a fine brush.

  
• 12.07.2023

  Eleanor of Aquitaine

  The idea of private pleasure gardens during the Middle Ages in England was espoused by Eleanor of Aquitaine.

  
• 11.30.2023

  Gnats: Pesky Little Devils

  Most of us occasionally get little black flies that look a bit like fruit flies around our houseplants. They're fungus gnats and essentially harmless, mostly...

  
• 11.23.2023

  Wild William Robinson

  One of the most influential horticulturalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was William Robinson, the first to promote the idea of a wild garden.

  
• 11.16.2023

  Garden Cleanup

  Fall is a great time to collect the seed pods from shrubs like baptisia and hardy hibiscus and store them in paper envelopes indoors until next spring.

  
• 11.09.2023

  Houseplants That Bloom

  Houseplants that bloom help us to get through winter while awaiting next year's flowers in the garden. But often houseplants suffer from problems that we must address promptly to save a plant's life.

  
• 11.02.2023

  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

  Betty Smith is the author of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn about a young girl who is inspired by a tree. Unfortunately, the tree happens to be an invasive species.

  
• 10.26.2023

  The Mimosa Tree

  You do not want this junk tree anywhere near your garden, as it self-seeds aggressively and many people are highly allergic to its pollen.

  
• 10.19.2023

  Cutting Down Plants

  Continually cut back plants that have done their stuff to allow more room for those whose bloom period is yet to come.

  
• 10.12.2023

  Continuous Color

  If you need something in bloom all through the growing seasons in your garden, check that you have these plants.

  
• 10.05.2023

  Naked Ladies

  There are many common names for the pink lilies, Amaryllis belladonna, that pop up in our gardens during the hot days of August/September: naked ladies, magic lily, autumn lily, surprise lily, and resurrection lily.

  
• 09.28.2023

  Carefree Crepe Myrtle

  Native to the Far East, crepe myrtles can be trees or but in my zone 6 garden, they usually die back to the ground each winter.

  
• 09.21.2023

  Clivia miniata

  The winter-blooming clivia plant is one of the very few house plants that will produce flowers indoors in the dead of winter.

  
• 09.14.2023

  Shrubs for All Seasons

  If you are looking for deer resistant shrubs to plant in your unfenced yard, the safest evergreens are spruce, juniper, and boxwood.

  
• 09.07.2023

  Recognizing Reality

  Early on, I longed for all the more pretentious perennials, but now I prefer the tried and true.

  
• 08.31.2023

  Angelonia

  Angelonia produces stalks of little flowers, similar to stock flowers, that last a long time on the plant, flowering steadily all through till late summer.

  
• 08.24.2023

  Always Cheerful

  The plant has the unfortunate common name of "tickseed," derived from the Greek word "Koris," meaning bed bug.

  
• 08.17.2023

  Rudbeckia ‘American Goldrush’

  This black-eyed Susan is a plant that we can all grow and that will be with us for as long as we garden.

  
• 08.10.2023

  Hibiscus moscheutos

  Our Midwest Hibiscus moscheutos, (a.k.a. swamp mallow), is an herbaceous plant that has flowers that look so exotic that it seems tropical, but it is hardy zones 5-9.

  
• 08.04.2023

  Liatris spicata

  Gayfeather (Liatris spicata) is a lovely native plant that attracts butterflies, bumble bees, and other insects.

  
• 08.03.2023

  Liatris spicata

  Gayfeather (Liatris spicata) is a lovely native plant that attracts butterflies, bumble bees, and other insects.

  
• 07.27.2023

  Minimal Watering

  Xeroscaping is the term for gardening while conserving water.

  
• 07.20.2023

  Excellent Echinaceas

  The original perennial coneflowers were pink, but many new cultivars have been developed.

  
• 07.13.2023

  Cutting Garden

  A mix of annuals, biennials, perennials, and shrubs ensures that your cutting garden always has something in bloom.

  
• 07.06.2023

  Deterring Peter

  Peter Rabbit is cute, but he can be a problem for gardeners, especially when seedlings and small plants are available, and he wants them for his dinner!

  
• 06.29.2023

  Tough Native Plants

  Native perennials are an essential part of our ecosystem and support wildlife. Some are more likely to thrive in our region than others.

  
• 06.22.2023

  Milkweed and the Monarchs

  Monarch butterflies like to eat various species of milkweed, which have a bitter juice, that makes their caterpillars unappealing to predators.

  
• 06.15.2023

  Cuttings

  If you want to get more plants from your existing flowering plants, a good way is to take cuttings.

  
• 06.08.2023

  Degrees of Shade

  The degree of shade is an important factor in gardening, and usually for flowering plants, partial shade is the best.

  
• 06.01.2023

  Bougainvillea Vines

  In warm climates, the showy, brightly colored bougainvillea vines romp over walls, fences, and even buildings, brightening landscapes with their vivid colors.