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Experienced gardeners are well aware of this reality and have even come to enjoy the ephemeral nature of their outdoor spaces.
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If you’re looking to grow gorgeous and ethereal flowers this season, look no further than love-in-a-mist (nigella) flowers. These incredible showstoppers will add a touch of elegance to your garden. In this article, plant expert Matt Dursum covers how to plant, grow, and care for these majestic flowers.Love-in-a-mist flowers also go by their botanical name, Nigella. They put on beautiful, dancing flowers framed by delicate fennel-like foliage that resembles verdant mist. As they grow, their foliage tangles beneath their flowers and bracts. You can grow these mystical flowers in flower beds, cut gardens, or pathways. They look beautiful when paired with other delicate flowers. Or, use them as backdrops to roses and other brightly colored centerpieces. They come in a variety of colors, from the popular blue varieties to white, pink, and purple varieties. They’ll bloom for several weeks starting in late spring. Once they bloom, they’ll fill with color. Growing these stunning early-season bloomers is super easy, even for novice gardeners. Let’s dive into how to plant, grow, and care for love-in-a-mist (Nigella) flowers below. Love-in-a-mist flowers are from the genus Nigella. They produce upright foliage with slender stems and colorful flowers. They’re often grown in garden beds and pathways as border crops. Many gardeners love them for their mist-like appearance, which frames other colorful garden flowers. These delicate flowers are members of the buttercup family of plants, or Ranunculaceae. They make a graceful addition to any flower garden. You can also grow them as a small to medium ground cover surrounding your garden beds. Because of their numerous flowers, they’ll be some of your garden’s best early-season pollinator attractors. Bees and other insects swarm to their beautiful blooms. Their woven foliage is also a great habitat for beneficial insects such as ladybugs.
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Pampas grass is a huge, but stunning grass that produces feathery plumes. We explore its care, keeping it in check, and growing healthy grass. Join Kevin Espiritu as he explains all about this interesting grass.The striking, feathery blooms of pampas grass are prized by floral arrangers and gardeners alike. It’s even been used by float decorators for the annual Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California since the early 1900s! Named for its original home in the grassy plains of Pampas, Argentina, this tall ornamental grass was first introduced to Europe sometime between 1775-1862. It arrived in California in about 1848, going into commercial gardening shortly thereafter, and has become a common sight in coastal areas. In the 1940s, it was even planted to help prevent erosion. But if it’s not kept in check, this tall landscape grass is known to spread like wildfire – and may become a fire hazard itself. Here, you’ll find ways to manage your pampas grass plants and ensure that your plants flourish in garden beds or containers.Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) is also commonly known as tussock grass, cortadera, paina, and pluma. People grow pampas grass as an ornamental privacy screen, a garden border, or as an accent.This feather duster shaped grass is native to the Pampas region of Argentina, South America, and also to Brazil and Chile. It is invasive in much of North America, which is why it’s best for many growing pampas grass to do so in pots and raised beds. This ornamental grass is a perennial evergreen year-round in every temperate zone. In those regions with cold winters, it loses its evergreen status. The green leaves of pampas grass are razor-sharp, and can easily slice – so watch out! In spring, lovely seed heads in the form of feathery plumes emerge from the grass clump. As the wind scatters seeds, they germinate, rooting deep into the earth. Pampas grass is dioecious, and it’s difficult to tell which plants are male or female until the plumes emerge. Female flowers are much wider and flayed at the sides. Female pampas grass catches pollen from the more compact male flowers via wind and insects. Those who want to grow new plants should purchase separate plants that include both male and female flowers. However, gardening both sexes of plants is not recommended in the temperate zone in North America because pampas grass is classed as an invasive species, and it’s listed as one of the 16 Invasive Species Sold at Garden Centers in one of our posts. The clumps form so densely in areas where it remains evergreen that native plants have trouble gaining or retaining an ecological foothold due to lack of space. When people plant pampas grass in a zone or space that doesn’t have cold winters, they risk the spread of thick stands up to 20 miles away. One great way to control the spread of these ornamental grasses when you’re gardening it is to cut the plumes from either male or female plants as soon as they emerge for floral arrangements. Another way to control this perennial grass is to only purchase female plants, which won’t be pollinated and won’t spread like wildfire – or provide fodder for wildfire.While the majority of pampas grass falls into the selloana species and subdivides into roughly 25 varietals, there are other species that also use the common name pampas grass.
