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PODCAST

Focus on Flowers

Indiana Public Media

Focus on Flowers is a weekly podcast and public radio program about flower gardening hosted by master gardener Moya Andews.

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All Episodes

02:00

Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker)

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/08/14

In her book The Once and Future Gardener, Virginia Clayton provides examples of articles that were published in popular American gardens magazines between 1900 and 1940. One article by Helen Wilson focused on spire-like flowers. She also called them "steeped flowers" evoking the image of a church steeple pointing heavenward in an English village.In high summer in our gardens, we can use red-hot poker flowers, sometimes called torch lilies, to provide erect spikes. They are members of the

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02:00

Curbside Color

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/08/07

I recently admired a beautifully planted curbside garden in full sun with a lovely color palette. Right in front were lavender creeping phlox, and behind those was the low-growing cranesbill geranium ‘Rozanne' and low-growing perennial salvias with purple flowers. Behind these low-growing plants were taller Russian sage with its grey foliage and blue/lavender blooms. They were interspersed with Caryopteris ‘Lil Miss Sunshine', which has chartreuse foliage and blue flowers. It blooms

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02:00

Euphorbia

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/07/31

Moya Andrews talks about euphorbias.The genus Euphorbia is large—about 2000 species—and there is great variation between forms. Some plants look a bit like cacti, and many of the species have flowers that are actually bracts. Many of the plants are tropical and sub-tropical, though some members of this genus survive well in temperate regions. At the holiday season we see many poinsettias, native to Mexico; they are the best known euphorbias in commerce. They are imported or are grown in

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01:59

Ferny Corydalis

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/07/24

Moya Andrews talks about Corydalis.Many of us have seen a ferny plant with tiny yellow flowers growing on walls and in cottage gardens in England, where it self-sows enthusiastically. This plant is Corydalis (kor RID ah liss), and it grows from rhizomes. It resembles the habit and form of Bleeding Heart, and it likes similar growing conditions. It has delicate lacy-looking foliage and racemes of spurred flowers in the spring. There are about 300 species of Corydalis, both perennial and

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02:00

Bugle Fairy

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/07/17

Moya Andrews reads a poem about ajuga, a.k.a., bugle weeds.Ajugas are perennials that are commonly known as bugles or bugle weeds, and there are about 40 species in the genus. Ajuga reptans (reptans means creeping), is often used as a ground cover that carpets the ground with glossy rosettes of spoon-shaped leaves and spikes of violet-blue flowers in late spring. Cultivars with variegated foliage are less vigorous than those with green or bronze leaves it seems. It is hardy zones 3-9 and

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02:00

Campanula Bells

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/07/10

Moya Andrews talks about bellflowers.Campanulas, or bellflowers to use their common name, are plants with bell-shaped blue or white blooms, and they range in height from ground-hugging dwarfs to plants that grow to 6 feet. A gardener who plants a number of different types can have bloom for most of the summer. Varieties and Growing HabitsThey need a moderately rich well-drained soil and full or partial sun. C.persicifolia is the popular blue peach leaf, and the white equivalent is ‘alba’

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02:00

Stalwart Salvias

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/07/03

There are roughly 900 species of salvia, which is the largest genus in the mint family. The common name is sage, and the genus includes annuals, perennials, and sub-shrubs. Remember that sub-shrubs have the woody base of a shrub and soft top growth. When pruning a sub-shrub such as sage or lavender, do not cut into or injure that woody base.Salvias have tubular flowers with two lips and are ancient plants, which were probably taken to England by the Roman legions, as the name is derived

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02:00

A Reformed Snob

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/06/26

Moya Andrews talks about marigolds.I used to be quite a snob about flowers that grow so easily that they seem to be growing everywhere. For instance, I used to be quite dismissive about marigolds, as I disliked the smell. It took me years to realize that many commonly grown flowers, in addition to being pretty, possess other reliable characteristics, such as drought and heat tolerance and resistance to pests. After failing with zillions of more finicky plants that died as soon as a heat

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02:11

Nasturtiums

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/06/19

Moya Andrews talks about nasturtiums.Nasturtiums are annuals that grow well from seed. The genus is Tropaeolum (trop EYE oh lum), which is from a Greek word meaning “to twine,” as some nasturtiums will climb on a support.Tropaeolum minor was first found growing in Mexico and Peru and introduced to England in 1574. The English called the plant Indian Cress because the leaves tasted sharp. The peppery taste and characteristic scent led to the name “nasturtium,” which is from the Latin word

