Flowers

Calendula is a well-known medicinal herb and uplifting ornamental garden plant that has been used therapeutically, ceremonially, and as a dye and food plant for centuries. Most commonly known as for its topical use as a tea or infused oil for wounds and skin trauma, the bright orange or yellow flower contains many important constituents and can be taken internally …

Herbaceous Peonies are the most well known type of peony. They are disease resistant perennial plants that enhance the structure and beauty of any garden and produce some of the best cut flowers available. They bloom during the transition from spring into summer, with each individual cultivar blooming for an average of 7-10 days. The foliage of shining green leaves remains …

The plant started growing this spring. I can’t remember if I planted something there or if it is a volunteer started by some bird.

tbd

Bright and bold, cockscomb (Celosia argenta) blooms from summer until early fall. The convoluted flower heads have a shape similar to cauliflower. These annual flowers look garish in the wrong setting, so plan your companion plants carefully. They make excellent cut flowers that last a long time in the vase. They also dry well and can be used in crafts. …

Common in our Sunnyvale yards but little known in the North American kitchen, purslane is both delicious and exceptionally nutritious. Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) — also known as duckweed, fatweed, pursley, pussley, verdolagas and wild portulaca — is the most frequently reported “weed” species in the world. It can grow anywhere that has at least a two-month growing season. My …

Blood flowers (Aclepias curassavica) are red-orange with yellow hoods. Flowering continues throughout the summer to early autumn. Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees are attracted to the flowers. Monarch butterflies lay eggs on this plant and the resulting larvae (caterpillars) use the plant leaves as a food source. Flowers are followed by long, narrow seed pods (3-4” long) which split open when …

I thought this was a potato vine, but now I am not sure. Potato vines have dark fruit. This vine has white flowers in spring and summer. But the seed pod(s) are about twelve inches long and joined at the bottom. During the summer, I am distracted with other flowers and did not notice the growth pattern of the pods.

The canna lily plant is a rhizomatous perennial with tropical-like foliage and large flowers that resemble that of iris. Canna lilies are low maintenance and easy to grow, and both their flowers and foliage offer long-lasting color in the garden. Flower color may be red, orange or yellow. Depending on the variety, foliage color varies from green to maroon, bronze, …

Okay. I bought this plant because of its name. There were no photos of the flowers; the plant was not yet in bloom. I just loved the 1980s BBC four-year series starring Rowan Atkinson (as Edmund Blackadder) and Tony Robinson (as Baldrick). When the plant finally bloomed last week, I was pleasantly surprised by its purple flower stalk. But, as …