Known best for their colorful flower plumes, many of the newer astilbe varieties also have showy foliage that may be bronze, pale green, blue green, dark green or wine red. If you choose varieties with different foliage colors, bloom times and heights, they can add lots of interesting color and texture throughout the season.
Another plant with beautiful silvery foliage. Leaves are typically long and narrow, and may be entirely silver, spotted with silver or randomly splashed with silver. Lungwort flowers in spring and its blossoms are quite showy, ranging in color from white through pink and blue—with different colors often appearing on the same plant.
Similar to heuchera in leaf and form, tiarella has matte rather than shiny leaves, which gives it a slightly more “natural” look. The bottle-brush flowers are white or pale pink and I find them showier than those of most heucheras. New varieties often feature flashy burgundy-red leaf veins.
A low, spreading plant with silvery foliage and purple, pink, red or white blooms in early summer. In shady locations, I find this plant spreads happily—not invasively. If you wind up with too much of it, just give it a tug, lift out a whole section and pass it on to a friend.
Plant breeders have had a field day with the genus heuchera. There seems to be no end to the variations in leaf color: silvery, burgundy, purple-black, chartreuse, salmon and rusty orange. With heuchera, it’s the foliage that provides the visual excitement, though some varieties also have showy flowers on tall, slender stems.
Rhubarb grows in cool weather — spring and fall — and goes nearly dormant in the summer, especially in hot weather. General care: fertilize in early spring, remove all flower stalks as they appear, pick off yellowing leaves as the plants go dormant in summer. After fall frost, remove and compost the mushy leaves, then add some compost or composted manure to the soil around the plants.
Yes. Unlike most perennials, peonies rarely need to be divided. The only reason to do it is to get more plants — or share them with friends. It’s best done in the fall. Dig up the clump and use a sharp tool to divide it into sections, keeping three to five eyes in each division. Be sure to water the transplants thoroughly, unless you get plenty of rainfall. Keep in mind that divisions (and transplants) might not begin blooming again for two or three years.
Sets are a good choice if you want scallions (green onions), but you’re not likely to get large onions. Though it might sound unlikely, you’ll get bigger onions if you start from seeds and seedlings
I was told to bury a portion of the stem when planting tomatoes. Is that right?
Yes. It’s a good idea to bury about 6″ of stem. Just remove the leaves from the portion to be buried and plant it deep. When buried, tomato stems will sprout roots, resulting in a healthier, sturdier plant.
One of the best things about growing your own melons, is that you can pick them at the peak of flavor, when the sugars are most concentrated. Unlike many other types of fruit, melons get softer once they have been picked, but they do not get any sweeter. The trick to harvesting melons is figuring out when that moment of peak flavor occurs, because each type of melon displays different sorts of clues to its ripeness. Here’s how to tell when your melons are just right:
Cantaloupes and Muskmelons: In most cases, when cantaloupes and muskmelons are ripe, they detach themselves from the vine, leaving a dish-shaped scar on the fruit where the stem was attached. The fruit will also develop a sweet, musky aroma when ripe.
Honeydews: These green-fleshed melons don’t slip from the vine or develop a strong aroma, so ripeness is a bit more difficult to detect. When ripe, the color of the rind should be a creamy yellow rather than green, and the rind will become smooth and waxy rather than dusky. If you press on the bottom of a ripe honeydew (the opposite end from where it’s attached to the vine), it should feel slightly soft or at least a little springy.
Watermelons: Like honeydews, these melons don’t have a scent or slip from the vine when they’re ripe, but they do provide several clues that tell you they’re ready to eat. Look for the small leaf and stem-like curl that occur near where the melon is attached to the vine. When watermelons are ripe, this leaf and tendril will turn brown and dry.
