When fall approaches and temperatures begin to dip, many home gardeners wonder when it’s time to bring houseplants indoors. As a general rule of thumb, the Garden’s Kemper Center for Home Gardening recommends tropical houseplants be moved inside once temperatures drop below 50°F. If left outside, most indoor plants will suffer from cold damage. Growing…
Category: Home Gardening
Adding Panicle Hydrangeas to Your Home Landscape
During St. Louis summers the fluffy white or pink flowers of panicle hydrangeas are easy to spot in many home landscapes. Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) are native to Japan, China, and eastern Russia where they grow on sparsely wooded mountain slopes and valleys. In the wild they can reach up to 15 feet tall with…
Home Herb Gardens
Herb gardens are popular with many home gardeners because they can be grown with little space and yield crops that can be used in many favorite recipes. Many chefs prefer the taste of fresh herbs over dried products you purchase at the store. Some popular herbs to grow in your garden include basil, rosemary, chives,…
Bringing Lightning Bugs to Your Yard
Perhaps the most magical part of summer nights is watching fireflies blink light up the twilight sky. Fireflies, or lightning bugs, are the only flying, bioluminescent insects found in Missouri. The glowing bugs are actually beetles that spend most of their lives as larvae living in soil, leaf litter, and under rotting logs. Gardens can…
Plants of Demerit 2020
Every year since 1998, the Missouri Botanical Garden has partnered with other regional horticultural institutions to select 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. Last year, to provide a full picture of what works and what doesn’t…
Plants of Merit 2020
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…
Mini Victory Gardens: Growing Vegetables in Containers
There are many appealing reasons to grow your own vegetables at home. They’re fresh and flavorful, you’ll save money on your grocery bill and avoid trips to the store, and it can be very rewarding.. But if you live in an apartment or don’t have a large yard, you might feel like growing your own…
Growing a Victory Garden
During World War I, Americans were called to help the war effort at home by growing their own vegetables in “Victory Gardens” that aimed to reduce pressure on the public food supply. And they answered that call, not once but twice. By World War II, more than 20 million Victory Gardens were supplying Americans with…
Cooking with Weeds
A “mess” is a breakfast dish of German origin that involves fried chunked potatoes, onions, and whatever else you have to throw in. It’s a Sunday morning tradition in our house. In this example, I throw in wild plants available free in my own backyard. Field garlic. Photo by Wendy Applequist. This is field garlic,…
Growing Wild
Interested in stocking your home garden with native wildflowers? Shop the largest selection of native Missouri wildflowers available in the St. Louis area at Shaw Nature Reserve’s annual spring and fall wildflower markets. As spring flowers pop up all around, you may be eager to bring some of that beauty to your own backyard. Classic…
Growing Vegetables from Scraps
As people around the world are spending more time at home, interest in home gardening is growing. Specifically, many are looking to grow their own vegetables at home. If you’re thinking about starting a vegetable garden, you could get started using scraps from vegetables you’ve used from cooking. Regrowing food from leftovers is a smart…
Preventing Food Waste at Home
As many of us stay at home in an effort to practice social distancing due to COVID-19, the only trip out of the house is to the grocery store. A priority for many is how to make the food in the kitchen stretch as far as possible before the next trip to the store. Learning…