Be Thankful for Gardening
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. It has almost disappeared as a holiday, with Christmas decorations going up right after Halloween in many places. (I think WalMart had a tree up on November 1.) I still like it for what it is: a chance to gather with family and friends after a long summer. It is a chance to hunker down for winter. Where I …
Organic Landscaping
Am I seriously going to write a post about Organic Landscaping? Yes. Why? Well, because there is a lot of talk about Organic Gardening, and rightfully so (that is what this site is about, yes?), but not so much talk about organic landscaping. Why might we care? Well, because “landscaping” is kind of another term for the plants …
Habitat Gardens: Happy Meals and a Home for Garden Critters
“Invite animals into my garden? I don’t THINK so!” I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that from many serious gardeners if asked whether they welcome or shoo away insects, small mammals, birds and other animals to their gardens. Yes, deer herds indiscriminately ripping baby lettuces out of the vegetable garden, and cheerfully eating hostas and stripping arborvitae of their leaves is maddening. …
How to Create a Backyard Butterfly Garden
Butterfly conservatories are a favorite tourist attraction in any city lucky enough to have one. You don’t have to wait for a vacation to a far-off place to enjoy bountiful displays of butterflies! Planting a backyard butterfly garden is easy and fun. The key to raising your own butterflies is to grow plants for the larva to eat, for holding the chrysalis, …
What Flowers Should I Chose?
Choosing what flowers to put where can be a fun and exciting part of gardening. That said, it can also be one of the most frustrating experiences you’ll ever have. With a huge selection of seeds, plants, and bulbs available, how do you decide what’s best for you?
Research is the best way to figure out what you want and if it’ll work in your garden. There are a ton of gardening sites on the …
Improving Your Soil with Organic Matter
After moving into a new home in a new or established neighborhood, many gardeners are disappointed to discover their flowering plants struggling for survival due to poor soil. The soil may be full of clay or stones, too acidic, compacted, or lacking in organic matter. Some home-owners may resort to simply adding fertilizer. Don’t do this!
With a little knowledge and a bit of determination you can use soil amendments to improve poor soil conditions. …
Landscaping Your Flowering Plants
To grow great-looking, healthy blooms, take a look at your garden soil. Flowers grown in poor soil make for sad plants. Always have a little pile of composted manure in some outer corner. This is very convenient when you may be planting just a few plants at a time. A pile of manure is priceless when it comes to soil improvement. Use an inch of this black gold as …
Buying Healthy Plants To Avoid Problems
Every minute of every day, the plants in your yard are defending themselves from their natural enemies. When a gust of wind breaks a tree branch, chemicals concentrated at the base of the plant mobilize into a protective wall to prevent pests from invading the healthy parts of the tree.
A shrub that is being attacked by insects nibbling on its leaves will respond by changing its leaf chemistry, thus making its leaves less appetizing. …
Spring Is Here! How to Plan For Early-Flowering Shrubs and Flowers
Along with snowdrops and daffodils, early-flowering shrubs are one of the first signs of spring. Since there is little color in the garden so early, plant them together to form spring ‘cameos’ that stand out better in a landscape that is still looking winter-bleak.
Later shrubs, such as Forsythia, Star Magnolia and Bridal Wreath, flower shortly after the new foliage emerges, giving a fresh green halo to the blooms. As spring proceeds, a succession of …
Hostas
I love Hostas. They just seem so elegant as they grow in their shady part of the garden.
I have not long moved house, coming from a very sunny site, to find that it is very shady in the front garden of my new home. So, what to do? buy hostas!
Sales of these plants has been increasing over the years, and I have lost count of how many varieties that now appear in the catalogues and …
