Monday, December 1st, 2008
The stems appear to pierce the cucumber-shaped leaves which are green with a blue sheen caused by the layer of protective wax. The plant grows somewhat tenuously to about 24 in tall and flowers from June to August. The small flowers are not in themselves very striking, but they grow in decorative yellowish-green umbels. The restrained colors of foliage and flowers have made bu-pleurum one of the most popular plants in the art of flower arrangement. The stems are used as fillers and form a lovely background to many other cut flowers.
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Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
Osteospermum is a real maverick among the compositae family. Usually, a border of sterile ray flowers - those of a marguerite, for example - attracts insects to the center of the flower with its tubular florets; these are fertile and develop the seed. In osteospermums, however, the tubular florets are sterile and the seed is formed in the fertile ray flowers. You can see this phenomenon yourself after the plants have flowered. The brownish-black seeds, which are very large and hard, develop into wreaths round the centers of the faded flowers. This characteristic distinguishes Osteospermum from Dimorphotheca, a genus dealt with elsewhere in this encyclopedia, with flowers that in other respects closely resemble those of Osteospermum.
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Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Salpiglossis sinuata bears flowers about 2 in wide. They have distinctive markings, with contrasting colors along their veins, like ingenious patterns woven into brocade - hence their Dutch common name brokaatbloem. They create a very baroque impression. That may account for their lack of popularity among otherwise keen gardeners until they happen to see the plants in someone else’s garden. I myself go overboard for the cultivar Salpiglossis sinuata with its chocolate-brown veins on golden-yellow and greyish-pink petals.
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Sunday, May 25th, 2008
DELPHINIUM
The Clear Springs Series is derived from the popular Delphinium Pacific Giant Series but, at a height of 30-44 inches, it is considerably shorter. This is why they are sometimes referred to as Delphinium Dwarf Pacific varieties. These perennial delphiniums are cultivated as annual flowers for cutting. Seeds are planted - in greenhouses - between March and June. The seedlings are subsequently kept in the greenhouse or planted outdoors. The first flowers may be expected by mid-May. You could try it out for yourself. Sow the seeds near the surface and stand the propagator in a dark place during germination. Shelter the plants from the wind if you put them out-of-doors. Delphinium ‘Clear Springs Lavender’ bears lavender-blue flowers. The double, bright-white flowers of Delphinium ‘Clear Springs White’ are closely packed along the stems, which are often flattened at their tips. Because the stems remain shorter than those of larkspurs and are also very sturdy, the delphiniums in the ‘Clear Springs Series’ do not need supports in places sheltered from the wind.
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
The respectable botanist Linnaeus thought the flower of this plant from south-east Asia resembled a clitoris and named the genus Clitoria. The photograph was taken on the island of Ternate in the Moluccas. It was there that botanists discovered the climber and named it after the island (and not after the tripartite leaves). In cooler climates, the plant is best known as a perennial climber for heated winter gardens. It cannot tolerate temperatures below 50 °F. More and more frequently, however, it is also treated as an annual and sown indoors early in the year. From June onwards, the plants may be put out-of-doors in a container or planted directly in the garden against a trellis. In autumn, they die off or are taken indoors. The species and cultivars are rarely on sale and the seed is expensive. Clitoria ternatea ‘Blue Sails’ has double, purple flowers; those of Clitoria ternatea ‘Ultra Marine’ are blue.
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Monday, May 19th, 2008
BABY’S BREATH
You do not need not look far to find something beautiful. This gypsophila, which obviously grows on walls, is a wild annual from central and eastern Europe, among other places. It is therefore fully hardy. Its gossamer-thin stems are reasonably tensile, but are bent down by the weight of the tiny flowers which, however, are borne in such quantities that the plant is covered with them. Strangely enough, it is almost impossible to buy seeds of this rewarding little plant. It forms a neat, loose tuft of delicate greenery and looks just right for hanging baskets. Plants are available from firms specializing in plants for patios and balconies, but why are there not more of them? It can’t be the growers’ fault. They market several cultivars, including Gypsophila muralis ‘Gypsy.’ Some flowers are double. Gypsophila muralis ‘Garden Bride’ is an old favorite with single flowers. Gypsophila muralis ‘Tweeny’ closely resembles the above cultivar, but is even more compact.
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Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Fuchsias are well known as container plants, and the small woody shrubs are overwintered indoors. Enthusiasts, as well as commercial growers, strike cuttings in early spring. They take root easily and come into flower soon afterwards. The mass-produced plants find their way to the containers and hanging baskets of consumers who normally allow the plants to freeze to death in autumn.
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Friday, May 16th, 2008
COMMON MALLOW
The common mallow is a native perennial in The Netherlands, but its widest distribution is in countries farther south. Here, it is marginally hardy and the vulnerable cultivars are therefore grown mainly as annuals. Because it takes about four months for the seedlings to come into flower, commercial growers sow very early in the year and can therefore supply flowering plants by the end of May. The flowers are about 1V2 in wide. If you sow the seeds yourself, the plants usually come into flower in late summer, but they will go on flowering for much longer. The plant continues to grow while it is in flower, and, depending on its position, ultimately reaches a height of 3-5 ft. It does best in loose, warm, and nutritive soil.
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Thursday, May 15th, 2008
VENUS’S LOOKING-GLASS
The name Venus’s-looking-glass is fully justified. The small violet-blue flowers are no more than V4 in wide but have an unearthly beauty and look up to the skies like miniature radio telescopes. They are carried on spreading, bushy plants about 8 in high. Venus’s looking-glass is a native plant in many parts of Europe, including Britain and The Netherlands, where it is now rare. It grows mainly on arable land in loose, moisture-retentive, and nutritive soil. All we need do is scatter its seed in ordinary garden soil from April onwards and enjoy the small flowers from June. They do not flower for very long, so it is advisable to sow repeatedly.
As a result of an error by one of the largest seed merchants, the plant is marketed on a large scale under the name of a different botanical genus, Downingia.
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Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
YELLOW COSMEA
Yellow cosmeas originally came from slightly more southern regions of Latin America, not only from Mexico, where Cosmos bipinnatus grows naturally, but also from the warmer regions of Central America and the north of South America. It is consequently even more sensitive to cold and suffers more from cool, wet summers. Its cultivation is otherwise the same as that of the ordinary cosmea, certainly now that recent decades have seen the development of lovely cultivars which are better at withstanding cooler climates. It is best to sow the seed indoors in March-April and not to put the plants out-of-doors in pots, containers, or directly in the ground until the end of May. They will then begin to flower by mid-July, but if you sow out-of-doors in May, the flowers will not appear until August.
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Saturday, May 10th, 2008
ANNUAL WORMWOOD
Do you ever feel you would like to see what a hedge would look like in a particular place in your garden? You might try it out with Artemisia annua. Sow some seed in situ in spring and six weeks later you will have plants about 5 ft tall. If they are planted side by side at intervals of about 20 in, it will look as if a hedge of conifers has grown up in less than no time. The numerous small flowers are totally inconspicuous. What is important is the light green of the widely branching plants. The greenery forms slended backdrop for summer flowering plants.
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