The Volcano phlox is a new family of colorful phlox that are sturdy, exceptionally long-blooming, and very tolerant of powdery mildew, which can plague many other phlox. They come in six fragrant, eye-catching colors including purple, red, ruby, white, pink with white eye and pink with red eye. They will provide masses of flowers from June through September.

These new phlox are hybridized versions, originally from Eastern Europe, and are incredibly hardy, with a growing range of USDA zones 4-10. Unlike many taller phlox, the Volcano series produces sturdy plants with 24-30” stems that don't collapse, making them an excellent choice for both borders and container gardens.

Volcano phlox prefer full sun locations with good drainage and regular watering. To prolong blooming, we recommend cutting back the stems by 2/3 after the first bloom and giving a light feeding, which will encourage new stems and more flowers. With very little attention they will provide you with years of beauty in the garden!

Into beautiful landscapes, no matter the size, shape or even theme, you can incorporate flowering plants perfect for cutting. For those gardeners who love to make their own flower arrangement creations, we want to introduce you to "Cutting Garden Plants."

Some of these flowers tower high above the rest of the garden. For those, you may need additional support to keep the whole plant upright. When the plant is young, place small wire tomato supports around it. As it matures, the support will disappear in the foliage, and the plant will stand tall.

When planting your cutting garden, amend the native soil with Bumper Crop. Feed with Flower Tone or a 10-10-10 for healthy plants with a wonderful flower show.

We have lots of good cutting flower plants available now. Here are some of the plants we suggest.

Wives' tale, myth or fact? What really works to make cut flowers last longer?

Aspirin, vitamins, vinegar, 7-Up, Sprite, pennies and sugar. Some say they work, some say that they don't. There are many folklore additives, and we have a few other tips that will help as well.

• Remove all foliage from the stems below the water line; this minimizes bacterial growth in the water.
• Cut at least an inch from the bottom of each stem. Some say to then crush the bottom of the stem.
• Keep the water fresh.
• Add this homemade recipe: 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tsp. bleach, 2 Tbs. lemon or lime juice to a quart of water.
• Check the water level and replenish as needed.

Did you know that flowers in bud form will open if placed into warm water? Yes, indeed. Conversely, flowers kept in cool water will last longer and buds will be slow to open.

If you have a tip that works, please let us know and we'll be happy to share it with everyone! Who knows? You might even become famous!

In the summertime, when the weather is hot, heat-loving annuals will dazzle your gardens with vibrant colors. They are the sun-bathing beauties of any garden. With so many different flower forms, colors, sizes and foliage shapes, every gardener will have a dozen or two favorite annuals blooming in the garden to brag about.

Versatility is their name; garden pizzazz is your gain. Annuals make themselves at home in your garden beds, intermingled with your trees and shrubs, patio containers, window boxes and/or hanging baskets Some annuals are groundcovers, some are perfect for the "middle and marvelous" group, and of course some will stand "tall and sassy" in the rear of the garden bed.

For a huge colorful impact, plant in swaths or waves. For example, many people planted in red, white and blue for July 4th. Perhaps they used blue lobelia in the front row, zinnias (red of course) in the next row, and lots of white cosmos in the back. The same concept applies to other color schemes.

Plant your annuals using Bumper Crop planting mix. Most of these annuals need regular water. Fertilize with Bud n' Bloom to encourage continuous blooms. Also, to keep your annuals blooming all summer long, deadhead (which means pluck off the spent flowers). This will keep the plant from thinking that it is time to stop blooming and spend all of its energy developing seeds for the next season. Remember that annuals are plants that grow and bloom within one season.

Whatever your garden style or colors, we have annuals for you! Hurry in and pick your favorites. Get them in your gardens for a spectacular summer flower show!

Click here to view sample pictures of annuals.

Blooming from mid-spring through early fall, it is particularly prized for its ability to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and songbirds. The most popular species originally hails from China, but buddleias are now grown throughout the United States.

Butterfly bushes are valued for their clusters of beautiful, tubular-shaped flowers. The blossoms come in a variety of colors including white, pink, red, blue, purple, orange or yellow flowers produced by different species and cultivars. Adding to their attraction is the fact that they are rich in nectar and often strongly scented.

The taller varieties add the most value to the garden when they are grown as a background shrub or as part of a mixed border, while the dwarf varieties look great as focal plants or as part of a colorful perennial bed. Butterfly bushes prefer to be planted in full sun locations but can tolerate partial shade if needed. They go completely dormant in the winter in colder areas but can remain semi-evergreen in warmer climates.

The butterfly bush is a fairly low maintenance shrub. Once established it can become fairly drought tolerant and needs only to be fed with an all purpose plant food once in spring and summer. It can be pruned back hard every spring if needed; this will produce a denser and more rounded shrub.

