Herbaceous perennials and annuals add interest to our yards and gardens with bright, beautiful flowers and interesting foliage. Whether native, non-native, sun-loving or shade-tolerant, herbaceous plants invite wildlife, provide for pollinators, and bring us enjoyment with color, texture and fragrance.
This free publication describes the importance of bees in pollinating major food crops, how to attract and support native pollinators, and how to construct, place, and maintain nests.
Whether you’re a beginning or an experienced gardener, you’ll appreciate the step-by-step instructions for planting, landscaping, and managing your own prairie plot. The Prairie Primer has more than 50 illustrated descriptions of grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs help you select the best plants for specific sites. Gardeners and prairie enthusiasts alike will find the spiral-bound book convenient to use in the field.
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You can readily find Easter lilies in bloom at this time of year. This hardy bulb is forced out of season to provide floral displays for this holiday. Whether you want these fragrant flowers to brighten your home at this time of year, or would just like to have them bloom in your garden at their normal time, this is a plant well worth getting to know. Read on to learn more about Lilium longiflorum …
Baptisia australis is a great, under-used herbaceous plant. This tough, but beautiful, prairie native has been chosen by the Perennial Plant Association as their Plant of the Year 2010. Purple-blue flowers and foliage that remains attractive throughout the season make this a nice a specimen plant or a good addition to the perennial border. Read more…
Flowering houseplants are not as common as indoor foliage plants. If you want a tough plant that produces bright or pastel colored flowers, consider crown of thorns. There are a wide variety of cultivars of this succulent species to choose from. To learn more about this plant and how to care for it, keep reading…
It’s getting pretty late in the season for new flowers, but there is one plant that is in bloom now. It’s a tender bulb from South Africa, but does great in container culture. To find out what plant this is and how to grow it, read on…
Make a splash in the garden with a brightly colored black-eyed Susan – minus the black eye. ‘Prairie Sun’ is a former All America Selections winner with a green center and rich, orange and yellow petals. Learn more about this intriguing cultivar …
Here’s a plant in the iris family disguised as an orchid – peacock orchid, that is. Despite the common name, this is a species of Gladiolus that is easily grown as a tender summer bulb in our climate. And the bonus is that it’s fragrant! Learn more about this interesting flower here…
Are you ready to add an exotic blue flower to your summer patio display, and then keep it as a houseplant? Lily-of-the-Nile is used extensively in landscaping in mild climates, but it’s not any harder to grow this plant in the north than many other tropicals. Learn more about the tender perennial Agapanthus in this article…
With silvery, woolly leaves and small, bright magenta, rose, pink or white flowers, rose campion, Lychnis coronaria can be a wonderful addition to the dry garden. It is a relatively short-lived perennial, but does self seed (not invasively) and has few pest problems. Read more about this pretty plant…
Sweet woodruff is an attractive groundcover for moist, shady spots, producing tiny white flowers in the spring. This European plant was used as an herbal remedy for a variety of ailments, and the dried leaves and flowers smell like freshly mown hay. If you want to learn more about this herbaceous perennial, continue reading…
Celandine poppy or wood poppy will soon be opening its bright yellow flowers in shade and woodland gardens throughout the area. Learn more about this eastern US native perennial in this article…
Looking for an unusual flower that comes in truly blue shades (as well as purple)? There is a tender perennial sage that can be grown as an annual to add this unusual color in the landscape or in containers. To learn more about Salvia guaranitica read this article…
Yellow toadflax is a weedy Eurasian species of Linaria that has naturalized throughout the country. Although it has pretty yellow flowers, this perennial spreads by creeping rhizomes, making it difficult to control. Learn more about this plant in this article…
