Category: Home & Garden

Luckily, I’ve got everything from cucumbers in my veggie patch to cannas in my border, and thanks to this one simple method, they’ve never looked better.

Turns out, mulching doesn’t just make your garden easier on the eye – and less of a strain on the back – but it brings a host of other benefits as well.

There are several methods of mulching, and gardening books and experts suggest a variety of options, depending on your needs. There’s also a fair bit of disagreement as to what’s best.

The consistent theme is to cover the surface of the soil around your plants with a layer of material, and to apply this material to the right depth.

Natural materials will eventually decompose, adding organic matter and nourishing the soil beneath. Mulch can also be applied to bare soil, if you’re not ready to plant just yet.

The Value of Mulching

Everyone loves a weed-free garden, and a layer of mulch works by preventing the weed seeds from germinating, blocking their light, and smothering them if they do manage to sprout.

Depending on the material you choose to use, there are many benefits over and above just preventing weeds from taking hold.

This is especially important in arid climates, where soil tends to dry out easily. In hot weather, a layer of mulch can prevent evaporation, reducing the need for supplemental irrigation, and cutting down on high water bills.

Additionally, having fewer weeds competing for moisture will mean more of it is available for your crops.

Soil Temperature

Another important aspect of mulching is the effect on soil temperature.

Extreme soil temperatures can put unnecessary stress on plants, making them weak and vulnerable to pests and disease. Mulching helps to regulate soil temperature, keeping it constant, and less prone to fluctuation.

According to a study by Edyta Kosterna, published by the Polish Society for Horticulture in 2014, placing a layer of straw mulch over the soil around tomato plants showed a significant reduction of daily temperature fluctuations of the soil, and concluded that mulching increased the total yield of fruits.

Enrich and Nourish

Depending on what you use, mulch can help to regulate soil pH, add nutrients, and increase the fertility of your soil over time.

By using natural materials that gradually decompose, it can help to aerate the soil and prevent it from becoming compacted, improving texture.

Materials

Broadly speaking, materials used for mulching fall into two categories: organic and inorganic.

Organic mulches are natural materials that will gradually decompose and improve the condition of the soil. 

Inorganic materials, used primarily for weed blocking, are non-biodegradable and can look very decorative in borders and containers, improving the appearance of your garden.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, a part of the USDA) offers some suggestions.

The NRCS doesn’t come right out and say not to use inorganic sources such as plastics or landscaping material.

Rather, the organization points out that inorganic mulches lack the soil-improving properties of organic varieties, and can actually hinder growth by preventing air circulation.

They can also be difficult to remove if you need to change them, or if they no longer serve their purpose.

Organic mulches improve the condition of the soil as they decompose. By providing additional nutrients, aeration, pH balance, and moisture retention, organic mulch does so much more than just blocking weeds.

Some popular materials to use for mulching include:

Bark

Bark can create a pleasing look in your established borders and under trees. It comes in a variety of different sizes and colors, from coarse-cut pine bark nuggets to finely shredded hardwood.

The coarser the cut, the longer it will take to decay, so you won’t need to top it up too often. It keeps the weeds in check, and prevents water evaporation and runoff.

Shredded or finely chopped bark will break down more quickly, adding organic matter to the soil. While the US Department of Forestry says that it has no specific value as a fertilizer, bark is a very good soil conditioner, conserving moisture and reducing erosion.

Some gardeners are concerned about the use of bark – and wood chips – on the basis that they deplete nitrogen from the soil as they decompose. Wood-based mulches have a high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and the fear is that the microbes responsible for breaking it down will tie up nitrogen in the soil.

Both the US Department of Forestry and Texas A&M are of a different opinion.

The only time that nitrogen depletion might be an issue is if the material were to be dug in and incorporated into the soil, before it has time to decompose. By placing the mulch on top of the soil, nitrogen depletion is not an issue.

You can also find bark that’s been dyed to a uniform color.

According to Ron Kujawski at the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, these dyes are not considered toxic. But my own preference would be to use avoid using dyed materials in areas where I’m growing edible crops, or to avoid them altogether.

Bark will usually need to be reapplied every 2-3 years, depending on the size of the chips.

Compost

This is my favorite option. Composted organic material is the best thing you can use to mulch your soil. The organic matter has already broken down, and it will release nutrients into the soil readily.

Just make sure the compost is well rotted, so it doesn’t contain viable weed seeds. Dig from the bottom of your compost pile, or buy it in bags from a garden center.

If you’ve got fresh manure on your compost pile, don’t use this as mulch until it’s well rotted. Fresh manure, particularly that of chickens, can burn plants, doing more harm than good. Besides, it doesn’t make for a very pleasant smelling mulch.

Dark, earthy compost gives a tidy finish to any border, and can also be used underneath other mulching materials if you like.

Thick layers have a tendency to become compacted and matted, creating a slimy mess in the garden. To avoid this, apply a thin layer of dry lawn clippings and add to it every few weeks.

If you’ve got a very weedy lawn, then it’s better to compost the clippings first, to prevent introducing new weed seeds into your borders that are ready to sprout.

The forest floor demonstrates how nature provides its own all-in-one mulch and compost in the form of fall leaves, which turn into leaf mold.

In the home garden, leaf mold is a type of chopped, partially composted leaf matter. It provides an excellent soil amendment.

You can make it easily at home, by raking fall leaves into a pile after running the lawnmower over them to shred them, then covering with a tarp to keep them moist, and leaving them in place for a year to decompose.

Underneath, you’ll find a rich, brown leafy material perfect for mulching your garden.

If you don’t have the space, this can also be done in plastic trash bags in the garage. On the other hand, if you’re gardening in a large space with lots of deciduous trees, a wood chipper can come in handy for shredding an abundance of leaves.

If you use leaves and leaf mold, keep an eye out for snails and slugs. These like to hide in the cool dark of leaf mulch during the day, coming out at night to nibble on your tomatoes and lettuce. Keep in mind: they may like to shelter in other types of mulch as well.

Read more about turning fall leaves into compost here.

Newspaper

We’ve all got newspaper lying around, haven’t we? Let’s put it to good use in the garden!

Layers of newspaper can be used as a natural base underneath bark or decorative gravel. It provides an additional layer of weed control, and newsprint eventually breaks down, adding organic matter to the soil.

Shredded, it can be used on its own. But note that it will decompose quite quickly and isn’t particularly decorative, as it tends to get clumpy when wet.

You can use newspaper in existing beds as well as on bare soil or fallow garden beds. It’s often used as part of the practice known as lasagna gardening, to add a carbon layer.

Pine Needles

Pine needles are an excellent mulch for blueberries, rhododendrons, or other ericaceous plants that thrive in acidic conditions.

If you can find a source of fresh pine needles, it’s recommended that you partially compost them before laying them on your garden beds.

This will remove some of the excess acidity present in the fresh leaves.

Sawdust

If you have a local source of sawdust available, it’s best to partially compost it before using it as mulch in the garden. In the early stages of decomposition it can potentially contribute to soil acidity, as it has a very high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio.

Mixing with some well-rotted manure will create a nutrient rich, decorative mulch. Be careful about laying it on too thick, as it tends to get hard and form a crust on the surface, preventing moisture from reaching the soil.

Sawdust will decompose faster than bark or wood chips, and you’ll either need to top it up or replace it at the end of the season.

Only use sawdust gleaned from untreated timber, as treated wood can contain toxic substances such as copper chrome arsenate (CCA).

Stones and Decorative Gravel

Landscaping with rocks can certainly add curb appeal. From large river rocks and pretty pebbles, to shingles and stone chips, they can provide a practical and appealing finish.

As they are not biodegradable (not quickly, at least), they won’t offer any of the soil improvement advantages of organic, biodegradable materials. But they will suppress weeds and conserve moisture.

They also won’t need to be replaced or replenished; rocks can last a lifetime.

I like to use stones in narrow borders running along a fence line or containers on the patio, as it can get expensive – and heavy – to use them in large areas.

Adding a layer of newspaper underneath is a good idea, as some persistent weeds may start sprouting in between the rocks or stones.

Straw and Hay

Commonly used on or around vegetable crops, hay and straw are lightweight materials, often applied for overwintering as they don’t damage the plants.

A layer of straw or hay is useful if you’re growing trailing plants, such as strawberries or melons, as it keeps the developing fruit off the soil surface.

Straw mulch insulates very well, and it is easy to spread, giving a pleasing result.

The main problem is that it also tends to blow away easily on windy days, and doesn’t retain moisture very well. This can be overcome by partially composting or mixing in a bit of well-rotted compost.

Hay, being a mixture of different grasses, adds nutrients to the soil as it decomposes, and holds moisture much better than straw.

The only caveat is that you will need to watch out for grass seeds. If it’s produced properly, hay will be cut before it’s gone to seed. Check for obvious seed heads before spreading it on your garden.

Unfortunately, hay and straw can be a happy nesting spot for local rodents, providing a convenient “bed” while they “breakfast” on your vegetables.

Read more about mulching with straw here.

Wood Chips

Wood chip mulch can either be made from recycled wood and off-cuts from timber yards, or from a felled tree by putting it through a shredding machine.

A cheap – often free – way of acquiring some wood chips is to contact your local arborist. Expert tree pruners often have too much excess, and are happy to give it away.

As with bark, the coarser the chip, the longer it’ll take to break down.

According to Dr. Leonard Perry at the University of Vermont’s Department of Plant and Soil Science, arborist wood chip mulch is one of the best types available for retaining moisture, maintaining even soil temperatures, and suppressing weeds. It’s also one of the best in terms of environmental sustainability.

This is because it contains bark, wood, and leaves from the tree, and as each of these breaks down, they provide nutrients to the soil.

Using wood chips can attract beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, decomposing the organic matter into a fungal-dominant soil. It’s ideal for use in orchards, around trees, and for woody shrubs that need a fungal soil to thrive.

Easy to use, wood chips are an effective weed blocker and, like bark, they provide a natural, tidy appearance.

The Process of Mulching

The best times to apply mulch are in spring – or early summer – and fall, though this will depend on where you live.

According to the Royal Horticultural Society, you want to avoid applying mulch in summer if the soil has already dried out, or too early in the spring if the soil is frozen.

Winter mulching to protect cold tolerant plants is done in mid- to late fall.

There are some things you need to keep in mind before you begin. Take the time to conduct a soil test to determine the pH of your soil, and select your material accordingly.

For example, you don’t want to add acidic material, such as pine needles, to soil that is already acidic, unless you are growing rhododendrons, blueberries, or some other acid-loving plant.

Take the time to weed the area thoroughly – watch for runners of grass roots, and get rid of them. Cultivate the soil and apply any amendments, such as compost, if needed.

If you are mulching around existing plantings, be careful not to disturb roots, or damage plants. Now is a good time to tidy up the edges of your borders, for a neat and orderly appearance.

Before you start, rake the soil so that it’s even, not mounding in certain areas. Water well, making sure the soil is moist (but not waterlogged!) before applying your material.

Most biodegradable mulches need to be applied 2-3 inches thick to be effective. Grass clippings, as mentioned, should be applied in thin layers, to prevent it from rotting and creating a slimy mat.

Trees and larger shrubs should be mulched to the drip line – this is the widest part of the tree canopy, the point on the ground where water will drip from the widest branch.

When you apply your mulching material – except in the case of winter mulching for cold protection – it’s important that the mulch does not make contact with the stem or tree trunk.

If mulch is applied too closely around plants, added moisture buildup can cause stems and trunks to rot, putting them at risk of contracting fungal or bacterial infections. Avoid creating a “volcano” shape around trees, and keep the material at least 2-3 inches away from the base of plants.

One of the biggest and most often repeated mistakes among gardeners is failure to mulch deeply enough. Leaving bare patches that allow weeds to take hold is a close second. Remember that mulch will naturally settle, so be generous in your application.

Perennial Shasta daisies are known for their vibrant white flowers and make a lovely addition to any garden. I’ve grown Shasta daisies for years in my low desert Arizona garden, and the blooms come back each year. To learn how to grow Shasta daisies successfully, here are some helpful tips.

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Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.

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How to Grow Shasta Daisies: Tips and Tricks for Year-Round Success

The name “Shasta Daisy” originated from the plant’s hybridizer, American horticulturist Luther Burbank. He developed this hybrid daisy in the early 20th century by crossing several species of wild daisies.

Burbank named his new creation “Shasta Daisy” after Mount Shasta, a prominent peak in northern California because the pure white petals of the flower reminded him of the snow-capped mountain. (Information from “The Well-Tempered Garden” by Christopher Lloyd)

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Plant Characteristics and Ideal Growing Conditions for Shasta Daisies

Shasta daisies are characterized by their large, white petals surrounding a yellow center, growing on sturdy stems. They typically bloom from early summer to fall and can reach heights of 2-3 feet. These perennials thrive in USDA hardiness zones 4-9 and prefer full sun, well-draining soil, and consistent moisture.

In the low desert of Arizona, expect Shasta daisies to bloom from April – July.

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Shasta Daisy Soil Preparation and Planting Time

In most climates, plant shasta daisies during the moderate temperatures of spring or fall. Starting Shasta daisies from transplants or divisions rather than seeds is generally preferable, as this method yields more reliable results. However, don’t be afraid to start from seeds. All the Shasta daisies in my garden began with me starting seeds indoors from some seeds I collected at a public garden.

Planting and seed starting dates for the low desert of Arizona:

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If you choose to start from seeds, begin the process indoors about 6-8 weeks before your area’s last expected frost date or planting date. 

To start shasta daisy seeds indoors:

1. Fill seed trays or small pots with a well-draining seed-starting mix.
2. Sow the seeds on the surface of the mix and lightly cover them with a thin layer of soil.
3. Keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy, and maintain a temperature of around 65-70°F (18-21°C).
4. Provide adequate light from supplemental grow lights. Once the seedlings have developed two sets of true leaves and the outdoor temperatures have warmed up, gradually acclimate them to outdoor conditions (harden off) before transplanting them into the garden.

Learn more about how to start seeds indoors in this blog post.

To prepare the soil for planting Shasta daisies, work in organic matter such as compost or aged manure to improve drainage and fertility. Space the plants about 18-24 inches apart to provide ample room for growth and air circulation.

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Watering, Sunlight, and Fertilizer Requirements

Shasta daisies require consistent moisture, so water them regularly, especially during dry spells. However, avoid over-watering as soggy soil can lead to root rot.

Plant in an area that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight daily to ensure healthy growth and abundant blooms. Apply an organic fertilizer meant for blooms in spring and again in mid-summer to support vigorous growth and flowering.

In the low desert of Arizona and other hot summer climates, provide afternoon shade for Shasta daisies. If plants receive too much sun during the hottest months of the year, they may die back and not return the following year. Do not fertilize Shasta daisies in the summer when growing in hot climates.

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How to Grow Shasta Daisies and Care for Them Throughout the Growing Season

Keep Shasta daisies deadheaded throughout the season. This keeps your plants looking tidy, encourages the production of new flowers, and prevents the plant from setting seeds (which can exhaust its energy reserves). 

To deadhead, use clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears to snip off the spent flower head just above the next leaf or branching point on the stem. In addition to deadheading, periodically trim any weak or leggy growth to maintain a compact, bushy appearance. If desired, you can pinch back young plants early in the season to promote branching and increase the number of blooms. 

Shasta daisies may require support to stay upright throughout the growing season, especially in windy locations.

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Tips for Using Shasta Daisies as a Cut Flower

The bright, cheerful blooms of Shasta daisies add a touch of classic charm to any bouquet or floral arrangement. Harvest your Shasta daisies in the early morning when temperatures are cooler and the flowers are well-hydrated to ensure the longest vase life. 

Choose almost fully-open blooms with a firm (not floppy) stem. Use clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears to cut the stems at an angle, facilitating better water uptake. Immediately place the cut stems into a clean bucket of water.

Remove any foliage submerged in water, as this can promote bacterial growth and reduce vase life. Use a floral preservative, change the water in the vase every couple of days, and trim the stem ends slightly each time for the longest vast life. 

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Troubleshooting Pests and Diseases

Monitor your Shasta daisies for signs of pests, such as aphids, slugs, or snails, which can damage the foliage and blooms. Usually, pest damage is minor and best left untreated. For pest control options, read this blog post.

To prevent fungal diseases like powdery mildew or leaf spot, ensure proper plant spacing and avoid overhead watering.

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Overwintering Shasta Daisy and Preparing for Next Year’s Season

In colder climates, cut back the foliage of Shasta daisies to about 2 inches above the ground after the first hard frost. Next, apply a layer of mulch (such as straw or shredded leaves) around the base of the plants to insulate the roots during winter. In spring, remove the mulch and divide any crowded clumps to rejuvenate your Shasta daisy patch and encourage vigorous growth for the coming season.

In hot summer climates, the blooms will stop during the hottest months of the year. Once the flowers stop blooming, cut plants back, but leave 8-12 inches of growth to protect the plant. Once temperatures begin to cool down in the fall, prune back closer to the ground and divide plants.

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How to Save Seeds from Shasta Daisies

1. Allow a few of your healthiest and most desirable blooms to fully mature and dry out on the plant.
2. Once the flower heads turn brown, dry, and brittle, carefully snip them off with clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears.
3. Bring the flower heads indoors and place them in a well-ventilated area to continue drying for a week or two. (I put mine in a paper sack labeled with the name so I don’t forget which seeds they are.)
4. When they are completely dry, gently break apart the flower head, exposing the seeds attached to the base of each petal. Separate the seeds from any debris and allow them to air-dry for another day or two to ensure all moisture is removed.
5. Store the dry seeds in a labeled paper envelope or small glass jar, and keep the container in a cool, dark, and dry location until you’re ready to plant them in the next growing season.

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With proper care and attention, Shasta daisies can be a delightful addition to your garden for years. By following these tips for soil preparation, planting, watering, sunlight, and fertilizing, you’ll be well on your way to cultivating and caring for a thriving Shasta daisy garden that comes back year after year.

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Preserving freshly picked basil from the garden for future use is a wonderful way to savor its flavor throughout the year.

