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Creeping Thyme Facts Thymus praecox is a low-growing perennial hardy in USDA hardiness zones 4-9 with fairly minimal requirements. An evergreen with lightly haired foliage, this tiny-growing creeping thyme varietal — rarely over 3 inches or 7.5 cm. — will appear in low, dense mats, which sprawl randomly and quickly fill in areas as a ground cover. T. serpyllum is another creeping thyme variety. Just like other thyme varieties, creeping thyme is edible with a flavor and aroma akin to mint when crushed or steeped for teas or tinctures....

What is Culantro Used For? Culantro (Eryngium foetidum) is a biennial herb common throughout the Caribbean and Central America. We don’t see it much in the United States unless, of course, you are eating cuisine from one of these areas. It is sometimes called Puerto Rican coriander, Black Benny, saw leaf herb, Mexican coriander, spiny coriander, fitweed, and spiritweed. In Puerto Rico where it is a staple, it is called recao....

When choosing herbs for your culinary herb garden, be careful to check the flavor of the herbs before purchasing the plants. There are many varieties of different herbs and some have stronger flavors than others. To be sure you’re getting the flavor you desire, pinch off a leaf and taste it. It’s best to keep a culinary herb garden in close range of your kitchen, just outside your back door for example, or even in a few pots on the kitchen windowsill....

How to Prune a Trumpet Vine It takes two or three years for a trumpet vine to develop a strong framework of branches. To accomplish this, you’ll want to start pruning trumpet vines the year after you plant them. Since trumpet vine blooms in midsummer on current year’s growth, severe fall pruning won’t limit the vine’s flowers the next summer. In fact, pruning trumpet vines properly encourages the plants to produce more flowers every summer....

Dahlia Fertilizer Needs Healthy tubers are the first step to vigorous dahlia bushes. Choose tubers that are free from blemish, chubby, and have plenty of growth eyes or nodes. Proper soil preparation and knowing how to fertilize dahlias will also help you achieve the massive plants with prolific blooms that are the goal of any dahlia gardener. Feeding dahlia plants within 30 days of planting will jump start the tubers production of sprouts and stems, while giving the plant enough of the right fuel to enhance flower production and healthy root development....

Bugs Eating My Dahlias! Below are the most common insect pests affecting dahlia plants in the garden: Thrips – Slender pests with fringed wings, Thrips damage plants by puncturing the leaves and sucking out the juices. Although thrips rarely kill dahlias, they can affect the appearance by causing stippled leaves, leaf drop and stunted growth. Pesticides aren’t usually helpful because the pests move from plant to plant so quickly. Spider mites – About the size of a tiny speck of sand, tiny spider mites are difficult to see with the naked eye....

Dahlia Plant Types If you have ever been to a county fair, one of the biggest attractions is often the dahlia building. Here you can see a vast array of dahlia plant types, represented by their flowers. Serious collectors and hobbyists breed specific forms in an attempt to outdo each other on size and spectacle. The results are an ocean of color with amazing forms across the area. The different types of dahlia are astounding and mind numbing in their excess....

About Daphne Plants Growing winter daphne sports fragrant blossoms in late winter for those gardeners who’ve learned how to get winter daphnes to bloom. The right care for winter daphne encourages the fragrant blooms, as does growing winter daphne in the right spot. Botanically called Daphne odora, pink buds emerge in February to March, becoming clusters of fragrant, tubular blooms. The shrub reaches no more than 4 feet (1 m.) in height and usually grows to just 3 feet (1 m....

Bottomless plant pots also can elevate xeric plants that suffer during excessive rains. Do you have rocky or compacted soil? No problem. Add bottomless plant pots to your garden for instant well-draining soil. Bottomless plant containers also are the ideal solution for reigning in aggressive roots that slither underground and climb up neighboring foliage. In this case, the cylinder would be planted below the ground to create a “corral” around the plant’s roots, preventing them from escaping....

Irish Garden Let’s start with native Irish plants, fun for an Irish garden. Most of us know about the shamrock, but have you ever heard of Irish moss, aka pearlwort (Sagina subulata)? It’s a groundcover plant of small, emerald green for sandy or gritty soil. Irish moss will happily cascade over the lips of steps and occupy any empty corners in the garden. Hardy to zone 4, Irish moss appears rapidly to create an Irish carpet – and you can almost imagine fairies dancing on it....

