Inch Plants in the Garden Inch plant thrives in USDA zones 9 to 11. It can withstand a very light frost, but nothing more. It can be used as a groundcover or encouraged to cascade down ledges to form an attractive curtain that produces small white blossoms. If you really want fluminensis inch plants in the garden, opt for the “Innocence” variety that has been bred to be less invasive and more attractive....
How to Make a Gourd Canteen So, you’re ready to make crafts with gourds, now what? Get started with growing and making your own water canteen. Here is how you can do that: Now you have a finished set of gourd water canteens. This is just one of the many fun crafts with gourds that you can do. Birdhouses are another.
Prevention of Powdery Mildew The best way to take care of powdery mildew is by prevention. Be sure to start with healthy plants. One powdery mildew homemade prevention tactic is to simply prune back any dead plant material during the normal pruning time. Do not plant things too close together in order to allow ample air circulation around the plants. It is important to not plant in damp, shady areas, as that is a prime location for powdery mildew....
About Worm Tower Composting A vermicomposting tower is a terrific way to get to a zero waste household. Not only do the worms clean up your organic waste but they leave behind nutrient rich castings in the soil. Sounds like a win/win right? Well in a perfect world, it is. But the reality is that you need to pay attention to the type of worm used, the size of your worm tower, venting heat yet keeping water out of the compost tower, and using safe materials that don’t leach hazardous toxins into the soil....
Hurricane Protection in Gardens Coastal residents should prepare for the worst, and this begins at planting time. Some plants are more easily damaged than others. Choose your trees carefully because a mature tree has the potential to damage your home if it breaks in the wind. Plant saplings that will become large trees in areas with plenty of soil to stabilize the roots. The topsoil should be at least 18 inches (46 cm....
Hybrid fruit trees are the result of pollinating the flowers of one type of tree with pollen from another type of tree. The seeds from the cross-pollinated fruit produce a different type of tree that has some characteristics of both trees. Don’t confuse hybrids with genetically engineered trees. Genetically engineered plants are modified by artificially introducing genetic material from another organism. Hybridization is a natural process. What is a Pluot?...
Identifying Diseases in Boxwood Decline – Decline is the name given to one of the more mysterious diseases affecting boxwoods. It causes their leaves to turn yellow and drop, their branches to die randomly, and their wood and root crowns to form sunken cankers. Decrease the likelihood of decline by cutting back dead branches and removing dead leaves to encourage air circulation. Don’t overwater during the summer but provide enough water before the frost to give the plant the strength to survive the winter without damage....
What is Indian Rosewood? Before you decide to plant Indian rosewood trees, you might ask: what is Indian rosewood? It’s a tree native to the Indian subcontinent. Its scientific name is Dalbergia sissoo, and it’s rich in common names too, including Dalbergia, Himalaya raintree, and penny leaf tree. Dalbergia sissoo information tells us that rosewoods are attractive deciduous trees growing vigorously to some 60 feet (20 m.) tall and 40 feet (12 m....
Indoor Olive Trees Olive trees have been cultivated for thousands of years for their fruit and the oil made from it. If you love olives or simply love the look of the green-gray foliage, you may dream of growing olive trees too. Olive trees come from the Mediterranean region though, where the weather is toasty. While they can be cultivated in USDA zones 8 and warmer, they are not happy if the temperature drops below 20 degrees F....
What is a Shallot? Many people wonder, “What is a shallot?” Although they’re often confused with green onions and the like, shallots are quite different. With their mild onion and garlic flavor, shallots are considered an essential ingredient for flavoring nearly any dish. The most distinguishing factor that sets shallots aside from other members of the onion family can be found by close examination of the bulbs. Unlike onions or leeks, shallots are made up of cloves, much like that of garlic....
Methods for Blanching Celery When celery has bitter taste, chances are it hasn’t been blanched. Blanching celery is often done to prevent bitter celery. Blanched plants lack green color, as the light source of celery is blocked out, which results in a paler color. Blanching celery does, however, give it a sweeter taste and plants are generally more tender. Although some self-blanching varieties are available, many gardeners prefer to blanch celery themselves....
Identifying Brown Canker on Roses Brown canker causes eaten away looking spots of a light chestnut brown coloration in the centers of the canker sections with deep purplish margins around the canker affected sections. Small flecks and purple-colored spots will form upon the leaves of the infected rose bush. This fungal disease typically attacks the canes of rose bushes while they are buried under our winter protection. Treating and Preventing Brown Canker Brown canker is typically worse on roses that are protected by the soil mounding method of winter protection....
What is Mountain Alyssum? This little flowering beauty is hardy in USDA zones 3-9, drought-tolerant once established, and excellent cover for rock gardens and other niches that are more difficult to plant. Growing mountain alyssum is a low ground cover only reaching 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm.) in height with a 12- to 20-inch (30.5 to 51 cm.) spread. The evergreen foliage of grey-green color sports plentiful, little, yellow flowers in late spring through the early summer....
How Do Solar Garden Lights Work? Solar lights for the garden are small lights that take the energy of the sun and convert it into light in the evening. Each light has one or two small photovoltaic cells on the top, which absorb energy from sunlight and convert it to a usable form. In these small solar lights, the energy of the sun is used to charge a battery. Once the sun goes down, a photoresistor registers the lack of light and turns on an LED light....
Due to their rooted nature, it may be difficult to imagine what measures plants are able to take to prevent outside attacks. One may quickly begin to wonder, “How does a plant defend itself?”. Keep reading to learn about ways plants protect themselves from threats. How Do Plants Fight Off Predators? The ways plants protect themselves vary widely depending upon the location, growing conditions, and predators by which the plant may be attacked....
What Causes Iron Chlorosis and Yellow Leaves on Holly Trees? Iron deficiency and yellow holly leaves can be caused by many things. The most common reasons for this is either overwatering or poor drainage. Overwatering causes yellow leaves on a holly bush by either leaching away the iron in the soil or by suffocating the roots so that they are not able to take in the iron in the soil. Similarly, poor drainage also causes iron chlorosis in hollies, because the excess standing water also suffocates the roots....
How Does Jack-in-the-Pulpit Reproduce? As mentioned, jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) reproduces both vegetatively and sexually. During vegetative propagation cormlets, lateral buds, rise from the parent corm to form new plants. During sexual propagation, pollen is transferred from male blooms to female flowers by pollinators via a method called sexual hermaphroditism. This means that any plant may be male, female, or both. When growing conditions are prime, plants tend to produce female blooms....
What is Corking? Corking on jalapeño peppers appears as scaring or minor striations on the surface of the pepper skin. When you see jalapeño skin cracking in this manner, it simply means that it needs to stretch to accommodate the rapid growth of the pepper. Sudden rains or any other abundance of water (soaker hoses) combined with plenty of sun will cause the pepper to go on a growth spurt, resulting in corking....
Types of Japanese Gardens Japanese garden design appears most prominently as the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. This garden style is more relaxed, especially when compared to European gardens. The Asian plants are laid out in distinct areas of smaller flowering trees and shrubs in the foreground, with hills, a small pond, and forest trees in the background. The plants in the foreground are pruned into rounded shapes, to be reminiscent of hills and clouds....
Pittosporum Information Pittosporum plants are moderate to slow-growing bushes with whorled leaves of either glossy green or variegated white. The plants produce fragrant, creamy-white flowers at the ends of the stems, set in clusters. At maturity, the plants may get 12 feet (4 m.) high with an 18 foot (6 m.) spread. The thick foliage makes the plant an excellent screen en masse, but it can also be an interesting single or multi-stemmed stand-alone tree....