Because the harvests can be bountiful, dehydrating leaves is an easy and simple option to extend and maximize the herb’s use in your recipes, without having to let any go to waste.

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Basil is a delicate herb that requires gentle processing to avoid bruising.

There are a couple of drying options to choose from that we’ll cover here, and one method that I have found to be the most reliable in providing vibrantly green leaves that are highly aromatic when crushed.

With the simple steps shared with you in this guide, you’ll be ready to dry your homegrown herbs and relish in the delicious taste of preserved basil whenever you desire.

Continue reading to learn how easy it is to properly preserve your harvest through dehydration, along with discovering some helpful resources and culinary tips.

How to Dry Basil from the Garden

Harvesting

I find it tends to be a beautiful, sunny day when the basil in the garden is ready for gathering.

If you’re looking for some cultivation and care tips to encourage abundant and happy plants, our basil growing guide will get you started.

The many possibilities, when considering what I could create in the future with the fragrant leaves, are exciting and practically endless.

As with most harvests, I gather in the morning, after the dew has dried and before the sun warms everything up.

Before drying, storing, and labeling, I process my harvest thoroughly.

I rinse the basil and promptly place the cuttings in a salad spinner to remove as much excess water as possible before beginning the drying process.

Part of prepping the leaves to dry them evenly is removing them from the stem. I like to either carefully pinch them off or use small scissors to cut them off their stems.

Once the leaves have been washed, dried of excess water, and separated from their stems, they’re ready for the final process of dehydration.

Methods of Drying

It’s common to see herbs bunched up and hung upside down to dry. And that might work for some plants, but basil does best when it’s dried using either of the two methods below.

I have found that the uncontrolled process of drying in bunches can cause the leaves to not be as potent in flavor, and they tend to bruise more.

For more information on drying homegrown herbs, check out these tips. Do whatever works for you with the space that you have available for drying.

Dehydrator

Using a dehydrator to preserve an herb like basil has been the most beneficial option I’ve tried in terms of retaining flavor and vibrance.

This is because I’m able to control the timing and temperature at any time of the year.

For the dehydrator method, I start by spreading the leaves out in a single layer on the trays.

Some dehydrators have an herb setting. If yours does not, set it to the lowest temperature, or around 95°F, for approximately four to eight hours.

I tend to check on the herbs every hour and promptly remove them when they are thoroughly crisp.

Don’t have a dehydrator at home? This Excalibur 4-tray, Stackable Dehydrator, available via Amazon, is a good option to start with.

Excalibur 4-Tray Dehydrator

And other models from this brand are reliable and used by many preservers.

Learn more about recommended dehydrator models in this review from our sister site, Foodal.

Herb Drying Rack

There are several types of hanging drying herb racks that use a mesh material, providing excellent airflow that supports even and quick drying.

Not as quick as using a dehydrator, but you certainly use less energy!

This Stack!t Herb Drying Rack that can be purchased at Gardener’s Supply Company is six feet tall and has six trays. I like that each tray has its own zipper closure!

Stack!t Herb Drying Rack

It’s a good idea to locate a place that is out of the way so no debris can land on your leaves and it is out of direct sunlight.

Depending on the warmth of the room your hanging basket is in, it can take five to 10 days to dry the herbs completely.

Be sure to check on your herbs every day, and as soon as they crumble readily and completely between your fingers with no signs of moisture, they are ready to be stored. 

Storage Tips

Whichever drying method you choose, be sure to store your dried basil in an airtight container in a cool and dark place. This will help to prevent mold and ensures the freshness of your herbs.

Depending on how well the herbs have been dried and stored, they can last for more than two years!

It’s best to rely on your senses, and go by the color and flavor to determine if dried herbs are still good if they’ve been in storage for a while.

But you’ll love the flavor of these for use in your cooking. I tend to go through mine in a few months!

Using Dried Basil in the Kitchen

I love how this simple process allows me to have this herb readily available throughout the year, which is an excellent addition to my culinary repertoire.

Seeing my dried homegrown basil in my spice rack inspires me to experiment with new ways of using the herb in my cooking.

From topping homemade pizzas to adding it to my tomato soup, the dried version of the herb packs a punch of flavor when dried and stored correctly.

It’s a must-have for a traditional Italian seasoning blend and infuses well into oils and vinegars that can be used in various recipes.

Consider infusing the water you use to cook pasta with the flavorful herb to take the flavor up a notch.

The idea of adding some to a savory scone recipe or grilled cheese with sun-dried tomatoes makes my mouth water too!

With each new recipe, I am reminded of the versatility of dried basil and how it can elevate so many dishes. It truly is a must-have in any kitchen for those looking to expand their culinary horizons.

From Garden to Spice Rack, Basil Is Bountiful

As I reach for the jar of basil on my spice rack, a sense of satisfaction washes over me.

By harvesting and drying my homegrown leaves, I can add a personal touch to my cooking by using herbs from my own garden.

Now, whenever I need dried basil for a recipe, I know that I have my own stash ready and waiting. It’s a small accomplishment, but it’s a reminder that with a little effort and care, we can create something special and useful.

Have you tried drying your homegrown herbs? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you found this guide helpful, you’ll also enjoy reading these articles about growing basil in your garden next:

Also known as fresh coriander, cilantro is a multipurpose aromatic herb grown for its foliage, flowers, seeds, and even roots.

This zesty, fresh herb can brighten up many a meal – and when you grow your own crop of this delicious plant, you can choose from a surprising variety of different types and cultivars!

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I have to admit, beyond choosing a slow-bolt cilantro variety, I had never bothered investigating different cultivars until recently.

As a confirmed card-carrying cilantro addict, I just knew I needed to grow plenty of those brightly flavored green leaves every year to transform my meals from not bad to mind blowing.

I’m not sure why I had never looked into different varieties of this herb though.

After all, I have long enjoyed perusing the catalogs and choosing seeds for a multitude of dry and shelling bean cultivars and summer squash varieties year after year.

So when the thought of investigating different types of cilantro dawned on me, I was thrilled with what I found – petite plants, large-leaved giants, heat-resistant champs, and cold weather queens!

In this article we’re going to cover 19 different types of cilantro (or plants with flavors very similar to that of cilantro), to help you select the one of your dreams!

Most of these options are cultivars of the species Coriandrum sativum, but we’ll consider a few outliers as well.

For each option, we’ll touch on a few points of interest, explore culinary uses, and offer some suggestions on where to find seeds or live plants for your own garden.

Ready for a sneak peek? Here’s the roundup:

19 of the Best Cilantro Varieties

Before we get started, if you need any tips on sowing, transplanting, tending to, harvesting, or preserving C. sativum, as well as some enticing suggestions on how to make the most of it in the kitchen, be sure to read our complete guide to growing cilantro.

And now, let’s get started with exploring these flavor-packed options!

1. Advanced Turbo II

Our first selection, ‘Advanced Turbo II’ is a disease-resistant and heat-tolerant pick.

‘Advanced Turbo II’ is a fast-growing variety of C. sativum that has gorgeous, glossy green leaves – and it is also slow to bolt.

If you’ve ever experienced issues with bacterial blight on your cilantro crop in the past, try this variety – it is resistant to that bacterial pathogen.

‘Advanced Turbo II’ will be ready to harvest by the bunch in 35 to 40 days.

Why not take advantage of the prolific nature of this fresh coriander variety to make a cilantro-centric sauce that uses lots of fresh foliage?

One of my personal favorites is a delicious Yemeni delight – zhoug sauce. It’s made with fresh coriander leaves, olive oil, lemon juice, cardamom, and a few other spices.

‘Advanced Turbo II’ is currently more common to find for purchase among seed purveyors selling to large-scale farmers rather than those focused on backyard gardeners.

That means this type isn’t the easiest to find, but hopefully it will become more widely available to small-scale gardeners in the future.

2. Calypso

‘Calypso’ is a cultivar of C. sativum known for its bushy plants that are slow to bolt.

This high-yielding variety produces bunches of fresh coriander foliage in 50 to 55 days, or 85 to 105 days for seeds.

‘Calypso’

Why not take a cue from its West-Indies-flavored name and add the fresh leaves of ‘Calypso’ to a Caribbean-style dish of beans and rice – perhaps with a side of fried plantains?

‘Calypso’ cilantro is available in packs of 100 seeds from the Park Seed Store via Amazon.

3. Caribe

‘Caribe’ is a variety of C. sativum that produces dark green leaves on vigorous plants. Great for greenhouse growing, it’s slow to bolt.

This fresh coriander variety has thinner stems than ‘Santo’ – which we’ll discover later in this article – and even better bolt resistance.

‘Caribe’ produces a harvest of fresh foliage in 55 days, and seeds in around 100 days.

‘Caribe’

Ever tried adding fresh coriander leaves to chutney? Why not start now?

Get ‘Caribe’ cilantro in an assortment of package sizes ranging from one-eighth of an ounce up to 20 pounds from High Mowing Organic Seeds.

4. Confetti

This next fresh coriander selection may not come with party streamers and noisemakers, but it may give you as much of a surprise as an unexpected celebration!

A cultivar of C. sativum, ‘Confetti’ has finely divided foliage that looks as wispy as carrot or dill greens.

These frilly, medium-green leaves require less chopping and add a different texture to culinary creations.

‘Confetti’ plants are compact and less prone to blemished foliage than other varieties as well.

While not as high yielding as some other C. sativum varieties, ‘Confetti’ has a milder, sweeter flavor.

It’s best harvested for fresh leaves when plants are young, at 30 to 35 days after sowing, and produces seed in 80 to 100 days.

‘Confetti’

‘Confetti’ requires little prep if you need minced herbs for a recipe, and its fine foliage will be perfect inside rice paper rolls or tacos, or mixed into Asian-style salads.

You can purchase ‘Confetti’ cilantro in packs of 150 seeds from Burpee.

5. Cruiser

A variety of C. sativum, ‘Cruiser’ produces upright plants that bear dark green foliage. Compact, they’re perfect for growing in containers.

Plus, this bolt-resistant fresh coriander variety has excellent flavor, even after going to flower.

‘Cruiser’ will produce a harvest of fresh leaves in 50 to 55 days, and seeds in 120 to 150 days.

‘Cruiser’

Cruising is always best when you keep cool, so why not top a fresh and cooling cucumber salad with the leaves of this tasty variety?

You’ll find ‘Cruiser’ cilantro in a variety of packet sizes from  one-eighth of an ounce up to 20 pounds at High Mowing Organic Seeds.

6. Culantro

Our next selection is Eryngium foetidum, a plant that goes by the common name “culantro” – and no, that isn’t a typo!

Culantro is in the same family as C. sativum, the Apiaceae or umbellifer family, and it’s also known by many other common names – including “broadleaf cilantro,” “long leaf coriander,” “Mexican coriander,” “recao,” “ngo gai,” “Vietnamese culantro,” “chado beni,” and “spirit weed.”

Unlike the frilly, parsley-like leaves of fresh coriander, this plant has long, lance-shaped leaves with serrated edges.

While its flavor is similar to that of cilantro, culantro is even more potent, and when dried it retains its flavor and color better than C. sativum.

Culantro does best when grown in part shade, with moist soil that has a pH of 6.1 to 7.8.

This species reaches 18 to 24 inches tall. It may be grown as a perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 7 to 11, and produces a harvest of fresh leaves in 80 to 90 days.

Culantro

These pungent, tasty leaves are a marvel when included in the popular base of so many incredible dishes: the sofrito.

You can purchase culantro in packs of 300 seeds from the Seed Needs Store via Amazon. Packets of 400 and 1200 seeds are available via Walmart.

7. Delfino

After our brief detour to consider a different species, we’re now returning to cultivars of C. sativum with ‘Delfino.’

‘Delfino’ was awarded the distinction of being an All-America Selections winner in 2006.

Like ‘Confetti,’ this variety has finely divided, feathery foliage. But ‘Delfino’ is even more productive in comparison.

‘Delfino’ produces bunches of foliage ready to harvest in 35 days, and sets seed in 80 to 85 days.

‘Delfino’

With its wispy leaves, this cultivar requires little chopping to add it to a lime cilantro yogurt sauce, an excellent dip for enjoying that bounty of fresh garden veggies you’ll no doubt be growing as well.

Get ‘Delfino’ cilantro in packs of 100 seeds from Hirt’s via Amazon.

8. Dwarf Lemon

C. sativum, ‘Dwarf Lemon’ is a unique, compact choice whose flavor packs a punch.

This fresh coriander cultivar has an intensely pronounced citrusy flavor compared to other varieties of C. sativum and plants are rather petite, reaching just 12 inches tall.

‘Dwarf Lemon’ is delicious when used to garnish any meal where the bright tones of cilantro and citrus are welcome, such as in a rice salad or mixed into hummus.

Count on 50 days of growing time for a harvest of fresh foliage, and 110 days for seeds.

Look for ‘Dwarf Lemon’ cilantro seeds from local suppliers of heirloom seed cultivars.

9. Kanchanaburi

A Thai variety from the town of the same name, ‘Kanchanaburi’ is a prized cultivar of C. sativum for seed production.

This cultivar flowers early and produces large seeds, making it excellent for growing your own coriander spice.

Also known as ‘Kanchanaburu,’ this variety produces short plants with aromatic roots that are also a great choice for cooking.

The foliage of this type can be used for garnishes while it lasts, but the real gem here are its flavorful seeds, which can be used to season so many different dishes, like homemade curries or pickles. Seeds are ready to harvest in about 100 to 120 days.

As an early flowering type, ‘Kanchanaburu’ is also an excellent choice to grow as an insectary plant for pollinators and other beneficial insects.

You’ll find this cilantro variety from sellers of rare, open-pollinated seeds.

10. Large Leaf

‘Large Leaf’ is a variety of C. sativum bred to maximize foliage production, producing up to three times as much as other cultivars.

Very slow to bolt, ‘Large Leaf’ will produce bunches of leaves for harvest in 40 to 50 days, and flowers appear in 90 to 100 days.

Looking for cooking ideas? Mix the oversized leaves of this prolific cultivar with homegrown parsley, oregano, jalapenos, and shallots to make your own chimichurri sauce!

You can find ‘Large Leaf’ cilantro from sellers of rare and heirloom seeds.

11. Leisure

‘Leisure’ is a productive and slow-to-bolt variety of C. sativum.

This coriander cultivar is prized for its uniformity and dependability. Its leaves are medium green in color, feathery, and flat, and they have a delicious, pungent flavor.

‘Leisure’ is heat tolerant, maturing in 50 to 55 days for leaves, and 90 to 105 days for seed.

‘Leisure’

Does this sound like the perfect garnish to have on hand for leisurely home-cooked meals like coconut Thai soup?

You can purchase ‘Leisure’ cilantro in an assortment of package sizes from High Mowing Organic Seeds.

12. Moroccan

While many varieties of C. sativum are touted for their ability to resist bolting in hot weather, ‘Moroccan’ is another coriander cultivar that goes to flower early.

This makes it desirable for those who are growing this herb to attract pollinators or for seed production.

‘Moroccan’ will produce a harvest of fresh leaves in 45 days, and seeds in as little as 90 days.

‘Moroccan’

Why not grow your own coriander seeds, dry and grind them, and add the powdered coriander to a homemade Moroccan couscous?

You’ll find ‘Moroccan’ for purchase in packs weighing four grams (or approximately 270 seeds) from Botanical Interests.

13. Papalo

Having made it this far, you’re clearly a fan of the distinctive flavor of cilantro, so there’s another herb you might like to know about too – papalo.

Papalo (Porophyllum ruderale) has a flavor described as “a blend of cilantro, arugula, cucumber, and citrus,” by P. Ravindrin, in “The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Spices,” available on Amazon.

Also known as “Bolivian coriander,” “killi,” “papaloquelite,” “poreleaf,” “quilquina,” or ”yerba porosa,” this annual species grows to reach three to five feet tall and has a 12-inch spread.

And unlike cilantro, this herb doesn’t bolt in hot weather.

Papalo’s leaves are oval-shaped with scalloped edges. They have a succulent feel, and are marked with glands filled with essential oils.

This plant’s seed head bears a resemblance to that of dandelions – which isn’t too surprising, since both are members of the daisy or Asteraceae family.

Papalo should be grown in full sun or part shade and it only needs moderate water once established.

This herb tastes best fresh, so don’t cook it or dry it – instead, incorporate it into cool or room temperature dishes, or add it to hot meals as a garnish right before serving.

Papalo

Cilantro tends to bolt by the time tomatoes and hot peppers are ready to pick, but papalo will make a great summer salsa ingredient!

Germination for the seeds of these plants is naturally low, so be sure to sow enough seeds to make up for those that don’t sprout.

You’ll find papalo available for purchase in packets of 20 seeds from the Palm Beach Medicinal Herbs Store, via Amazon.

14. Pokey Joe

If you haven’t given up regular cilantro in favor of papalo after reading about our last selection, here’s one to give it a run for its money – ‘Pokey Joe.’

Also known as ‘Pokey Jo,’ this coriander is slow to bolt and is known for its exquisite flavor, far surpassing the taste of other varieties of cilantro in the opinion of some gardeners.

This rare variety of C. sativum produces a crop of fresh leaves in 50 days, with seeds maturing in around 100 days.

‘Pokey Joe’ Seeds

With its fine flavor, this cultivar will really shine when it’s the center of attention – such as in a cilantro pesto, which can be tossed with pasta or spread on a pizza in place of tomato sauce.

Sound appetizing? Get ‘Pokey Joe’ cilantro in packs of 100 seeds via Amazon.

15. Rak Tamachat

A variety of C. sativum with impressive dimensions, this heirloom cultivar was collected in Thailand at the Rak Tamachat Permaculture and Natural Building Education Center by members of the Adaptive Seeds company.

The flavor of ‘Rak Tamachat’ is somewhat milder than other cilantro cultivars, but the real feature of interest is that these large plants grow huge leaves, which are up to two inches wide.

Count on 50 to 60 days for fresh coriander leaves to mature, and 90 to 110 days for seeds.

With its large leaves, this variety will work well for preparing the foliage as a chiffonade, perhaps paired with basil leaves in fresh rice paper rolls.

