Plant of the Day
Friday 17 November 2017Still flowering till the first hard frost Bidens aurea is a vigorous, short-lived perennial, up to 1.5m tall, with daisy-like pale yellow flowers that are produced over a long season, well into autumn. It needs a moist but well-drained soil in full sun. In very cold areas lift plants before winter and keep frost-free, they can be covered with straw mulch to protect them or another approach is to leave the top growth as a protective layer and remove in the spring.
Jill Raggett
Tag: jillraggett
Plant of the Day
Wednesday 1 November 2017The fluffy seed heads of Aster linosyris
(goldilocks, goldilocks aster) a British native herbaceous perennial were catching the sunlight. It grows on the shallow soils in open, grassy habitats on limestone sea-cliffs, and cliff-top grasslands. It is a poor competitor, and is usually intolerant of heavy grazing, here it was thriving in an island bed at Cambridge Botanic Garden, UK.Jill Raggett
Plant of the Day
Saturday 28 October 2017The purple foliage of Perilla frutescens var. purpurascens (purple shiso, purple-leaved beefsteak plant, Chinese basil, purple mint) contrasting with the zany flowers of Tagetes patula ‘Harlequin’ (French marigold) in this productive and decorative garden. The two plants are both grown as half hardy annuals. An interesting challenge for cultivating Perilla is the limited viability of the seed in storage, so store them at lower temperatures and humidity planting them before they are a year old. The plants are able to self pollinate.
Jill Raggett
Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import) 