Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
Practical advice on growing food and flowers, improving soil, and making the most of small spaces. Start anywhere — the garden will meet you.
This plant belongs to the family of _Apocynaceae_, which contains many poisonous species. It is often cultivated for the beauty of its flowers; the leaves are considered a valuable cathartic, in moder...
Bitter aloe, a plant of the lily family, which furnishes the finest aloes. The bitter, resinous juice is stored up in greenish vessels, lying beneath the skin of the leaf, so that when the leaves are...
This beautiful tree-fern attains a height of stem of 25 to 30 feet, with fronds spreading out into a crest 26 feet in diameter. These plants are among the most beautiful of all vegetable productions,...
The Pali-mara, or devil tree, of Bombay. The plant attains a height of 80 or 90 feet; the bark is powerfully bitter, and is used in India in medicine. It is of the family of _Apocynaceae_.
Malaguetta pepper, or grains of paradise; belonging to the ginger family, _Zingiberaceae_. The seeds of this and other species are imported from Guinea; they have a very warm and camphor-like taste, a...
This plant yields the wood called Lignum Rhodium. It also furnishes a gum resin analogous to Elemi, and supposed to yield Indian Bdellium.
The cashew nut tree, cultivated in the West Indies and other tropical countries. The stem furnishes a milky juice, which becomes hard and black when dry, and is used as a varnish. It also secretes a g...
The well-known pineapple, the fruit of which was described three hundred years ago, by Jean de Lery, a Huguenot priest, as being of such excellence that the gods might luxuriate upon it, and that it s...
This is a native of Senegambia. Its bark is anthelmintic, but requires care in its administration, being powerfully narcotic. It has a sweetish taste, but a disagreeable smell, and is generally given...
The Khus-Khus, or Vetiver grass of India. The fibrous roots yield a most peculiar but pleasing perfume. In India the leaves are manufactured into awnings, blinds, and sunshades; but principally for sc...
The sweet-scented lemon grass, a native of Malabar. An essential oil is distilled from the leaves, which is used in perfumery. It is a favorite herb with the Asiatics, both for medicinal and culinary...
The Cherimoyer of Peru, where it is extensively cultivated for its fruits, which are highly esteemed by the inhabitants, but not so highly valued by those accustomed to the fruits of temperate climate...