You’ll find this type available from sellers of rare, open-pollinated seeds.

16. Santo

‘Santo’ is a fast-growing coriander variety that holds up well to heat, and it has an upright growth habit.

Also known as ‘Long Standing,’ ‘Slow Bolt,’ or ‘Slo Bolt,’ this variety of C. sativum produces dark green leaves that have great flavor, making this a favorite cultivar of many gardeners.

As its alternate names suggest, ‘Santo’ is slow to bolt. It’s ready to harvest in 50 to 55 days for bunches of foliage, and 90 to 105 days for seeds.

‘Santo’ Seeds

As an all-around favorite variety among cilantro fans, this cultivar is perfect for use in Mexican or Tex-Mex style dishes such as chili, burritos, or guacamole.

Ready for this long-standing classic? You can purchase certified organic ‘Santo’ cilantro seeds in a variety of package sizes from True Leaf Market.

17. Standby

‘Standby’ is a variety of C. sativum that is slow to bolt and hardy in cold weather, making it a great choice for fall sowing.

Fast to mature, count on 45 days for fresh foliage, and around 100 days for seeds.

Since it’s easy to keep around when the weather is chilly, ‘Standby’ is the perfect cilantro to have on hand to top a warming butternut squash soup in autumn.

Look for ‘Standby’ cilantro from sellers of rare, open-pollinated seeds.

18. Sunmaster

‘Sunmaster’ is a heat-tolerant variety of C. sativum that is very slow to bolt.

This fast-growing and high-yielding coriander cultivar is also very cold hardy and produces large, dark green leaves.

‘Sunmaster’ will mature in approximately 50 to 55 days for leaves, and 100 days for seeds.

The leaves of this variety would be delicious served with either green or brown fava beans and a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice.

You’ll find ‘Sunmaster’ cilantro on offer from small seed companies.

19. Vietnamese Coriander

Our last selection is another alternative to C. sativum – Vietnamese coriander.

This species, Persicaria odorata, looks rather like mint, but Vietnamese coriander is actually in the Polygonaceae or buckwheat family, related to plants like sorrel and rhubarb.

It tastes much like cilantro, but has a sharper, and more peppery flavor. And unlike C. sativum, Vietnamese coriander doesn’t bolt in hot weather.

Also known as “rau ram” and “Vietnamese mint,” the leaves of Vietnamese coriander are green and lance shaped, with blotches of burgundy.

Vietnamese coriander is grown in filtered shade and moist soil, but it needs excellent drainage.

This species grows six to 12 inches tall with a spread of six to 18 inches, and is perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 9b to 12b.

When it comes to flavor, fresh Vietnamese coriander is delicious when used to top a dish of spicy noodles or a bowl of Asian-style soup.

It’s more common to find this species sold as a live plant than it is to see seeds.

Vietnamese Coriander Live Plant in 3” Pot

You’ll find live Vietnamese coriander plants available for purchase in three-inch pots from Hirt’s Garden Store via Amazon.

Your Entry to the Cilantro Collector Club

I bet, like me, you never knew you’d need – or want! – more than one type of cilantro in your life.

But now that you’ve discovered the options, perhaps there are at least a few that will find a regular spot in your garden.

Do you have a personal favorite among these top picks, or one that you’re excited to try? Have I neglected one of your preferred varieties that you think our readers should know about? Tell us in the comments section below!

And while your thoughts are on growing aromatic herbs, why not keep reading about them right here:

Here’s what’s to come in this article:

Let’s dig in!

What Is Fenugreek?

Fenugreek is a tender annual that is a member of the legume family.

This plant can grow up to two feet in height from a single hollow hairy stem, with stems that branch at the base. The leaves are small with three ovate green to purple leaflets each and solitary white, yellow, or purple flowers that grow from the leaf axils.

The leaves look similar to clover leaves and the flowers resemble those of common peas. The aromatic yellowish brown seeds develop in curved yellow pods.

Both the seeds and the leaves are edible.

In addition to its culinary applications, this plant also has a long history of medicinal use, as well as use in animal feed and as a soil building cover crop.

Cultivation and History

Cultivated worldwide, both the seeds and the leaves are used in cooking, most commonly in south and central Asian cuisine. Also known as methi, you will often taste its maple syrup like flavor in curry, dal, pickles, and spice mixes.

This herb is thought to have been first cultivated in the near East, India and North Africa.

One thing is certain: it has been used by humans for a very long time. Archaeological remains of charred and desiccated seeds discovered in Iraq have been carbon dated back 6000 years!

In ancient Egypt, fenugreek was used in cooking as well as medicinally to reduce fevers, and as an incense for religious ceremonies. It has also been a part of Indian cuisine for 3,000 years.

It was later used in Ancient Greece and by the Romans often as oxen fodder, to treat a variety of ailments, to make yellow dyes for coloring wool, and as a flavoring for wine.

Benefits to the Garden

Like other legumes, fenugreek is a useful cover crop to fix nitrogen in the soil, a critical nutrient for plant growth.

Nitrogen-fixing plants form a symbiotic relationship with certain types of bacteria in the soil that colonize on the roots. In order for fenugreek to fix nitrogen, it needs one particular bacterium, Rhizobium meliloti.

The bacteria extract nitrogen from the air and convert it into a usable form that becomes available in the soil for uptake by plants.

You can tell if a plant is fixing nitrogen by digging it up and examining the roots for pink colored nodules.

Plants that are fixing nitrogen are able to grow lush and green even in low quality soil, while those that do not may produce smaller, less colorful foliage. These nitrogen-fixers improve the quality of the soil for other plants by the addition of this important mineral.

This quick growing annual is also useful as a ground cover under slow growing crops. It will cover the soil before you know it, thwarting weeds, building nutrients, and regulating soil moisture.

Medicine

This herb has therapeutic roots in many traditions, and has been studied extensively in recent years for its effectiveness as an herbal medicine.

Used for centuries to increase breast milk production in lactating mothers, it contains high amounts of the phytosteroid diosgenin, a known galactogogue.

This is perhaps because the herb is rich in dietary fiber, but you would have to consume quite a bit to see a noticeable effect related to fiber intake!

Several studies have also shown effectiveness for improving metabolic symptoms associated with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

While fenugreek has many potential health benefits, it is important to always consult a medical professional before starting any herbal medicine regimen.

Use of this herb should be avoided when pregnant, as it has the potential to stimulate uterine contractions.

Propagation

This annual does not transplant well and should instead be sown from seed.

Seeds should be sown in the garden after all chance of frost has passed and the soil has started to warm, any time from late spring to late summer.

If you’re growing fenugreek for its seeds, plant in the spring or early summer so it has time to produce adequate seed pods before the growing season ends.

If using it solely for its fast growing leaves, sowing any time between spring and late summer is fine.

Seeds can be broadcasted or planted in rows 8-18 inches apart at just 1/4 deep. They should sprout quickly, poking through the soil in just a few days. Water regularly to keep the soil moist, but do not over water, as this plant won’t grow in waterlogged soil.

How to Grow

Fenugreek will do just fine planted in average, well draining soil, though it prefers neutral to slightly alkaline soil, with a pH range of about 6.5 to 8.2. Due to its nitrogen fixing properties, planting fenugreek in poor soils will help to improve the nutrient quality for future crops.

There is no need to add fertilizer, but it is always a good idea to incorporate rotted manure or compost into the soil before sowing. If you wish, you can use a liquid compost tea or comfrey tea every few weeks to encourage more robust growth.

Fenugreek requires at least 4-5 hours of direct sun a day, and can tolerate afternoon shade. While it may be planted in partial shade in warm climates, in colder locations, it is best to grow it in a sunny spot.

This plant does particularly well in warm and hot climates with average temperatures of 50-90°F, and it can even be grown year-round in USDA Hardiness Zones 9-11.

Once established, thin seedlings to two inches apart.

Water your crop regularly to keep it moist, particularly in dry weather. Do not overwater, as waterlogged soil will impede growth.

Pinch off the top third of mature stems periodically to encourage lush, branching growth. If you’re not planning to collect the seeds, prune the top 6 inches of the mature plant to encourage more growth and prevent it from setting seed.

Container Growing

This herb can easily be grown in containers. Plant seeds in a pot indoors on a sunny windowsill, or place pots on the balcony or in a patio garden.

Fenugreek is a shallow rooted plant, so you don’t need a deep container. Use a wide planter around 6-8 inches deep with good drainage.

Fill the container with 2/3 potting mix and 1/3 compost. Sprinkle seeds in the pot and add a thin 1/4-inch layer of soil to cover. Thin to 1-2 inches of space between seedlings.

Aphids

These small sap-sucking pests feed on the juices of the tender parts of the plant, negatively affecting growth. Plants may also become contaminated by the honeydew, a substance produced by the aphids. For more information about aphids see our guide here.

Try using neem oil or homemade insecticidal soap to combat infestations.

Disease

Particularly in warm or humid conditions, if your plants aren’t thriving it could be as a result of disease.

Root Rot

This fungus causes yellowing of lower leaves, wilting, and stunted growth. Plants that succumb to root rot will eventually die.

If you suspect root rot, pull up a plant and examine the roots to see whether they look rotten. Planting in well drained and sufficiently warm soil will reduce the risk of rot.

Powdery Mildew

Mildew often affects this crop during the later stages of life, when foliage is dry and the weather is warm. Look for white powdery spots on the lower and upper surfaces of leaves, flowers, and other parts.

Apply neem oil to combat mildew.

Read more about fighting powdery mildew attacks here.

Charcoal Rot

This fungus causes discoloration and cankers on the stems of plants that may spread upward, causing the leaves to wilt and drop. It thrives during the hot, dry part of the growing season and often affects plants that under heat stress.

Adequate thinning and weeding of plants, incorporating aged manure into beds prior to planting, mulching to maintain moisture, and regular watering during periods of dry weather will help keep stress to a minimum, and reduce the risk of this disease.

Harvesting

This fast-growing annual will produce leaves that are ready to harvest within just 20-30 days of sowing.

Trim the leaves carefully, snipping off the top third of mature stems, and allowing the rest to continue growing. This will also encourage branching, which will increase flowering and seed production later on.

After cutting, leaves will regrow in about 15 days. You can continue to harvest the leaves multiple times until the plant begins to flower.

When the plant bolts and begins seed production, leaves will become tough and bitter.

Seed harvest takes a bit more patience. Plan to collect seeds 3-5 months after planting, once the plant has finished flowering, died back, and begun to turn yellow.

The seeds develop within small pods, and each pod contains about 10 to 20 seeds.

Gather the pods by simply snapping them off where they meet the stem, being careful not to tear them as the seeds will scatter everywhere.

Peel the pods open to reveal the yellow-brown seeds inside. You can also rub them between your palms to break them open, or place them in a bag and rub vigorously to separate the seeds from the pods.

Store seeds in an airtight container in a cool, dry, dark place and they’ll remain viable for 2-3 years. You can also use them as a spice in your cooking.

Preserving and Storage

Fresh leaves will keep for up to a week if you remove them from the stalks, wrap in a paper towel, then place in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Leaves can be used fresh or dried as an herb in cooking or tea. To dry the leaves, hang stems upside down in bundles in a dark, dry location. You can also dry them in a dehydrator or in your oven on the “warm” setting.

If you’re using the seeds as a spice, many people dry roast them to enhance their nutty flavor and aroma. Just roast seeds on medium-high heat for one to two minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

Be cautious not to over roast, or they will become intensely bitter.

Cooking Ideas

With a spicy, peppery aroma and a sweet and sour taste somewhat similar to maple syrup, fenugreek has a distinctive flavor that is delicious in all sorts of dishes.

This herb can be consumed fresh or dried. The seeds can be ground and used as a spice. Some people even like to eat fenugreek sprouts and microgreens. The leaves make a delicious addition to roti or paratha dough.

We will introduce you to the major hydrangea diseases, so you know what to look for and how to prevent and treat them.

Fungal Diseases

Botrytis Blight (Botrytis cinerea)

This fungus can severely affect the flower buds and even kill them before they open. In addition, infected flower parts can fall on the leaves and infect them.

The first symptoms are water-soaked spots on the flowers. However, these grow into reddish brown lesions.

Botrytis is more likely to be a problem under cool and damp conditions, such as several days of cloudy, humid, and rainy weather.

You can take steps to try and prevent this infection. Keep the humidity low. Don’t water late in the day, and only water at the roots, so you don’t get the flowers and leaves wet.

If you can, keep good airflow around your plants. Space them properly, and prune branches that are closely spaced. Treat your pruning shears with bleach as you prune, so you don’t accidentally spread any disease.

Also remove dead or damaged flowers and leaves to prevent the fungus from gaining egress into the plant. Clean up debris around the plant, so that Botrytis can’t live on the dead tissue.

If you have a persistent problem, you may need to use fungicides. Options include iprodione, or thiophanate-methyl.

Leaf Spots (Cercospora species and Phyllosticta hydrangea)

Cercospora manifests as circular purple or brown spots on the bottom of the plant. As the lesions get larger, the leaves can turn yellow and fall off the plant.

Watering without getting the leaves wet will help to prevent these diseases. If your hydrangeas do get infected, you have several options, including compost tea, hydrogen peroxide, garlic oil, or liquid kelp.

You can also apply the fungicides chlorothalonil or thiophanate-methyl.

Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides)

Plants that have been heavily fertilized are more likely to contract this common fungal pathogen.

Continued rainy weather or heavy fog produces the conditions that favor infection.

The fungus produces large brown spots on the leaves or flowers that will become more lightly colored in the centers. One distinctive symptom is that spots by the veins develop at an angle.

You can also treat this disease with liquid kelp, garlic oil, hydrogen peroxide, or compost tea.

Read more about identifying and treating anthracnose on hydrangea here.

Powdery Mildew (Erysiphe polygoni)

Powdery mildew manifests as a white powdery substance on the surface of the leaves. You can see white, cottony growth on the bottom of the leaves.

Left unchecked, the fungus can infect the newly developing buds and stunt their growth.

Powdery mildew is most likely to be a problem on hydrangeas when the days are warm and the nights cool.

You can prevent the disease by reducing humidity and increasing air circulation.

One way to control this disease is to apply a fungicide as soon as you discover it. Another option is to use neem.

Rust (Pucciniastrum hydrangea)

Like other rusts, hydrangea rust needs two hosts to survive and does not kill either of them. This rust only infects the smooth hydrangea, H. arborescens, and hemlock as its alternate host.

The first symptoms are orange pustules on the bottoms of the hydrangea leaves and yellow spots on top.

This disease is difficult to control, but you can manage it by cleaning up infected leaves and debris that has fallen to the ground around both hosts. Thin inside the hydrangea making sure to disinfect your pruning shears.

If you know that rust is likely to be a problem, you can grow the cultivar ‘Frosty,’ which is resistant to this disease.

Bacterial Diseases

Bacterial Wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum)

This important bacterial disease first manifests as blight in the leaves and flower clusters. However, more severe infestations can cause both wilting and root rot.

Bacterial wilt occurs mainly in hot weather and heavy rains. There are no chemical options to control this disease.

Bacterial Leaf Spot (Xanthomonas campestris)

The bacteria that cause this disease can enter the plant through natural openings like stomata or through wounds.

The first symptoms are water-soaked spots. The spots darken and become angular in shape. These spots become larger lesions and can kill the leaves.

If you have a susceptible plant, you can protect it with copper hydroxide (Kocide).

Viral Diseases

Fifteen different viruses afflict hydrangeas! Hydrangea macrophylla is the most susceptible.

Transmission can occur by knives, leaf contact, and insects like aphids. In some cases, plant parasitic nematodes can transmit the viruses.

Prevention is the key in these cases. Quickly remove infected plants and their parts. Sterilize your pruning shears before cutting the plants, and plant clean stock in soilless media to avoid the viruses that are transmitted by nematodes in the soil.

These three are the most common viral infections that you are likely to encounter:

Hydrangea Ringspot Virus

If your hydrangea has brown spots or rings on its leaves, there is a good chance that it is infected with hydrangea ringspot virus. Then the leaves of the plant will start to be distorted and rolled, and the growth of the plant will be stunted.

Aphids do not spread this disease. However, it spreads mechanically, so tools can transmit this virus. Sanitizing your pruning tools will help to prevent the spread of this disease.

Unfortunately, if your hydrangea contracts this disease, you will have to purge it. Varieties that are tolerant to this virus are available.

Tomato Ringspot Virus

This virus causes the leaves to turn yellow and become distorted, and the growth of the plant will be stunted.

Nematodes, not pruning tools, spread this virus.

If you are growing your hydrangeas in containers, you can avoid tomato ringspot virus by using a soil mix that is free of nematodes.

Good Gardener friend Derek will have a plant booth of amazing and rare plants for sale at the Wewahitchka Tupelo Honey Festival tomorrow, May 20th, from 9-4 at Lake Alice Park.

He’s offering anyone that says they watch or read David The Good a 15% off discount. I’ve gotten plants from him before – lots of cool rare edibles and other things.

This pic only shows some of what he’s setting up. If you’re in that area of Florida, stop on by and say hi!

Here is Derek’s card:

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Fuchsia is a genus of flora that grow upright, cascade, or creep. They display exquisite nodding or upward-facing, bell-like or tubular corollas, and upturned sepals.

Many have distinctive features like ruffled petals, and colorful filaments and anthers that protrude beyond the petals.

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

An extensive selection of species and hybrid cultivars is available to gardeners in USDA Hardiness Zones 6 to 12.

A broad color palette includes blue, magenta, orange, pink, red, violet, white, yellow, and bicolor combinations that light up containers and gardens from spring to frost.

The nectar-rich blossoms are particularly attractive to hummingbirds.

Our fuchsia growing guide discusses all you need to know to plant and grow your own in the garden.

This guide aims to determine whether fuchsia is an annual or perennial. Read on to find out!

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Let’s begin.

Native Origins

Most types of fuchsia are endemic to South America, but some varieties are native to Central America, Mexico, and the South Pacific islands of New Zealand and Tahiti.

