The PlantersPlace search engine looks at the site's extensive library of gardening resources including it's blogs, videos, podcasts, features and Marianne's Ask the Expert answers.
Aromatic vegetables are an essential part of good cooking. They include onions, carrots, celery, garlic, leeks, parsnips, tomatoes, mushrooms, shallots, peppers and ginger. In our Midwestern garden, there are three vegetables—onions, carrots and celery—that form the basis of my soups and stews. In France, the name for this trio is mirepoix (pronounced meer-pwah). The basic ...
Read More | Edible Gardening
Monarchs are the royalty of butterflies. Here in the Midwest, they can be a common sight in summer and fall as they travel through gardens, prairies, roadsides and natural areas. Their large, iridescent orange and black wings are hard to miss. Because of their size, the monarch (Danaus plexippus) is perhaps the most well-known butterfly ...
Read More | Flower Gardening
When I plant annuals, perennials, hydrangeas or roses, I expect them to provide flower power in our garden from summer into fall. It’s easy to do by simply deadheading—removing old or spent (finished) flowers. For many of my plants, deadheading encourages more blooms, especially on annuals, such as salvias and zinnias, perennial coneflowers and repeat ...
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Midwestern prairies are host to wonderful wildflowers that create a colorful tapestry among the tall grasses. Native prairie plants like coneflowers, ironweed, rudbeckia, butterfly weed, goldenrod and many others offer showy blossoms and a source of nectar and pollen for butterflies, bees and other insects. When they’re combined with native grasses, like little bluestem and ...
Read More | Flower Gardening
Need inspiration for some tasty salsa? If you grow vegetables and herbs, you can whip up a fresh batch of flavorful salsa anytime during the summer. Fun, fresh and flavorful.
Read More | Edible Gardening
Well-made tools cost more, but with proper maintenance, they’ll last for years. What gardener couldn’t use another trowel, pruner, weeder, shovel, fork, rake or hoe?
Read More | Gardening Basics
Radishes are cool-season root vegetables. Seeds can be sown as soon as the ground is workable. Radish seeds begin to germinate once the soil reaches about 52 degrees. They can be grown in the ground, in containers or even in a shallow window box. Best of all, many are ready to harvest in as little as 21 days.
Read More | Edible Gardening
Plant hardiness zones do not reflect the coldest it has ever been or ever will be where you garden. Instead, the zones tell the average lowest winter temperature for a given location.
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This article discusses how to grow floristâs cyclamen indoors. Cyclamen bloom in winter and spring and again in the fall.
Read More | Container Gardening
Don't miss out on easy-to-grow, frost-tolerant leafy greens like Swiss chard and bok choy that can be planted in early spring when the weather is cool.
Read More | Edible Gardening
