Primrose Flowers Have Played a Part in Pop Culture Evening primroses are a sunny addition to wildflower gardens. These bright delights have cemented a place in literature and popular culture; Shakespeare included the primrose flower as a symbol in many of his plays. More recently, in Suzanne Collins’ 2008 young adult novel The Hunger Games, main character Katniss’ sister is named after the evening primrose. Want more nature trivia? Check out these fun facts about birds in pop culture. Multiple Types of Primrose Flowers Pink evening primrose There are two types of unrelated flowers that are call ..read more

Plan ahead before buying plants at the garden center.Before Buying a Plant, Know Your Needs Jessica compares buying a plant to grocery shopping. “You select a meal and list out the ingredients needed. Gardening is much the same,” she says. Plan ahead to avoid impulse buys that can turn into pricey mistakes. Take stock of your available space, and know your soil, light and water requirements. Check out the top 10 new garden plants for 2023. The post Read This Before Buying a Plant at the Garden Center appeared first on Birds and Blooms ..read more

Climbing Rose Not Blooming “Last year I planted a new hybrid tea climber. It grew vigorously but produced not one sign of a bud or flower. Can you tell me how it’s possible to have a healthy climber without blooms?” asks Beulah Maurer of Greenville, Ohio. Horticultural expert Melinda Myers: Like many hybrid tea and floribunda roses, hybrid tea climbers are grafted onto a hardy rootstock. If the graft union dies, the rootstock will take over and produce lush, often thornier growth with different flowers, or none at all. If this is not the problem, evaluate your pruning practices. Most climbers ..read more

Easter Cactus Care You’ve probably seen a Christmas cactus, but you can also grow an Easter cactus. While some other types of cacti might bloom around Easter, they’re not technically an Easter cactus. That title goes to a different plant: Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri. With the common name “Easter cactus” or “spring cactus,” it thrives in cooler spring temperatures. Easter cactus bears long-petaled pink, red, orange, white or purple flowers that open at sunrise and close in the evening. It likes bright, indirect light to grow its best, but won’t tolerate full sun. This drought-tolerant plant also r ..read more

Ground Cover for Shade: Wild Stonecrop Sedum ternatum Zones 4 to 8 Whorls of three succulent-like leaves are responsible for this petite perennial sedum’s nickname: three-leaved stonecrop. It tolerates partial shade and is low maintenance once established. Watch for clusters of star-shaped white flowers on these ground cover plants in spring. Check out the top 10 colorful ground cover flowers for your garden. The post The Perfect Ground Cover Plants for Every Landscape appeared first on Birds and Blooms ..read more

Calendula vs Marigold: Similarities and Differences Marigolds (above) and pot marigolds are not the same plant. Calendula flowers (Calendula officinalis) are commonly known as pot marigolds, which can lead to confusion at the garden center. Although their names are but one word off, those three letters belie a bevy of differences. For one thing, these annual flowers differ vastly in appearance. Marigolds (Tagetes spp.) have shorter, compact petals and thinner leaves. Calendula flowers feature longer petals and rounder, wider leaves. Although both plants are part of the daisy family, calendulas ..read more

Giant Leopard Moth Range A mystery moth visited a reader’s backyard. “What kind of moth is this?” asks Birds & Blooms reader Linda Peevey. Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman say, “This strikingly patterned creature is a giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia). A member of the tiger moth group, it’s widespread from the eastern United States (and a little of southeastern Canada) south through Mexico and Central America to northwestern South America. However, it seems to be uncommon everywhere in its range, so it’s always a treat to see one. Giant leopard larvae, which are spiny with black-and-orang ..read more

Does this sound familiar? You wait all winter for your tulips and other flower bulbs to poke through the frozen soil, and when they do, deer munch them right back down to the ground before they even come close to blooming. So what’s a gardener to do? Some people try fences or deer repellents, but these don’t always work. Instead, try planting these deer-resistant bulbs, and fill your yard with blooms each spring! Before you get started, make sure you read our ultimate guide to planting spring bulbs. Do Deer Eat Alliums? These members of the onion family seem to be distasteful to deer and rabb ..read more

Zinnia Flowers: Care and Growing Tips Zinnia flowers are annuals that provide an explosion of garden color. With heights from 6 inches to 3 feet, there’s a zinnia (Zinnia elegans) for every garden. They are a cheerful addition to any backyard. Use the smaller types as edging plants and larger varieties in the back of beds. Some zinnia flowers can even work as barriers or privacy screens. Incredibly simple to grow, zinnias bloom quickly—going from seed to bloom in just two to three months. Tiny seedlings show up in mere days after direct sowing and watering, with long-lasting flowers appearing ..read more

Why You Should Grow Angelonia Plants Angelonia flowers are a great choice for beginning gardeners. Some plants have big flashy flowers, drawing you in from yards away to admire their in-your-face beauty. Others enchant with small intricate flowers, designed to attract small pollinators like bees with a variety of clever tricks. Angelonia, also known as summer snapdragon, is a great example of the latter. This easy-to-grow annual is well-worth adding to your flower gardens or containers. Annuals vs. perennials — what is the difference? Angelonia Care and Growing Tips These tall annual flowers a ..read more