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02:00

Balloon Flowers

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/06/12

Moya Andrews talks about balloon flowers.Balloon flowers have unique buds that look round and full of air just like a balloon and so their common name is descriptive. The genus name comes from 2 Greek words “platys” meaning broad and “kodon” meaning bell, and members of the Platycodon genus usually have blue flowers, but there are some varieties that are white or pink. Balloon flowers belong to the Campanula family because when the blooms open the petals flare out so that the bottom of the

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02:00

Mature Gardens

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/06/05

If you want to see a well-behaved garden, visit one that is about 3 years old. Three years is about the time it takes for plants to settle in and grow a bit. But it’s not long enough for most plants to get out of hand and start moving around. Even in the first seven years or so it is usually still possible to see some semblance of the original design that the gardener intended. Actually, though, I once read that most gardens need to be redone about every seven years. Unfortunately, I read

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02:00

Lilac Breeding

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/05/29

Although non-native, lilacs are a much-loved and well-behaved import to North America.

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02:00

Groundcover Phlox

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/05/22

There are about 70 different types of phlox, both short and tall. The short ones are used as groundcovers, and their palette is made up of the cool colors.

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02:00

Container Preparations: New, Rich Soil and Good...

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/05/15

Most of us, including those who are not space challenged, like to experiment with plants in containers. It is like playing at micro gardening.The drawback of containers, though, is that as we water them the nutrients in the soil leach out. Therefore, we need to start by filling our pots each season with a rich growing medium and follow through with regular feedings during the summer.Slow-release granules are often used for this purpose. Also some gardeners say it is good to mix a little

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02:00

Mother's Day

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/05/08

Amy Stewart, in her book Flower Confidential, says that florists practically invented Mother’s Day. It was actually invented in 1908 by a woman named Anna Jarvis who wanted the celebration to be on the second Sunday in May because it was the anniversary of the death of her own mother. “Crowd it and push it,” she urged florists, noting that May was a month when flowers are plentiful and therefore cheaper. Florists jumped on board, and Jarvis’s idea worked as people saw it as a chance to

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02:00

Death of a Flower

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/05/01

Many of us who love to grow tulips in our gardens have visiting deer who love to eat them. It seems to be such a violent death for a bud or flower. The poet E. J. Scovell, when she wrote the following poem in 1991, must not have had deer in her garden because she describes a more gradual demise. Here are some excerpts of her poem: I would, if I could, choose Age, and die outwards as a tulip does; Not as this iris drawing in, in-coiling Its complex strange taut inflorescence, willing Itself

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02:00

Deadheading Spent Blooms

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/04/23

Deadheading spent booms on plants is important, especially with perennials. Many modern annuals have been bred so that the plant will keep blooming without deadheading. Wave petunia was the first annual where breeders managed to achieve this, but now it is rare for any type of petunias to need deadheading. However, this is not the case with perennials, where deadheading makes the plants bloom longer. Otherwise, many perennials will waste their energy producing seeds. After a main stem has

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02:00

Native Sidalcea

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/04/17

The genus Sidalcea is made up of species from western North America, and the best of the species is Sidalcea malviflora, so named because the flowers resemble mallows. The scientific name is actually a combination of two related plant forms, “sida” and “alcea,” because it resembled both the mallow and the hollyhock. The most used common names recently are miniature hollyhock and prairie mallow. Other common names in the past were checkers and checkerbloom because of the alternate placement

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02:00

Our Native Sidalcea

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/04/17

The scientific name Sidalcea is actually a combination of two related plant forms, “sida” and “alcea,” because it resembled both the mallow and the hollyhock. Common names are miniature hollyhock and prairie mallow. Other common names in the past were checkers and checkerbloom because of the alternate placement of the flowers on the stem.

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02:00

Globe Amaranth

Focus on Flowers ·

2025/04/10

Globe amaranth has the botanical name Gomphrena globosa and adult butterflies love this pretty annual. The little round flower heads bloom for a long time in the sunny summer garden and into early fall and dry beautifully for winter bouquets. The pink and orange varieties are especially striking and hold up well in a vase, especially if only one bloom is cut per stem. Fortunately, they have long stems so that is useful for many types of flower arrangements.

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