How to Grow Sneezeweed
Yellow is the natural color however this hybrid also comes in red and yellow that may have red on the inner half of the petals or small amounts of red on the edges. Also totally red. What a lousy name!!! It got that name because the leaves and/or ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Maximilian Sunflower
This is the top of a second year plant that is leaning over due to heavy winds and a lack of support. Its paradise for goldfinches once the seeds form. Maximilian sunflower is a perennial sunflower mainly found from Manitoba to Texas but it is ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Trout Lily
Trout lily in the back yard on the south side of a lilac bush. Trout lily is a native North American woodland plant. It comes as a bulb and can be found in several catalogs, I got mine from Jung Seed. Plants bloom in April and die back in ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Liatris Spicata
See also: Liatris Aspera Liatris Pycnostachya Liatris Scariosa This is the blazing star most commonly found in catalogs. Its been bred to grow 1.5 to 3 feet tall, much shorter than the wild version (at left, in the Bunker Hill Prairie of the Cook ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Grapes
You're not going to get a really picture perfect picture of grapes unless you have a lot of vines because the "garden monsters" are going to ruin them in some way plus they're typically hidden behind leaves or support. But I cut off a fairly [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Showy Evening Primrose
Some early flowers on the south side of the house where they are spreading like weeds. This is a native perennial prairie plant found from southeastern Nebraska and Missouri and southward but it is hardy to USDA zone 5. The pictures in catalogs ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Portage Poppy
While in Alaska I picked up these seeds. The plant is native to Alaska and some Russian islands in the Pacific. I once found a site on the net that listed the plant as rare in the wild in Alaska. This is what the back of the packet says about the ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Squash
Maybe the most important thing you need to know is that the squash vine borer goes after many varieties of squash and the borer will probably kill the vine before any fruit ripens. A moth lays its eggs on the vine, a caterpillar crawls out and ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Showy Sunflower
Its the flowers that are supposed to be showy, the plant itself is not because it does not have nearly as many flowers as H. maximiliani or H. grosseserratus. I think its also called H. pauciflorus, a species I saw in another reference ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Royal Catchfly
This is royal catchfly in captivity in my back yard. This is the top of a plant (flowers extend farther down) with two stems in the photo, one behind the other. The bright red five-pointed stars are really striking. Its a "catchfly" because of . [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Russell Lupine
This is a particularly nice Russell lupine in that the flowers open as white and pink then the pink intensifies to nearly red and the white turns to pink giving it three colors instead of the usual two. To get seeds started you have a number of ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
How to Grow Prairie Blazing Star
All these flower spikes came from a single plant. The flowers come out purple and fade to white giving a nice effect. I wish I could give you a picture with a beautiful prairie in the background but for the time being it's going to have to be a ... [... more]
Don Tveter |