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If you’re on a budget and you’re not in a hurry to get your garden filled out, planting strawberries far apart is a more economical option. This method works with strawberry plants that produce runners, so the plants propagate themselves without any extra work on your part. They’ll multiply over time and produce baby plants for free, which means you don’t have to buy as many in the beginning. When you plant strawberries farther apart, you plant them across the entire future strawberry bed, leaving upwards of 2 to 3 feet of space between plants. You’ll have a lot of bare ground and you’ll need to be patient, but your patience will pay off once the runners grow in. After their first year, most strawberry plants have between three and six baby plants on each of their runners. If left alone, these baby plants will root themselves and mature into adult plants. But if you want to fill in the empty spaces in your garden bed more effectively, it’s best to move and transplant the babies where you want them. Once the baby plants are established, the runners dry up and fall off. These new plants will eventually produce their own runners, thus creating even more baby plants—so you can see how it’s pretty simple to let a strawberry patch grow in on its own. Most varieties of strawberries send out multiple runners, which are more properly known as stolons. The word “stolon” comes from the Latin word stolo, meaning a shoot or branch springing from the root. Runners are long, leafless stems that run horizontally above the ground and have baby plants at the ends, which are genetic copies of the mother plant. These tiny clones form adventitious roots (similar to the stems of tomato plants) and grow into the ground surrounding the mother plant, eventually becoming new plants. Most varieties of strawberries send out multiple runners, which are more properly known as stolons. The word “stolon” comes from the Latin word stolo, meaning a shoot or branch springing from the root. Runners are long, leafless stems that run horizontally above the ground and have baby plants at the ends, which are genetic copies of the mother plant. These tiny clones form adventitious roots (similar to the stems of tomato plants) and grow into the ground surrounding the mother plant, eventually becoming new plants. Runners are produced by nearly all Junebearing strawberries, and some everbearing and day-neutral strawberries.
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A rite of passage for most beginner gardeners is growing cherry tomatoes. It can kickstart the love of gardening! Our tips make it easy. Growing cherry tomatoes is a great place to start growing all sorts of tomatoes. Most gardeners have tomatoes growing at some point. There’s much to choose from, with over 100 established varieties of cherry tomatoes. In the scheme of all tomato varieties cherries are easy to grow. Cherry tomatoes or Solanum lycopersicum were cultivated for centuries from wild tomato fruits grown in the Andes. Inca peoples selected them for their sweet taste and snacking ability. Anyone with the privilege of eating a ripe cherry tomato right off the plant knows why this happened. When you’re stocking up on tomato seeds for spring, consider growing cherry tomatoes. We like Chadwick’s cherry tomatoes from San Diego Seed Co. Whether you’re interested in heirloom seeds, black cherry tomatoes, determinate, or indeterminate seeds, cherry tomatoes make it easy to produce something worthwhile throughout the growing season. Grow them, eat them fresh, can them, and have sweet flavor infused with the sun year-round! Forget other tomatoes; let’s grow cherry tomatoes! All About Cherry Tomatoes Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme is also known as cherry tomato, as well as a wide selection of varietal names ranging from tomaccio to Sungold to Dances With Smurfs. They originate from wild tomatoes cultivated in the Andes by Inca peoples about 80,000 years ago. Tomato plants have trichome-covered leaves and fruits that cluster. The difference between cherry tomato plants and other tomato plants is that cherry tomato fruits and seeds are smaller. These tomatoes grow from flowers blooming on branches covered with green serrated leaves which connect to a central stem. External pollination occurs on tomatoes, but they are self-pollinators. The yellow tomato plant flower has five petals. After flowers die, fruit forms. The edible part of a tomato plant is the fruit. Leaves can be eaten, but they are poisonous to humans in large quantities. Like other nightshade plants, tomato leaves contain alkaloids solanine and tomatine that are hard to digest. Still, there is a lot of debate as to whether tomato leaves can be cooked. There are tons of cherry tomato varieties to choose from. I’m currently growing Cherokee purple cherry tomatoes, an indeterminate variety that exploded since spring moved into summer. They have purple skin, a red interior, and great flavor. Traditional red varieties are a great way to start your tomato journey. If a red tomato bores you, there are many types of tomatoes to choose from, including yellow and orange varieties. Planting Cherry Tomatoes Determinate varieties are easier to grow in containers (like the Air Pots stocked in our online store) or raised beds. Indeterminate varieties go wild in the garden and require a lot of space and care. Plant them in prepared ground. Leave at least four feet between each row of these plants. But choosing the right variety will have bearing on how to plant your tomatoes. Transplant summer varieties after the last frost. If you’re starting your tomatoes from seed, start those tomato seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost. Plant fall varieties a few months before the first frost. Tomato plants need deep holes, at least 10 inches down. Plant your tomatoes in deep holes to allow solid root growth and nutrient uptake. Add a tomato trellis early on instead of a tomato cage which cherry tomatoes quickly outgrow. The trellises or stakes (instead of cages) give you vertical room to work within your garden. This also prevents heirloom tomatoes from contracting diseases. Cages and stakes are great supports for your plants but due to clustering, consider a trellis for your tomatoes. Cages are a no-go here unless you have extremely tall cages that can handle indeterminate growth. Caring for Cherry Tomatoes Caring for a cherry tomato plant is easy if the right conditions are met and maintained every day. Here are key aspects to pay attention to.
Read MoreFind and share everyday cooking inspiration on Allrecipes. Discover recipes, cooks, and how-tos based on the food you love and the friends you follow.
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"This is not so much a recipe...but a GREAT idea...and if you have ever had a kid who played ball, this IS your basic Little League Ballpark food. These are great for the kids when they have sleep overs. They also make great "hand held" food for football games in front of the TV!!!"
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My favorite cozy weeknight soup made in 30 min! Loaded with tender tortellini, sausage and kale! And it’s so easy!
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Looking for a bake-ahead lunch that will fill the whole family? Hearty Pizza Cups can be baked then frozen. Simply add them to your family’s lunches frozen and they will be thawed and delicious by lunchtime!
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