A vertical garden is simply a garden that grows upward on a support system rather than growing horizontally on the ground. The concept has been a part of gardening for hundreds of years, but recently vertical gardens have taken off as a top gardening trend. Perhaps one reason for its popularity is that vertical gardening…
Category: Home Gardening
Planting Spring Bulbs
Autumn days may have you thinking of the red and orange hues of changing leaves, but if you want the bright pinks and yellows of spring, fall is the time to get those bulbs in the ground! Now is the time to start to watch for spring bulbs, like tulips and daffodils, at your local…
Picking the Perfect Plant for Your Dorm Room
For many, a college dorm is the first “home” outside of their parents’ house. It’s a place to call their own, and a place where they’ll spend much of their time as they start college. If you’re headed to college and getting ready to deck out your dorm, consider adding a houseplant to the mix….
The Biggest Pest Problems of 2019
The Kemper Center for Home Gardening is the largest non-profit gardening information center of its kind in the nation. That means they get a lot of gardening questions every week. Many of those questions are about pests wreaking havoc on home gardeners. The type of pests doing the most damage varies from year to year,…
Plants of Demerit
Recently, the Kemper Center for Home Gardening shared a blog post on the 2019 Plants of Merit, which are easy to grow, noninvasive, ornamentally attractive, less susceptible to common problems like insects or diseases, and reasonably available to purchase. To really provide a full picture of what works, and doesn’t, in Missouri backyards, the Kemper…
2019 Plants of Merit
Every year since 1998, the Missouri Botanical Garden has partnered with other regional horticultural institutions to select Plants of Merit. Plants of Merit are chosen for outstanding quality and dependable performance in Missouri, southern and central Illinois, and the Kansas City metro area. To qualify as a Plant of Merit, the plants must be easy…
Help for the Home Gardener
Using What We’ve Learned in Our Garden to Help You Manage Yours
Flora, Fauna, and Fortune: Looking for Luck in Nature
For centuries, people have looked to nature for symbols of good fortune. Now the Blues are on the brink of making history, and fans across St. Louis are doing whatever they can to bring a little luck our way. It’s in honor of these noble efforts that we offer this brief history of a few…
Caring for Your Young Trees
Spring is finally getting underway with some warmer temperatures, which means many of you are out in your gardens planting flowers and perhaps even saplings. Spring is a wonderful time to plant a new tree, but keep in mind that young trees need a little extra love. The Kemper Center for Home Gardening shares the…
Pruning for Non-Professionals
As we get into gardening season, more tedious tasks like pruning may be on the mind of wary home gardeners. For many gardeners, pruning can seem like a daunting task best left for the classically-trained professional. But with a bit of knowledge and practice, anyone can understand the basics of pruning. The Kemper Center for…
Enhancing Your Landscape for Winter
Spring is just around the corner, which has many people waiting for warm weather and blooming flowers. While you’re waiting for temperatures to warm up, take the time to appreciate the beauty of landscapes in the winter. Many people think of winter as the least interesting to be outside. But if you look a little…
Orchid Cultivation for the Home Gardener
Every year, the Orchid Show turns the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Orthwein Display Hall into a tropical oasis brimming with vibrant, blooming orchids. Visitors can take in a display that features between 400 and 500 orchids from the Garden’s permanent collect, which includes about 6,300 orchids. The display is lovely, and can also leave the home…
