The way the color is sprinkled across these flowers will really grab attention. They are whiter near the center, with the color becoming mottled, and more intense toward the outside of the petals. This plant has an upright-spreading habit that makes it a good choice for pots, hanging baskets, and combination planters. Use a well-drained soil with a pH range of 5.8 to 6.2. Let soil dry out slightly between waterings.

These are heavy blooming, self-cleaning 16" plants that produce masses of delicate rose-pink or red tubular flowers with red and white highlights. Very long blooming. They are stunning when mass planted, and are excellent in containers.

This one comes in both rose and red cultivars. The 'rose' is a rose-pink with contrasting red and white stripes and the 'red' is a scarlet with dark red and white stripes.

Tomatoes are the favorite vegetable for home growing. If you want to grow a special variety you can't find in nurseries — Sweet Million, for example — you can sprout the seeds indoors (they germinate readily) and grow your own transplants. But it's easier and quicker to grow your tomatoes from transplants you buy at the nursery, so that is the method given here.

• Select a disease-resistant variety, such as Better Boy, Ace Hybrid, or Celebrity — one that's appropriate for your needs and climate zone.
• Choose a spot in full sun, and prepare the soil by digging it deeply and mixing in Gardner & Bloome Harvest Supreme or LGM Planting Mix and Mulch.
• Add a good vegetable fertilizer such as Organic Advantage Plant Food or Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Food.
• Plant transplants deeply. If they're leggy snip off the lower leaves, make a little trench with the trowel, lay the plant in sideways, and bend the stem up gently. Roots will form all along the buried stem.
• Choose a staking system (such as a tomato cage or trellis).
• Water deeply and continue to irrigate so the soil stays evenly moist.

Tips on Choosing Your Tomato Plants

1. If you are buying seeds, always buy from a reputable company. If you can find a company that grows its own seed in a climate similar to your own, so much the better. Leftover tomato seeds can be used in subsequent years provided they are well-sealed and stored in a dark, cool place. They may last up to 4 years, but you would be better off using fresh seeds each year.
2. Height and bushiness of the plant are serious considerations, particularly for gardeners growing tomatoes in small spaces.
   
3. Other factors to consider in selecting seeds or seedlings include taste, size, shape, color, mildness, (acidity or non-acidity), disease resistance, and cracking resistance. Home-growers need not consider whether the variety has "firm skin" or "uniform ripening" characteristics, as these belong to the "good shipping" types and concern primarily commercial growers.
   
4. Your intended use for the tomato may dictate your selection. For instance, if you want to use your tomato crop for preserving or for making tomato paste, you'll want to select a variety that has a strong tomato flavor and lasts a long time in the refrigerator. "Roma" is a good variety for making tomato paste.
   
5. Disease-resistance may be of special interest to you if a particular disease is prevalent in your area.
   
6. You may be concerned about the "days to maturity" (the time it takes for a transplant to bear ripe fruit) if your growing season is short — or you are the impatient type.
   
7. Finally, your priority may be in choosing a unique tomato plant, a novelty no one else in the neighborhood grows.

This Week's Trivia Question:

What commonly known fruit was declared a vegetable by the US Supreme Court in 1893?

This Week's Prize:  1 gallon Campanula 'Cherry Bells' (click here for photo).

Sometimes, despite a gardener's best efforts to improve the soil and care for the grass, a lawn fails to thrive.  Insufficient light is often the cause of the problem. Other times the location is too hot or steep to keep well watered and fertilized. On such sites a gardener is well advised to consider low maintenance alternatives to turf grass. The following plants are excellent choices for difficult locations:

For Shade:

Pachysandra: Spreads quickly through underground runners but is not invasive; thrives in acid soil

Lily Turf: Ideal for use around ponds and the edge of streams; best with well drained soil and light feeding.

Baby Tears: An evergreen, emerald-green creeping ground cover with tiny leaves. It is a soft, velvet-like carpet growing 2.5cm (1") high. This must be kept moist.

Sword Fern: A tough fern that tolerates some sun and looks good through winter. This can look more like a shrub than a ground cover

Hosta (hardy cultivars): Lush yet elegant appearance; dozens of varieties and easy care make hostas a popular choice for shade. This can look more like a shrub than a ground cover.

For Sun:

Thyme: Thyme is low growing and rugged. It requires a minimum in watering, loves loose sandy soil and as an added bonus, it blooms. Most low growing varieties, under 2 inches, take light foot traffic and therefore are great between stepping stones in those sunny warm areas.

Sedum:This is a large group of hardy and tender succulent annuals and perennials. Sedums are very easy to propagate as almost any tiny leaf or piece of stem that touches the ground will root.

Trailing Gazania: 12" high perennial from South Africa. It is a perennial that flowers in the summer and requires little water.