Category Archives: Flowers

Rose Diseases

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Spectacular blooms and diverse types and varieties make roses a favorite of many Kentucky gardeners. However, warm, humid growing conditions create an ideal environment for serious problems each year with black spot and powdery mildew.

Gardeners can nip these fungal diseases in the bud by planting resistant or tolerant varieties and creating an unfavorable environment for disease development. It may be necessary to use fungicides throughout the summer, especially on susceptible varieties. Continue reading →

Hellebores

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A plant that flowers in winter has a head start in making it onto any plants lover’s list. This perennial is one that can grow in Kentucky gardens from the knobs and bluegrass to Ohio River, making it a plant for all regions, over a wide range of climates. Despite its common name, Lenten Rose is not a garden rose at all. Continue reading →

Top Three New Year’s Resolutions for Gardeners

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Many people enjoy making New Year’s Resolutions, so I would like to encourage you to make some gardening resolutions. Even those of you who do not typically grow anything can reap benefits from planting something, nurturing it, and watching it grow. It doesn’t have to be a large vegetable garden. A small container garden or raised bed garden will be just fine. Continue reading →

Drying Flowers

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Drying flowers is a great way to preserve some of summer’s beauty over the long winter months. Whether you are making a keepsake of your memories, or using them for some crafts while cooped up inside, drying flowers can be easy if done right. Consider the following when deciding on a method. Continue reading →

Fall Gardening Cleanup Controls Spring Diseases

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You can reduce the risk of some common problems next year by getting rid of leftover plant debris in vegetable, flower and fruit gardening areas this fall.

Several disease-causing fungi and bacteria spend the winter on plant debris, and can cause diseases the following growing season. Proper garden sanitation can combat such diseases as early blight, mildews, gray mold fungus and various root rot and wilt problems. Continue reading →

Plant Bulbs NOW For Spring Color

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Spring flowering bulbs such as crocus, daffodils, and tulips require a cold period during the winter in order to flower. These bulbs are planted and develop their root system in the fall and bloom during the spring. The variety of bloom color, plant height, shape, and timing of flowering provides seasonal interest in the spring for many Kentucky gardens and landscapes. Continue reading →

Good Perennials for Beginning Gardeners

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When starting a new hobby, there are tools to acquire, techniques to learn and materials to purchase. This is so true for flower gardening. The tools can be as simple as a trowel and a watering hose and as complex as irrigation systems and robotic lawn mowers. But for the beginning gardener, the vast variety of flowers, trees and shrubs can be overwhelming. (It still is for me, and I’ve been gardening for almost 40 years!) Continue reading →

Planting Native Flowers for Pollinators

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Need a reason to plant more flowers? How does supporting local agriculture, ensuring the availability of healthy fruits and vegetables, and protecting thousands of plant and animal species sound? By planting flowers that sustain pollinators, you are accomplishing all of this, as well as making your yard more attractive. Pollinators, which include bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, hummingbirds, and bats, make reproduction
possible for more than three-fourths of the flowering plants on earth, including many of the fruits and vegetables we eat every day. Continue reading →

Preserving Flowers

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The gardening season is all but over for most of the landscape plants and flowers. Many avid gardeners who hate to see the growing season go may look for ways to keep it going by taking some of their favorite flowers indoors to keep through the winter until those warm, gardening days come around again. However, many will seek to keep their flowers around during winter months by picking those last vibrant blooms and preserving them by drying. Continue reading →