Growing conditions vary from cool to tropical. A general rule of thumb is that orange and red flowering types are more heat tolerant than those with blue and white blossoms.

There are approximately 110 species subdivided into groups. The largest group is Fuchsia.

In addition, there are 3,000 to 5,000 known cultivated varieties, including the hybrids described below.

Annual or Perennial? Plant Life Cycles

A plant life cycle may be:

• Annual
• Biennial
• Perennial

Annuals germinate, grow, reproduce, and die in one growing season.

We sow summer annuals in late spring or early summer. They mature by autumn and have no tolerance for freezing temperatures or frost.

Marigolds and zinnias are examples.

And we plant winter annuals in late fall or early spring. Those planted in the fall mature the following spring, and those sown in early spring mature by the fall.

They tolerate cold temperatures and light frost.

Examples are bachelor’s button and larkspur.

A biennial requires two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. During the first, it grows vegetatively, producing foliage.

In the second, it enters the reproductive phase, flowering and setting seed.

Alliums and hollyhocks are examples.

And finally, a perennial sprouts in the spring, dies down in the fall, and comes up again in the spring.

Hardy types can withstand freezing temperatures and frost. Tender ones cannot, and these grow in warmer climates – or as annuals in cooler zones.

Asters and coneflowers are hardy.

Calla lilies and lemongrass are tender.

Longevity is another perennial consideration.

Short-lived hardy herbaceous perennials, like columbine and heuchera, grow for three to five years, while woody shrubs, like barberry, and trees, like yew, can grow for decades to centuries.

As with all flora, the life expectancy of fuchsia depends upon factors like plant quality, climate suitability, and care. I read about a woman who inherited her mother’s fuchsia plant and calculated the age to be about 24 years old. Wow!

Let’s look at three types and their growing zones next.

Species and Cultivars

Three common types of fuchsia for the home garden are hardy, hybrid, and ground-covering. Let’s talk about each.

Hardy fuchsia, F. magellanica, is a woody perennial with cascading branches suited to cultivation in Zones 6 to 9.

The foliage dies back with the first hard freeze, but regrows the next year.

When no hard freeze occurs, gardeners prune the stems to the ground at season’s end, or in late winter or early spring the following year.

Elongated, tubular, magenta and red flowers bloom from summer through fall. Mature dimensions are 5 to 10 feet tall and wide. The plants can tolerate filtered sun, full sun, and part shade.

Creeping, ground-covering fuchsia, F. procumbens, is a tender perennial for Zones 8 to 11. It is not cold or frost tolerant.

This species prefers full sun to part shade and blooms from summer to fall.

Like tiny tropical birds, upward-facing blossoms display a rainbow of colors, including yellow, magenta, green, blue, and red.

Hybrid F. x hybrida, is a cross between hardy F. magellanica and three woody perennial species: scarlet, F. coccinea, brilliant, F. fulgens, and tree fuchsia, F. arborescens. Hybridizing results in a broad range of colors.

A hybrid type is a tender perennial in Zones 10 to 12, where the temperature remains well above freezing and there is no frost.

It blooms from summer through fall and prefers full to part shade locations.

In the remaining temperate zones, a hybrid grows as an annual that dies with the first frost of autumn and is a popular container plant.

Mature dimensions are 18 to 36 inches tall and 12 to 24 inches wide.

Because it is a hybrid, the seeds do not produce replicas of the parent from which they came. Harvested seeds are likely to produce different traits and qualities.

To extend the life of a hybrid grown as an annual, bring a pot indoors for the winter, or take stem cuttings at season’s end to root in water indoors.

Drawing Conclusions

We set out to discover whether fuchsia is an annual or perennial.

Let’s recap what we’ve learned:

There are about 110 native species and thousands of cultivars. Some prefer cool temperatures, and others are tropical.

We discussed annual, biennial, and perennial life cycles before describing three example species, one a hybrid.

Cool-weather, hardy F. magellanica is perennial and returns annually in Zones 6 to 9. It is large and shrubby, and dies to the ground at season’s end. 

Ground-covering F. procumbens is a tender perennial in Zones 8 to 11, where frost does not pose a threat.

Hybrid F. x hybrida is a tender perennial in Zones 10 to 12, where there is no frost, and an annual elsewhere. In cool regions, taking a container plant indoors for the winter is a life-extending option.

And now, our answer is clear:

All fuchsia is perennial in its frost-free native habitat. But here in the United States, it may be a hardy or tender perennial, or an annual with the option of wintering indoors, depending upon the type and growing zone.

Are you ready to enjoy fuchsia in your outdoor living space from summer to fall? Add it to your garden planner today!

Are you growing these plants? Tell us about your experience in the comments section below.

If you found this guide informative and want to learn more about fuchsia, we recommend the following:

Ginkgo biloba

Searching for a uniquely awesome planting for your landscape? Look no further than the ginkgo tree: a plant as ancient, majestic, and fascinating as the dinosaurs.

A living fossil from the days of prehistory, Ginkgo biloba has been around the block a couple of times, and has done so in style.

Gorgeous colors, beautiful fan-shaped leaves, and an appealing form all combine to make this tree well worth your growing efforts.

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Not that you’ll have to put in that much work – this tree is super easy to cultivate!

Along with its aesthetic value, a ginkgo is tough and adaptable, making it a solid choice for poor planting sites or laissez-faire gardeners.

That being said, I think these trees are too pretty for apathetic care.

In this guide, we’ll cover exactly what G. biloba requires for optimal health and aesthetics. By the end, you’ll be ready to grow ginkgos like a pro!

Here are the specifics of what we’ll be discussing:

What Are Ginkgo Trees?

Also known as the maidenhair tree, Ginkgo biloba is the only surviving member of the Ginkgo genus, the Ginkoaceae family, the Ginkgoales order, the Ginkgoopsida class, and the Ginkgophyta division.

Talk about being one of a kind!

Native to China and hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 9, ginkgos are technically gymnosperms, albeit unusual ones.

They’re dioecious, with separate male and female plants. In spring, male catkins produce pollen, which the wind carries to the female, olive-like ovules.

The ovules secrete a liquid to help catch the pollen. Once caught, the pollen is pulled into the ovule as the liquid dries.

Within the ovule, the pollen develops into a male gametophyte, which releases sperm to fertilize the female gametophyte within the ovule.

After fertilization, almond-like seeds are produced on the female trees within a yellow-orange, fleshy pulp.

When the seeds drop and hit the ground in late fall, the messy pulp emits a smell that’s absolutely atrocious.

If you’re trying to avoid the scent of vomit, feces, and/or dirty gym socks, it’s important to only use male trees in your landscape.

The name Ginkgo was actually a misspelling of the Japanese ginkyo by the German-born botanist Engelbert Kaempfer, a mistake that Carl Linnaeus adopted into his botanical nomenclature.

Ginkyo translates to the Chinese yinxing, which means “silver apricot” – a reference to the ginkgo’s edible seeds.

The species name biloba means two-lobed, which can describe the foliage perfectly.

I say “can” because the apical notching that distinguishes a leaf’s two lobes is quite irregular between leaves on these trees. It can be deep, shallow, or hardly apparent at all.

Each leaf is shaped like a fan: broad towards the top and narrowly tapered towards its base.

The leaves are a lovely light green during the growing season, while autumnal foliage is a gorgeous shade of yellow. These leaves grow densely enough to provide some shady relief from the sun’s harsh rays.

Typically, these trees grow about 50 to 80 feet tall and 30 to 40 feet wide.

But since ginkgos can live for thousands of years in ideal conditions, they can eventually reach heights of over 100 feet, and can spread out even wider than they are tall!

Cultivation and History

As mentioned earlier, gingkos are ancient: the oldest fossils we have of G. biloba were dated to be over 200 million years old!

Given how little they’ve changed since, these trees are affectionately referred to as “living fossils” alongside other ancient organisms such as the coelacanth, the platypus, and the horseshoe crab.

As time marched on, more and more species of Ginkgo went extinct – whether from losing their animal dispersal agents or from unsurvivable changes in their environment – until all that remained were select Chinese populations of G. biloba.

Now the last of the ginkgos, G. biloba wasn’t cultivated by humans until about 1,000 years ago in China.

These trees were grown solely in China for centuries until about the 14th to 15th century, when specimens were acquired in Korea and Japan via trade.

Along with their aesthetics, ginkgos were valued for their medicinal applications.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the seeds and leaves were used to combat memory loss, blood disorders, and a host of other health conditions.

The botanist Engelbert Kaempfer – remember him? – of the Dutch East India Company had the first documented Western encounter with the tree in 1692, at the Company’s trading station in southern Japan.

He later wrote about and illustrated his finding, being the first to mention ginkgos in Western literature.

Living specimens were introduced into Europe in the early to mid-1700s, while G. biloba wasn’t brought to North America until 1784. In the landscape, it’s valued for its toughness, versatility, and overall beauty.

From the late 20th century onward, ginkgo leaf extract has been touted as an herbal supplement to treat a variety of conditions such as anxiety, allergies, dementia, and tinnitus… but research hasn’t yielded conclusive evidence that the extract is effective.

Nonetheless, the global production and sale of these leaf extracts is a profitable industry, estimated to be worth at least 500 million dollars.

Raw ginkgo seeds and unprocessed leaves can be toxic if eaten in large quantities, and the juicy pulp can cause contact dermatitis.

But in certain types of Asian cuisine, cooked seeds are enjoyed in moderation, i.e. no more than a few seeds per day.

The continued existence of G. biloba as a species is a true testament to the durability of these trees – they’ve survived much, from the dinosaur-destroying asteroid to the infamous atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

And despite being endangered in the wild, they’re still alive and kicking, in part thanks to us humans. Which really goes to show what humanity can accomplish, conservation-wise.

Propagation

Ginkgo propagation is best done via seeds, cuttings, or transplants.

From Seed

Step one of seed propagation: collection. To avoid contact dermatitis, be sure to wear disposable gloves!

When the fruits have dropped from a female tree in fall, collect some healthy-looking ones from the ground.

Outdoors or in a ventilated place, unless you don’t mind the rank smell, remove the seeds from the fleshy pulp and wash them clean.

After that, leave them in a plastic baggie of moist sand for 10 weeks at room temperature – or about 60 to 70°F – while making sure to maintain that moisture throughout this time.

After the seed embryos have fully matured, you should cold-stratify the seeds.

Move the baggie of moist sand to the fridge for two to three months, however long it takes to reach spring. Make sure to keep the sand moist all the while!

After stratification, each germinated seed can be sown into its own four-inch container filled with a 50:50 mix of peat moss and perlite.

Sow each seed about an inch deep, gently pat down the media, and then water in the seeds.

Set the containers in a brightly-lit spot outdoors for 30 to 60 minutes before bringing them back indoors. Add a half hour to a full hour of outdoor exposure each following day, until the seedlings can withstand a full day outside.

Continue to keep the soil moist as the seedlings grow and develop, and repot them as needed, gradually sizing up until they’ve been repotted into five-gallon containers, which should take about two to three years. At this point, they should be ready for fall or spring transplanting!

From Cuttings

If you don’t have access to ginkgo fruits, or don’t want to risk growing a female from seed, taking cuttings is the way to go to propagate clones of the parent plant.

In June, take six-inch lengths of young wood with a sterilized blade from the ends of healthy branches.

Defoliate the bottom half of each cutting. Dip the cut ends into rooting hormone, like this IBA rooting powder from Bonide that’s available via Arbico Organics.

Bonide Bontone II Rooting Powder

Stick each cutting in its own four-inch container filled with a 50:50 mix of peat moss and perlite.

Moisten the media, and keep the cuttings in direct light somewhere indoors. Rooting should occur in about seven to eight weeks.

After they root, be sure to repot the cuttings as they start to outgrow their containers, keeping the potting medium moist all the while.

Feel free to give the containers a quarter-turn each day so that they don’t grow all lopsided.

Come springtime, the cuttings can be hardened off as described above for seedlings.

Continue to care for and repot the cuttings until they’re growing in five-gallon containers. At this point, they’re all set for transplanting in spring or fall!

Via Transplanting

Prepare fertile, well-draining, and deep planting sites, spaced about as far apart as you’d expect the transplants to spread at maturity.

Dig holes to accommodate the transplants’ root systems, and just a bit wider.

Lower your transplant into the hole, backfill with soil, and water it in. Keep the surrounding soil moist until transplants become established.

How to Grow

G. biloba should be planted in USDA Zones 3 to 9, and provided with full sun exposure. Don’t worry – it has the heat resistance to thrive in the upper end of its hardiness range!

These trees can tolerate confined planting areas and air pollution, so don’t worry if your planting site isn’t in a wide open space. These trees are often grown in urban settings.

As long as the soil is well-draining, a ginkgo isn’t too picky. Although it prefers deep, fertile, and slightly acidic soil, it can handle various soil textures, high soil acidity, and even some alkalinity.

A ginkgo loves moderate soil moisture, so provide water whenever the top two to three inches of soil feel dry.

These trees can actually tolerate drought once established, so don’t sweat it if you don’t always provide an optimal amount of water in the absence of rain.

Given this tree’s dislike of “wet feet” – i.e. oversaturated soils – it’s actually far better to irrigate too little than too much.

For springtime fertilization, you can either work a couple inches of compost or well-rotted manure into the root zone, or apply a well-balanced, slow-release fertilizer instead.

Osmocote Fertilizer

For the latter, try this 14-14-14 NPK fertilizer from Osmocote, which’ll feed your plants for four whole months! It’s sold in 1.5-pound containers on Amazon.

Growing Tips

• These trees grow best in full sun exposure.
• Above all else, the ideal soil should be well-draining.
• Water whenever the top two to three inches of soil dry out.

Pruning and Maintenance

Although you can (and should!) prune dead, diseased, or damaged branches whenever you happen to notice them, a ginkgo will probably need a spot of pruning at the beginning of spring.

During this shaping session, you should remove any structures that take away from the tree’s aesthetics, such as crossing or drooping branches.

Don’t prune away more than a third of the tree’s aboveground mass in one go!

Maintaining a few inches of mulch around the trunk will help to protect the roots, insulate the soil, and conserve moisture. Keep a couple inches of space between the mulch and the trunk, and don’t pile it up like a volcano.

You also may or may not want to rake up the autumn leaves when they fall.

Removing them will definitely be neater, while “leafing” them on the ground will allow them to act as a natural source of mulch and organic matter. It’s up to you!

If you’re growing a female ginkgo… your nasal passages have my condolences.

When the fruits start to drop in fall, you’ll definitely want to conduct a daily cleanup if these are planted near sidewalks, driveways, or walkways.

Nothing ruins a pristine landscape quite like the ambient aroma of upchuck.

Cultivars to Select

Don’t get me wrong, a standard G. biloba is definitely amazing, and one of these can be purchased in #3 and #5 containers from Nature Hills Nursery.

Gingko Biloba

But for those who want to “branch” out a bit, there are some solid cultivars out there. Here’s a handful of male varieties that I really like:

Autumn Gold

Reaching mature dimensions of 50 feet tall by 30 feet wide, ‘Autumn Gold’ sports a beautifully symmetrical, broadly-spreading, and conical form.

Plus, this variety has leaves that flaunt an absolutely gorgeous golden yellow hue in fall.

They persist on the tree for weeks before essentially dropping all at once, leaving a beautiful golden carpet of fallen foliage around the trunk.

For fans of pretty autumn leaves with easy cleanup, you can’t go wrong with ‘Autumn Gold.’

‘Autumn Gold’

To purchase ‘Autumn Gold’ in starting sizes of four to six feet, visit FastGrowingTrees.com.

Fairmount

Whether in politics or landscaping, sometimes you just want a strong central leader. ‘Fairmount’ has just that, along with a narrow, upright, and densely-crowned form.

This cultivar was selected from a tree in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, hence the name.

With a mature height of 75 feet and spread of 25 feet, ‘Fairmount’ is a perfect option to create shade in a narrow planting site!

Jade Butterfly

Want to go more compact? Try ‘Jade Butterfly,’ a dwarf cultivar that grows to be about 12 to 15 feet tall and six to 10 feet wide.

Named for its deeply notched leaves that resemble the wings of jade green butterflies, this variety has an upright, vase-shaped form and a slow growth rate.

‘Jade Butterfly’ is proof that good things do come in small packages!

‘Jade Butterfly’

To purchase ‘Jade Butterfly’ in a #1 container, give the folks over at Nature Hills Nursery a digital visit.

Princeton Sentry

Trying to convey your landscape’s awesomeness? There’s no better way to get your point across than with a pointed ginkgo.

With a mature height of 40 to 60 feet and spread of 15 to 25 feet, ‘Princeton Sentry’ has a narrowly conical form that’s pointed at it’s apex and a bit broader at the base.

The most uniform and picturesque ones I’ve seen are pleasantly geometric, and more ideal for fitting in tighter spaces than the standard species.

‘Princeton Sentry’

For a ‘Princeton Sentry’ in a variety of starting sizes, check out Nature Hills Nursery.

Managing Pests and Disease

G. biloba is relatively resistant to pests and diseases, but you should remain aware of a couple potential problems.

Herbivores

Not much to worry about in the plant-munching mammals department… at least nowadays, anyway.

There are records of modern-day seed dispersal by select critters such as wild cats, badgers, and Pallas’s squirrels, but back in prehistory, ginkgos probably had way more mammalian visitors than they do now.

It’s even been theorized that dinosaurs could have eaten from ginkgos. But a Jurassic Park-style dino zoo is still a long way off. Kudos to whomever has to eventually come up with that IPM plan!

Insects

If you do a good job of preventing pests from infesting your plants, you’ll also help prevent the diseases that they could vector, so it pays to stay on top of your pest management!

Foliage-Feeding Caterpillars

Most insects aren’t huge fans of eating ginkgo foliage, but some leaf-munching caterpillars such as omnivorous loopers – aka Sabulodes aegrotata and S. caberata – will have themselves a taste or two.

Young Sabulodes larvae are pale yellow caterpillars, while older larvae are green, with black and yellow stripes and a brownish-bronze head.

Both kinds can consume holes in foliage, which can be unaesthetic and reduce photosynthesis.

