Create long lasting beauty and pollinator appeal in your landscape with the help of perennials. With a little bit of planning, you can have flowers, foliage and seed heads that add interest to your garden year-round. Select perennials including native plants that thrive in the sunlight, soil, and moisture conditions in your garden. Incorporate several… Continue reading Perennial Gardens for Beauty All Season
Category: Hobbies
Enjoy Your Garden After Dark with Landscape Lighting
Enjoy your garden and landscape once the sun sets with strategically placed and attractive landscape lighting. Select the best type of light that complements your garden design and best accomplishes the intended purpose. Solar powered lighting eliminates the need for outdoor outlets, extension cords or buried low voltage lines. The solar panels charge during sunny… Continue reading Enjoy Your Garden After Dark with Landscape Lighting
Planting And Enjoying A Hummingbird Garden
Whether you are making some late additions to your gardens or planning for the future, include some hummingbird-favorite plants. Select plants and create combinations to attract and support them with a season-long supply of nectar. Hummingbirds consume an average of two to three times their weight in nectar each day. Providing feeders and an abundance… Continue reading Planting And Enjoying A Hummingbird Garden
Keep Plants Thriving Despite the Heat of Summer
Last year’s record-high temperatures across much of the country took a toll on gardens and landscapes. Once again, above-normal summer temperatures are in the forecast for many regions of the country. Adjusting how you manage your gardens and landscape can help plants thrive as temperatures rise. Water plants thoroughly to promote deep drought-tolerant roots that… Continue reading Keep Plants Thriving Despite the Heat of Summer
Grow Easy-Care, Colorful Mandevillas
Bold color, tropical beauty, and easy-care mandevillas make excellent additions to patios, decks, and gardens. Train them onto a trellis, allow them to cascade from a hanging basket, or combine them with other plants. Enjoy summer-long blossoms and the butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators that stop by for a visit. Once divided into two different… Continue reading Grow Easy-Care, Colorful Mandevillas
Design a Deer-Resistant Garden Without the Fence
Deer are common visitors to landscapes even in urban and suburban areas. Fencing is the most effective way to protect your plants but is not always practical or desirable. Your community may have restrictions on fencing, your budget may not support this option, or you prefer not to hide your plantings behind a fence. Growing… Continue reading Design a Deer-Resistant Garden Without the Fence
Growing Easy-Care Aloe Vera, Nature’s Burn Ointment
Grow your own burn ointment by adding Aloe vera to your indoor plant collection. This succulent has been used for centuries to treat superficial burns, cuts, sunburns, and more. The gel inside the leaves is the medicinal part of the plant. Just cut away the outer part of the leaf and use just the gel on the problem… Continue reading Growing Easy-Care Aloe Vera, Nature’s Burn Ointment
Give the Gift of Preserving the Garden’s Harvest
Give a gift that helps your favorite gardeners enjoy the flavors of their garden well past the end of the growing season. Both new and experienced gardeners often spend their gardening budget on plants and seeds, leaving little or none to invest in food preservation equipment and supplies. Prepare your favorite gardener for the next harvest… Continue reading Give the Gift of Preserving the Garden’s Harvest
Fall Care of Perennials
As you transition your gardens from fall to winter, you may be contemplating a bit of garden clean up. Before reaching for the pruners and rakes, consider all the benefits and beauty of leaving healthy perennials stand for winter. The seed heads of many perennials like coneflower, rudbeckias, liatris and bee balm attract seed-eating songbirds… Continue reading Fall Care of Perennials
Forcing Spring Flowering Bulbs into Bloom
Brighten your indoor décor, patio, deck, or balcony by forcing a few spring flowering bulbs into bloom. Just plant, give them a chill and enjoy a few extra daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, crocus and grape hyacinths this winter and spring. All you need is a suitable container, some well-drained potting mix, the bulbs and a place to give… Continue reading Forcing Spring Flowering Bulbs into Bloom
Boost Your Indoor Garden’s Beauty
Whether your indoor garden has outgrown its location or you are looking to expand your garden, a bit of pinching, pruning or propagating may be the answer. Grooming houseplants keeps your indoor garden looking its best and plants contained to the available space. You can use some of the trimmings to start new plants. Give… Continue reading Boost Your Indoor Garden’s Beauty
Plant Alliums This Fall to Add Variety and Beauty to Your Garden
Take your garden to new heights with alliums. This ornamental member of the onion family provides welcome color as spring bulbs fade and before summer perennials fill our gardens with colorful blooms. Most people have seen pictures of the giant allium but there are many other options of flower sizes and heights suitable for any… Continue reading Plant Alliums This Fall to Add Variety and Beauty to Your Garden
Colorful Mums for Fall Gardens and Containers
Add a burst of fresh color to the fall landscape with mums. This traditional fall flower is still a favorite of many. These fall beauties come in a wide range of colors and provide weeks of floral beauty. Mums are great in containers, the garden, and cut flower bouquets. Fall just wouldn’t be the same without… Continue reading Colorful Mums for Fall Gardens and Containers
Creative Ways to Enjoy Pansies This Fall
Pansies have long been a fall and winter garden favorite. These cheery flowers are sure to brighten landscapes and containers and add a smile to any occasion. Look for fun and new ways to add them to your garden and fall celebrations. You will find these cool weather favorites at your local garden center. Pansies… Continue reading Creative Ways to Enjoy Pansies This Fall
Winning Perennials for Your Garden
After a busy summer of vacations, BBQ’s, and garden care, it is fun to turn our attention to planting. Fall is a great time to plant perennials and many garden centers are busy refreshing their supply of perennial plants. Consider including one or more of these winners when making your perennial plant selections this fall.… Continue reading Winning Perennials for Your Garden
Create Works of Art with Flowers
Preserve a few memories of this summer’s garden or create gifts to share with family and friends. Pounding flowers onto fabric or paper is a fun and easy way to preserve the beauty of garden flowers. Use watercolor or other rough surface paper when pounding on paper. Purchase ready to dye (RTD) or prepared for… Continue reading Create Works of Art with Flowers
Harvest, Store and Preserve Herbs from the Garden
Keep enjoying your homegrown herbs all year round. Harvest throughout the growing season and include them in garden-fresh meals. Then preserve a few for the winter ahead. Snip a few leaves or leaf-covered stems as needed. For the same intensity of flavor, you generally need two to three times more fresh herbs than dried except for… Continue reading Harvest, Store and Preserve Herbs from the Garden
Growing Tomatoes in Pots
Keep garden-fresh tomatoes close at hand this season. Grow one or more in containers on your patio, balcony, or front steps. Any tomato can be grown in a pot, but determinate varieties are smaller and more compact, so they are a bit easier to manage in a container. They produce fruit in a relatively short… Continue reading Growing Tomatoes in Pots