Although the Latin botanical names are the best way to talk about flowers, since common names vary so widely, some common names are still a lot of fun and definitely worth knowing. Balloon flower ...

An interesting and well-behaved perennial, the balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus, acquired its common name due to the resemblance of its buds to a hot air balloon. Before its buds unfold and ...

Platycodon grandiflorus 'Hakone Blue' offers dazzling double blue flowers in summer. It grows 24 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Zones 4-8 Varieties of sedum are practically perfect plants. They look ...

As a landscape designer, when I look at a landscape, I have designed color in my gardens for all kinds of conditions. What I try to do is to have color in the garden all year; we call that a ...

My friend Barbara in Roslyn admired my bright blue Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) and wished for some for her backyard border. As I had large clumps that I started from seed a few years ...

This is definitely the year of “I won’t bloom where I was planted,” at my homestead. Tall purple (not wild, but acting like it) garden phlox everywhere — not to be outdone by blue balloon flower ...