Infested foliage should be thoroughly sprayed with Bacillus thuringiensis, a beneficial bacteria, while beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps and lacewing larvae love to munch on these pests.

For treating large and hard-to-spray trees, it’s probably worth consulting an arborist.

Bonide Thuricide

Bonide offers a 32-ounce, ready-to-spray bottle of Bt via Arbico Organics, while some beneficial insects can be purchased from Arbico Organics.

Root-Knot Nematodes

Belonging to the Meloidogyne genus, root-knot nematodes are microscopic roundworms that invade plant roots and stimulate them to develop giant feeding cells, which they feed on from within.

The surrounding root tissue swells up into knot-like galls, which interfere with water and nutrient uptake.

Above the soil line, symptoms include leaf wilting, stunted growth, and foliar chlorosis.

These symptoms are rarely fatal in woody plants such as ginkgos, but they can definitely leave afflicted specimens looking less than their best.

Long-lasting nematode management is tricky and difficult, so it’s best to focus on prevention.

Avoid transplanting from infested parts of your garden, and only use nematode-free plants and soil.

Disease

The techniques used to prevent nematode infestations also work for many diseases! Sanitize tools, use disease-free stock, and don’t grow your plants in already-infected soils.

Leaf Scorch

Resulting in browned leaf tips and interveinal chlorosis, leaf scorch in urban ginkgos has multiple potential causes.

It can be caused by insect-vectored Xylella fastidiosa bacteria or environmental stressors such as high heat and drought.

Lab testing is definitely recommended to determine the cause, as the initial symptoms are similar regardless of the cause.

It’s best to prevent and treat environmental leaf scorch with proper irrigation, but there’s no known cure for bacterial leaf scorch.

If bacterial leaf scorch leads to the tree’s decline and death – which is possible – it’s best to remove and dispose of the infested specimen and replace it with a tougher tree.

Plants resistant to bacterial leaf scorch include black tupelo, Japanese zelkova, and beech trees.

Root Rot

Whether caused by a lack of oxygen or by pathogens such as Armillaria fungi, root rot is a gnarly condition for a plant to endure.

Rotted-out roots can’t take up water or nutrients effectively, which wreaks havoc above the soil line: chlorosis, leaf drop, branch dieback, or even death can result.

Too much irrigation is a major cause of root rot, so make sure to dial in your watering and provide ample drainage.

There’s no known cure for root rot, so any afflicted plants that are near death and/or have a majority of their roots rotted will need to be lifted and destroyed.

Best Uses

G. biloba ain’t a one-trick pony, folks: it’s a tree that provides shade, does just fine in urban sites, and can be a spectacular specimen, especially with age.

Its unique foliage is gorgeously striking – especially in fall – and the tree can even be cultivated as bonsai!

Its uniqueness is also a bit of a double-edged sword, as it may look a bit out of place next to more traditionally suburban plantings like red maples and arborvitae.

But when paired with other prehistoric-looking plants such as ferns, mosses, and sago palms, G. biloba provides a delightful way to remember how far life on Earth has come.

Quick Reference Growing Guide

Plant Type:	Broadleaf deciduous tree	Flower/Foliage Color:	Green/green, yellow in fall
Native to:	Eastern China	Water Needs:	Moderate
Hardiness (USDA Zones):	3-9	Maintenance:	Low
Bloom Time:	March-April	Tolerance:	Air pollution, confined spaces, deer, drought, heat, salt
Exposure:	Full sun	Soil Type:	Deep, fertile, various textures
Time to Maturity:	About 20 years (fruiting)	Soil pH:	5.0-8.0
Spacing:	Width of mature spread	Soil Drainage:	Well-draining
Planting Depth:	1 inch (seeds), depth of root system (transplants)	Uses:	Bonsai, fall color, shade tree, specimen, urban planting
Height:	50-80 feet	Order:	Ginkgoales
Spread:	3-40 feet	Family:	Ginkgoaceae
Growth Rate:	1-2 feet per year	Genus:	Ginkgo
Common Pests and Diseases:	Foliage-feeding caterpillars, root knot nematodes; leaf scorch, root rot	Species:	Biloba

Go for Some Ginkgo!

Modern and geologically-young plants are definitely amazing, but we shouldn’t forget what came before. What better way to preserve the botanical past than with G. biloba?

Even beyond their history, ginkgo trees are quite cool. And who knows? If you plant one now, your descendants could have a truly epic plant for millenia to come!

Did I miss anything? Have experiences of your own to share? Head on down to the comments section!

Want to grow other shade trees in the landscape? Here are some more guides to get you started:

If you’re looking to add some heft to the spring garden, but don’t want to overwhelm genteel bulbs or ephemeral perennials then dwarf, spring-flowering shrubs are the answer. These little powerhouses are quick to put on new growth in the early part of the season and often sport blossoms in soft hues which will compliment the pastel colors that dominate May and June. Today’s requirements are simple: the shrubs mentioned must stay under 3 to 4 feet tall and wide and they must flower before the summer solstice. You might think this is a tall order for any plant to fill (Peter certainly thinks so) but there are a surprising number of candidates that are up to challenge.

Expert guest: Julie Lane Gay is a garden designer and horticultural writer in British Columbia, Canada.

Danielle’s Plants

Yuki Cherry Blossom ® deutzia (Deutzia ‘NCDX2’, Zones 5-8)

Baby Kim® lilac (Syringa ‘SMNSDTP’, Zones 3-8)

‘Cora Louise’ Itoh peony (Paeonia ‘Cora Louise’, Zones 4-9)

‘Jim’s Pride’ daphne (Daphne × transatlantica ‘Jim’s Pride’, Zones 5-9)

 

Carol’s Plants

Perpetua® blueberry (Vaccinium ‘ORUS-61-1’, Zones 4-8)

Dwarf red-leaved sand cherry (Prunus x cistena, Zones 2-8)

 

Sugar Baby® forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia ‘NIMBUS’, Zones 5-8)

Double Play® Candy Corn® Spirea (Spiraea japonica ‘NCSX1’, Zones 4-8)

 

Expert’s Plants

Dwarf sweet box (Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis, Zones 6-9)

Eternal Fragrance ® daphne (Daphne × transatlantica ‘Blafra’, Zones 5-9)

‘Wabi-Sabi’ dwarf viburnum (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Wabi-Sabi’, Zones 5-8)

 

A link to expert Julie Lane Gay’s article on dwarf shrubs:

https://www.finegardening.com/project-guides/gardening-basics/surprising-shrubs-for-small-spaces

Before you get started though, you’ll want to learn about the best growing conditions, decide on a gardening method that will work for you, and think about whether you want to start with seeds or live plants.

Whether you start your spring herb collection from seeds or seedlings, you have a wide variety to choose from.

Some are culinary or medicinal, and others that are just nice to have around for their enticing fragrances, ornamental value, and ability to attract pollinators. Many have multiple uses.

Luckily, there are a variety of ways to grow a spring herb garden – so you’ll have lots of choices. And you can customize your project to suit your preferences, size constraints, and resources.

I’ll walk you through some ideas for starting an herb garden this spring. But first, here’s an overview of what I’ll cover:

If your garden soil doesn’t drain well, you can amend it – or consider going with raised beds or containers instead of putting your herbs directly into the ground.

Most herbs prefer soil that has organic matter such as compost incorporated into it, and a slightly acidic to neutral pH between 6.0 and 7.0.

If you decide to start your spring herb garden in raised beds or containers, you can use potting mix.

If you are planting in the ground, you can learn more about your garden soil and how to improve it in our helpful article.

Water

Some types, such as basil, require more water than others.

If you want to locate your spring herb garden in a dry area, such as near the curb or around a mailbox, you may wish to choose options with lower water requirements, such as sage.

You’ll find information on specific water requirements for each herb below. In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about xeriscaping – or creating gardens with very low water needs – have a look at our article on this topic.

Gardening Method

Most herbs require a full sun location and well-draining soil, and figuring out how to provide this may help you to decide what gardening method to choose.

Other constraints may include your ability or willingness to do the labor required to dig into the soil. As a native of the Southeast, I know how hard it can be to put a shovel into red clay soil!

Financial constraints are also important considerations, and you may want to crunch the numbers for the various options before you get started.

Luckily, there are various methods available to suit every gardener. Here are some suggesions, with their pros and cons:

Herbs to Include

Aromatics can be used for cooking, as herbal teas, and medicinally. Some are simply grown for their fragrance or as ornamental plants.

While some may be associated more with one of these purposes than another, most have multiple uses.

Once established in your garden, some of these will provide you with a flavorful harvest starting in early spring each year.

Some may be grown as perennials in certain areas, and others self-seed readily.

When deciding which herbs to include, think about which ones you enjoy – and which you would like to be able to experiment with.

There are many other herbs you can grow in spring as well, but the following selections are excellent choices to start with:

Basil

While basil is largely associated with summertime and fresh tomatoes, in many places this culinary superstar can be grown starting in springtime.

Just make sure you wait until after your last frost to set basil plants out.

Basil is a fast-growing annual – unless you live in Zone 10 or higher, where it can be considered a perennial.

Basil has a distinctive, pungent taste, with some varieties having citrus or anise undertones.

It is widely used in Italian cuisine. Basil will perk up a plate of sliced summer tomatoes, or it can be used fresh, minced over sauteed zucchini or grilled fish.

But basil really shines when it’s used in homemade pesto.

Sound tempting? Check out this recipe for lemon basil pesto from our sister site, Foodal.

Bay Laurel

Bay laurel is one of the staples of the aromatics department.

It is frequently called for in recipes to flavor soups, dried bean dishes, and stews. It is one of the essential ingredients in a bouquet garni.

The leaves of bay laurel, typically used dried, are cooked over a long period of time to infuse a dish with a subtle flavor somewhat reminiscent of oregano or thyme.

Bay laurel prefers full sun and good drainage. It is best planted in the spring.

While it can grow to tree size if left unpruned, bay laurel is usually kept trimmed to a size of 2-8 feet.

Chamomile

Perhaps most well-known as a calming herbal tea, chamomile can be included in your spring herb garden, too.

The flowers of this aromatic are what is used in the tea – and they have a mild, floral flavor.

But chamomile’s uses go beyond herbal tea. Chamomile is also medicinal, with a huge range of properties.

It is considered anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, anti-microbial, and has many other health-promoting characteristics, as well.

Chamomile prefers full sun, but it will tolerate partial shade.

Chives

Chives may be every gardener’s dream for a low maintenance plant that is both beautiful and edible – and available to harvest every year, starting in spring.

You are probably familiar with its long, tubular leaves – commonly seen chopped as a baked potato topping.

This allium, relative to both onions and garlic, can be used as a substitute flavoring for those two ingredients. Garlic chives taste just like garlic, and plain chives have a very oniony flavor.

Chives are delicious in pad thai, minced over scrambled eggs, or as a garnish on roasted potatoes.

In fact, chives are such an amazing ingredient, we have a whole guide dedicated to its cooking and medicinal benefits at our sister site, Foodal.

Chives do best in full sun but will tolerate partial shade, and like most of the other selections on this list, they need well-drained soil and consistent watering.

Chives tend to grow to 1 foot tall and have a similar spread.

Perennial in Zones 3-9, it’s safe to plant directly in the ground, but growing chives in containers is also an option.

Cilantro

Cilantro is cold hardy and can be sown directly in your soil before the last frost, providing a spring harvest.

If you haven’t cringed and quickly scrolled down yet, you must be a cilantro lover and not a cilantro hater – and you’re in good company!

Found frequently in Mexican, Asian, and Indian cuisine, this herb has a unique, bright flavor, which the haters think tastes like soap.

Cilantro can be sprinkled on bowls of beans and rice, used to add some zest to a mac and cheese dish, or as the main ingredient in a non-traditional pesto.

Our sister site, Foodal, has a delicious recipe for cilantro cayenne tahini sauce, which would be good on just about anything in your pantry or fridge.

Cilantro prefers full sun, but it doesn’t mind some light shade in the afternoon. It grows nicely in well-drained garden soil, and doesn’t like to be overwatered once established.

Cilantro can grow 12-24 inches tall.

Dill has a bright taste with anise undertones. It’s used to flavor dill pickles, but it also tastes great in potato salad, and on salmon.

One of my favorite flavor combinations with dill is to use it on broccoli.

If that sounds good to you too, check out this recipe for roasted baby broccoli with dill. It’s on our sister site, Foodal.

Lavender

While it may not be used in the kitchen as often as many other selections on this list, lavender is well-deserving of a spot in any herb garden.

This small perennial shrub has a calming floral scent, as evidenced by its widespread use in aromatherapy.

And if you like the smell of lavender, you may also appreciate its taste.

Lavender flowers can be used to make tea, lemonade, and even ice cream – a unique treat that’s common in the South of France, where lavender farming is an important industry.

You can also use dried lavender flowers in cookies.

If that sounds like something you need to try right now, there’s a recipe on Foodal for lavender cookies with vanilla and almond.

Lavender grows best in full sun, and in soil that is sandy, alkaline, well-drained, and has been amended with just a little compost.

You are more likely to harm this plant with too much water rather than too little.

Water once or twice a week until plants are established. Mature plants are drought tolerant, but should be watered more frequently when flowering – once or twice a week, the same as what’s recommended for young plants.

This plant exists in a huge range of varieties – spearmint, peppermint, apple mint, pineapple mint, chocolate mint… I’m pretty sure the list is endless.

Mint is a widespread culinary ingredient.

It’s used as a key ingredient in the Middle Eastern dish tabbouleh, is often served with lamb, and is used to make refreshing North African style mint tea.

Parsley

What’s curly, green, and loaded with vitamin C? Parsley, that’s what.

Well, unless we’re talking about the flat leaf variety, that is.

You wouldn’t guess that this herb, typically relegated to garnish status, was so chock-full of vitamins. It’s the perfect thing to help you boost your nutrition in spring.

Parsley has a flavor that is bright, earthy, and slightly bitter.

It mixes well with lemon juice, as in tabbouleh, where it joins mint and tomatoes in a veritable celebration of flavor.

Parsley also tastes great with potatoes when they are fried, mashed, or hashed. And like basil, when you have lots of parsley on hand, you can turn it into pesto.

By the way, there’s a recipe over at our sister site Foodal for an einkorn-crust pizza that uses parsley pesto as a saucy base. You don’t want to miss it!

Parsley should be grown in full sun, but it will tolerate partial shade, and prefers rich, well-drained soil.

Mature plants should be watered deeply once a week or more, and mulched to prevent the soil from drying out.

Rosemary

If it doesn’t bring to mind bees buzzing from flower to flower, rosemary may make you think of a popular song from the 1960s.

Ever wonder why Simon and Garfunkel sang about this plant? Learn about the history behind the combination of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

Like lavender, rosemary is a small evergreen shrub with small, beautiful flowers, and a lofty fragrance.

However, rosemary has a more common place in kitchens and cookbooks than lavender, with a taste reminiscent of both pine and lemon.

It is used both fresh and dried, and goes well with roasted foods, including roasted meats and root vegetables. It’s also a delicious flavoring for focaccia, breadsticks, or homemade crackers.

When you have large, established plants, you can snip some of their sturdier branches to use as fragrant skewers for grilling your favorite vegetables or protein.

Thyme has a subtle, earthy flavor with a hint of mint. There are many varieties of thyme, though, so some may have other pronounced flavors as well, such as the citrusy taste in lemon thyme.

This aromatic works well in many types of savory dishes – from roasted vegetables, to stew, to pasta.

In fact, we have an entire guide dedicated to cooking with thyme at our sister site, Foodal.

Thyme needs full sun and well-drained soil. (Have you noticed a pattern yet?)

Let the Good Thymes Roll

Yes, you’re now ready to let the good thymes, and mints, and basils roll from your very own herb patch right into your kitchen and onto your plate this spring.

Just remember to pick a good location with plenty of sunlight, well-draining soil, and use the gardening method that will work best for you.

And of course, pick a selection of herbs that you love.

Heat lovers rejoice; it’s time to get spicy! This guide on how to grow peppers explores the different varieties, tips on how to grow them from seed or transplant, how to harvest them, and how to use them to make your very own garden pepper hot sauce!

In early summer each year, I wait with anticipation for my trial plants to arrive. What are trial plants, you ask? They are the sneak peek of the new releases in plants for the upcoming year that plant companies send out to gardeners to test in their gardens.

I’m grateful to be on the list for plants from Ball Horticulture, which means I get a box or two of ready-to-plant vegetables. At the end of the season, the trialers send feedback on the plants, and they use that to help send the plants out the following year with the best chance for success in home gardens.

Some of my gardening friends also plant trial plants. My dear friend Tara Nolan, co-owner of Savvy Gardening and author of Raised Bed Revolution and Gardening Your Front Yard, grew the same pepper plants this year, so I asked her to share her experiences growing them. How fun, right?

As a result, this guide on how to grow peppers combines my tips for planting peppers in my zone 7B Vancouver, BC, garden and Tara’s helpful advice from sunny SW Ontario.

This post will cover…

Expert Tips for Planting Peppers

• The hotter a pepper plant is, the more capsaicin is in it. This is measured using the Scoville scale. Pay attention to this information when you are deciding which peppers you’d like to plant!
• Germinating pepper plants from seed requires you to soak seeds overnight and plant them in warm soil, about 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Pepper plants should be planted in the ground 2-3 weeks after the last frost. The more sun and heat the pepper plant gets, the hotter the pepper will be.
• Pepper plants need lots of water; mulch can help retain moisture. Peppers may also need staking to stay upright as they get bigger.
• The more you harvest the peppers, the more the plant will produce. Let some peppers ripen fully while you harvest others early to encourage more peppers.

The Difference Between Hot Peppers vs Sweet Peppers

Growing peppers in your garden is a unique way to enjoy the love of spice. With so many varieties available, you can have your very own unique pepper garden. Whether you prefer sweet or spicy peppers, there’s a pepper for everyone.

Botanically speaking, there is no difference between a hot or sweet pepper as both are derived from the species of plant Capsicum in the tomato family. However, our taste buds would disagree. There is certainly a noticeable change when it comes to hot or sweet pepper varieties.

