Category Seasonal Guides

Romaine (Cos) Lettuce – Lactuca sativa Origin – Europe I’m on week 12 of hand feeding, weaning and finally releasing baby birds (hang in there, I do get around to the Romaine). I’m a wildlife rehabber and I seem to…

  Navel Orange Tree – Citrus sinensis ‘Washington Navel’ Origin – Brazil  If the origin of Brazil has you scratching your head, here’s the story. Bahia, Brazil is the place where the navel orange developed as a bud mutation. A…

  Wild Rice – Zizania aquatica Origin – North America I’m actually going to use this desirable aquatic grass as starting point to get into the subject of water gardening. Wild Rice is worth growing in natural bottom ponds. It…

Sunflower – Helianthus annuus Origin: North America This diverse genus has come a long way since I was kid trying to grow a few “Sunnies” from a handful of seed.  There is such a variety available; giants grown as summer…

  Pleione Orchid – Pleione  formosana ,and  ssp. Origin: China, Northern India, Nepal, Thailand I am having such a good time with these orchids that I thought I’d let you in on the fun. Pleione (pronounced play owny) are a…

Blueberry “Sunshine Blue Dwarf” – Vaccinium corymbosum Origin: North America “One morning as I was drinking my first cup of coffee of the day, I looked out the window to find a couple of birds jumping up and down around…

Variegated Sedum – Sedum Alboroseum mediovariegatum Origin:  USA This Sedum hybrid will definitely get you in the mood for Valentines Day. Why? Because butterflies love this plant! It’s a new variation of an old standard perennial groundcover. The striking variegated…

  Norfolk Pine – Araucaria heterophylla Origin: Norfolk Island (in the Southern Pacific Ocean, east of Australia) These little living Christmas trees appear often in the post-holidays sales blow-outs. So if you are looking for a fairly easy to grow…

Variegated Shell Ginger – Alpinia zerumbet variegata Origin – Asia This easy to grow, easy to propagate ginger is a member of the largest genus in the Zingiberacae family. It’s yellow, cream and green leaves make it a strikingly attractive…

Persian Shield – Strobialanthus dyerianus Origin – Burma Simply put, this perennial plant is pure eye candy. Its long leaves are iridescent shades of purple, lilac and pink. As if those colors aren’t awesome enough, the Persian Shield looks like…

      Lime Basil –  Ocimum americanum   Origin – United States of America Now that we are getting into autumn, it’s time to be setting your windowsill garden  to spice up those long winter days for you and…

Spicy Puerto Rican No-Burn Pepper – Capsicum annuum Origin – South America This is probably the longest, most convoluted  name that I’ve ever included as a featured plant. But I couldn’t get through a summer without talking about at least…