Give your home the festive mood of the holidays by bringing a bit of your landscape evergreens indoors. Wreaths, swags, garlands and centerpieces can all be made from plants that are commonly found in the home landscape. Some of the best materials to cut include balsam and Douglas fir, yew, holly, boxwood and juniper. Pines boughs are attractive in arrangements, but this is not a good time to prune them. If pine branches cannot be […]
Each year, the National Garden Bureau selects a flower to promote, and this year the annual garden flower known as vinca is the star of the show! Vinca is a popular annual bedding plant in the Midwest with loads of single-flower blooms in shades of red, pink and white. More accurately identified botanically as Catharanthus, there is much confusion regarding the name of this plant. Catharanthus is the sun-loving, summer-flowering plant that is grown as […]
Do you turn green with envy while admiring the neighbor’s garden but don’t think your thumb is green enough? Anyone can develop a green thumb, as long as they’re willing to invest a little time, patience and elbow grease. Good planning is essential to successful gardening. Start your garden off right by selecting a location that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight daily. Check the site for good drainage by making sure water […]
Many landscape plants will require pruning at some stage of their life. Plants may need to be pruned to reduce or maintain plant size or to remove dead or damaged material. Pruning is also used to reduce overcrowding and rejuvenate older, overgrown plants to produce more flowering, fruiting and/or leaf canopy. Using the right tool for the job will help protect both plant and human. Both the size of the material being cut and its […]
Instead of throwing out that pineapple top, turn it into a houseplant! Carrot tops and avocado pits can also be salvaged from the garbage pail to the ranks of houseplants. To grow a pineapple, cut off the leafy top, leaving about a one-fourth inch of the fruit attached. Scoop out the pulp and let the top air dry for a few days. Then, press the top into a pot or pan of moistened rooting media, […]
Christmas cacti are not only popular holiday gift plants, but they are also the subject of frequent debate among gardeners. There appears to be much confusion about these unique tropical cacti regarding care, maintenance and, especially, on how to get them to re-bloom. The following tips address the most frequently asked questions. We typically think of cacti as being heat tolerant, but Christmas cacti will keep their blossoms longer in cooler temperatures. Keep the plant […]
The recent warm spell has many a gardener wondering what to do about bulbs–and perhaps a few other plants poking their foliage through the soil. This is the time of year when we normally expect temperatures to be cold enough to signal the hardening-off period to plants. And for a brief while, it was cold enough to start that process. The longer the warm spell, however, the more plants have begun to sprout new growth […]
The conflict between trees and utility lines is fresh on my mind, having just experienced the power company removing a significant number of limbs from two lovely old pine trees in the right-of-way behind my property. And I’m in good company with many homeowners who have experienced either the loss of a tree or a significant portion of a tree due to the need to keep the limbs from taking out power to the neighborhood. […]
Each year the National Garden Bureau selects a flower to promote, and this year Centaurea is in the spotlight. Centaurea actually includes a number of species that gardeners are more familiar with by their common names–bachelor’s button, cornflower and mountain bluet. Some are annual flowers and some are perennial, but all are great additions to the gardener’s palette. Centaurea also make excellent cut flowers for both fresh and dried arrangements. Bachelor’s button, Centaurea cyanus, is […]
There’s no better time of year to browse the new gardening catalogs than during these winter doldrums. A quick glance at the first few pages of most catalogs will clue you in as to what’s new for this gardening season. With all the talk about “nutraceuticals” (foods that promote good health or even prevent disease), there are some new cultivars that offer enhanced nutritional value. Carrot ‘Nutri-Red,’ a red carrot high in lycopene (an anti-oxidant), […]