Capsaicin + the Scoville Unit

So what makes certain peppers taste hot? Capsaicin!

Capsaicin is an irritant alkaloid and is what gives hot peppers their spice. The hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it has in it. In addition, the Scoville scale is used to determine how hot a pepper is. The more Scoville units, the higher the heat.

To give you some perspective, a bell pepper has zero Scoville units, and a jalapeno ranges between 2500 – 8000. The hottest pepper in the world, the Carolina reaper, has 2.2 million Scoville units. Yikes!

How to Use Hot Peppers

Hot peppers are used in cooking to add zest and heat to recipes. They can be used fresh or dried, both being potent. Hot pepper spices include chili, tobacco, paprika, and cayenne pepper. They can be red or green, depending on the variety.

You can also pickle a hot pepper if you wish!

How to Use Sweet Peppers

Sweet peppers are more often classified as a vegetable. They are used in dishes like salads, for dipping, as an hors d’oeuvre, in sandwiches, on pizzas, and more. They are enjoyed raw or cooked.

The most well-known sweet peppers are bell and banana, but there are plenty of specialty peppers out there for the at-home chef to use.

How to Grow Peppers from Seed

Learning how to grow peppers from seed requires some patience, but it is fairly simple overall. Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Know Your Zone

Only people who live in the deep southern regions should attempt to plant seeds straight in the ground. For most of us folks, we must sow them indoors for 8-10 weeks before planting them in the garden or outdoor container. Depending on where you live, plant them in the ground 2-3 weeks after the last frost.

Read more about how to grow peppers from seed here.

2. Soak in Water Overnight

Before you plant your seeds, soak them in water overnight.

Once soaked, place them into seed-starting soil. You can use pellets or try your own DIY method. Plant three seeds per pod to give you better chances of a sprout in a hole that is 1/4″ deep.

3. Germinate

Most sprouts should take about a week to germinate at a temperature between 70-80 degrees F, but it can be spotty based on the variety. Hot peppers tend to be more finicky.

If you are trying to germinate a hot pepper seed, it will need more warmth and moisture than a sweet pepper. Spritz the soil and consider placing your seeds on top of somewhere warm, like a heating mat or even on top of the refrigerator. I also suggest using a greenhouse dome to lock in the moisture.

4. Transplant

Once you have a sprout, remove the plants from the dome and heating mat. Put the pepper in a sunny, southern-facing window until you transplant them. Allow your peppers to sit outside for a couple of days to condition them to their new outdoor environment.

How to Grow Peppers from Transplant

Peppers can take a while to establish and ripen, so planting peppers from healthy transplants is a surefire way to success.

“The plants I received from Burpee were very well-established when I planted them. Because of the hot, sunny weather, all my plants thrived despite the heat and were all laden with peppers. I was able to enjoy multiple harvests.” reported Tara.

My transplants arrived in the same fabulous condition, but our summer was much cooler than Ontario, so when Tara’s peppers were red and ready to pick, mine were still happily green and taking their time.

If you want the best chance for beautifully ripe peppers, get those healthy transplants in the ground no more than 2-3 weeks after your last frost.

Plant peppers in full sun in sandy loam soil that has lots of organic matter and drains well. I also added worm castings from my worm bin to the planting hole of each pepper.

Depending on the pepper size and your garden’s spacing, plant peppers 12-18 inches apart, with a row spacing of 3 inches. Your peppers will respond well to dense planting!

When planting, be sure to soak both the plants and soil with fertilizer drench. After about 30 days, you may want to fertilize them again with a light sprinkling. Be careful not to over-apply nitrogen when using your fertilizer, as this will just make them leafy.

Peppers can also act as ornamentals, so feel free to plant them in flowerbeds and along borders.

Sweet peppers will take approximately 60-90 days to mature, while hot peppers will take around 150 days.

Growing Tips for Perfect Peppers

You can do a few things to give your pepper plant a leg-up in the garden. Here are some quick tips!

Water Correctly

Peppers are thirsty little plants. When watering, use a soaker on the roots and try to keep foliage dry. When it is hot out, the soil must have a high moisture level, but it can’t be water-logged. This will help to fight against wilting and flower drops.

Tara reported back, “Because our summer was very hot and dry, I gave the plants a deep watering every morning.”

Use Mulch to Retain Moisture

Mulch can also help to retain moisture. I mulch around each of the peppers with compost. It will also help keep the weed population down and decrease the need to pull weeds around the plant. Disturbance to the roots of your pepper plant affects peppers’ production.

Stake

Like tomatoes, peppers can get heavy and damaged when they have a lot of fruit. Peppers usually will require staking. Tie the plant to stakes with fabric or old nylons with some give to allow room for growth. Twine or twist-ties will choke the stems.

Keep Peppers Warm

For those who live up north, we want our soil to be as warm as possible for our peppers. A week before planting, cover the bed with cardboard to help to warm up the soil underneath.

Proper Companion Planting

If you do companion planting, peppers do well next to tomatoes, parsley, basil, and carrots. Avoid placing peppers near fennel and kohlrabi.

Pepper Plant Harvesting Tips

• Never let your peppers stop growing! If it stops growing, it will affect the production of flower buds. If flower buds drop off, you lose a potential pepper.
• Plan the timing of harvesting carefully. Peppers tend to be harvested before they are mature. However, their flavour doesn’t reach its full potential until maturity. If you pick peppers before they mature, your pepper will produce more peppers to try and seed.
• Plant at least two of the same pepper. Patiently waiting for peppers to ripen fully means you will get fewer peppers and have to wait until late in the season to have any. I suggest planting two of the same pepper variety. Use one to fully ripen and have the best flavour possible, and use the other to harvest throughout the season.
• Be careful with the heat! Finally, if you have a really hot pepper variety, use gloves when harvesting peppers. The capsaicin oil from the peppers can actually burn your skin.

How to Increase the Heat of Peppers

While variety is, of course, the main factor when it comes to a pepper’s heat, you can do a few things to increase the heat of your peppers. Hot climates tend to grow the hottest peppers because the environment plays a factor in the heat of a pepper. I have no doubt that Tara’s peppers were much hotter than mine this year!

To get hotter peppers, you want the plant to experience more heat. The more sun a pepper receives, the hotter the pepper will be. The same can be said for the soil. Well-watered and nitrogen-rich soil won’t be as hot. This is why you want to be careful not to soak your peppers (though keep them moist) and not over-fertilize them.

In colder climates, it is often easier to grow peppers in containers. Grow your peppers in a dark container to maximize the soil’s heat. Growing hot peppers in the garden will significantly reduce the intensity due to the cold nature of the soil.

You can also create heat using an umbrella greenhouse or cloche.

What Peppers Should I Grow?

There are a TON of pepper varieties out there, and the choices sure can be overwhelming. The first thing to determine is what kind of peppers you are looking to grow (hot or sweet) and whether or not you have the right conditions for said peppers.

This year, I grew four different varieties from Burpee Plants in my unique raised bed garden and my VegePod Raised Bed.

Ristra Cayenne II Hot Pepper

The first variety I have is the Ristra Cayenne II Hot Pepper. This is a little different than their original Ristra Cayenne as it produces more canopy and offers a higher potential for yields.

It offers more peppers per plant and has a mild, spicy flavour. It is great for those who don’t want anything too hot but still want a little bit of spice in their life. My Kiddo loves the look of these long and twisty peppers but stays far away from them, knowing they have a bit of a kick.

• Height: 20-24 inches
• Spread: 18-22 inches
• Days to harvest: 75-90
• Fruit colour: green to red
• Heat level: 🔥🔥

Sriracha Hot Pepper

The next variety is the Sriracha Hot Pepper. Used to make the famous condiment, this slightly spicy pepper is super popular right now…and rightfully so! It is a dark green pepper with smooth skin that scores around 2,300-2,500 Scovilles.

• Height: 18-22 inches
• Spread: 18-20 inches
• Days to harvest: 80-95
• Fruit colour: green to red
• Heat level: 🔥🔥

Basket of Fire Hot Peppers

To satisfy my need for ornamental edibles, I’m giving Basket of Fire Hot Peppers a go this year. As the name suggests, they are a very spicy, compact pepper. They look like typical ornamental peppers, but they are edible! They stand up well to colder weather, too, which is good for me up north.

• Height: 12 inches
• Spread: 24 inches
• Days to harvest: 90-95
• Fruit colour: multi
• Heat level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

dRAGON rOLL Shishito Peppers

Shishito peppers are one of my absolute favourites to grow, and Kiddo likes them too. Though technically classified as a hot pepper, they’re not that spicy. However, one out of every ten does have a kick so it’s like gambling a bit when you take a bite.

• Height: 24-36 inches
• Spread: 24 to 36 inches
• Days to harvest: 67
• Fruit colour: green
• Heat level: 🔥

Jalapeno Sweet Poppers Sweet Pepper

My kid-friendly pepper this year is the Jalapeno Sweet Poppers Sweet Pepper. It isn’t spicy like some of its other jalapeno counterparts. It allows you to get the flavour without any of the heat! This plant is also early to fruit and produces a high yield in nutrient-rich soil.

I made these ones into bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers (with cream cheese and cheddar), and as it turns out, Tara made them too (although she used goat’s cheese). I wish we could have a taste test!

• Height: 35-40 inches
• Spread: 20 to 24 inches
• Days to harvest: 60-85
• Fruit colour: green to red
• Heat level: none

Where to Plant These Peppers

Tara grew these varieties as well, and here is what she had to say about them:

“I planted the Ristra Cayenne II Hot Pepper, Sriracha Hot Pepper and Jalapeno Sweet Poppers Sweet Pepper in my raised bed with benches. This became my “pepper bed,” as I planted a couple of other varieties, as well. They were also so sturdy my cucamelons used the plants as a trellis as their tendrils escaped the actual obelisk I had placed around them.

Basket of Fire was planted in my small live edge raised bed that’s in my new book Gardening Your Front Yard, and it wasn’t long before it was absolutely covered in blooms and, soon after that, peppers. The peppers started as pale yellow, gradually changing to orange and then bright fire engine red. Basket of Fire is so decorative I’m going to plant it in my fall container. “

Frequently Asked Questions About Growing Peppers

Make a Garden Pepper Hot Sauce

This is a great way to use your homegrown peppers! I usually make this pepper hot sauce every year, and it tastes completely different each time! Depending on what peppers you use, the recipe will have its very own flavour, unique to your peppers. It is a fun way to preserve the unique flavour of the peppers you have grown.

This recipe is inspired from The Curious Chickpea’s Hot Sauce Recipe.

Laura comments:

Dave: I’m a relative newbie with a small suburban garden and am trying no till, but in my raised beds, I don’t think it is the same issue as for you. I have seen other sites claiming that they actually no till farm a number of acres with great success (I think this was in the north east) and I’m wondering if you have tried a small plot this way and it wasn’t successful, or you just think its a waste of time. Since you are working on a much much larger scale that I am, I’m just curious about that part. The rest, I agree. Keep posting.

Though it is possible to plant a large no-till garden, we haven’t found it to be at all practical due to the lack of safe mulching materials. Some use wood chips; however, finding enough wood chips is usually difficult. Secondarily, handling the truckloads of chips takes a high amount of effort. Another possibility you will see often is using hay or straw. Unfortunately, we’ve seen gardens hit with residual herbicide from going that route. See: Grazon

Hence, we have often used cover crops to improve soil, and then tilled them under and planted on top. Or we’ve done row gardens and fed them with compost tea, alfalfa pellets and other things to get a yield in a larger space.

If you were able to grow a cover crop and then crimp and seed into it, it could work excellently. Especially if you were able to integrate grazing animals. But realistically, when we can simply use a tiller, then make beds and/or rows and plant the same day, then just control weeds with a hoe – compared to throwing down cardboard, moving tons of materials, and hunting down safe hay/straw – it’s a no brainer.

Even a conventionally sprayed and chemical-fertilized backyard garden is probably better than going to the store for groceries. That said, in my Grocery Row Gardens, we tilled once and then mulched the beds as we had materials. Sometimes we’ve hoed the paths when we didn’t, or planted cover crops to suppress weeds.

There’s a big scaling issue we’ve found with the no-till gardening approach. A small garden is super easy to do. We’ve made some amazing “Lasagna” gardens. But as it gets bigger, it gets much harder. Then, when you get really big and you have cows and tractors and crimpers and no-till seeders, it gets easier again.

But on a large backyard scale (such as the quarter acre we currently farm) we haven’t always been able to dodge the material and labor issues. Right now I have some good unsprayed hay and some wood chips so we’re doing mostly no-till on our quarter acre, but when I don’t have those materials, I don’t worry about it. The main goal is to grow the best food we can manage with what we have, rather than striving for perfection. Do what you can with the tools available and don’t be afraid to jump from one gardening method to another as your space, time and resources allow, keeping that “growing food” goal in mind!

I hope that helps.

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The various operations carried out on the soil by the use of a space are all known as digging. The general purpose is to break up the soil to improve its physical nature, rendering it more suitable for supporting plant life.

Digging is generally carried out in the autumn and winter when solidly compact soil can be broken up and left rough throughout the winter. The more surface area that can be exposed to the weather the better, and the action of frosts, drying winds, and rain, break up the surface into small crumbs, generally increasing aeration, and rendering the soil more in texture. Rain and snow drain from the surface more quickly, leaving the surface dry, and therefore, the soil absorbs warmth from the spring sunshine more easily. Drainage is improved and the air that exists between the soil particles supports the beneficial bacteria.

The term digging means turning over the topsoil one spit deep or the depth of the spade’s blade, ie 25cm (10in). Surface weeds are buried, the level of the land remains the same and the clods of earth are left unbroken.

It is important that the spade is thrust into the soil to its full depth and in a vertical position. If this is not done, the land is dug quicker but cultivation is not deep enough or thorough enough and the weeds will not be properly buried.

Single digging

To dig over a plot of land, a trench a spade’s width and a spade’s depth is dug out across one end and the soil is removed and taken in a wheelbarrow to the other end of the plot and left in a heap so that when the plot has been dug there will be soil ready to put into the last trench. Alongside the first trench mark out with a line another strip and by standing facing the open trench and working along the line soil can be dug out and thrown well forward into the open trench, at the same time making a new trench.

The importance of throwing each spadeful of soil well forward cannot be emphasized too much because a slight discrepancy will after several trenches result in there not being sufficient space in which to work properly. Repeat the method of filling the last trench while making a new one and when the last strip is dug at the other end of the plot the soil heaped there from 2 the first trench is ready to fill the last one.

Manure or compost can be put on the land at the same time and is scattered along the trench and the soil is thrown onto it.

Double digging

This is a method of breaking up the soil to a greater depth than in single digging but retaining the topsoil in its relative position. As the name suggests the soil is disturbed to the depth of two spits. Alternative names are half trenching or bastard trenching. The method though difficult to describe is quite straightforward to execute and is really an extension of the process described for digging.

A trench 60cm (2ft) wide and a spade’s depth is taken out across one end of the plot and the soil carried to the far end of the plot and put in a heap. The bottom of the open trench is then forked as deeply as possible and the surface left level. Mark out another area 60cm (2ft) wide alongside the open trench and dig soil out of this to a full spade’s depth and

throw the soil into the open trench and on top of the forked or broken up surface. Thus topsoil remains topsoil but the land is aerated to twice the depth that it is in single digging. If manure is added, and it is a usual practice to do this during double digging, it should be scattered over the forked surface before the topsoil is thrown on thus getting it down a good depth.

Double digging on grassland

Where land that has not been cultivated before is being broken up and prepared for crops by hand rather than by mechanical means, double digging is the method recommended. The turf is first skimmed off with a spade over the area of the first strip or trench position, taken to the far end of the plot and left there. Then the topsoil is dug out of the trench to a spade’s depth and also taken to the other end of the plot. The bottom of the trench is forked to a spit’s depth and then the line moved back 60cm (2ft) to mark out the second trench. Skim off the turf from this second trench area, putting it upside down over the forked area of the first trench so that eventually the bottom of the whole trench is lined with inverted turf. Chop up the turf roughly into 10cm (4in) squares with the spade.

No manure is added as the turf itself will rot and provide plant food but a general artificial fertilizer may be scattered at this level if required. Then the top spit of soil from the first trench is thrown over the inverted turf, the bottom spit of the second trench forked and turf taken from the third area inverted over that, and so on until the whole area has been broken up. When the last trench to be opened has been forked, put in the turf taken from the first trench, then cover it with the soil from the same trench.

Trenching

This is an extension of the method used in half or bastard trenching and if the principle of half trenching has been mastered it is not difficult. Full trenching is heavy work and is often spread over three or four seasons by dealing with a portion of the land only each winter. It is justified in exceptional circumstances only. It can increase the depth of fertility quite quickly but naturally cannot be carried out on some clay or stony soils where the subsoil would be impenetrable with a spade.

The trenches are cut 90cm (3ft) wide for full trenching, to allow better working space. As for half trenching the topsoil from the first trench is removed to the other end of the plot and left there.

There are two methods of dealing with the soil in this opened trench, equally advantageous to cultivation. In the first method, stretch a line along the middle of the opened trench and remove all the
soil on one side of it and put this soil in a heap at the side of the plot quite distinct from the topsoil already removed. The base of the trench is now in the form of a step, the trench depth at one side being two spits deep, about 50cm (20in), and at the other side one spit deep, 25cm (10in).

Get down into the lower part of the trench and fork the subsoil, as in half trenching. Stand then on the upper part of the step and working backwards turn this soil over onto the lower half of the step that has just been forked. The fresh strip of subsoil thus exposed is then forked to the full depth of the fork.

Mark out another strip at ground level alongside the original trench and only 45cm (18in) in width. Dig the top spit out, throwing it right forward onto the raised step of the open trench. Turn the second spit onto the forked surface of subsoil in the first trench, then get down into the narrow trench thus cut out and fork the base to a full fork’s depth. The work proceeds in 45cm (18in) strips along the plot and the smaller heap of topsoil is used to fill in the bottom of the last trench and the larger heap of topsoil goes over the last two 45cm (18in) strips.

