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Family:  Myrtaceae Genus:  Callistemon Species:  rigidus Category: Trees Height: 10-12 ft. (3-3.6 m) Spacing: 6-8 ft. (1.8-2.4 m) Sun Exposure: Full Sun Danger: N/A Bloom Color: Red Bloom Time: Late Winter/Early Spring Mid Spring Late Spring/Early Summer Foliage: Grown for foliage Evergreen Other details: Drought-tolerant; suitable for xeriscaping This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds Soil pH requirements: 6.1 to 6.5 (mildly acidic) 6.6 to 7.5 (neutral) 7.6 to 7.8 (mildly alkaline) Patent Information: Non-patented Propagation Methods: From semi-hardwood cuttings From seed; direct sow after last frost Seed Collecting: Unblemished fruit must be significantly overripe before harvesting seed; clean and dry seeds

The next time your neighbor with the emerald green lawn casts a look down their nose at your less than perfect lawn, don’t feel bad. The fact of the matter is that your weedy lawn is doing more for your garden, the environment and your wallet that the supposedly “perfect” lawn your neighbor maintains. One of the major benefits of having a weedy lawn is that many weeds in your lawn attract butterflies and caterpillars. Common lawn weeds, such as plantain, dandelion and clover are sources of food for the Buckeye butterfly, Baltimore butterfly, Eastern tailed blue butterfly and a great many others. Allowing some of these common weeds to grow in your garden, encourages butterflies to lay their eggs in your yard which will result in more butterflies in your garden later on. Weeds also help to attract other beneficial bugs to your garden as well. Many good bugs, like predatory wasps, preying mantis, ladybugs and bees find food and shelter in the weeds in our yards. These “good” bugs will ...

It's important to learn how to take care of summer plants in the winter, because most so-called summer plants cannot withstand freezing winter temperatures. Whether your summer plant is a tropical plant or a tender herb you'd like to keep alive throughout the winter months, learn the steps to taking care of plants through the wintertime. How to Take Care of Summer Plants in the Winter When people talk about summer plants, what do they mean? Identify your plant below and learn the specifics of how to take care of summer plants in the winter. Annual Flowers Annual summer flowers such as impatiens and begonias hail from warm, tropical climates. Most cannot withstand temperatures consistently dipping below 50 or 60 degrees. You'll see frost damage on the flowers first, followed by dying leaves. You can try to maintain them throughout the winter months by placing a cold frame around the garden bed. A cold frame consists of side panels and an angled clear plastic or gla...

Common Names: Chinese hibiscus, rose-of-China, Hawaiian hibiscus Family: Malvaceae (mallow Family) Description Chinese hibiscus is a large shrub or small tree that gets up to 15 ft (4.5 m) tall in frost free climates. The toothed leaves are arranged alternately and are quite variable, but tend to be large, dark green, and shiny. Chinese hibiscus has a coarse texture and normally grows upright and broad spreading. It usually grows as a bush with many stems. Flowers are glorious and huge at their best -- up to 6 in (15 cm) in diameter -- and occur in many colors. Most are flared and have a bell shape; they may be single or double, smooth or scalloped. The flowers have a long central tube with stamens and pistils at the tip. Hundreds of selections are available, with flower colors from scarlet to orange to yellow to white. Location The experts aren't sure, but Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is thought to have originated in tropical Asia . Culture Deep, moderately fertile, well dr...

Common Names: yellow poinciana, yellow flame tree, copper-pod, yellow flamboyant tree Family: Fabaceae/Leguminosae (bean Family) Description Yellow poinciana is a very showy flowering tree up to 50' tall, with wide-spreading branches that form an umbrella-like crown up to 25' across. The stems and twigs are rusty-red tomentose (fuzzy). The leaves are bipinnate (twice compound), about 2' long with 8-20 pairs of 3/4"-long oblong leaflets. The fragrant flowers are clustered on upright stalks (racemes, actually) about 18" long. Each flower is about an inch and a half across with translucent yellow, strangely-crinkled petals. The flowers have conspicuous orange stamens and each petal has a reddish brown mark in the center. They are followed by purplish brown, flattened, oblong seed pods, 3-4" long, which remain on the tree until the next flowering season. Location Yellow poinciana is native to coastal areas from Sri Lanka through the Malay archipelago and I...

TYPES OF LIGHTS Introduction There are a number of different approaches used for growing plants under lights. To make an informed decision as to what type of lighting should be employed, the fundamentals of light, colour and lighting systems should be understood. In this article we will examine the how light is qualitatively appraised with respect to color and intensity. Different lighting systems will be examined, and most available types of lights will be discussed. Examples of some "real world" lighting systems will be given and analyzed with respect to effectiveness, initial cost, operating expense and longevity. LIGHT AND COLOUR What is light Visible light is that part of the electro-magnetic spectrum that lies between the wavelengths of ultraviolet and infrared. That's probably more that you need to know for the purposes of home growing. White light is all colors When we see a rainbow, we are seeing white light split up into it's component colours, hence the ...