Do clouds affect photosynthesis though? Do plants grow on cloudy days as well as sunny ones? Read on to learn about cloudy days and plants, including how cloudy days affect plants. Clouds and Photosynthesis Plants feed themselves by a chemical process called photosynthesis. They mix carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight and, from the blend, construct the food they need to thrive. The byproduct of photosynthesis is the oxygen plants release that humans and animals require to breathe....

Whether garden décor is new, upcycled, or made from natural materials, there is no denying that it can add a sense of charm to these spaces. Driftwood, for example, has gained popularity in recent years just for this reason. How to Use Driftwood in the Garden Driftwood is an excellent material to use as garden décor for a wide variety of reasons. While the things to do with driftwood are limitless, using driftwood in the garden also allows for an organic and natural approach to decorating both large and small corners of the landscape....

It is because of the earwig’s appearance there is a superstition that earwigs will crawl into a person’s ear and bore into the brain. This superstition is absolutely not true. Earwigs are scary looking, but they are not harmful to people or animals. Earwigs in the Garden However, that is not to say that earwigs are not harmful to your garden. Earwigs will chew on flowers, vegetables, and other plants....

Victorian Era Floral Design As an immense interest in botany became popularized in the Victorian period, so did an increased fascination of flowers and the art of arranging them. The Victorian era is frequently associated with lavish, ornate design, and it makes sense that Victorian era floral arrangements demonstrated much of the same intricacy. In examining the Victorian tradition of flowers further, one will find that both bouquets and arrangements were an important aspect of social culture....

Zone 9 Evergreen Shrubs Emerald green arborvitae (Thuja accidentalis) – This evergreen grows 12 to 14 feet (3.5 to 4 m.) and prefers areas having full sun with well-drained soil. Note: Dwarf varieties of arborvitae are available. Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea) – This plant reaches heights varying from 1 to 20 feet (30.5 cm. to 6 m.). Plant in full sun or partial shade in areas having moist, rich, well-drained soil. Note: Bamboo palm is often grown indoors....

Popular Zone 9 Evergreen Trees Here are some good zone 9 evergreen tree varieties: Privet – Extremely popular in hedges because of its fast growth and neat shape, privet is an exceptional choice for the zone 9 landscape. Pine – A very broad range of trees, pines tend to be evergreen and many are hardy in zone 9. Some good zone 9 evergreen varieties of pines are: Virginia Short Leaf Southern Yellow Japanese Black Mugo White...

Gathering Spores on Staghorn Fern Before you get too excited about propagating staghorn fern spores, it’s important to know that it’s far from the easiest propagation method. Division is much quicker and usually reliable. If you still want to collect spores and are willing to wait at least a year for results, it’s very doable. Spores on staghorn fern plants develop over the course of the summer. At first, they appear on the undersides of the long, antler-like fronds as green bumps....

Beloved for their fast growth, arborvitae – especially those planted near other trees or in hedges – often require fertilizer to thrive. It isn’t difficult to begin fertilizing arborvitae. Read on to learn how to fertilize an arborvitae, and the best type of fertilizer for arborvitae. Fertilizing Arborvitae Many mature trees do not require fertilizing. If your arborvitae is planted alone as a specimen tree and appears happy and thriving, consider skipping the fertilizer for the present time....

About Feverfew Plants Also known as featherfew, featherfoil, or bachelor’s buttons, the feverfew herb was used in the past to treat a variety of conditions such as headaches, arthritis, and as the name implies, fever. Parthenolide, the active ingredient in the feverfew plant, is being actively developed for pharmaceutical application. Looking like a small bush that grows to about 20 inches (50 cm.) high, the feverfew plant is native to central and southern Europe and grows well over most of the United States....

Full Sun Flower Bulbs Most summer blooming bulbs require at least 6 hours (preferably more) of sun per day. The following full sun flower bulbs are in the latter category and thrive with full sun all day long. Dahlias Lilies Gladiolas Cannas Calla lilies Crocosmia Liatris Eucomis Crinum Acidanthera Nerine All of the bulbs listed above are full-sun flower bulbs that should receive eight or more hours of sun. Flowering Bulbs that Grow in Partial Shade Some bulbs typically thought of as being shade lovers can actually thrive in partial shade; six hours of sunlight....