Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
Practical advice on growing food and flowers, improving soil, and making the most of small spaces. Start anywhere — the garden will meet you.
(Ruellia ciliosa) Acanthus family Flowers - Pale violet blue, showy, about 2 in. long, solitary or clustered in the axils or at the end of stem. Calyx of 5 bristle-shaped hairy segments; corolla with...
(Pentstemon hirsutus; P. pubescens of Gray) Figwort family Flowers - Dull violet or lilac and white, about 1 in. long, borne in a loose spike. Calyx 5-parted, the sharply pointed sepals overlapping; c...
(Apios Apios; A. tuberosa of Gray) Pea family Flowers - Fragrant, chocolate brown and reddish purple, numerous, about 1/2 in. long, clustered in racemes from the leaf-axils. Calyx 2-lipped, corolla pa...
(Phlox subulata) Phlox family Flowers - Very numerous, small, deep purplish pink, lavender or rose, varying to white, with a darker eye, growing in simple cymes, or solitary in a Western variety. Caly...
(Chelidonium majus) Poppy family Flowers - Lustreless yellow, about 1/2 in. across, on slender pedicels, in a small umbel-like cluster. Sepals 2, soon falling; 4 petals, many yellow stamens, pistil pr...
(Utricularia vulgaris) Bladderwort family Flowers - Yellow, about 1/2 in. across, 3 to 20 on short pedicels in a raceme at the top of a stout, naked scape 3 to 14 in. high. Calyx deeply 2-lobed; corol...
(Chamaenerion angustifolium; Epilobium angustifolium of Gray) Evening Primrose family Flowers - Magenta or pink, sometimes pale, or rarely white, more or less than 1 in. across, in an elongated, termi...
(Lobelia syphilitica) Bellflower family Flowers - Bright blue, touched with white, fading to pale blue, about 1 in. long, borne on tall, erect, leafy spike. Calyx 5-parted, the lobes sharply cut, hair...
(Coptis trifolia) Crowfoot family [Buttercup family] Flowers - Small white, solitary, on a slender scape 3 to 6 in. high. Sepals 5 to 7, petal-like, falling early; petals 5 or 6, inconspicuous, like c...
(Solidago) Thistle family When these flowers transform whole acres into "fields of the cloth-of-gold," the slender wands swaying by every roadside, and purple asters add the final touch of imperial sp...
(Senecio aureus) Thistle family Flower-heads - Golden yellow, about 3/4 in. across, borne on slender peduncles in a loose, leafless cluster; rays 8 to 12 around minute disk florets. Stem: Slender, 1 t...
(Capnoides aureum; Corydalis aurea of Gray) Poppy family Flowers - Bright yellow, about 1/2 in. long, with a spur half the length of the tubular corolla; irregular, lipped; each upheld by a little bra...