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Venus Flytraps, Carnivorous Plants and More at Meanplants.com

Perennials

Golden Fruited Sedge Grass

"The Grass Golden Fruited Sedge, `Cyperales Cyperaceae Carex aurea,' is a beautifully mounded sedge grass. The beautiful silver foliage makes the perfect backdrop for its showy spring flowers that yield bright yellow fruit. This perennial grass is the perfect companion for Hosta. They can be planted along banks of ponds, added to perennial gardens, massed or used as a groundcover on steep banks to prevent erosion. This grass is drought tolerant as well as resistant to insects and diseases."

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The Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt', 'Paeonia', a fall planted bulb.

The Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt is one of the most popular Double Peonies.
This gorgeous variety produces large, soft pink flowers, of perfect form with a delightful fragrance.
They produce superb, long lasting cut flowers.
During late spring-early summer, they fill the garden with fragrance.
Peonies usually take a few years to establish and bloom heavily.
Staking is recommended.
Peonies attract butterflies and are great cut flowers and borders.

The Spanish Bluebells Hyacinthoides hispanica ', is a fall planted bulb.
These Spanish Bluebells produce elegant flowers with a heavenly, sweet perfume.
This is one of the tallest-growing Scilla species.
Hanging from the sturdy, round flower stalks are lots and lots of broad, bell-shaped flowers.
Bluebells bloom for a 3 week period in late spring/early summer.
Spanish Bluebells are great for mass planting, containers, rock gardens, and borders.

The Hibiscus 'Plum Crazy', is one of the Fleming's most colorful varieties of Hibiscus.

The plum shaded flowers have a 10" bloom with a plant height of 4'.

The dark purple, maple-cut leaves make a great contrast. Named by Dave Fleming himself, 'Plum Crazy' took over 20 years to develop and refine the species and one can see why.

It is best to plant this Hibiscus in a full sun area and it will tolerate most soil types.

'Plum Crazy' looks wonderful with grasses, as a background plant or with Hibiscus 'Fantasia' and Hibiscus 'Old Yella'.

Todays Lawn and Garden News

Today's Gardening Article
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Edgings To Enhance Your Garden

The edging of a garden is almost as important as the garden itself. It's like a picture frame. The picture can be interesting and beautiful, but it needs a frame to really enhance its appearance.

There are many different types of garden edgings. Many people prefer to use something heavy and permanent, like a low brick wall, or rocks set together with mortar. However, not everyone is physically capable of creating such a structure.

Bricks set freely can be just as effective. They can be placed in a simple line, end to end, or stacked in a double row, with gaps in between. They can also be set diagonally, leaning against each other for support.

Another attractive idea is to decorate short lengths of board with old tiles. Tiles can often be purchased very cheaply from re-cycling places. Glue your choice of tile along the board using an outdoor glue. On each end of the board, tack a peg with one end pointed. This will be used to push into the soil to support your board and keep it off the ground.

Bush rocks are another easy idea to give your garden that finished look. They need not be too big, unless you have plenty of muscle or help. You may be able to gather rocks from a friends farm, or from the bush if that is legal in your area. Otherwise, garden suppliers usually have plenty to choose from.

Yet another idea is to create a living edging. Choose a plant that will be suitable for your climate and conditions. The pretty pink of alpine phlox is an attractive border and the plants can be divided and planted again and again. Many other plants can be propagated in this way, thus reducing the initial costs. Of course, your border will take a little more time to get established than if you bought all the necessary plants at once.

Gazanias are another hardy border plant that can be divided many times. Bulbs might seem like a good choice too, but remember that they will die down and leave your borders looking messy for ages. Also, they remain dormant for at least six months, so if you plant anything else there you risk damaging the bulbs. Of course, you can dig them up and replace them with something else, but you may prefer a more permanent border edge to save on the workload.

If you have a larger garden, comfrey is a plant to consider using for an edging plant. Its thick growth habit will prevent any grasses intruding into the garden, and the leaves can be pulled for excellent mulch around roses or other plants. It has delightful, dainty flowers in season too. However, a small garden could be overwhelmed by more than one comfrey plant.

In a small garden attractive annuals like sweet alice, pansies, violas or petunias make great borders. For something a bit different, try an herb border. Then you can go out and pick your herbs any time you want. Chives have a crisp green color that would make your garden sparkle while strawberries will entice the kids out into the fresh air to have a healthy snack.

Some people prefer to simply bevel an edge around their garden with the shovel. This is a good option if your lawn has the sort of grass with runners, like kikuyu. Those runners can be kept under control by chopping them off every so often with the edge of the shovel.

Whatever option you choose, it will enhance your garden to have a beautiful edging.