By Claire Jones
After months of seed trays under lights, misting, thinning, hardening off, and finally planting out, there comes the best part of all — cutting armfuls of flowers and bringing them inside. This is where seed starting turns into something tangible, generous, and joyful: the cutting garden. The phrase cutting garden can sound a bit elitist. …
Continue reading "The Cutting Garden: From Seed Trays to Mason Jars"
Who wouldn't want to grow a flower that smells like chocolate cake? Chocolate Cosmos, Cosmos atrosanguineus, has velvety, burgundy-maroon flowers so named because of their sweet, cocoa-like fragrance. The fragrance is due to vanillin, an organic compound also found in cocoa and is most noticeable on warm and sunny days. The flowers are similar to …
Continue reading "Chocolate Cosmos Growing Guide"
I love to spotlight local under-the-radar nurseries in central Maryland. These hard working nurseries fill a niche that larger nurseries and big box stores can't begin to fill. And one specialty greenhouse is right under my nose only a few miles away and I really just took it for granted - Susan Iglehart's Flowers or …
Continue reading "Annuals Extraordinaire From Susan Iglehart’s Flowers"
With all the new intros of flowers, people forget the old-fashioned flowers that our grandmothers grew and enjoyed. 'Flowers with a past', or 'flowers with history' intrigue me even in the face of the preference of perennials in recent years. So many people when they hear that a plant is an annual turn up their …
Continue reading "Growing Heirlooms – Old Fashioned Annuals That Rock!!"
One of the main reasons that I grow flowers in my garden is for the fresh cut flowers. Blooms to bring in by the arm load and arrange in buckets and vases, is the reason that I slave hours in the garden. Buying fresh cuts from a florist or grocery store isn't the same as …
Continue reading "Backyard Blooms-Top 12 Cut Flowers"
