Prickly Pear
Prickly Pear – Beautiful and Surprising Our native prickly pear cactus – Opuntia humifusa – is blooming now, with its beautiful yellow/pink flowers – you can see it on the dunes, or any hot, dry, sandy, and sunny location. Do you have a spot that gets baked, in your garden? Which isn’t too close to […]
Hardy Hibiscus
Hardy Hibiscus Brings the Tropics to Delaware Have you noticed the big white flowers blooming now along rte 1? Those are our hardy hibiscus, the Swamp Mallow, or Hibiscus moscheutos. It is one of our larger perennials – meaning the top dies back in winter but the roots live, unlike a shrub or a tree […]
Sourwood
Sourwood – sour tree makes sweet honey One of the prettiest forest understory trees around, the Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum, aka Lily of the Valley tree, will be a spot of beauty in your yard all 4 seasons. It grows slowly to 20 to 30’ tall, with a narrow and irregular pyramidal shape. It needs acid […]
Winterberry Holly
Winterberry Holly – You can have great garden color in winter too! Did you know that there are some hollies that don’t have spiky leaves? And, they lose those leaves in fall? The Winterberry holly family, Ilex verticillata, has small, medium to dark green leaves in spring summer and fall. They turn yellowish in fall […]
Hairy Wild Petunia
Hairy Wild Petunia – Bring out your wild side There are many great native wildflowers blooming now (Black Eyed Susans, Coneflowers, Milkweeds, and more) but this week we’re talking about one you may not know – the Hairy Wild Petunia, Ruellia humilis. More commonly found west of us in the plains and prairies, it nevertheless […]
Switchgrass
Grasses – graceful beauty The airy seedheads and tan leaves of switchgrass – Panicum virgatum – really glow in fall. Backlit by the rising or setting sun, or rustling in a breeze, its beauty and usefulness make it a valuable landscape plant. There are a number of different cultivated switchgrass varieties (cultivars) available for you […]
Swamp milkweed
If you like butterflies in your garden, you need Swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata. When in bloom, it is very attractive to butterflies and other pollinators. Like other milkweed species, it is the only food source for Monarch butterfly caterpillars, which are dependent upon milkweeds and must consume their leaves to grow and transform into butterflies. […]
Southern Magnolia
Southern Magnolia – here’s some small versions of a big tree You’ve probably seen the huge evergreen magnolias with their gorgeous flowers, or had to clean up after one. These trees are beautiful, but way too big for our smaller gardens, and too much work, too. Fortunately, you have options! The Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, […]
Seaside Goldenrod
Seaside Goldenrod – Sunshine on the Dunes If you take a walk near the beach now, you’ll see one of the fall glories of life at the beach starting to fade, but it was glorious just a few weeks ago – the Seaside goldenrod, Solidago sempervirens. I’m sitting here watching some late season monarch butterflies […]