Focus on Flowers

Allelopathic plants release chemicals through their leaves and roots that prevent the germination and/or growth of nearby plants.

It's important to remove invasive, non-native plants to make more space available for plants that nourish our own native wildlife.

If you are planting a garden this spring around a condominium or in some other small garden space, you may want to consider some of the shrubs that have been developed to grow into a compact shape and size at maturity.

There is magic associated with flowers. How can it be, I wonder, that there are so many different shapes, colors, and sizes to delight the senses?

By the 18th century, it was fashionable in the colonies of North America where a garden was essential to feed a family.

In ancient times, roses were not grown for ornamental reasons but for their medicinal and mystical properties.

After the spring bloomers' flowers faded, I used to have day lily plants that grew up in my beds to disguise the decaying and unsightly bulb foliage. All that changed once the deer in my neighborhood came by in droves and ate all of the day lily foliage.

During the 20th century, growers learned to grow flowers with taller, straighter stems, less blemishes, and, also, to force blooms out of season.

Beginning in the early 18th century in England, many quaint new cottages were built surrounded by plantings of fruit trees, honey suckle, ivy, and all kinds of flowers to create intentionally romantic gardens.

Empress Josephine Bonaparte had the first European ever-blooming roses from China, and her eclectic collection allowed French hybridizers to create many new varieties.