Common Names
Common Cornflower, Basketflower, Bachelor’s Button, Boutonniere Flower, Hurtsickle, Cyani Flower, Bluebottle, Garden Knapweed, Ragged Sailor, Witches’ Bells, Happy Skies, Haw Dods, Cornbottle, Blue Tops, Break-Your-Spectacles, Blue Sailor
About This Plant
Cornflower, with its vivid blue blooms, is a self-seeding, cool-weather annual from the Asteraceae family. It is native to Europe but has now naturalized in North America and Canada. It’s a hardy, frost-tolerant plant that can be sown very early in the Spring from USDA Zones 2 through 11. It reaches from one to three feet in height and spreads about one to two feet wide. It’s star-like blossoms are a brilliant blue that attracts birds and butterflies. Birds love Read More
Cilantro/Coriander
(Coriandrum sativum)
Common Names
Chinese Parsley, Mexican Parsley, Dhania
About This Plant
This herbaceous plant, grown as an annual or as a biannual depending on climate, has at least two different names–Cilantro when referring to the leaves or vegetative stage of growth, and Coriander when referring to the seeds, or mature form of the plant. The leaves taste very different from the seeds. The leaves taste similar to parsley, but juicier, with a hint of citrus while the seeds have a pungent, warm, nutty, lemony taste. The plant grows about one to two feet high and 12-18” wide.
Cilantro is a cool-weather herb but is still frost-sensitive. It is considered hardy in USDA Zones Read More
Common Names
Blue Chamomile, Ground Apple, Scented Mayweed, Whig Plant, Maythen, Manzanilla, Sweet False Chamomile, Hungarian Chamomile, Matricaria, Pinhead, Babuna
About This Plant
German Chamomile is a delicate-looking but surprisingly tough fast-growing, herbaceous annual from the Asteraceae family with feathery leaves and small Daisy-like flowers. It is an airy, bushy shrub that has a bit of a wildflower look to it and grows one to two feet high and up to a foot wide. The plants can be tall and spindly and sometimes fall over in the garden if not supported by surrounding plants. It can be short-lived in hot summers and is cold hardy to -20 degrees fahrenheit. It grows best Read More
Common Names
Chili, Chile, or Chilli, Hot Pepper, Capsicum, Cow Horn Peppers, Guinea Spice, Aleva or Bird Peppers, Spanish Pepper, Red Pepper, Pod Pepper, African Pepper, Zanzibar Pepper, Goat’s Pepper, Cockspur Pepper
About This Plant
Cayenne is one of the best known of the chili peppers. It is a member of the Solenaceae family and the Capsicum genus which also includes Bell Peppers, Chilies, Paprikas, and Habaneros. The Capsicum genus comes from the Americas and has been cultivated for use for at least 7,000 years. Cayenne in particular comes from the tropical and subtropical portions of Central and South America. Some of the earliest European explorers brought Cayenne back to Europe and Read More
Common Names
Bee Bush, Bee Bread, Bee Plant, Ox’s Tongue, Starflower, Burage, Bugloss, Bourrache, Cool Tankard, Langue de Boeuf, Tailwort
About This Plant
Borage can be a very important addition to the garden. It is a quickly growing, hardy, annual that will happily colonize a corner of the garden by self-seeding and reappear year after year. It is a medicinal herb and both the leaves and flowers are edible with a tasty and nutritious cucumber-like flavor. Its flowers produce copious amounts of nectar, attracting honey bees and other pollinators. It’s virtually pest free and is a beneficial companion plant to many of the common food plants you might have in the garden. Read More