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…
Category: Home Gardening
Protecting Houseplants from Pests
The cold weather may be keeping you away from your backyard garden, but it’s a wonderful time to focus on your plants indoors. Winter is also when houseplants are especially susceptible to issues like pests. The shorter days mean a reduced photosynthetic output, which in turn means plants can produce fewer protective chemicals. Reduced humidity…
Accomplish Your Gardening Goals for the New Year by Starting a Garden Journal
The New Year is a wonderful time to refresh, make goals for the year ahead, and get more yourself organized. If gardening is an area where you could use more organization, a garden journal is a wonderful solution. In addition to helping with organization, garden journals can help you increase productivity in your garden, collect…
Caring for Your Cut Christmas Tree
Choosing a fresh fir over a plastic pine for your Christmas tree has some definite perks. There’s the chance to make special memories cutting a tree down at a farm or carefully choosing the right one from a lot. And, of course, there’s the irreplaceable fresh evergreen smell that comes with a cut Christmas tree….
Indestructible Houseplants
When it’s cold outside, many people shift their gardening aspirations from beautiful backyards to maintaining lovely houseplants. But if you aren’t gifted with a green thumb, you may find houseplants more frustrating than fulfilling. Don’t worry! The Kemper Center for Home Gardening has you covered. Below are the staff’s top recommendations for indestructible houseplants, sure…
Sipping on Gin and Juniper
The addition of juniper was by design, and perhaps good marketing because it had long been revered for its medicinal properties.
When to Prune Your Hydrangeas
As you’re winding down gardening during the colder weather, it’s a great time to think about pruning your plants. Knowing exactly when to prune plants can be tricky, and varies plant by plant, prompting many questions for home gardeners. Specifically, many want to know if winter is the best time to prune hydrangeas, or if…
Winter Checklist for Your Garden
As the temperatures fall outside and winter is on the horizon, it’s time to make sure your garden is ready for a frosty winter. There are of course the major tasks, like bringing your houseplants inside, but don’t forget the smaller tasks that are important for your garden’s health, too. To help, the staff from…
Ask the Garden: Your Tree Questions
The Missouri Botanical Garden is celebrating its colorful fall foliage with Tree Week from October 29 to November 4. The week will highlight the Garden’s impressive tree collection, and the staff who care for it, with tours and other opportunities for guests to learn more about it. As part of that focus, we’d also like to…
Fall Color in Your Yard
As temperatures cool off, it’s finally starting to feel like autumn outside. This means it’s time to enjoy bold fall foliage. But that doesn’t have to be limited to the red, orange, and yellow leaves of trees in the fall. Grasses, shrubs, and showy berries can all add beautiful color to your garden in the…
Air Plant Upkeep
Tillandsias, commonly known as air plants, are popular house plants because of their unique, spiky shape and a notion that they’re easy to care for. In truth, the plants can actually be a little tricky. Light and water are the two most important factors to consider when caring for your air plant. Air plants like…
Propagating Perennials
As the sun sets on summer, it’s time to start thinking about dividing your perennials. The end of July through September is the best time to divide most spring and summer blooming perennials, like irises and peonies, because it gives them a chance to develop good root systems before cold weather sets in. Given proper care,…
