All the Dirt on Gardening

Daisies are among the most cheerful and reliable flowers for borders and cut flower beds.  Annual Marguerite Daisy, Argyranthemum frutescens, has yellow, pink and red flowers. They do their best when nights are 75 degrees F and below so when they fade with summertime heat, shear them back and they will return in the fall. Annual Painted Daisy, Tanacetum coccineum, grow 2-feet tall in part shade. Remove the faded flowers and they will re-bloom in the fall. Pale pink Eileen May Robinson and James Kelway are easily grown from seed. Gerbera Daisy, Gerbera jamesonii, are from Africa so they are frost-tender and enjoy summer heat with afternoon protection. Festival and Jaguar Series are multi-colored. Gerberas mature at 10-14 inches, do well in containers with regular fertilizer and water. Experienced gardeners may remember when Gerbera Daisy was called Pyrethrum, Painted or Persian Daisy. Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum is a garden workhorse that is a cross betwee...

 Cold hardy in zones 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Veronica Woolly Silver Speedwell is blooming around the edges of part shade spots in our garden. I planted them from seed in the winter of 2010 , put out the tiny plants in 2011 and then the drought hit with record heat. The plants that survived to bloom this year are the ones that were in part shade ever since they were planted. While I would love to have had 30 plants survive, I'm glad I tucked them all around the beds to see where they would thrive. Now these plants have been through it all and should spread nicely into their predicted 24-inch width. Gorgeous blue blossoms. Veronicas come with white, pink, blue, lavender and purple flowers. Some are ground huggers and others are 3-feet tall. Look for Veronica austriaca, Veronica gentianoides, Veronica incana, Veronica longifolia and Veronica spicata. They all bloom with racemes of densely packed blue-shaded flowers except for those few w...