Design your property now even if snow is on the ground!
Using our easy to use Landscape Design software, Landscape Vision.
Load a picture of your own home and in five easy steps design your dream landscape.
Is your lawn covered with snow? No problem, simply draw a green lawn and make Spring happen NOW.
Check it out
www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Unique Holiday Gift
Looking for something different this year for that hard to shop for person on your list?
Well we have the answer, Landscape Vision, an easy to use landscape design software.
Any gardener will love it, and it's great for every home owner!
Check out our software. We offer a "Gift" option during your check out process.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Unique Holiday Gift
Hello and Happy Holidays from Landscape Vision.
Are you looking for something different this year for that hard to shop for person on your list.
Well we have the answer, Landscape Vision, garden and landscape design software.
It's easy to use, a must for any homeowner and garden enthusiast. Finally a gift they'll really use over and over again. Creating a dream landscape has never been so simple and fun. Check out our home page to learn more.
www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Once you make the purchase we will email you a link to activate the download.
You simple email it to your lucky recipient.
Pretty cool to give the gift of garden design!
Decorating Outdoors For Winter by Fran Sorin
Here's how to add rich color, texture and sparkle to outdoor window boxes and containers during the holidays:
Anchor your containers with hardy evergreens such as boxwood and juniper, or use small berried shrubs (like nandina and cotoneaster) as the centerpiece. Add pansies and violas if available in your region. Otherwise, try Helleborus orientalis, a sweet winter-blooming perennial. Leave room for ivies to spill over the sides. Drape clear miniature lights along the sides of the container for nighttime sparkle.
Use one or two evergreens in a container and place reflective plastic ornaments on the soil surface, nestling them up close to plantings. Weave some clear miniature lights through the ornaments so they'll illuminate at night.
If your temperatures stay above 60 F, fill containers with poinsettias or amaryllis. Cover the soil with green moss, or lay evergreen cuttings like holly around the plants. Then, string a few ornaments and drape over the edge of the containers, anchoring with stakes.
Fran Sorin, a garden designer, writer and nationally known gardening expert is changing how people perceive gardening. Her multi-media exposure reflects her philosophy that, just like exercising regularly or following a wholesome diet, gardening is necessary for living a healthier life.
http://www.fransorin.com/index.asp
Anchor your containers with hardy evergreens such as boxwood and juniper, or use small berried shrubs (like nandina and cotoneaster) as the centerpiece. Add pansies and violas if available in your region. Otherwise, try Helleborus orientalis, a sweet winter-blooming perennial. Leave room for ivies to spill over the sides. Drape clear miniature lights along the sides of the container for nighttime sparkle.
Use one or two evergreens in a container and place reflective plastic ornaments on the soil surface, nestling them up close to plantings. Weave some clear miniature lights through the ornaments so they'll illuminate at night.
If your temperatures stay above 60 F, fill containers with poinsettias or amaryllis. Cover the soil with green moss, or lay evergreen cuttings like holly around the plants. Then, string a few ornaments and drape over the edge of the containers, anchoring with stakes.
Fran Sorin, a garden designer, writer and nationally known gardening expert is changing how people perceive gardening. Her multi-media exposure reflects her philosophy that, just like exercising regularly or following a wholesome diet, gardening is necessary for living a healthier life.
http://www.fransorin.com/index.asp
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
UNIQUE HOLIDAY GIFTS
Are you looking for a unique gift for a hard to shop for family member or friend?
Gardeners
Home Owners
New Home Owners
Landscapers
Visit our home page and click on our "buy now" button.
During the purchase process you will be offered a "give as a gift option"
Your purchase will be sent via email, and your recipient simply clicks on the link we send them from you, and downloads your unique gift of landscape design!
Well Landscape Vision has the answer.
Our Easy to use Landscape Design Software, Landscape Vision is perfect for;
Gardeners
Home Owners
New Home Owners
Landscapers
Any one looking to improve their property with a dream landscape.
Visit our home page and click on our "buy now" button.
During the purchase process you will be offered a "give as a gift option"
Your purchase will be sent via email, and your recipient simply clicks on the link we send them from you, and downloads your unique gift of landscape design!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Design Made Easy, with Landscape Vision.
Whether you are a novice or a seasoned pro, Landscape Vision 5.4 landscape design software adds the missing element to quickly and easily create the landscape you have always desired.
Don't spend time and money on other complicated design software . More bells and whistles are not what you need. You need an easy application that shows you the possibilities, one that does not require you to be a computer wiz. No complicated instruction, no thick manual, just an easy to use help section, and 24/7 tech support where you speak to a live person!
Use this easy to use landscape/garden design software on your home computer. See your landscape plans come to life with this simple software program. Using a picture of your own home, in 5 easy steps see your landscape and garden plans come to reality before your eyes. Make your landscaping and gardening projects easier and less costly.
See your garden before you plant or make a single purchase!
The Best Landscape Gardening Tool!
The Best Landscape Gardening Tool!
Have fun, learn and enjoy your dream garden landscape!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Winter Care of Trees and Shrubs by Yvonne Cunnington
Winter care of trees and shrubs is an important consideration in cold regions.
Shade trees, ornamental flowering shrubs and evergreens are the biggest plant investments you'll make for your garden. If you live in a cold-weather zone, you know that winter can be hard on garden plants. Here are tips for protecting your valuable woody plants.
Tips for winter care of trees and shrubs
Most hardy evergreens do not need to be wrapped.
Watering: Good winter care starts with thorough watering in the fall.
When the garden season draws to a close, it is tempting to just forget about your plants.
