In depth gardening advice from an expert gardener
Matthew wrote:
Did you know it is Carl Linnaeus’ 300th birthday this year!  Read about him here.Â
Thank you Matthew for reminding us and sending the excellent website. Readers can google up lectures and events around the world celebrating this birthdate.
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The Garden Lady is really upset with herself. As I drive around town and see how lovely the pansies are that people had planted this fall, the Garden Lady wishes that she had planted them.
Are readers aware that pansies are lovers of cool nights and slightly warmer days? See here. In the past this had described the early spring when pansies were planted. The pansies planted in the spring would bloom their heads off
until the weather became warmer and other flowering plants bloomed. They are especially pretty in window boxes in New England where the spring weather stayed cool longer. But when the weather got hot, the pansies would die.
Then it was discovered that if people planted pansies in the fall, they would bloom twice. They would first bloom in the Fall when they were planted. They would go dormant in the winter. And then those fall planted pansies would bloom a second time in the early spring. The cool nights and those slightly warmer days were perfect for the pansies’ need. It is really heat that kills them not cold.
Well, with this warming winter trend, those people smart enough to plant the pansies in the fall are enjoying an extended bloom period of those fall planted pansies. It has been cool enough to meet the pansies need for a longer period yet not too cold nor too hot (see here). So the Garden Lady regrets that she didn’t plant pansies this fall.
Winter will be here in the Northeast in a few days. The Garden Lady wants you to have a safe Holiday season and New Year.
Our plants are indoors for safe keeping and are making the house decorative as well as pretty. But some of these plants we have are poisonous, such as this Jerusalem Cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum) seen in this picture. Â 
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A plant considered “poisonous” has properties that cause harm, such as allergic reactions, skin irritations or internal poisoning.
I received an email from a Gabriela in Mexico. She asked,
Con que nombre se le conoce a la ASPIDISTRA en America Latina (Mexico)?
How exciting to know that someone in Mexico is reading my website! Though I do not speak any Spanish I hope that the translation of your question is “What is the name of the Aspidistra in Mexico?
When the Garden Lady writes this column, she tries to use Latin names for plants, not just the common names. The reason I use the Latin names is because many plants have lots of different common names. When one goes to look for a plant, the common name may be different in different parts of the country or in different parts of the world but the Latin name is the same everywhere. These differences in common names can cause confusion when one wants to find or buy a particular plant.
One of my faithful readers, Stephanie, and her husband are getting excited about Christmas. Here are three questions she had about Christmas flowers and plants.
1. Are there any pretty Christmas/winter plants for the outside?
2. Besides the Christmas tree and the poinsettia, are there any other nice indoor Christmas plants?
3. Do you happen to know which types of Christmas trees tend to have the longest lives?
Here are my answers.
The Garden Lady has received a request to speak about a different plant each week. Life is filled with such wonderful things happening, I don’t know if I can find the time to write about a different plant every week; but I will certainly try.
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The first plant I want to speak about is the Poinsettia.
 
The Garden Lady has received some more questions from different people. Below are the questions and my replies. Â
Here is another question from Stephanie.
Do you have any suggestions for rarely used plant names that would be good names for a baby, names besides Violet, Lilly, Rose, etc.?
Here are my thoughts on this question.
A person by the name of Ryan emailed me today and asked the following question: “I want to grow plants in my dorm room at college and was wondering whether you recommend any type of plant and whether I need to take any special precautions.”
Below are some of my thoughts on the topic –
Today when I went out to rake my patio, I was shocked and very pleased to see that for the first time a flower that I had planted a few years ago was in bloom. I was shocked because it is almost ½ way through October and we have had what seemed like two small frosts. I am pleased because the flower is really quite pretty. Â
