Growing Guides

Italian parsley is the flat-leaf form of parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum), and it is the one most cooks reach for. Its flat, deep green leaves carry more flavor than curly parsley, and the plants grow tall and leafy, so...

Florence fennel is the bulbing form of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum), grown for the crisp, white, anise-sweet bulb that swells at the base of its stems. Herb fennel stays slim at the base and is grown for its fronds...

Garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina), also called rose balsam or touch-me-not, is an old-fashioned annual that lines its upright stems with single or double blooms, many as full as a small camellia, in pink, rose, red, purple, and white. It is...

Blanket flower (Gaillardia) is a tough wildflower native to North America, with daisy-like blooms in fiery red and gold. The petals are often banded red at the base and tipped in yellow around a red-brown center, and the plants keep...

Gayfeather, listed in most seed catalogs under its botanical name Liatris (Liatris spicata), is a hardy North American prairie perennial that sends up tall, feathery spikes of purple flowers in mid to late summer. Those spikes open from the top...

Moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora) is a low, spreading annual with fleshy, needle-like leaves and bright, rose-like flowers that open in the sun. If you have a hot, dry spot where nothing else wants to grow, this is your plant, and...

Larkspur (Consolida ajacis) is a hardy annual that sends up tall spikes of blue, purple, pink, and white flowers in late spring and early summer, right when the garden needs the color most. It is one of the easiest cottage-garden...

Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena) is an old-fashioned hardy annual that wraps jewel-toned blue, white, and pink flowers in a haze of thread-fine foliage, then follows them with striped, balloon-shaped seed pods. It earns a spot in cottage gardens and cutting beds...

Micro clover (Trifolium repens) is a dwarf, small-leaved white clover that stays low, feeds itself, and shrugs off dry spells, which is why gardeners use it for easy-care lawns, living mulch, and nitrogen-building cover crops. If you want to learn...