The second method is a version of full trenching which has exactly the same result but allows more working space and is probably, therefore, quicker. In this method not only the first but every subsequent trench opened is 60cm (2ft) in width. The topsoil and the second spit of soil are carried away from the first trench and kept separately at the far end of the plot. The base or third spit is then forked and broken up. The first spit from the second trench is then taken to the other end of the plot and left apart from the larger heap of soil from the third trench.

The second spit of the second trench is thrown onto the forked subsoil and the base of the second trench is forked to break it up. The top spit of the third trench is taken right over to the top of the first trench; the second spit of the third trench is turned over onto the forked surface at the bottom of the second trench and the base of the third trench is broken up. Thus the pattern is repeated until at the far end of the plot the next to last trench has one of the heaps of topsoil put on to it and the last trench has the second spit pile put in on top of the broken up base of the trench and the top spit soil put on the top.

Deep trenching is a variation of full trenching in which the subsoil is brought on top of topsoil but this practice is drastic and could be disastrous.

Ridging

As an alternative on heavy land to ordinary digging, where the surface is left level, the soil can be thrown up in ridges and furrows resembling plowed land in a method known as ridging, in which a greater surface of the soil is exposed to the action of the weather.

The plot to be dug is divided into 90cm (3ft) strips running across it, starting at one corner of the plot. At one end of the first strip take out soil to a depth of 25cm (10 in) (one spade’s depth) and two spade widths and take the soil in a wheelbarrow to the other end of the strip. Then working backwards stand on the soil and dig three spadesful of soil side by side throwing each forward onto the space from which topsoil has been taken.

The right-hand spadeful goes forward and slightly towards the center, the next spadeful to the left and slightly towards the center and the third spadeful goes on top of these two. Step backwards and repeat the process and a ridge of soil will be made the length of the strip, the hollow at the end being filled in with the soil taken and reserved from the beginning of the strip. Continue digging in this way forming parallel ridges until the whole area has been dug.

 

Summer: the season of endless sunshine, vibrant blooms, and carefree days. It’s a time when we relax, spend more time outdoors, and slow down the pace of life.  As the temperatures rise and the world awakens from its slumber, you might find yourself yearning to embrace the spirit of summer and all the joy it brings. Summer quotes can help you do just that.

In this article, we invite you to join us on a journey through a collection of inspiring summer quotes that celebrate this remarkable season.

The best summer quotes to help you celebrate the season

We’ve got short summer quotes, beautiful summer quotes, happy summer quotes, funny summer quotes, summer love quotes, and inspirational summer quotes for you to enjoy.

As well as being inspiring and uplifting, these quotes on summertime are ideal for greetings cards and craft projects. They also make perfect captions for social media posts – and you can combine them with our nature hashtags too.  We’ve included perfect summer quotes for instagram and TikTok, plus summer instagram captions to help you create a summer vibe on your socials.

Ready to dive into some summertime vibes?  Grab your shades, feel the warmth on your skin, and enjoy these brilliant summer quotes.

Short summer quotes

A selection of short quotes about summer summer for when you want to keep things simple.

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” – Charles Bowden

“In summer, the song sings itself.” – William Carlos Williams

“There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.” – Celia Thaxter

“Summertime and the living is easy.” – George Gershwin

“I will always seek to make it summer for you.” – Leigh Bardugo

“For tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun” – Paul McCartney

“One swallow does not make a summer” – Aristotle

“Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.” – Yoko Ono

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” – William Shakespeare

“I wanna soak up the sun.” – Sheryl Crow

Beautiful summer quotes

Summer is a truly beautiful season, so it’s no wonder lots of writers have been inspired to create beautiful summer quotes.

“Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon.” – C. Day Lewis

“To see the Summer Sky  Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie – True Poems flee” – Emily Dickinson

“Smell the sea and feel the sky, let your soul and spirit fly.” – Van Morrison

“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” – Pablo Neruda

“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink in the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“And the fields are complicated with flowers, summer an insurrection of bees, the days like clover petals’ pinpricks of nectar” – Matthew Francis

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow fast in movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with summer.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the whole world’s joy.” – Henry Ward Beecher

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” – Maud Hart Lovelace

Happy summer quotes

Share the joy with these happy quotes about the summer.

“Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.” – Brian Wilson

“Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” – Jenny Han

“Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams.” – Hosea Ballou

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck

“Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people.” – Deb Caletti

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…” – Susan Polis Schutz

“I love how summer just wraps its arms around you like a warm blanket.” – Kellie Elmore

“Summer breeze makes me feel fine.” – Seals & Crofts

“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explode, and every sunset is different.” – John Steinbeck

Summer quotes for instagram and TikTok captions

Sharing your summer on social?  Check out these summertime quotes for instagram and TikTok posts.

“Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet.” – Bob Marley

“Summer: Hair gets lighter. Water gets warmer. Drinks get colder. Music gets louder. Nights get longer. Life gets better.” – unknown

“I know that if odour were visible, as colour is, I’d see the summer garden in rainbow clouds.” – Robert Bridges

“It is summer, let mind dances like the waves with the music of ocean breeze.” – Debasish Mridha

“She holds the heat, the breeze of summer in the circle of her hand” – Maggie Stiefvater

“Summer-induced stupidity. That was the diagnosis…” – Aimee Friedman

“Summer has a magic all its own.” – unknown

“I could never in a hundred summers get tired of this.” – Susan Branch

“I think the sun is a flower. That blooms for just one hour.” – Ray Bradbury

“Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.” – Charles Tobias

“Summer: a time to unwind, relax, and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.” – unknown

“We know summer is the height of of being alive.” – Gary Shteyngart

“Summer was our best season – everything good to eat, a thousand colours in a parched landscape.” – Harper Lee

“‘Cause a little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.” – John Mayer

Summer inspirational quotes

Use this selection of inspirational quotes for summer to lift your mood.

“Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is a jeweled balm for the battered spirit.” – Ada Louise Huxtable

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock

“Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fanlike petals on eternal soil.” – Roman Payne

“The sun is always shining, even when it’s raining.” – unknown

“He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.” – John Burroughs

Summer solstice quotes

Celebrate this annual event with some gorgeous summer solstice quotes.

“Turn your face to the sun, and shadows follow behind you.” – Maori proverb

“When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.” – Wilma Rudolph

“The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light.” – S. Ajna

“Rejoice as summer should…chase away sorrows by living.” – Melissa Marr

“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.” – Helen Keller

“Here comes the sun, and I say, it’s all right.” – George Harrison

Fun quotes for summer giggles

Put a smile on your face with these funny summer quotes.

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” – Sam Keen

“When all else fails, take a vacation.” – Betty Williams

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawnmower is broken.” – James Dent

“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” – Al Bernstein

“If summer had one defining scent, it’d definitely be the smell of barbecue.” – Katie Lee

“If you’re not barefoot, then you’re overdressed.” – unknown

Summer days quotes

Make the most of those long, lazy days with these summer days quotes.

“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me, those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James

“I was made for sunny days.” – unknown

“Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds.” – Regina Brett

“One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by.” – Jeanette Walls

“I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies.” – Toni Morrison

“Some of the best memories are made in flip-flops.” – Kellie Elmore

“Summer has a flavour like no other. Always fresh and simmered in sunshine.” – Oprah Winfrey

“If it could only be like this always—always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe.” – Evelyn Waugh

“I love summertime more than anything else in the world. That is the only thing that gets me through the winter, knowing that summer is going to be there.” – Jack McBrayer

Summer night quotes

These lovely summer night quotes capture that unique feeling of warm evenings.

“Oh, the summer night has a smile of light, and she sits on a sapphire throne.” – Barry Cornwall

“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.” – Wallace Stevens

“The thing about a deep summer’s evening is that it is filled with an array of sounds that never intrude on the silence because they were created to accentuate it, not fill it.” – Craig D. Lounsborough

“Summer nights in the country are a hurly-burly of sounds.” – Ana Gerhard

“Meeting someone on a summer’s evening is like giving a dead flame new life.” – Caleb Azumah Nelson

“Mad, naked, Summer Night!” – Walt Whitman

Summer love quotes

Dial up the romance with these cute quotes on summer love.

“It’s a smile, it’s a kiss, it’s a sip of wine, it’s summertime.” – Kenny Chesney

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” – John Keats

“Summer is where the girls go barefoot and their hearts are just as free as their toes.” – unknown

“I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Summer loves, like summer breezes, are never as hot or long as they pretend to be.” – Jeffrey Fry

“When she remembered a summer it would be this one. When she remembered love it would be his.” – C.J. Carlyon

“You are so much sunshine in every square inch.” – Walt Whitman

“A life without love is like a year without summer.” – Swedish Proverb

“Sweet, sweet burn of sun and summer wind, and you, my friend, my new fun thing, my summer fling.” – K D Lang

Summer vibes quotes

Need to describe the essence of summer?  Go for one of these summer vibes quotes.

“Good vibes happen on sunny days.” – unknown

“I felt like summer had taken me over.” – Junot Diaz

“Summertime. It was a song. It was a season. I wondered if that season would ever live inside me.” – Benjamin Alire Saenz

“And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling.” – Shanti

“Summer is a state of mind.” – unknown

Summer vacation quotes and summer beach quotes

This selection of holiday-themed quotes about summer is perfect for your summer holidays.

“The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever.” – unknown

“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.” – Robert Orben

“Life’s a beach, enjoy the waves.” – unknown

“When people went on vacation, they shed their home skins, thought they could be a new person.” – Aimee Friedman

“The beach is calling and I must go.” –  unknown

“It’s like a beach blanket and a bottle of wine, it feels something like summertime.” – Bon Jovi

“Happiness is a day at the beach.” – unknown

“Summer is singing with joy, and the beaches are inviting you with dancing waves.” – Debasish Mridha

“The beach is my therapy.” – unknown

End of summer quotes

Enjoy the bittersweet last days of summer with these quotes on summer ending.

“The end-of-summer winds make people restless.” – Sebastian Faulks

“Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January.” – Hal Borland

“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” – Sylvia Plath

“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” – Henry David Thoreau

“There had once been a time when I’d dreaded the end of summer, had prayed it would hold out for as long as possible. Now the thought of endless warmth and sun made me… bored. Restless.” – Sarah J. Maas

“Summer had grabbed its beach towels, buckets and spades and packed up for the season.” – CJ Tudor

“It is easy to forget now, how effervescent and free we all felt that summer.” – Anna Godbersen

Summer captions and summer sayings

How about adding one of these sun kissed captions to your socials?

Summer instagram captions

“In every summer, there’s a story.”

“Summer: a little bit of heaven on Earth.”

“Sun-kissed days and starlit nights.”

“Sunshine is the best medicine.”

“The sun always shines brighter in summer.”

“Let’s soak up the sun and have some fun.”

“In a summer state of mind.”

“Friends, sun, sand, and sea. That sounds like a summer to me.”

“Let the sea set you free.”

Summer beach instagram captions

“Sun, sand, and a drink in my hand.”

“The beach is my happy place.”

“Life is better in flip-flops.”

“The beach is not a place; it’s a feeling.”

“Life’s a wave, catch it!”

“Summer is a canvas painted with sunshine.”

“Sunsets, palm trees, and a cool breeze.”

“Summer has its own language, and it’s spoken through sunshine, beach days, and laughter.”

Have these summer quotes left you feeling warm and inspired?

We hope you’ve enjoyed this collection of summer season quotes and that they have prompted you to savour every precious moment that summer graciously bestows upon us.

If you’d like to explore even more beautiful quotes, take a look at these collections:

More summer inspiration

Still hungry for more summer-themed resources?  We’ve got plenty for you to explore.

Summer gardening – summer plants for pots, planting calendar and garden jobs for each month.

Summer family fun – free printable summer bucket list for outdoor play, and nature play ideas.  You can also check out *A Year of Nature Craft and Play and *A Year of Nature Walks and Games for lots of low-cost summer nature activities to do with the kids.

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Cherry Ong is taking us along to see spring at Butchart Gardens in British Columbia. This garden is famous for over-the-top displays of spring bulbs and annuals, which paint the whole space with giant swaths of color. One of the most iconic parts of the garden is the sunken garden, and often we see photos taken from the ground above, looking down at the plants. But today Cherry is taking us down into the garden and looking up and around at the beauty to be found there.

Coordinated swaths of tulips (Tulipa hybrids, Zones 3–8) and late daffodils (Narcissus hybrids, Zones 3–8) bloom together. The tulips in front are underplanted with forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica, Zones 3–8) to add a layer of blue around the larger tulip blooms.

Here the colors are hot, with the beds in the foreground underplanted with English daisy (Bellis perennis, Zones 4–8) in pink and red. They add a layer of color even when the bulbs in the bed are not in flower.

Yellow tulips are like a puddle of sunshine on the ground.

Daffodils and tulips planted together extend the show, and provide an added dimension to the color.

After they bloom, all these beds will be ripped out and replaced with annuals for the summer display.

The landscape around the sunken garden is dramatic and beautiful as well.

As beautiful as the bulbs are, this incredible old Japanese maple (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) is breathtaking. Now, right before the leaves flush out, you can see the incredible intricate form of the trunk.

The pond is lined with gorgeous flowering trees blushing shades of pink.

And, of course, still more daffodils are blooming everywhere!

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

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These were delphiniums. At first I thought they were annual larkspur, and indeed the two are closely related and often. go by the same common name. For more on that relationship, check out our guide to growing delphiniums.

Holding my breath, I checked the tag. I had to have these flowers in my flower bed. I only hoped they’d be hardy enough to survive the winter and return year after year.

Hardy to Zone 3, read the tag. -30 to -40°F.

I suppressed a delighted screech and scooped three plants into my shopping cart.

The beautiful plants (Delphinium spp.) found a home in my front flower bed and have (mostly) thrived there for three summers now.

Have I had enough of these regal members of the Ranunculaceae family yet?

No. No, I have not. Not even close.

I’m planning to clear out the flower bed on the other side of my front stoop and make it into a delphinium bed as well.

I cannot wait for the opportunity to glance at my red house from the front and see scores of purply-blue spires reaching for the white-bordered windowsills.

In preparation for my new additions to this delightful garden, I’ve discovered 19 of the best cultivars to grow at home.

And I’d like to share them with you so that you, too, can sow these dazzling beauties all over your garden and yard.

While these plants do well in super-cold climates, like that of Zone 3, you can also grow them in climates all the way up to Zone 7, and sometimes even 8 with the right protection against the heat.

To help these hardy perennials live for many years, they should be allowed to grow just one spike in the first year. Prune any others away before they bloom.

In the second year, you can allow up to three spikes to grow, pruning away any additional growth.

By the third year, plants can support five spikes each.

After this, your delphinium will be well established and prepared to support all the spikes it wishes.

Are you thoroughly confused? I hope not, but sometimes the details of these beloved, long-cultivated flowers can give our brains a spin.

Let’s smooth things out with my lovely list of the best delphinium cultivars ever. There’s sure to be a perfect selection (or three) for everyone.

1. Atlantis

The dark violet color of this exquisite Belladonna Group member would make even the hardest heart flutter with amazement.

With a mounding habit and a spread of 18-23 inches, this cultivar makes an excellent addition to a perennial bed or container garden.

‘Atlantis’ grows up to 36 inches in height, making it smaller than other cultivars but larger than the smallest Grandiflorums.

2. Aurora Lavender

Like other members of the Aurora series, ‘Aurora Lavender’ boasts smaller leaves than other cultivars, making it ideal for cutting and adding to bouquets.

‘Aurora Lavender’ grows up to 48 inches tall and spreads 20 inches, making it an excellent choice for those of you who want a middle-of-the-road delphinium… as far as height goes.

Otherwise, there’s nothing middle-of-the-road about the color or splendor of ‘Aurora Lavender.’ With lilac-colored petals set off by a white bee, these would look stunning against the walls of my house. Or yours. Or anyone’s, really.

I dream of seeing ‘Aurora Lavender’ cut and placed in a vase, displayed on my old round table by a window. Maybe it’s time to make this dream a reality and get my hands on some seeds.

3. Black-Eyed Angels

Are you looking for a striking cultivar that would make an excellent cut flower?

With fine stems, extra spikes at maturity, and black bees against white petals, ‘Black-Eyed Angels’ is a New Zealand hybrid fit for the finest bouquets.

With its height of three to five feet, it’ll also look dazzling in your yard or garden. Some bees are striped black while others are pure black, giving each spike a delicious texture.

Each tiny blue blossom is shaped like a trumpet and flanked with a spur.

And don’t think ‘Blue Elf’ is delicate in constitution because of its small stature – it’s just as hardy as any other delphinium.

This plant grows just 12 inches tall, making it perfect for decorative front-stoop containers.

I plan to plant ‘Blue Elf’ alongside another round of lilac-colored violas in my spring containers next year.

6. Blue Lace

When I saw this New Zealand hybrid cultivar in a photo, I knew I had to have it in my own flower bed.

The blue of these blooms hints at violet but never fully crosses the line. The bee is sometimes black and sometimes white.

If you love a tall flower, then you’ll really adore ‘Blue Lace’ because it can reach heights of nearly six feet.

Imagine a border of these blue-faced beauties along a fence or garden. Wouldn’t it be sublime?

I’ll be planting these in midwinter for a bounty of shoots in the spring. And then I will patiently wait for another year until they bloom in that brilliant azure hue, setting off the red exterior walls of my home.

8. Cobalt Dreams

Do you dream in shades of indigo? Then you’ll love ‘Cobalt Dreams,’ a New Zealand New Millennium hybrid that embodies everything bright and beautiful about the color blue.

The white bees really do some stunning work, providing a sharp contrast for the electric-bright petals.

And with a spread of one to two feet and a height of four to six feet, ‘Cobalt Dreams’ is anything but shy.

It’s a cultivar for the bold, and I’d wager it’ll have people slowing down their cars as they drive by your home to gape in awe at the sapphire spires.

9. Flamenco

This frilly Highlander Series bloom takes me right back to a summer spent in Spain, when I tried to learn flamenco dance.

It’s a lot harder than it looks.

