Frosty Fern available for sale now in garden centers Poinsettias are traditional and cyclamens are beautiful, but a truly unique holiday gift plant is Frosty Fern. “Frosty” because of the white tips on the green foliage but “Fern” is just a marketing gimmick. Frosty Fern is not a fern but a type of spike moss (Selaginella), cousin to the resurrection fern (S. lepidophylla). close up of the aerial roots Only about 6 to 8 inches tall, Frosty Fern has fern-like, scalloped foliage with many aerial roots – the thin strands hanging down from the stems. The more humid the air, the more aerial roo ..read more

Are you a gardener new to the DC metro area? Are you new to gardening? Learn about gardening in this area by reading local books. Below is a chronological list as far back as the year 2000. For a classic, look for books by Henry Mitchell, a DC resident who passed away in 1993. He was well known for his “Earthman” columns in the Washington Post and he wrote several gardening books. Print this list and use it as a resource for holiday gift ideas. For more books that are not local but very helpful and recently published this year and the previous year, click here. Private Gardens of the Potomac a ..read more

This month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a new version of the Plant Hardiness Zone Map, updating this tool for the first time since 2012. USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map helps gardeners determine which plants are most likely to thrive in their garden, given their winter. Jointly developed by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Oregon State University’s (OSU) PRISM Climate Group, the new map is more accurate and contains greater detail than prior versions. It is very easy to use, simply enter your zip code. I entered mine and I am still in Zone 7b, no change. Bu ..read more

Bevin Cohen of Small House Farm in Michigan interviewed me on his podcast, Seeds and Weeds, episode #25. I talked about my website, pegplant.com; the Facebook group I created called Culinary Herbs and Spices; my favorite plant, basil, particularly Thai basil; this summer’s success with winter squash and Mexican mint marigold; and my new project to list new herbs for 2024. He asked who I would give a shout out to and I responded that I admire those who make it their life’s work to save seeds, particularly of cultures and certain groups of people. I gave a shout out to Truelove Seeds and their p ..read more

Subscribe to Pegplant’s Post Gardening Newsletter, a free monthly newsletter about gardening in the DC metro area. Enter your e-mail here to subscribe. Each monthly issue lists 50 to 100 local gardening events, recently published gardening books, articles, tips, and news specific to this area. For the upcoming December 2023 issue of Pegplant’s Post Gardening Newsletter, subscribers have a chance to win three bottles of fertilizer from True Organic. These three liquid fertilizers are: all-purpose plant food, tomato & vegetable food, and bloom boost. True Organic fertilizers are made with 10 ..read more

mustard microgreens Now that winter is coming, you can still grow your greens, just indoors. Growing microgreens is a fun, cheap way to grow nutritious vegetable seedlings for sandwiches, wraps, soups, and salads. Microgreens are the shoots of edible plants, requiring very little space and minimal cost. Microgreens differ from sprouts. Microgreen seeds germinate in a growing medium and after one or two weeks, the “micro” stems and leaves are cut to the soil level and eaten. Sprouts are seeds grown in a moist container—no soil. After a few days, the root and seed are harvested and eaten. Ther ..read more

Red Pearl amaryllis, photo courtesy of Longfield Gardens. Growing an amaryllis is easy, just plant and water. Unlike the spring blooming bulbs, an amaryllis bulb does not need a chilling period. It is a tropical plant, hardy to Zones 9-12. Once planted, these large bulbs can bloom in time for the holidays, depending on the bulb. They are pricey, but you can coax the bulb to rebloom the following year. Now is the time to purchase bulbs in garden centers or order online. An amaryllis can be bought as a single, large bulb for you to pot up; as a gift box of a ‘pre-planted’ bulb (in a plastic co ..read more

Almost Halloween and my Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida) plants are blooming profusely. The orange flowers are perfect for the season. My plants are not very tall and bushy but I know they can grow to several feet tall and wide. Native to Mexico and Central America, this marigold is a useful herb and a pretty garden plant. The foliage can be used as a tea for treating colds, fevers, intestinal gas, and diarrhea. The foliage also is used in an Aztec hot cocoa drink called chocolatl or xocolatl, along with vanilla, chiles, and ground cacao bean. And the foliage can be used as a tarragon su ..read more

Subscribe to Pegplant’s Post Gardening Newsletter, a free monthly newsletter about gardening in the DC metro area. Enter your e-mail here to subscribe. Written by a local horticulturist, each monthly issue lists 50 to 100 local gardening events, recently published gardening books, articles, tips, and news specific to this area. Pegplant’s Post Gardening Newsletter always has a giveaway, an opportunity to win a free plant or gardening-related product. For the upcoming November 2023 issue of Pegplant’s Post, subscribers have a chance to win a 12-variety package of microgreen seeds from True Leaf ..read more

China Town, photo courtesy of flowerbulbs.com I was in a garden store the other day that sported the annual boxes of bulbs on the far side of the wall. Normally I do not purchase tulips because they do not always come back in my Virginia garden. Deer and rabbits eat them; squirrels will dig them up. But I had a new, large container on the deck which deer and rabbits could not access, and these bulbs were only a dollar each, so why not?  I thought it would be fun to create a spring show. The photo of China Town on one of those boxes grabbed my heart. It is a “viridiflora” type that bloom ..read more