Home And Garden

The smaller the garden - the more it needs a distinctive 'theme’ to link the various plants and design elements. When you are deciding on a style, think about the way you want to use the garden and the amount of work involved in maintenance so you pick one that’s right for you. Cottage garden A cottage garden is a good style for an enthusiast who wants to shoe-horn lots of different plants into the space. Use a mixture of traditional perennials, old-fashioned hardy annuals or roses and wild flowers, with fruit and vegetables, and native species of trees and shrubs. You don’t need a quaint 'olde worlde' cottage as this style of garden suits most traditional houses. Five plants for a cottage garden Shrub rose, Rosa 'Fantin Latour' Meadow cranesbill, Geranium pratenses 'Mrs Kendall Clarke' Verbena, Verbena bonariensis Japanese anemone, Anemone x hybrida 'Whirlwind' Lavender, Lavandula 'Sawyers' Contemporary garden Contemp...

Sixteen plant food nutrients are essential for proper crop development. Each is equally important to the plant, yet each is required in vastly different amounts. These differences have led to the grouping of these essential elements into three categories; primary (macro) nutrients, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients. PRIMARY (MACRO) NUTRIENTS Primary (macro) nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. They are the most frequently required in a crop fertilization program. Also, they are need in the greatest total quantity by plants as fertilizer. NITROGEN · Necessary for formation of amino acids, the building blocks of protein · Essential for plant cell division, vital for plant growth · Directly involved in photosynthesis · Necessary component of vitamins · Aids in production and use of carbohydrates · Affects energy reactions in the plant PHOSPHORUS · Involved in photosynthesis, respiration, energy storage and transfer, cell division, and enlargement · Promot...

Among a huge variety of plants that are used for home, office, apartments, malls and landscape decoration, dracaena family is the one you can meet practically everywhere. This group of plants enumerates nearly 40 species that vary in sizes and forms. As dracaena is a very beautiful plant, it requires proper care and attention. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to grow it. If you’d like to have this flower in your home as well, then follow our tips and find out more about care for dracaena. Types of Dracaena Not all 40 kinds of this plant can be found in garden centers. In most cases, people choose those types of dracaena that grow between 2 and 10 feet. To the commonest of them belong: marginata sanderiana fragrans deremensis draco cinnabari Marginata (the Madagascar dragon-tree or red-edged flower) is a quite thin dracaena plant with purplish-red leaves and curving stalks. It grows between 8 and 15 feet tall and has a spread of 3-8 feet. Sanderiana (the lucky b...

it’s become increasingly important to know how much water you use to irrigate your yard Watering Do’s and Don’ts Water your yard early in the morning and soak the ground thoroughly so that it penetrates to a depth of at least 3″. While the amount of water needed will vary depending on your climate, the weather, and the time of year; the general rule of thumb is to make sure your lawn receives 1″ of water to your lawn per week during dry conditions. To see how much water your grass is actually receiving, put several containers with straight sides—such as a coffee mug, metal can, or plastic container—on the ground around the yard while you are watering. Then use a ruler to measure the depth of the water in the container. Calculating Water Use To provide your lawn with one inch of water takes a little over half a gallon per square foot (0.623 gallon to be more exact). That means that every 10’x10’ area will require over 62 gallons of water. That doesn’t sound like much until y...

Growing rosemary indoors is sometimes a tricky thing to do. Many good gardeners have tried and, despite their best efforts, end up with a dry, brown, dead rosemary plant. But, if you know the secrets to proper care of rosemary plants growing inside, you can keep your rosemary plants growing happily indoors all winter long. Tips for Growing Rosemary Indoors Most often, there are four things on the list of what kills rosemary plants indoors. These are: lack of sunlight poor watering practices powdery mildew pests If you can avoid these issues, your rosemary plant will live happily inside. Let’s look at how to avoid each. Lack of Sunlight Most people are not aware that the lack of sunshine is the most common reason for a rosemary plant growing indoors to die. Often, rosemary plants are brought indoors without any acclimation. They go from 6-8 hours of strong, direct light to 4-6 hours of weak or indirect light. The rosemary plant is unable to produce enough energy to stay al...

Cypress trees are fast-growing North American natives that deserve a prominent place in the landscape. Many gardeners don’t consider planting cypress because they believe it only grows in wet, boggy soil. While it’s true that their native environment is constantly wet, once they’re established, cypress trees grow well on dry land and can even withstand occasional drought. The two types of cypress trees found in the U.S. are bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and pond cypress (T. distichum). Cypress Tree Info Cypress trees have a straight trunk that tapers at the base, giving it a soaring perspective. In cultivated landscapes, they grow 50 to 80 feet tall with a spread of 20 to 30 feet. These deciduous conifers have short needles with a feathery appearance. Most varieties have needles that turn brown in winter, but a few have lovely yellow or gold fall color. Bald cypress has a tendency to form “knees,” which are pieces of root that grow above the ground in odd and sometimes myste...