Landscaping Plants

Gifts for the Gardener

2011-09-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

Nearly every gardener has some type of gardeningequipment. In fact, it’s nearlyimpossible to have a garden without used gardening equipment. What kind of gardening equipment you use willobviously depend on the size and extent of your garden, what you are able tohandle, if you want to spend a lot of time in your garden or get done quickly,and finally, how much money you are willing to spend.

While many gardeners do not have expensive or high-techgardening tools, all of them have some type of gardening equipment forcultivating. Tools for cultivating caninclude both hand held tools and power tools. What kind you buy depends on how serious of a gardener you are. Hand tools include your everyday items likeshovels, spading forks, rakes, trowels, and diggers. These can all be used to get a garden readyfor planting and are relatively easy and do not require much strength touse. Other tools include a wheelcultivator, pickax, and mattock.

While power tools are a little more expensive than handtools, they really cut down on the hard labor. The most essential piece of gardening equipment is undoubtedly thetiller. The tiller will break up the groundand get it ready for planting, chop up any debris, and help mix in fertilizerand compost. If you don’t want to spendthe money on a tiller you can hire someone or rent a tiller for one timeuse. Other power tools that are verypopular include chippers, garden shredders, and chain-saws.

If you have shrubs, hedges, or small trees in your yard,pruning tools are a vital piece of gardening equipment. Pruning shears are good for branches about ¾”in diameter, while lopping shears can handle branches from a half inch up toabout 2 inches. Pole pruners are on apole and can reach branches about 15 feet above ground. Hedge shears and pruning saws are bothlarger, more heavy duty pruning tools for the serious gardener.

Since your plants must be watered in order to survive,and lets face it, it doesn’t rain whenever we want it to, gardening equipmentfor watering is a must have. The onething you can’t get along without is a water hose, everything after that isoptional. Many gardeners use sprinklersor s drip irrigation hose. There areeven timers you can purchase for sprinklers or drip hoses, if you are willingto drop the extra cash.

Gardening without gardening equipment would be anightmare. Sure there are some peoplewho enjoy getting a little dirty while they plant their flowers, but even thosetypes of people have the most basic of gardening tools, like a rake or ahoe. Gardening equipment is a part ofgardening, as important as the dirt and the seeds.

More on Butterfly Gardens

2011-09-02T15:46:00.001-07:00

FLOWERS' PASSAGEWAY TO THEIRNECTAR

Butterflies with short probosciseschose plants with short passageways to their nectaries’, such as lantana, phloxand verbena flowers. Whereas, skippers and swallowtail butterflies stretchtheir long proboscises down the long tubes of Beardtongue flowers to sipnectar. (Even hummingbirds with their long beaks like the nectar of theseflowers).

FLOWER SHAPE

Generally, butterflies prefer plants that have lots of flowers clustered in aflat-top. Firstly, this ensures a ‘splash’ of color, drawing the butterfly toit. Secondly, with flat-topped cluster flowers, butterflies are assured of agood fill.

PETAL SIZE

Butterflies like flowers with large petals -- it's easier to land on them.Which means, they do not have to hang precariously, flapping their wings(something the hummingbird does so energetically) to drink the nectar. And asmentioned above, this helps the flower too in pollination.

A number of flowers are just for butterflies. The nectar of such flowers is atthe base of tubes that are too narrow for other bugs to use.

Some butterflies are attractedby plants of some colors and even seem to avoid plants of other colors. TheSilver Spotted Skipper likes lots of colors -- red, pink, blue, purple, white –but not yellow flowers. Sulphur Butterflies, on the other hand, prefer yellowflowers.

There are about 24, 000 species of butterflies. Every one of them is differentin looks, tastes, colors, shapes. How many can you attract to your garden?

Where to Get Flowers For Your Garden

2011-08-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

You can order seeds for flower gardening from catalogsor buy them from a nursery. Most people will go to the nursery and buy actualflowers and then transplant them. After you have prepared your garden area andbought flowers, it is a good idea to lay the flowers out in the bed to makesure you like the arrangement and that they will be spaced properly.

One of the easiest processes in how to grow flowers isthe planting. If you have seeds just sprinkle them around in the flower bed.For planting transplants dig a hole just bigger than the flower, pull the containeroff, and set the flower in the hole right side up. Cover it with the loose soiland press down firmly, then water.

Maintaining a flower garden is even easier than plantingone. Although they might make it on their own, a bag of fertilizer applied inthe early spring is a good idea. Pinch back any blooms after they start to fadeand keep them good and watered. To save yourself work during the next season offlower gardening, rid your garden of all debris and spread out organicnutrients like peat moss or compost. Don't forget to turn over the soil toproperly mix in the fertilizer and rake smooth when finished. If you haveperennials planted be careful not to disturb their roots in this process.

How to grow flowers is as easy as 1, 2, and 3: simplydecide what to plant; plant it, and water, water, water! Flower gardening is undoubtedly gaining inpopularity and gives anyone excellent reason to spend some outdoors and testout their green thumb.