But there’s nothing difficult about gazing at the glory that is ‘Flamenco,’ with its full, ruffled pinkish-white and raspberry-colored blooms that defy the bounds of what a delphinium should look like.

These flowers grow up to 48 inches tall and add some Spanish-inspired zest and vigor to any garden.

11. Guardian Early Blue

With blossoms that bloom even earlier than other Guardian Series cultivars, ‘Guardian Early Blue’ is the perfect satiny-blue delphinium for those of us who want to sow cultivars that cover as much of the season as possible.

While the first spikes of ‘Guardian Early Blue’ are spent by early summer, it reblooms in late summer, a thrilling bookend to all the delphs that bloom in between.

A midsized plant, ‘Guardian Early Blue’ grows to about 33 inches in height and spreads 18 to 23 inches.

16. Rose White Bee

If you’re enthralled with roses but want to try growing delphiniums, choose the Delphina Series cultivar, ‘Rose White Bee.’

This compact flower grows to only 18-20 inches with a 16-inch spread, but the blooms are robustly rosy-colored and backed by an extra-strong stem.

The plant looks just like the larger delphinium cultivars, only it’s not nearly as enormous.

Each petal blushes in shades of dark and light pink with a white bee in the center.

18. Sweethearts

As soft and luminous as the first hints of love, ‘Sweethearts’ is a pale pink New Millennium hybrid with a sweet white bee.

So sweet is this cultivar that in 2009, it won the Garden Merit Award from the Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley, England.

If you want this award-winner in your garden, be prepared for towering, three to five-foot spikes of gentle pink color.

19. Sweet Sensation

Have you ever wanted to travel to Scotland? Me, too, but I haven’t made it there yet.

One day, I will. But for now, I’ll stare at these absolutely riveting, three-foot-tall ‘Sweet Sensation’ plants, which belong to the Scotland-bred Highlander series.

With blue, violet, and white flowers that bloom from the center like roses, ‘Sweet Sensation’ sends a nostalgic yet exciting thrill through one’s bones.

Just imagine them in a vase on your kitchen counter. Wouldn’t they be divine?

From my limited perspective as a tree nut enthusiast – albeit a zealous one – I’ve noticed that pecans are, for the most part, less popular than almonds, cashews, and pistachios.

Which is truly a shame, because I’ve found the pecan to have a buttery sweetness and texture-rich mouthfeel that many other nuts lack.

The trees themselves don’t receive the credit they deserve, either.

Despite their bountiful gifts, some people consider them a hassle, what with their dropping copious amounts of twigs, leaves, and husks every fall.

But if you can get over its litterbug tendencies, Carya illinoinensis will liven up your landscape with its beautiful leaves and overall form.

Whether you choose to grow it for its nuts, looks, or both, you’ll need some prior knowledge, useful tips, and helpful advice to ensure success. This guide will provide all of that and more.

Here’s what we’ll go over:

What Are Pecan Trees?

A member of the Carya genus of hickory trees, C. illinoinensis is a large deciduous tree that’s best known for its tasty nuts.

Suitable for growing in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 9, pecans can trace their natural origins to wet lowlands in states across the midwest and southern United States, as well as Mexico.

With a mature height of 70 to 100 feet and a mature spread of 40 to 75 feet, the pecan is the biggest of the hickories. The trunk bears ridged brown bark with gray flecks, and the crown has a beautifully rounded oval shape.

C. illinoinensis flaunts green, compound leaves up to two feet long, each with nine to 17 toothed, spearhead-shaped leaflets. Turning yellow in fall, the foliage is large and densely-packed enough to provide some nice shade from the sun.

As monoecious trees, all pecans produce male catkin blooms and female floral spikes of a greenish-yellow hue in mid- to late spring, neither of which are aesthetically significant.

If you want to ensure pollination, then definitely plant more than one, preferably of different varieties.

After being wind-pollinated, the female flowers will yield clusters of three to six yellow-green seed husks, which turn brown and split open into quarters after the seeds ripen.

Inside each lies an oblong nutshell with a light brown to reddish-brown hue. Inside of that lies the pecan kernel of legend, the one that goes great in pies and trail mixes.

As all members of the walnut family do, C. illinoinensis produces juglone, a toxic chemical that can poison nearby susceptible plants. When planting pecans, it pays to be mindful of the neighboring flora!

Cultivation and History

As the only major, commonly-consumed tree nut native to North America, pecans have been gathered and eaten by the continent’s natives for thousands of years.

We actually got the word “pecan” from the language of the Algonquin people, meaning “all nuts requiring a stone to crack.”

As a result of its strict nativity to North America, C. illinoinensis wasn’t discovered in the Old World until after explorers showed up in the 15th century and later brought the nuts back home with them.

In the late 1600s and the 1700s, European colonists started cultivating pecan trees, with specimens notably growing on the properties of US presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson!

By the early 1800s, the pecan trade had become a full-blown industry. For a while, seedling cultivation was the de facto method of growing pecans.

That is, until the notably successful grafting of the ‘Centennial’ cultivar in the mid-to-late 1800s, which led to the commercial propagation and improved production of pecans in the 1880s.

Advancements in the industry have continued ever since. Breeding programs have left modern-day growers with over 500 unique cultivars to choose from, and pecan pest management has remained an important and ever-evolving field.

The leader of a multi-million dollar industry, the US produces the majority of the world’s pecans – according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, American pecan production totaled 275 million pounds in 2022. That’s a lot of nuts!

And of course, folks love pecans for their taste and health benefits, whether consumed solo or as an ingredient in delicious recipes.

Propagation

Are you nuts for pecans yet? To acquire some of your own, your best bets are to grow them from seed, graft or bud them, or straight-up transplant them.

From Seed

For commercial growers, this method is lacking. Seeds don’t grow true to type, so you could end up with a plant that’s different from its parent. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… especially if your livelihood depends on your pecan yields.

But odds are that you’re an amateur, with the time and freedom to play around with seed sowing. And who knows? You could end up growing a unique and trademarkable cultivar!

Step one: obtain seeds, either by collecting them from a tree in fall, or purchasing seed from a reputable vendor. Make sure the parent is a suitable cultivar for your area!

For fall seed collection, pick them up when they fall to the ground in October or November. Do this ASAP, before bugs or pathogens can harm the seeds.

Store the gathered seeds in a cool, dry place until the moisture of the kernels within is about five percent. You’ll know that the kernels are this dry if they snap when bent.

Place the whole, uncracked nuts in baggies filled with moist vermiculite, then stratify them in the refrigerator until after the last frost in spring.

At this point, remove the seeds from their baggies, rinse off any clinging vermiculite, then leave them soaking in running water for 24 to 48 hours to stimulate germination.

Soaking them outdoors in a bucket of water with a hose left running works perfectly.

After that, the seeds should be planted in brightly-sunlit, deep, and well-draining garden soil at a depth of one to one and a half inches.

Work a bit of compost into the planting site beforehand, and ensure that the soil pH is 6.0 to 7.0.

Water in the seeds, and keep the adjacent soil moist as they grow and develop. After two years of care and protection from animals, the saplings should be four to five feet tall.

Via Grafting/Budding

For seasoned pecan growers, grafting and budding are fast ways to create a clone of the parent plant.

Regardless of the method used, either entails combining the shoot tissue of a parent with desirable fruit, or a scion, with the roots and lower shoot tissue of a parent with other desirable qualities, or the rootstock.

When the union heals, you’re left with a true-to-type specimen that grows quick and yields exactly what you want it to, all the while sporting some pretty sweet traits such as disease resistance and climate hardiness.

Grafting and budding are what industry professionals use to consistently yield delicious nuts, but a full breakdown of these techniques is beyond the scope of this guide and the capability of its author. We’ll take a closer look at these techniques at a later date.

In “Star Wars” terms, consider this guide your Obi-Wan Kenobi, i.e. an effective teacher for the beginning of your journey. But to eventually learn the skills that’ll take you from amateur to expert, you’ll need to find your Graft Master Yoda elsewhere.

Via Transplanting

This tree has a deep taproot that can make transplanting tough and laborious. Hence, you’ll want to transplant saplings and juvenile graftlings, rather than more mature specimens with a longer taproot.

In late fall after leaf drop to early spring before bud break, prepare well-draining, deep, and fertile planting sites with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0.

Space these sites at least 30 feet away from structures, and as far apart from each other as you’d expect the tree canopies to spread at full maturity. Dig the holes as deep as the root systems, and a bit wider.

You’ll need to soak the roots of bare root trees for three to six hours prior to planting, while container-grown ones should be lifted from their containers just before planting.

Place the tree in the hole, exposing the root flare above the soil and keeping any graft unions at least two to four inches above the soil line.

Fill half of the remaining empty space with soil, then water in. Fill the remaining space with soil, water that in well, and consider your trees transplanted.

To bring the roots and shoots of a grafted transplant into balance, you’ll want to lop off the top third of the tree upon planting… assuming that it hasn’t been done already, as is typically the case with nursery-grown specimens. Make sure to check first!

How to Grow

Got a beautiful tree growing from the ground? Great! Let’s learn how to keep it that way.

Climate and Exposure Needs

The pecan is hardy in Zones 5 to 9… but not every garden in these climates can necessarily support it.

Pecans love the heat. According to William Reid, a former Pecan Research and Extension Specialist for Kansas and Missouri, pecans require warm summers with warm temperatures at night to ripen.

So, even though an area might be in Zone 5 based on its minimum average temperatures, that doesn’t guarantee its nights stay warm enough to grow pecans, according to Reid.

When in doubt, consult your local county extension agent to find out whether your area has the right climate for C. illinoinensis, as well as which variety will do best locally.

Regardless of climate, full sun is the best exposure – you won’t end up with primo nuts without ample sunlight!

As they mature and begin producing nuts, they need about two inches of water per week throughout the growing season, applied at the drip line.

Growing Tips

• Full sunlight exposure is optimal for nut production.
• Provide deep, well-draining, and fertile soil.
• Mature, nut-producing trees need two inches of water a week during the growing season.

Pruning and Maintenance

Along with bountiful nuts, C. illinoinensis drops twigs, leaves, and the split-open seed husks.

For the sake of preventing infection, insect infestation, and a messy-looking landscape, these bits of detritus should regularly be raked up and composted, or at least disposed of.

During a pecan’s juvenile years, early spring pruning to maintain a strong central leader is essential.

Little pruning is required after the tree reaches maturity, save for the prompt removal of root suckers and dead, diseased, or otherwise damaged branches.

Additionally, maintaining a few inches of mulch around the trunk will help to suppress weeds, maintain moisture, and protect the roots from harm. Plus, it looks real pretty.

Cultivars to Select

As mentioned above, there are a gargantuan amount of pecan cultivars.

Birds

An assortment of avian wing-flappers can eat the nuts from your trees, from turkeys to blue jays to crows.

But it’s not exactly “green” to go a-blasting with a 12-gauge. Depending on your property’s location and the bird in question, it may not even be legal.

Therefore, you should opt for auditory and visual repellents. From sound machines to banging metal, and glittery tape to hawk kites, there are plenty of options.

The golden rule to remember is that while a lot of different repellents will work, nothing works forever. Thus, rotate what you use to keep birds guessing.

Deer

Notorious for eating just about anything, deer will definitely munch at your pecan trees.

Additionally, bucks can rub the velvet off their antlers with the thin trunks of young pecans, which damages the bark.

Along with using deer repellents, you can’t go wrong with a well-constructed deer fence that surrounds your property. Heck, it’ll come in handy for protecting your other plants that deer like to eat from as well.

Small Mammals

Squirrels, raccoons, and the tree-climbing like can all consume C. illinoinensis nuts with annoying efficiency.

Besides species-specific repellents, the key is to reduce the climbability of mature trees, which can be done with two to three feet of sheet metal wrapped around the trunks of susceptible specimens. Make sure to adjust the metal as the tree grows!

Insects

The especially irritating part about insects is their tendency to vector pathogens as they feed. But on the flip side – by controlling bugs, you’ll help prevent disease!

Fall Webworms

Wrapping cotton candy-esque webbing around tree branches, fall webworms are rather irritating pests.

Hyphantria cunea are black- to reddish-headed caterpillars about an inch in length, with yellow to green, black-striped bodies covered with white hairs.

Overwintering in tree bark and nearby detritus, fall webworms can consume leaves to the point of near defoliation, which spells disaster for your eventual pecan-based desserts.

You could use contact insecticides, but since you’re trying to eat from the tree, that can be risky.

Along with promptly removing detritus, it’s best to manually break up and destroy webs when you see them with a stick, wire, or other lengthy rod.

Drop the webbing into a bucket of soapy water for the TKO.

Twig Girdlers

Adult Oncideres cingulata beetles have a grayish-brown body and long antennae, while the larvae are soft-bodied and white.

Both will girdle small portions of twigs, often reducing the aesthetics and yield of infested branches.

Preventative treatment usually isn’t necessary, but you definitely should remove and burn broken twigs, which can reduce twig borer populations.

Weevils

A significant pest of the pecan, Curculio caryae adults emerge from the soil in early fall, with their slender snouts and reddish-brown beetle bodies.

Traveling to a nearby tree, the adult females puncture a nut and lay eggs inside it, which causes the nut to fall prematurely from the tree.

Feeding within the nut, the larvae then leave, burrow in the soil, and pupate into adults. The cycle continues the following fall.

You should definitely be on the lookout for shells that fall prematurely.

Weekly sprays of carbaryl insecticides should be made from mid-August through mid-September in the case of confirmed infestation, while a paper trap wrapped around the trunk at a height of six feet or greater is a non-insecticidal alternative.

Disease

Since pathogens can easily spread, it pays to use sterilized tools, clean plant stock, and disease-free soils.

Anthracnose

A fungal disease driven by the spread of Colletrotrichum species – especially in rainy conditions – anthracnose mars leaves and nut husks with sunken, brown to black lesions, which puts a dent in nut yields and photosynthesis. The husks may also exhibit cream- to light pink-ringed spores.

Utilizing resistant varieties will help with prevention. If the disease is already present, infected plant parts should be removed and destroyed.

Powdery Mildew

With its trademark white powdery growth on infected foliage and nuts, powdery mildew in pecans is caused by Microsphaera alni fungi.

It causes the most damage in young nuts, to the point of causing stunted growth and their eventual demise. Thankfully, the disease doesn’t typically damage mature nuts.

Using resistant varieties is a solid way of preventing the disease. Pruning away severely infected tissues can further reduce spread.

Scab

Caused by the fungus Cladosporium caryigenum, scab infects young foliage and nut husks before they reach maturity, as well as developing twigs and male flowers on occasion.

Surviving on infected structures from the year before, the fungi produces spores in spring that spread via wind and water in moderate temperatures of 65 to 85°F.

Infected leaves will exhibit small, circular spots that darken, grow, and sink in with age, while infected nut husks will drop and crack, with ruined yields.

All infected structures will exhibit stunting, deformation, and vulnerability to other pathogenic infections.

Planting scab-resistant varieties such as ‘Elliott,’ ‘Excel,’ and ‘Kanza’ is the best form of prevention.

A protocol of rotating at least three different fungicide sprays beginning at bud break and with a total of 12 evenly-spaced applications per growing season can help with prevention as well.

Additionally, you must remove and destroy infected leaves and husks before the fungi within can produce spores and spread further.

Stem End Blight

Caused by the fungus Botryosphaeria ribis, stem end blight is characterized by black lesions on the developing nuts, generally starting around the junction of the nut and the stem.

Spread by insects, this disease can wipe out your entire harvest.

You can learn all about this disease and how to prevent and treat it in our guide.

Twig Dieback

Another devastating disease that can infect your trees is twig dieback, caused by fungi in the Botryosphaeria genus.

Early symptoms include wilting branches and on closer inspection, the branches will have raised cankers, which are the fruiting bodies of the fungus.

Our guide to pecan twig dieback has more information and treatment options.

Harvesting, Curing, and Storing

“Enough talk! I’m STARVING!”

Touché. I mean, my mouth has been watering while I write this… it’s a miracle that I haven’t short-circuited my laptop.

Depending on the variety in question and how it was propagated, a tree should start producing nuts in four to 10 years.

If your tree has reached nut-producing maturity, you should mow the grass and clean up fallen debris so you can better spot the ripe nuts when they drop to the ground in October or November.

In general, the nuts will ripen and fall over about a three-week period, so gathering them from the ground should be a daily task during this time.

You can use a rake or a small snow shovel to gather them, or pick them up with your hands.

To speed up the process with those nuts that are taking longer to fall, dislodge or shake them from the tree by hitting or shaking their branches. For the former, a large stick is the perfect tool.

Have you gathered all of the nuts? Fantastic. Clean off any debris from their shells, and discard any that show signs of damage, infection, or infestation.

After a period of curing, the kernels within the nuts will be ready to consume.

Cure them by leaving the nuts in a dry spot with good air circulation for about two weeks, spread out on wire racks or trays in a single layer. If desired, you can easily increase the airflow by placing a fan nearby.

You’ll know that they’re cured and ready to consume if the shells are easy to break and the kernels snap crisply.

At this point, feel free to crack the shells to remove the kernels within unless you prefer to store them whole.

Once extracted, the kernels should be good for nine months in the fridge or two years in the freezer.

Refrigerated nuts should be stored in airtight containers, while freezer-stored ones should be kept in plastic baggies. And when thawed, your kernels should last for another two months at room temperature!

If you plan on keeping your kernels in the shells for a bit, they can actually be stored at room temperature for six to 12 months. Be sure to keep them in cool and dry conditions!

All of these durations are averages, though. Prior to their consumption or use in a recipe, always check your nuts for signs of decay such as a bitter taste or rancid smell.

Best Uses

Whether eaten by themselves or utilized in delicious recipes – such as those provided by our sister site, Foodal – pecans are a healthy and tasty treat.

Selling your yield could be a fun side hustle, while sharing it free of charge will definitely up your popularity in your social circles.

The nut husks can also be used in smoking meats, and making organic fertilizers and mulches.

And although C. illinoinensis is not usually grown solely for its appearance, the tree’s pretty leaves and form are certainly fringe benefits.