Every garden can use a few--and your birds and butterflies will thank you too!

Mainely Mulch

If you are looking for an organic, alternative top-dressing for your garden and want to get away from traditional bark mulches, consider Mainely Mulch.

It contains a blend of finely chopped, compressed, sweet-smelling barley, oat, alfalfa, and timothy hay that has been dehydrated and is completely weed-free.

Use Mainely Mulch to shade new lawns and vegetable gardens, mulch roses, and flower beds. It breaks down rapidly (minimizing the need to rake up afterward), reduces weeds, improves water retention, and best of all, it adds organic matter and nitrogen to the soil.

You squish them and flick them, yet still they keep coming back. What is it with all these ants?

Knowing the type of ant pest you're dealing with will help you decide if you want to continue to allow these insects to thrive in your landscaping or not. As ants typically collect pieces of dead, or almost dead, insects, and loose or old vegetation, they might be more beneficial than you think.

On the other hand, some species will bite when they feel threatened. The bite of biting ants is very painful, and can be a great danger to those who are allergic. Not as serious, but still a nuisance, other species will farm aphids on your plants, as the aphid secretes a sugary liquid called honeydew that ants crave.

Killing ants is not difficult if the proper method is used. As ants breathe oxygen through tiny passages in their exoskeleton, a product containing boric acid can be used to clog these holes and suffocate the ant. It may take a few days but this method is very effective and safe. If you can't wait that long, or have a huge invasion, we have stronger remedies available.

Do not squash ants unless you wish to attract them, as the scent released when they die will attract other ants to come and take them back to the colony as food.

Spider mites are common pest problems on many plants around yards and gardens. Spider mites, like all mites, are not insects. They are related to spiders and therefore fall into the class of arachnids, which have eight legs, not six.

Spider mites are a common pest problem on many garden plants. Spider mites, like all mites, are not insects. They are related to spiders and therefore fall into the class of arachnids, which have eight legs, not six.

These tiny creatures cause injury to foliage as they feed, bruising the cells with their small, whip-like mouthparts and ingesting the sap. Damage to the foliage gives a speckled appearance to the damaged tissue sites. They also leave a cottony web material between leaf stems.

Spider mite infestation tends to occur during periods of dry, hot weather and hit plants that have not been well watered. A good lesson to learn from this would be to keep your plants healthy and watered at all times, especially when hot, dry weather strikes your gardens.

If you still have spider mites even after your best precautions, there are a number of solutions for their control. For mild infestations consider spraying the undersides of the foliage with water. Make sure and do this at least seven days in a row since mites hate moisture.

For more severe infestations, spray the infected plants with a horticultural oil or a systemic miticide product. Make sure to repeat with two more applications seven days apart to knock out the complete (egg, larvae, adult) cycle.

For plants that you know are susceptible to mites, consider applying a systemic root insecticide to prevent infestations for a complete year. Remember to never spray edible plants with systemic insecticides. Use a horticultural oil or pyrethrin/garden soap spray instead.

Product Spotlight: Jonathan Green Organic Lawn Program

If you desire to have a good looking, healthy, all organic lawn, we want to introduce you to the Jonathan Green Organic Lawn Program. Organics take time to build up in the soil; be patient and try the entire organic program for one year and the improvement you will see in your lawn will be dramatic. Simply apply JG Organic Weed Control plus Fertilizer along with JG MIR-A-CAL in early spring. Follow with a feeding JG Organic Lawn Fertilizer in late spring followed by another application of JG Organic Weed Control plus Fertilizer and finally a second application of JG Organic Lawn Fertilizer in fall.

The Jonathan Organic Lawn Care Program is designed to provide your lawn with excellent turf nutrition in a slow long lasting nitrogen formulation. Once you've gone "Green" with Jonathan Green you will no longer experience the flush of top growth which can happen when chemical fertilizers release quickly. You will mow less and have fewer turf disease out breaks to contend with. Follow these four simple steps and you're on the road to a completely natural, organic and safe lawn care program which will benefit both your lawn and your family and pets. Going "green" or organic is a great a idea!

My purple daylily blooms are a shade of peach this year. What's wrong?

Answer:

Your daylily plant probably has not been fed in some time and needs an infusion of nutrients to bring back its true colors. Modern hybrid daylilies have a very diverse color range, considering that the wild types from which they have been bred were only in shades of yellow, orange...or what we like to call peach.

The problem is that since all daylily hybrids can be traced back to the original wild daylilies, they can also revert to those original colors (no matter what color they are supposed to be) if not kept fed and happy with a balanced supply of nutrients. We recommend feeding daylilies every two months, from April through September, with a balanced flower food.