From the vegetable transplants, you planted this spring to the shrubs and flowers that decorate the outside and inside of your home, Virginia’s greenhouses and nurseries supply a wide range of crops to regional and local markets. In addition, we have many farmers producing specialty cut flowers to decorate your home and dinner table. After learning about growing ornamentals, you will learn how to create some arrangements for your dinner table.

Annual flowers live only for one growing season, during which they grow, flower, and produce seed, thereby completing their life cycle. Annuals must be set out or seeded every year since they don’t persist. Some varieties will self-sow, or naturally reseed themselves.

“Bulbs” is a term loosely used to include corms, tubers, tuberous roots, and rhizomes as well as true bulbs. This publication will refer to all of the above as bulbs. Many vegetables are propagated from or produce edible organs of these types (e.g., tuber, Irish potato; tuberous root, sweet potato; rhizome, Jerusalem artichoke; bulb, onion).

In 2007, Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) developed the America’s Anniversary Garden to help individuals, communities, and groups commemorate America’s 400th Anniversary with a signature landscape, garden, or container planting. These signature gardens have red, white, and blue color schemes. Although the commemoration has passed, this guide continues to be useful for creating a patriotic garden.

Iris leaf spot (also called Heterosporium leaf spot) is the most common disease of iris in Virginia. It is caused by the fungus Cladosporium iridis (syn. Heterosporium iridis). Leaf spotting is most conspicuous on the upper half of the leaf following bloom. Although this pathogen is most common on bulbous iris, it can also cause severe damage to rhizomatous iris, and has also been reported on Gladiolus, Freesia and Narcissus species.

Have you ever wondered if it is possible to enjoy the beauty of bulbs in the middle of winter? The answer is definitely yes! Many people are familiar with the hourglass-shaped vase filled with water and topped with a hyacinth bulb, or a low bowl filled with several Paper White narcissus, and the popular boxed amaryllis bulb as a welcome winter holiday gift. Most bulbs can be forced but additional planning is required in order to have a successful period of blooms.