Scent is important to me. I have been known to stop in my tracts to insert my nose into a particularly alluring rose or inhale the intoxicating fragrance of a blooming linden tree. I didn’t expect much when I got up close and personal with an echinops or globe thistle, but to my surprise, the … Read more
You may not have noticed, but gauras have exploded in a big way. This mass detonation has taken place over the last two decades, and while the world at large may have perceived it as white noise, it resounded in horticultural circles. Gaura lindheimeri, a perennial also known as Lindheimer’s beeblossom, wandflower, or just plain … Read more
My house was built in 1882. Two years later, in 1884, botanist Luther Burbank (1849-1926) began to build a better daisy. Another seventeen years passed while Burbank crossed various daisy species. Finally, in 1901, he introduced a new ornamental plant named after Mount Shasta, one of California’s natural wonders. The Shasta daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum, … Read more
Last week I spotted an alluring plant in the garden center. It was in full bloom, offering up a cloud of small, white blossoms and a billowing habit. I reached for it, imaging exactly where in the garden it would go. Then I saw the label—Gypsophilia paniculata or baby’s breath. I stopped in mid-reach. Baby’s … Read more
We are now entering the daisy days of early summer, when Shasta daisies, coneflowers, Gaillardia daisies and a constellation of other Asteraceae or Compositae family members burst into bloom. I love them all, because they are strong growers, attract loads of butterflies and other pollinators, and are equally useful for ornamenting the garden or filling … Read more
