Home And Garden

Choosing the right outdoor lighting is one of the most important aspects of landscape design. Landscape lighting illuminates dark paths, highlights interesting garden elements and deters intruders. Above all, garden lighting creates a welcoming ambiance of warmth and safety. Top Types of Garden Lighting: Path lighting: Outdoor lighting keeps driveways, garden paths and stairs safe for walking after dark. Featuring vintage and contemporary designs in impact-resistant plastics and metals, path lights usually have a domed top and pagoda style that directs the light toward the ground. This increases the light's effectiveness and decreases light pollution. For convenience, path lighting is usually sold in sets and includes electric and solar designs. Light sets make great outdoor patio lights and deck lights. While they are bright enough to illuminate a sidewalk, path lights Low-voltage lights : These energy-efficient outdoor lights use 12 volts or less of electricity. A transfo...

Common Names: blue fescue, gray fescue, garden fescue Family: Poaceae/Gramineae (grass Family) Description Blue fescue is a small bunch grass that grows in a neat cushion-like clump 6-12" tall with a similar spread. The fine, wiry leaves are erect or arching, slightly rolled, and less than a foot long. The leaves are coated with a grayish, powdery bloom that is easily rubbed off. This condition is called "glaucus", and is responsible for the blue-gray sheen, and for the Latin name. In summer, flowering stems stand above the tuft of threadlike foliage and carry little flattened spikelets (flowers) that nod in the breeze. The inflorescence is not particularly showy and actually detracts from the handsome blue-gray foliage. Fescue is a clump-forming grass and does not spread by runners as do turf-forming grasses. The similar Festuca cinerea is often confused with blue fescue, and descriptions as well as cultivars for sale may be listed under Festuca cinerea, F. glauca ...

Master gardeners consider compost “black gold” for their lawns and gardens. One of the reasons is that compost is so rich in nutrients that it improves the fertility of your soil, making plants healthier. It’s a virtuous cycle for your soil. Food gets grown, consumed, and then the scraps go into your compost pile or bin. Later, the finished compost is used to nourish the soil again. So once you've finished making compost, how do you use it? There’s no need to worry, the answer is really simple. Use compost much as you would any sort of fertilizer or potting soil – it’s up to you whether you want to use compost while it’s fully decomposed, or even if there are still little bits of straw, hay, twigs and such in the mix.You can always put it through a compost sifter if you want it nice and broken up. Four of the most common uses for compost are: 1. A moisture holding mulch 2. A soil amendment.  3. A compost tea.  4. A lawn top dressing.  Mulch : If you are u...

Common Names:  screw pine Family:   Pandanaceae  (screw-pine Family) Description Screw pine is a palmlike evergreen with an upright stem (trunk) to 30 ft (9 m) or more high, and many horizontal spreading branches. At the end of each branch is a spiral rosette of long, linear leaves armed with small reddish teeth along the margins. Old leaf scars spiral around the branches and trunk, like a screw. The dark green leaves are around 6 ft (2 m) long, rather stiff, and have a waxy texture. Screw pine produces numerous aerial stilt roots that grow down to the ground and help support the branches which may spread to be wider than the tree's height. Screw pines are dioecious: The male plants produce fragrant colorful flowers in long spikes. The females produce weird looking pendulous fruits that resemble orange pineapples or oversized pine cones. Location There are more than 600 species of screw pines native to the Old World tropics in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Panda...

Tips On Cleaning And Polishing Your Marble Floors In my opinion, marble is one of the most beautiful materials you can ever have incorporated into your home decor - with proper care and maintenance, it will maintain its pristine condition throughout the life of the home. It will always add value both in visual appeal and in financial worth. In order to know the "how and why" that upkeep of marble is so important, you need to know a little about its origin. No. It's not decayed jungle flora a hundred-million years ago, changed by pressure and heat into some lovely expensive, light refracting gemstone! Marble is rock that is actually formed by sea shell deposits billions of years ago. In the areas or regions where marble is now mined, the miners also find fossils of sea creatures along with chunks of limestone which is also a by-product of sea shells. More evidence that the oceans once covered the earth? I think so! In early civilization, marble was sought after for...

Stone floors are natural, beautiful, and always stylish. The naturally cool, hard surface is ideal for warm climates and does not harbor dust or allergens. Before choosing a specific type of stone, arm yourself with knowledge to find the best fit. The amount and size of pores in a stone, referred to as porosity, affects its strength and stain resistance. If you plan to install stone in a high-traffic area, such as a kitchen, mudroom, or family bath, you'll want to choose a hard, dense stone that is nonporous, such as granite or slate. Softer, more porous stones, such as marble, limestone, and travertine, require regular applications of sealants and frequent cleaning to prevent staining and pitting. First, remember that typical natural stone floor tile sizes are 12”x12”, 13”x13”, 16”x16”, and 18”x18.” Next, you should be aware that there are two types of edges for natural stone floor tile: a polished bull nose edge that has a rounded or curved appearance, or a polished straight...