How to Grow and Care for Camellia Sinensis
Green, black, white and oolong tea all come from this one shrub — the difference is which leaves you pick. And it is hardy to zone 6, so more gardeners could grow it.
Category
Outdoor Plants & Flowers
Perennials, annuals, shrubs and bulbs: what to plant, when to plant it, and how to keep it blooming.
32 articles · Page 1 of 2
How to Grow and Care for Castor Bean
A spectacular six-foot annual and one of the most poisonous plants sold in garden centres — a few seeds can kill. Here is how to grow it, if you should at all.
How to Grow and Care for Bacopa
The trailing white-flowered basket plant sold as bacopa is not in the genus Bacopa at all. Here is what it actually is, and what it needs.
How to Grow and Care for Autumn Fern
New fronds emerge coppery-pink and the plant stays standing through winter. One of the easiest hardy ferns — with one caution NC State raises about naturalising.
How to Grow and Care for Blackberry Lily
Not a lily but an iris, and named for its seed pods rather than its flowers. The blackberry-like seed clusters are the real reason to grow it.
How to Grow and Care for Bells of Ireland
The green bells are not flowers — they are calyces, which is exactly why they last so long in a vase and dry so well. A cool-season annual that hates humid heat.
How to Grow and Care for Balloon Flowers
Balloon flower emerges very late in spring, so it gets dug up by gardeners who think it died. Mark it, leave it alone, and it will outlast most of the border.
How to Grow and Care for Baby's Breath
The florist's filler is a declared noxious weed across the West and invasive around the Great Lakes. Check your state before planting, then plant it once and leave it.
How to Grow and Care for Blue Poppy
The Himalayan blue poppy needs cool, humid summers under 80°F. Most US gardens cannot supply that, and this article says so before telling you how to try.
How to Grow and Care for Autumn Crocus
Autumn crocus is a beautiful fall bulb and one of the most poisonous plants sold in garden centres. It is also confused with saffron crocus, which has killed people.
How to Grow and Care for Astilbe
Astilbe is a moisture plant before it is a shade plant. Put it in dry shade under a tree and it browns by July — here is what it actually needs.
How to Grow and Care for Fuchsia
Fuchsias stop flowering above 76°F, which explains most disappointment with them. Here is how to site, pinch and overwinter them, and the heat-tolerant cultivars.
How to Grow and Care for Annual Vinca
Annual vinca is not a vinca. It is a heat-loving Madagascar periwinkle that rots if planted early into cold soil — the single mistake that kills most of them.
How to Grow and Care for Angelica
Angelica is a six-foot biennial that dies after it seeds, burns skin in sunlight, and has deadly lookalikes. Grown deliberately, it is worth all three.
How to Grow and Care for Anemone
Anemone covers three unrelated garden plants with different seasons, planting methods and hardiness. Work out which one you have before you plant it.
How to Grow and Care for Coleus
Coleus is grown for leaves, not flowers, and modern cultivars are far more sun-tolerant than the old advice allows. Here is how to place, pinch and overwinter it.
How to Grow and Care for Carnations
Garden carnations are not the florist's flower, and they are short-lived unless the drainage is right. Here is the soil they need and why they die in winter.
How to Grow and Care for Gardenia
Gardenias drop buds and yellow their leaves for specific, diagnosable reasons. Here is what each symptom means, plus the pH and night temperatures they need.
How to Grow and Care for Bearded Iris
Bearded iris fail for one reason more than any other: the rhizome is planted too deep. Here is the right depth, when to divide, and how to handle borer and soft rot.
How to Grow and Care for Tulips
Most tulips are short-lived, and that is a property of the bulb rather than something you did wrong. Here is how to plant them, and which types actually come back.
How to Grow and Care for Hostas
Hostas are shade plants, but how much shade depends on leaf colour. Here is how to site blue, gold and variegated types, and what to do about slugs and deer.
Why Wisteria Won't Bloom
Wisteria can grow for years without flowering. Seedling age, nitrogen and the wrong pruning are the usual reasons — here is how to tell them apart.
The Types of Roses, Explained
Hybrid tea, floribunda, shrub, species and the rest — what each class actually is, and which ones are hardy and disease resistant.
Climbing Roses: Choosing, Training and Pruning
Climbers do not climb, and the difference from a rambler decides when you prune. How to train canes for maximum bloom.