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For plants to thrive, pay attention to their community

Paying attention to the interactions among plants is important for gardeners. Building a successful plant community – whether it's an ornamental garden, grass lawn or annual crop – requires knowing when to take steps to ensure an optimum growing environment.

Ann Marie VanDerZanden | Jan 2008 | Article

Vegetative plant parts

Vegetative plant parts include roots, stems, shoot buds and leaves. Each of these structures comes in a wide variety of types, varying from species to species. Many vegetative plant parts are also used in propagation. This ...

Ann Marie VanDerZanden | Jan 2008 | Article Peer reviewed (Gray level)

Internal plant parts

Understanding plant cells and meristems is important for successful vegetative propagation and manipulation of plant growth and flowering. This article provides an introduction to these characteristics of plant cells.

Ann Marie VanDerZanden | Jan 2008 | Article Peer reviewed (Gray level)

Know the life cycles of plants — annuals, biennials and perennials

Knowing the life cycles of plants is one of the basics of botany. Plants fall under three classifications: annuals take a year to go from seed to seed; biennials do the same in up to two years; and perennials live on.

Ann Marie VanDerZanden | Jan 2008 | Article

Environmental factors affecting plant growth

Learn about the environmental factors that affect plant growth: light, temperature, water, humidity and nutrition. Either directly or indirectly, most plant problems are caused by environmental stress.

Ann Marie VanDerZanden | Jan 2008 | Article Peer reviewed (Gray level)

Collecting and storing seeds from your garden

At some point, home gardeners might want to try saving seeds from their own gardens for future crops instead of buying them. But there are some do's and don'ts that home gardeners should know before giving it a try.

Bill Mansour, Duane Hatch | May 2003 | Article Peer reviewed (Gray level)

Grow your own cucumbers

An article from 1997 on how to grow your own cucumbers.

Bill Mansour | Jul 1997 | Article