By Ralph E. Mitchell One flowering bulb that always catches my eye in the garden center spring bulb displays is the calla lily. A member of the Aroid family, this flowering plant forms a spathe with a central… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell While some people may miss the spring flowers of the north – tulips being one of them – we have many flowering bulb substitutes which put on a similar show right here in southwest… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell One or two flowering plants hardly make an impact at a glance, but a whole line of them close to the road can make you put the brakes on! Once I saw this mass… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell As you are planning your annual flower bed this year, one that I have really had good success with in Charlotte County is Cosmos. This annual flowering plant comes in many sizes, shapes and… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell Blooms at this time of year catch the eye and draw you to a passing landscape. I have been seeing powderpuff shrubs in bloom with their puffy pink to red flowers punctuating the green… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell My first experience with a ylang ylang tree was living next door to one in the West Indies. At night, the heavenly fragrance would slowly drift through the air currents and eventually float into… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell I recently visited the Naples Botanical Garden and was overwhelmed by the beauty and the splendor of the plantings – my first visit! Of all the plants I could have focused on, the firespike… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell Some of our flowering ornamental plants are well-known for their toxic properties – oleander for example. The beauty hides a toxic nature that must be taken into consideration. One such plant that many gardeners… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell Many gardeners like desert-dwelling plants in their landscapes and gardens. One such popular plant is the agave. Made up of over two-hundred species within the agave family, it can become a plant collectors delight… Read More
By Ralph E. Mitchell For those into topiaries and formally pruned landscape features, a commonly available garden center plant may be of interest to you. The woody plant known as Eugenia, or more accurately, Syzygium paniculatum, is a… Read More
