The Exotic Honeysuckle

One of best memories is to sit with your beloved ones under a huge honeysuckle vine in Pennsylvania, sucking the nectar out of the ends of the gold and white blossom. Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining bines in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. More than 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified so far. Therefore 100 species can be found in China, 20 native species identified in Europe, 20 in India, and 20 in North America. It wasn’t till long afterwards that realized that not all honeysuckles were vines, that just as many of them were shrubs and that among the vining ones not all of them grew as lushly as that childhood twinning ones; they bloom attractively and is quite varied in both their flowers and their berries. 

Hall’s honeysuckle or “Lonicera” japonica “Halliana” is the one of familiar to most people. It has white flowers that turn to gold in late spring and thereafter, followed by black berries. The foliage turns a nice bronze color in fall. A Japanese plant now naturalized in this country and hardy as well. It requires a strong support unless grown as a ground cover and can be very rampant if not controlled by pruning. If you want a more manageable vine, choose Henry honeysuckle “L.Henryi”, which is hardy and has red flowers a bit later than those of Hall’s or try gold flame honeysuckle “L. x heckrottii”, hardy to and long blooming red flowers. Even try trumpet honeysuckle because of it restrained growth and late bloom it helps to keep the hummingbirds around in July and August. Numerous species of honeysuckle have become invasive when introduced outside their native range, particularly in New Zealand and the United State.

Honeysuckle gets its name because edible sweet nectar can be sucked from the flowers. If you want to grow Honeysuckle vines will grow in most soils, and in sun or shade, but they bloom best in full sun and in soil that is fairly moist. Don’t feed the vigorous ones, and restrain them by pruning unless you are using them to control erosion and want rampant growth. Banish aphids as needed with a soap spray and propagate by seed, softwood cutting or by layering. Moreover honeysuckles are valued as garden plants, for their ability to cover unsightly walls and outbuildings, their profuse tubular flowers in summer, and the penetrating fragrance of several varieties.

How to Grow Colchicum Autumnale

Colchicum autumnale, generally recognized as autumn crocus, meadow saffron or naked lady, is a flower that resembles the true crocuses, but blooms in autumn. This is a very weird plant, and if you don’t know what to expect it can really fool you. The plant foliage comes up in spring, just like that of a spring bulb, but it doesn’t bloom, and by summer the leaves disappear. However, if fall, long after you’ve perhaps said; oh, well so much for Colchicum autumnale, some stems come out of the ground with no leaves on them, just big pink, lavender or white flowers that look sort of like large crocuses.

The species is usually cultivated as an ornamental in temperate areas, in spite of its toxicity. There nice as it is to have a fall blooming bulb, or fall blooming anything, you do have the problem of how to landscape those flowerless spring leaves and those leafless fall flowers. They are supposed to look great planted in front of shrubs, but this makes them look all the more gawky. Moreover, plant them in a natural setting, in sun or light shade, where there is a permanent, evergreen ground cover such as periwinkle, which will deemphasize both the leaves and their absence. They will also naturalize well in grass. Colchicum normally grows from corms and is hardy as well. Colchicum autumnale is the only species of its genus native to the Great Britain and Ireland, occurs across mainland Europe from Portugal to Ukraine, and naturalized in Denmark, Sweden, European Russia, the Baltic States and New Zealand.

So, Hybrids of C. autumnale grow about 8 inches tall. However, some colchicums sold are hybrids of C. speciosum. These are apt to be a hit taller. C. speciosum Album is white, despite the fact that these all look something like crocuses and are even called autumn crocuses in some catalogs. They are not the same as spring blooming crocuses which are another species altogether and have their leaves and flowers well synchronized. Moreover, Colchicum plants are deadly poisonous due to their colchicine content. Therefore, the symptoms of colchicine poisoning resemble those of arsenic, and no antidote is recognized.

Well, to grow Colchicum corms are sold in summer. So they should be planted in late summer or early fall in sun or part shade, about 8 inches apart. They are not fussy about soil, but add organic matter if yours is sandy or dry because they need a reasonable amount of moisture. Plant the large bulbs with the tops at least three inches below the soil surface. Though, bulbs normally multiply by themselves without human intervention.  Source: CP

Blanket Flower; Beautify your Home and Gardens

Blanket flower is a perennial long season of bloom, produced from early summer to early fall in different shades. Blanket Flower is also known as Gaillardia is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family. Gaillardias look like large daisies, with bold, bright markings like those of an American Indian blanket, in patterns of red, yellows and golds. The blanket flowers are glandular in most species; however the inflorescence is a solitary flower head. Blanket flowers are annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, sometimes with rhizomes.  

Usually, it grow about 2 ½ feet tall, but there are also dwarf varieties. They bloom in summer over a long period and are a good choice if your climate is hot and dry. Therefore, varieties include the mixed colored “Monarch Strain” and solids such as dark red “Burgundy” and “Yellow Queen”. Multicolored “Goblin” grows a foot tall. Blanket Flower is sometimes rolled into a funnel shape are many tubular disc florets at the center of the head in a similar range of colors, and usually tipped with hairs. Blanket flowers enticing butterflies can be grown in containers and the taller cultivars make nice cut flowers.  Blanket flowers are usually short-lived; cutting back clumps to 6 inches in late summer often increases their chances of winter survival. 

Blanket flower normally grows in moist, humid areas and plants may develop fungus diseases in summer or succumb to rot from winter moisture. Avoid mulching them, and give them light, well-drained soil, preferably on the sandy side. Gaillardias can be grown fairly quickly from seed, and will flower the first year. Moreover in spring season, watch for new shoots that may appear quite a distance from the original clump. If the center of the clump dies, discard it and replant the side shoots. Blanket flowers have insect or disease problems and look out for aphids and leafhoppers that can banquet a virus-like disease called aster yellows.