Newsletter for September 21st, 2024
September 21, 2024 - Issue #688 Read in Browser

The garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature. -Jeff Cox
Fall Annuals for the South

Summer can be tough on annual flowers in the South. Heat, insects, and diseases cause flowers to burn out before summer's end. That's why gardeners in USDA Hardiness Zones 7 and 8 may want to replant a fall crop of annual flowers to keep the flowering season going into winter.
Where Do Cloves Come from?

Where do those little dry, hard, brown sticks we poke into hams come from? Seed pods? Vines? Trees?
The Mighty Lingonberry

If you live in the North and are searching for a new and unusual crop or landscape plant, consider lingonberries. These plants thrive in moist, acidic soils from Massachusetts to Alaska, producing an abundance of healthful, cranberry-like fruits.
Seaweed for Plants

Long ago, gardeners who lived near the ocean learned that seaweed was good for their plants. Exactly how it works is difficult to pin down, but scientists have found in seaweeds a veritable soup of plant-growth stimulants, vitamins, chelating agents, trace minerals, enzymes, and amino acids, all of which influence the growth of plants in different ways.
Cultivating Caterpillar Cuisine

We usually think first of flowers when we plan ways to attract butterflies to our landscapes. And they are indeed key to attracting adult butterflies. But it's just as important to provide food for that less glamorous stage of a butterfly's life cycle, the caterpillar. For without this larval stage, of course, there would be no lovely adults flitting from blossom to blossom.
Gardeners are Changing the Planet!

Thank you to the many NGA members who are part of the growing number of people who plant with a purpose to better our yards and communities for both people and wildlife!
Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Midnight Fire')

Hybridizer: O. D. Niswonger
Year Of Registration: 1982
Year Of Introduction (May Differ From Registry): 1983
Seedling Number: 12-81
Classification: Tall Bearded (TB)
Registered Height: 34 inches (86 cm)
Bloom Season: Mid
Bloom Color Classification: Orchid
Bloom Color Description: Deep blue
Beard Color: Bright red
Awards: Honorable Mention
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Flowers: Showy
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Parentage: 21-76: ((((Happy Birthday x Glittering Amber) x Lilac Treat) x Lilac Treat) x Harbor Fire) X Red Tie
Money Tree (Pachira aquatica)

Plant Habit: Tree
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade, Partial or Dappled Shade, Partial Shade to Full Shade
Water Preferences: Wet, Wet Mesic, Mesic
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 10a -1.1 °C (30 °F) to +1.7 °C (35 °F)
Plant Height: To 60 feet in its native habitat.
Leaves: Evergreen, Broadleaf
Fruit: Edible to birds, Other
Flowers: Showy, Fragrant, Other
Flower Color: Other
Bloom Size: 3"-4"
Flower Time: Year Round
Suitable Locations: Street Tree, Houseplant
Uses: Shade Tree, Flowering Tree
Edible Parts: Fruit, Flowers, Leaves
Eating Methods: Raw, Cooked
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Containers: Suitable in 3 gallon or larger, Needs excellent drainage in pots
Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema 'Red Gold')

Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Plant Height: 24 inches
Plant Spread: 12 - 18 inches
Leaves: Evergreen, Variegated
Flowers: Inconspicuous
Flower Color: White, Other, Green
Flower Time: Summer, Late summer or early fall, Other
Uses: Houseplant
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Toxicity: Other
Containers: Suitable in 1 gallon, Needs excellent drainage in pots
Basket Plant (Callisia fragrans)

Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade, Partial or Dappled Shade
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 9b -3.9 °C (25 °F) to -1.1 °C (30 °F)
Plant Height: 12 inches
Leaves: Evergreen
Flowers: Showy, Fragrant
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Spring, Late spring or early summer, Summer, Late winter or early spring
Suitable Locations: Houseplant
Uses: Groundcover
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Containers: Suitable in 1 gallon, Suitable in 3 gallon or larger, Needs excellent drainage in pots, Suitable for hanging baskets
Climbing Aloe (Aloiampelos ciliaris)

Plant Habit: Cactus/Succulent
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 9b -3.9 °C (25 °F) to -1.1 °C (30 °F)
Plant Height: 8 to 12 feet
Leaves: Evergreen
Fruit: Dehiscent
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Red, Other
Flower Time: Summer, Late summer or early fall, Late fall or early winter, Fall
Suitable Locations: Xeriscapic
Uses: Will Naturalize
Wildlife Attractant: Hummingbirds
Containers: Needs excellent drainage in pots

Magnolia Honey Tulip™

Photo by KGFerg

Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)

Photo by jathton
"Growing along a stream in NW Oklahoma City"

Dahlia 'Westerton Sunset'

Photo by kniphofia

Haworthia mirabilis

Photo by Baja_Costero

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)

Photo by csandt

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Canadian Pattern')

Photo by DAVIDRETALLICK

Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Crimson Bullseye')

Photo by floota
"Crimson bull’s-eye"

American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Photo by purpleinopp

Biznaga Finamente Formada (Mammillaria formosa)

Photo by Baja_Costero
"Branching dichotomously"

Rose (Rosa glauca 'Yellow')

Photo by RuuddeBlock
Active threads from our forums:

Thread Subject

Forum

Replies

Eggshells

Ask a Question

36

forum hijacked

Ask a Question

33

Grassy weed identification

Plant ID

20

Green giant thuja issue

Ask a Question

13

Please help identify

Plant ID

12

"Billitiae" Philodendron, Sudden Leaf Death

Houseplants

10

Another plant problem…Alocasia Jacklyn dying?

Houseplants

10

Maples? If Y, which one?

Plant ID

9

Rose Rosette Virus??

Roses

8

The numbers from this week: 236 members joined. 2,769 posts written in our forums. 817 photos posted to the plant database. 497 plants added to personal inventory lists.
A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. — Gertrude Jekyll
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