Tag: flower

Posted on in Gardening, House Plants, Plant Profiles, Surviving Winter

Amaryllis for the Holidays

amaryllis_gretnala_20090619_lah_4153-1With giant, trumpet-shaped flowers facing outward around a central stalk, a blooming amaryllis makes an eye-catching houseplant. Colors range from white through pink to red (and even almost black), as well as salmon-orange. Stripes or contracting edges are common. “African” amaryllis have more compact forms suited to indoor cultivation. Dwarf amaryllis are smaller in size but can produce more blooms.

Not surprisingly, these striking, easy-to-grow bulbs are popular holiday gifts; perhaps you received one this year. There’s even a bright red variety named “Merry Christmas”!

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Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping, Surviving Winter, Veggies

Winter Containers

Containers in winter_DBG_10200118_LAH_6918Winter used to leave a huge hole in my garden. Containers that were once jammed with vibrant annuals were reduced to pots of old potting soil. Flower beds that had hosted brilliant orange marigolds and salmon-pink petunias had become boring expanses of brown dirt. At least I covered the soil with a layer of mulch—shredded leaves, dried grass clippings, pine needles—but it all looked so depressing.

Not any more. A spontaneous trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens last March gave me the inspiration I needed to make my winter landscape far more interesting.

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Posted on in Gardening, Veggies

A Gardener’s Wish List

While I’m on the topic of wish lists (see my previous post), I would be remiss if I left out what the gardener in me would like for Christmas. See, I’m making this so easy for my family!

  1. lettuce-after-hail-damage-home-2008jun04-lah-002No hail. If I had to pick one item, this would be it. How many times have I planted a bed of eager lettuce seedlings that I raised from infancy, only to have them turned into lime sherbet by the next thunderstorm?
  2. Regular, gentle, rainfall. After living most of my life in California, it still seems incredible that Colorado has rain during the summer. But does it all have to fall in a span of five minutes? I’m tired of watching our driveway wash into the culvert, the mulch pile against the fence, and my plants get reduced to stubs. And then, since it all ran off so fast, I still have to water! (more…)
Posted on in Gardening, Plant Profiles, Surviving Winter

Tropical Flowers in January?

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What plant thrives indoors, shrugs off low humidity, and blooms all winter in bold shades of white to pink to red? Surprise! It’s wax begonias!

Also called fibrous begonias, these familiar bedding plants have large, round succulent leaves in either lime green or a beautiful burgundy- or bronze-red. Flowers have fleshy petals surrounding a bright yellow cluster of stamens. Plants grow to a height of about six to twelve inches. They tend to flop, creating a solid mass of color, and even trailing over walls and container edges.

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Posted on in Gardening, Nature, Veggies

Hand-Pollinating Zucchini

It’s time to learn about sex. Oh, you think you already know all about that? OK, but how much do you know about making baby zucchinis?

Perhaps your zucchini (or other squash) plants are producing plenty of flowers, but no squash. Or, maybe they start to grow little squashes but then the babies turn yellow to brown, get all wrinkled, and fall off. What’s wrong? It’s highly likely the problem involves zucchini sex.

All squash plants (and related crops such as cucumbers) produce two kinds of flowers, male and female. Here’s how to tell them apart:

zucchini-blossom-male-femalecsu-23jul04-lah-033s

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