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VegetableVegetable Fruit Herb

How to Grow: Tomatoes

Learn about tomatoes, including how to plant and grow them. Listen to podcast: podcast transcript It's hard to image a vegetable garden without tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum). They are the number one grown vegetable in gardens and there are hundreds of hybrid and heirloom varieties to give you more selections than you can think of. There are white, black, green, red, pink, orange, yellow, purple, and striped colored varieties. Some grow as large as 7 pounds while others are as small as a cherry. Some plants are as small as 1 foot tall...

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PerennialsPodcast

How to Grow: Tree Peonies

Listen to this podcast about how to grow and care for tree peonies in the flower garden. One of my favorite spring perennial flowers is the peony. They're getting ready to burst with big gaudy, red, white and pink colored flowers. While many of us grow the herbaceous peonies that die back the the ground each winter, there is another type that's gaining popularity. Tree peonies are just what they sound like. They have woody stems that survive the winter. Though they may never grow into “trees” in our climate, they do have a shrubby...

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Garden Design & CareVegetable

How to Grow: Trellising Tomatoes

Learn about the best ways to trellis your tomato plants to keep them off the ground. Listen to podcast: Well, my tomatoes are in the ground and enjoying the warm soil and temperatures. I grow a mix of hybrids and heirlooms and one thing they all have in common is they're big plants. So, they need to be kept off the ground, because tomatoes flopping on the ground leads to fruit rot, more leaf diseases and a big mess by midsummer. We all know about staking and caging tomatoes so I won't belabor those points. Just remember that if you're...

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Houseplants Shrubs

How to Grow: Tropical Hibiscus

Sun Requirements full sun Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Blooms from spring to fall and is a broadleaved evergreen Mature Height x Spread 8 to 15 feet x 5 to 10 feet, although can be larger in tropical areas such as Hawaii Tropical hibiscus is an evergreen shrub that is only hardy to USDA zone 10-11. This means it's limited to growing outdoors in the United States to subtropical areas of California, Texas, Arizona and Florida as well as Hawaii. It's often grown as a foundation plant or mixed with other subtropical plants and flowers in...

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Shrubs Vines

How to Grow: Trumpet Vine

Campsis radicans   Other Name trumpet creeper   Sun Requirements full sun, part sun, part shade   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Mid summer to fall with red, orange or yellow flowers   Mature Height x Spread 10 to 30 feet x 5 to 10 feet   Added Benefits attracts beneficials, attracts hummingbirds, native, deer resistant   This aggressive, woody vine produces large clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers, prized by hummingbirds. The flowers give way to bean-shaped pods. It also has attractive, long dark green leaves made of 7, 9 or 11...

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Bulbs

How to Grow: Tuberous Begonia

Learn how to grow tuberous begonias including information about varieties Listen to podcast: podcast transcript Begonia tuberhybrida   Other Name tuberous rooted begonia   Sun Requirements part sun, part shade   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Summer to fall in a wide range of colors such as red, pink, yellow, orange, white and bi-colors   Mature Height x Spread 8 to 18 inches x 8 to 18 inches   Added Benefits attracts beneficials, deer resistant   Tuberous begonias are colorful flowers grown from under ground bulbs or tubers...

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Trees

How to Grow: Tulip Tree

Liriodendron tulipifera   Other Name Tulip poplar   Sun Requirements Full sun   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Late spring with tulip-shaped, yellow-green colored flowers and brilliant golden fall foliage color.   Mature Height x Spread 70 to 90 feet x 35 to 50 feet with some dwarf versions   Added Benefits Native, attracts beneficials, deer resistant   This large, magnolia-family, deciduous tree can be massive in the landscape. But it's unusual for its large, tulip-shaped flowers in late spring. Even the leaves look...

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BulbsPodcast

How to Grow: Tulips

Learn about tulips, including how to plant and grow them. Listen to podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Tulips Tulipa spp and hybrids   Other Name NA   Sun Requirements full sun, part sun   Bloom Period and Seasonal Color Spring to early summer in a wide range of flower shapes and almost every color of the rainbow   Mature Height x Spread 4 to 24 inches x 6 to 8 inches   Added Benefits attracts beneficials   Tulips are the standard bearer for spring flowering bulbs. They are a vast group with a variety of plant sizes, flower...

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blogVegetable

How to Grow: Turnips

I got turned on to turnips (Brassica rapa) rather late in life. I was visiting a farm in New Hampshire when the farmer pulled a 'Hakurei' white turnip from the ground and bit into it like an apple. The only turnips I had known up to that point were the mashed ones at Thanksgiving dinner. I tried it and was hooked. The texture was juicy and crunchy and the flavor sweet and mild. While Southerns have enjoyed turnips as part of their traditional cooking, we Northeners are just getting turned on, too. Turnips are an efficient crop. You can eat...

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Houseplants

How to Grow: Umbrella Plant

Sun Requirements Place an umbrella tree (Schefflera) in a room with bright, indirect light. Avoid direct sun that can burn the leaves. Leggy and floppy plants may not be receiving enough light. Bloom Period and Plant Shape Umbrella plants are evergreen, foliage plants in the tropics and are grown for their lush leaves that are shaped liked umbrellas around the trunk. Umbrella plants grow in a shrub-like shape indoors, but some can be trained into a single trunk tree. Mature Height x Spread The umbrella plant grows quickly. Outdoors in...

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