search tools

Gardens: Alys Fowler’s top 25 indestructible plants

Edit The Guardian 16 Apr 2016
Fill tricky spots and barren corners with a blanket of blooms all summer. @AlysFowler. No more excuses, no more bare, broken concrete, no more empty beds denuded of life, no more forgotten corners ... plants that will survive and flourish, cover and clothe and flower all summer long ... Twitter ... 12 Alpine sea holly (Eryngium alpinum) has brilliant sky blue, teasel-like flowers surrounded by prickly bracts that look like an Elizabethan ruff ... O ... ....

Great winter, great spring in the garden

Edit Tampa Bay Online 13 Apr 2016
Never has my garden had some much color. Since we moved here in 1987, it’s the first time I haven’t had to cover or move plants over the winter. The extra rain helped, too. My cosmos bloomed all winter long and are still blooming. They aren’t the same plants ... It’s easily kept in control, likes a bit of shade and sun and is great for bouquets because the bracts last long after the little flowers disappear ... ....

Nature in Short / Native dandelions lose turf to alien invaders

Edit The Japan News 11 Apr 2016
But the dandelions I’m looking for are very different from the ones you normally see in urban and suburban settings ... In the bud stage the head is surrounded and protected by a sheath-like structure known as an involucre, which consists of several whorls of thin leaf-like bracts. In the common dandelion the individual bracts curl outward and downward as the flowers open, but in the Kanto dandelion they remain tightly packed together ... ....

Should I cut back my poinsettia before planting it outside?

Edit Kansas City Star 28 Mar 2016
QUESTION. I have a lovely pointsettia which I cut back last year and planted ... Now it is doing great and growing well-- new bracts and buds-- although a little leggy due to the lost leaves earlier. My question. Should I cut it back again before I plant it again? - Margaret … Click to Continue » ... ....

Lawn Rangers

Edit Belfast Telegraph 26 Mar 2016
Looking for a new mower this spring? Hannah Stephenson swot up on the many types available and which is best for you ... But which one is right for your budget, and right for your lawn? Share Go To ... It has a charge time of 140 minutes ... The zingy acid-yellow bracts of euphorbias contrast brilliantly with other plants to ensure an eye-catching display from spring onwards. The bracts also come in warm shades of red, purple, orange and brown....

Alys Fowler: go onwards and upwards with self-clinging climbers

Edit The Guardian 12 Mar 2016
Brightening up a wall with some verticals will see your garden soar. @AlysFowler. For every gardener, there comes a point when you have run out of space to plant, so you look up and start to plot new territory. All those bare walls, you think… I could garden those. And you can, without putting up a single wire or hook ... They will not ... Actually, it’s the bracts that will wow you – the flowers are tiny, but the bees love them ... seemanii ... ....

Horticulture Definition of Bract

Edit About.com 21 Feb 2016
A bract is a leaf or scale that has been modified in some way ... are petals, but they are in fact bracts ... Some dogwood trees and shrubs also have bracts....

Bright & Beautiful Ideas for Decorating with Poinsettias

Edit About.com 21 Feb 2016
Most poinsettia plants have dark green leaves, which contrast with the bright and colorful bracts (what probably look like flower petals)....

Insecticide can control crape myrtle aphids

Edit Longview News Journal 11 Feb 2016
Dear Neil. My husband made sure I read your column telling us never to top our crape myrtles. However, ours had aphids last summer, stopped growing and looks terrible. Short of digging it up, can we not just try cutting it down to the roots and letting it start over?. Answer ... That way, the new shoots can be encouraged to grow back in their normal growth form ... Once they begin to mature in a few years, you can look for more floral bracts ... ....

Drought-resistant bougainvillea lends tropical flair anywhere

Edit The Examiner 02 Feb 2016
The color comes from the plant’s heart-shaped bracts. Much like pointsettia, the bracts often are confused with the bloom, but the flower is actually a tiny, white blossom, not the colorful leaves ... And lots of it ... Remember ... To keep the plants producing the colorful, papery bracts, Jekel recommends fertilizing once a week ... Once bracts fall, prune bougainvillea back by half to encourage the plant to produce a second flush of bracts....

Joshua Siskin’s gardning tip of the week

Edit LA Daily News 14 Jan 2016
Joshua Siskin. Juliet De Souza, who lives in Canoga Park, wrote to me asking about the procedure for producing red poinsettia bracts each December ... As January begins, if not before, some of the colorful leaflike bracts will begin to fade and then fall off. Within three to 12 weeks, depending on the variety of poinsettia, there will be nothing but leafless stems ... ....

Texas sage damaged by past two winters

Edit Longview News Journal 07 Jan 2016
Dear Neil. I have a ceniza (Texas sage) bush that is probably 50 years old. Some years ago I moved it so it would get full sun. Last year, however, it did not flower. Several of the branches appear to be dead. New shoots have been coming up from the bottom of the plant ... Answer ... Dear Neil ... To initiate the colorful bracts you must give poinsettias total and uninterrupted darkness for 14 hours each night, but full sunlight during the day ... Yes ... ....

How to keep your poinsettia alive and get it to bloom again

Edit The Examiner 06 Jan 2016
The colorful part of the plant often referred to as the flower is actually the leaf bracts ... The yellow comes from the plant pollen and after it is gone the colored bracts usually drop off ... There are even speckled and multi-colored bracts (but no poinsettia has natural glitter on those bracts) ... If you are lucky the poinsettia leaf bracts will color up again....
×
×
×
×