How Butterflies Drink and Eat: What You Need to Know

2011-08-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

Just like you drink through a straw, a butterfly drinksthrough its proboscis – which is like an in-built straw. A butterfly doesn’thave a visible, exterior mouth. So it cannot chew its food. Hence it must drinkits food.

A caterpillar has a visible, exterior mouth and it chews onits food – the leaves. But once the caterpillar goes into its cocoon andemerges as a butterfly it loses its mouth and in its place is the proboscis – along, tubular straw-like extension shaped like an antenna. When it’s notfeeding, the proboscis is coiled inward.

Flowers position their pollen attheir neck and at the tip of their petals. A butterfly searching for nectarfirst lands on the flower and tastes the nectar with its feet. Then it swingsaround and extends its proboscis down the tube to drink. The pollen sticks tothe feet and the throat of the butterfly. When the same butterfly visitsanother flower, pollination takes place.

Landscaping Plants: Grow Flowers

2011-08-27T16:15:00.001-07:00

Flower gardening is becoming more and more popular every day. Flowers can brighten everyone's day, they smell nice, and are a great hobby. Flower gardening is simple, inexpensive, and loads of fun. How to grow flowers is a skill every gardener should know. Flower gardening can be done for yard decoration, simply as a hobby, or even professionally.

There are some decisions that have to be made before even flower gardening can be started. You must decide if you want annuals that live for one season and must be replanted every year, or perennials that survive the winter and return again in the summer. When buying and planting, pay attention to what kind of flowers thrive in your climate as well as the sun requirements.

When flower gardening, you must decide what type of look you want before planting. For instance, mixing different heights, colors, and varieties of flowers together in a "wild-plant style" will give your garden a meadow look and can be very charming. If short flowers are planted in the front of your garden and work up to the tallest flowers in the back you will have a "stepping stone style".

You can order seeds for flower gardening from catalogues or buy them from a nursery. Most people will go to the nursery and buy actual flowers and then transplant them. After you have prepared your garden area and bought flowers, it is a good idea to lay the flowers out in the bed to make sure you like the arrangement and that they will be spaced properly.

One of the easiest processes in how to grow flowers is the planting. If you have seeds just sprinkle them around in the flower bed. For planting transplants dig a hole just bigger than the flower, pull the container off, and set the flower in the hole right side up. Cover it with the loose soil and press down firmly, then water.

Maintaining a flower garden is even easier than planting one. Although they might make it on their own, a bag of fertilizer applied in the early spring is a good idea. Pinch back any blooms after they start to fade and keep them good and watered. To save yourself work during the next season of flower gardening, rid your garden of all debris and spread out organic nutrients like peat moss or compost. Don't forget to turn over the soil to properly mix in the fertilizer and rake smooth when finished. If you have perennials planted be careful not to disturb their roots in this process.

How to grow flowers is as easy as 1, 2, and 3: simply decide what to plant; plant it, and water, water, water! Flower gardening is undoubtedly gaining in popularity and gives anyone excellent reason to spend some outdoors and test out their green thumb.

More Trees That Bloom White in Winter

2011-08-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Viburnum 'Dawn' has flowers that are deep pink in bud, open in light pink and fade to white. The fragrant white flowers appear from November through March. This is a small tree only growing to ten feet.

Japanese Pieris has white clusters of scented flowers at the tips of the branches. It's evergreen and grows to twelve feet tall in rich well drained soil and full sun.

Pussy Willows grow to 25 feet with silvery white fuzzy blooms along the branches in late winter. Since it grows naturally in swampy areas pussy willow is well suited to boggy spots in the garden. Sever pruning is necessary to keep it under control.

Winter Honeysuckle also known as "breath of spring," is smothered in white blossoms with a lemon fragrance. Winter honeysuckle grows to ten feet in well drained soil in full sun.

Camelias bloom in temperate areas in late winter. The shrub grows to small tree size. The flowers are three inches wide and unscented but are very showy.

Brighten up your winter landscape by planting a few trees that bloom in winter in the coming spring time.

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Trees That Bloom White Flowers in the Winter

2011-08-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Most trees take the winter off with bare branches and not a leaf in sight never mind flowers. Winter blooming trees may be cold sensitive and their flowers curl up tightly in a bud when it's too cold. Some trees bloom in winter to take advantage of less competition for pollinators. There aren't many that bloom in white or in the winter. Here are a selected few.

Loquat produces orange fruit from white flowers that bloom between December and the end of February. The clusters of creamy white flowers are nestled against the dark green large evergreen leaves. Clusters contain between 30 to 100 blossoms. The tree will eventually reach 30 feet tall. The fruit is oval shaped and between one to two inches long. The taste is sweet and tart. The loquat was thought to originally be imported from Japan and China.

Witchhazel grows to 15 feet tall and has flowers with long slender petals in off white, red or yellow. It blossoms in January to about the middle of February. Most varieties are fragrant, but not all. Check if the variety you're considered is scented if that's what you want. It's not unusual to see the blossoms curled up and frozen under ice and then stretch out their petals after a thaw.