Miss Floribunda Archives - Hyattsville Life & Times

Miss Floribunda: The primrose – an international treasure

March 28, 2018

Dear Miss Floribunda, I appreciate finding potted primroses at the Hyattsville Horticultural Society seed sale every year for a reasonable price, and always buy a few to beguile myself during the last grey days of winter. Primroses have special significance for me because much of my childhood was [read more]

Miss Floribunda: When nice plants get a bad reputation

October 24, 2017

Dear Miss Floribunda, My witch hazel is blooming, and I love the smell of its yellow flowers, which look like curls to me. While I admit the little tree does look kind of scraggly, like an old hag, or maybe even an old scag with bed head, I don’t know why it’s called a [read more]

Miss Floribunda: Cold snap recovery

April 25, 2017

Dear Miss Floribunda, The cold snap in March that followed the unusually warm February totally messed up my garden. The huge pink flowers on my tulip magnolia now look like exploded brown footballs. My crocuses croaked. My willow tree snapped off six feet from the base. The forsythia looks [read more]

Miss Floribunda: What is a Christmas rose?

December 20, 2016

Dear Miss Floribunda, What is a Christmas rose? I once heard a story about a little girl who, like the Little Drummer Boy, was too poor to give a gift to Baby Jesus. She didn’t have the Little Drummer Boy’s chutzpah or alleged talent, but instead stayed outside the stable and cried. An [read more]

Miss Floribunda: Ivy may be causing basement moisture

June 10, 2014

Dear Miss Floribunda, I’ve lived in the same house since childhood and the pin oak in the front yard was quite old when my family and I moved in. It died a couple of years ago, and since then there has been dampness in the basement for the first time. I think it may have something to do [read more]

Miss Floribunda: Balcony gardening in an apartment

February 15, 2014

Dear Miss Floribunda, I am an apartment dweller, but I looked in on the HHS seed sale February 8 because your January column promised there would be varieties of miniature plants appropriate for balcony gardeners. I bought several packets of seeds from the patio collections, including red [read more]