Q. I have a pink lemonade honeysuckle vine. It has bloomed all summer, but the leaves are turning a powdery white and falling off. Is there a remedy to save my plant? — Sylvia R. Kline, Ferdinand, Ind. A. Powdery mildew is the name for the grayish-white powdery coating caused by a fungus growing on plant leaves, shoots and flowers. This disease is caused by a group of similar fungi that attacks a wide variety…Read more about Question and Answer[Read More]
Gardenias have a well-earned reputation for being difficult specimens for even the experienced indoor gardener. Gardenias thrive on bright light, high humidity, and an even supply of moisture and nutrients. When gardenias are freshly delivered from a greenhouse grower, their glossy leaves and heavenly-scented blooms just about cause the plant to leap into your arms, whether a gift for yourself or for a loved-one. But, then, the plant enters the home environment where hot, dry…Read more about Gardenia: A Gardener’s Challenge[Read More]
‘Tis the season for giving, so why not give a gift that lasts all year? A plant is a special gift that brings beauty to the home and to the heart as you help a living thing grow. The poinsettia is undoubtedly the most popular gift plant, but many others are equally festive for the holiday season. Christmas cactus, begonias, cyclamen and azaleas offer attractive blossoms on compact plants and can brighten any room in…Read more about Holiday Gifts for the Gardener[Read More]
Purple is all the rage among gardeners and Mother Nature’s palette is well endowed with shades of purple flowers, fruit and foliage. Looking for perennials with purple flowers? Consider bear’s britches (Acanthus), Agapanthus, ornamental onion (Allium), columbine (Aquilegia), Aster, Astilbe,Baptisia, swan river daisy (Brachycome), Siberian bugloss (Brunnera), bellflower (Campanula), Delphinium, foxglove (Digitalis), coneflower (Echinacea), joepye weed (Eupatorium), Hosta, Iris, lavender, Liatris, flax (Linum), purple toadflax (Linaria), bluebells (Mertensia), catmint (Nepeta), Russian sage (Perovskia), Jacob’s ladder…Read more about The Color Purple[Read More]
Q. We have a forsythia bush that for the past three or four years has bloomed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Is this a normal thing considering the warmer weather we have had over the past few years? If we trim the bush now, will it still bloom in the spring? Thanks. – Nancy Folger A. It’s fairly common for some plants to jump the gun and bloom in the fall, especially if the weather is…Read more about Question and Answer[Read More]
If you’re looking to add some new bold and beautiful colors to your garden next season, All-America Selections (AAS) has selected some outstanding new plants for 2005. These new cultivars have been judged superior in their class, based on their performance in test gardens all over the country. Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’ is a dwarf perennial blanket flower that packs loads of blossoms in its first season from seed, making it just as useful as…Read more about All-American Selections New Flowers and Vegetables for 2005[Read More]
If you’re a gardener interested in propagating your own garden and landscape plants, Purdue has just the tool for you. Purdue University’s “Plant Propagation” CD-ROM is kind of like a well-illustrated book AND a hands-on class — only better! In “Plant Propagation,” you can read about each technique and immediately see how it’s done. There are 52 videos and hundreds of photos, animations, and graphics that show everything from the simplest planting of a seed…Read more about Purdue Offers Plant Propagation CD for Home Gardeners[Read More]
Q. Our tomatoes have had blight the last two years. Is there anything we can do to keep them from getting it again? — Mrs. George Bowen, Plymouth, Ind. A. There are three major blights that can attack your tomatoes: Septoria leaf spot, early blight and late blight. All are fungal diseases spread by spores, which require dew or rain to infect the plant. These are most severe in wet weather. Septoria leaf spot, sometimes…Read more about Question and Answer[Read More]
Now that other yard chores have slowed down, many gardeners turn to their landscape plants to assess their pruning needs. Dead limbs can and should be taken down whenever they are present. But cutting into live tissue should be delayed until late winter or early spring. That is the time of year when the pruning cuts will heal most rapidly. Pruning at the wrong time of year will not kill a tree or shrub outright,…Read more about Assess Pruning Needs[Read More]
Though drought in summer is more the norm, lack of rain this fall has resulted in late-season wilting of landscape plants. Such drought-stressed plants will be in poor condition to face winter, unless gardeners take action. Though trees, shrubs and hardy perennials will be dormant in the winter, they continue to lose moisture through the biological process known as transpiration. Once the ground freezes, plant roots will no longer be able to take up water…Read more about Water To The Rescue[Read More]