However you should continue to water all woody plants - especially newly planted trees and shrubs and all evergreens in the fall.
Water them well until the ground freezes, and make sure you water adequately through a dry fall. These plants will need the equivalent of one inch of rain per week. (In a wet fall, you can relax.)
Evergreens and broadleaf evergreens don't lose their leaves, so they need a good store of moisture going into winter because they continue to transpire (give off water vapor) through the cold months.
Most winter damage to evergreens doesn't actually come from cold, but from the drying effects of late winter sun and wind. With the soil frozen hard, plant roots can't take up water to make up for moisture losses from transpiration and, as a result, dehydration can cause browning or burning of foliage.
Winter care of trees and shrubs: To wrap or not?
Personally, when considering winter care of trees and shrubs, I don't go crazy with burlap wrap. It's extra work and doesn't look great. After all, the whole point of evergreens is to give you something green to look at in the winter.
Contrary to popular belief, most established evergreens hardy in your region don't need to be wrapped.
However, as with many things in gardening, there are exceptions. Some evergreens, such as dwarf Alberta spruce, are prone to winter-burn, so they should be covered, as should newly planted evergreens. New plants haven't had time grow extensive roots that help them take up enough moisture to prevent excessive water losses.
To make a windbreak around vulnerable plants, hammer four wooden stakes into the ground and staple on a burlap covering. Never use plastic, or your plants could "cook" on sunny days. (Remember the greenhouse effect?)
MORE TIPS FOR WINTER CARE OF WOODY PLANTS
Some trees, like this European beech,keep their leaves until spring
If your plants get salt spray from the road, burlap may help, but wrap them with a double layer, not a single layer. To avoid having to cover your evergreens, don't plant them near a road that gets salted, or plant salt-tolerant species such as junipers.
Protect broadleaf evergreens such as rhododendron, pieris and laurel from the drying effects of winter sun and wind with an anti-desiccant spray such as Wilt-Pruf, which coats foliage with a protective waxy film. You can also wrap with burlap, if you must.
To help preserve moisture, cover the root area of evergreens and broadleaf evergreens with a three-inch thick layer of leaf or bark mulch.
Protect upright evergreen junipers and cedars from breakage due to ice and snow by wrapping branches with heavy string or mesh covers sold for this purpose. Once fastened into place, you'll hardly see the string or mesh.
Protect young trees by putting plastic tree guards around the bottom of their trunks to prevent damage from gnawers such as rabbits and mice. Make sure the tree guards go high enough - over the snow line. Always remove them in the spring because it looks better and you don't have the problem of the guards trapping moisture against the bark in the summer and attracting insects.
If rabbits are a big problem in your area, winter care of trees and shrubs should include putting chicken wire cages around the plants they find most tasty.
Prevent rabbit and rodent damage with a pest repellent spray that you apply on lower trunks, branches and stems. Such products generally have to be reapplied after wet weather.
Be sure to check out Yvonne Cunnington's site she provides beautiful images and important advise.
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Friday, October 24, 2008
Why Landscape Vision?
Why Landscape Design Software?
Landscape design software gives you an accurate view of final plans before you invest time and money.
Change your mind as often as you like while planning your landscape, no cost associated with trial and error, experiment away!
Import a photo of your home or yard so you can plan your landscape around it.
You can build an accurate shopping list.
Resize plants, trees, etc.
Landscape design software is not just a gardening tool, it is fun!
What Makes Landscape Vision Software Different?
It is The Easiest To Use.
Five Simple Steps To Creating Your Dream Landscape.
No Complicated CAD Drawings.
No Complicated Instruction Manuals.
No Need For Pages and Pages of “Frequently Asked Questions”.
Easy To Navigate Help Feature.
Quick Fact Sheet.
Real Plant Pictures Not Renderings. (You do not want to see renderings on your lawn or in your garden. You want real pictures.)
Informative Plant Bios. (Voted "Best" by Top Ten Review)
Full Screen View.
Import Your Own Plant Images.
Offers The Ability To See Outdoor Living Products On Your Property.
Opportunity To Purchase These Products On Our On-Line Store.
Import More Outdoor Living Images Into Our Categories.
Free Flow Sketching Function.
Walkways and Pavers.
Shopping List with Real Plant Pictures and Outdoor Living Product Reference.
You Do Not Pay For More Software Then You Need!
24/7 Quick Response Support.
Landscape Vision Software Version 5.4 - Download NowImmediate Download Just $39.95.
Landscape Vision Software is for homeowners, gardeners, and landscapers, anyone who wants a simple fast way to see their ideas before they put spade to soil or purchase any outdoor living products.
At Landscape Vision Software we know that gardeners and the weekend warrior, do not want to spend more time on computers, they want to be enjoying the outside.
Landscape Design Software Reviews 2007
"Landscape Vision offers a comprehensive, well–designed foliage library that includes detailed plant descriptions, accurate photos and interesting information on over 1,000 plants. Landscape Vision’s plant library was the most detailed of any landscape design products we reviewed. Landscape Vision also includes a United States hardiness map and a top–notch plant library."
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Attracting Birds To The Winter Garden Written on October 6, 2008. Written by Steve Boulden
Throughout the spring and summer, we are treated to the melodious songs and chattering conversations of a variety of birds in our trees and shrubs. As summer turns to autumn, then autumn to winter, the songs die down and the conversations are less frequent. Is there a way to keep the birds around during the winter too? You bet! Every region is blessed with a variety of non-migratory birds. With just the right tasty treats, you can draw these non-migratory birds to your yard. Food, water and protection are the three things you need to provide for your feathered friends.
When you consider feeders, have mercy on the little birds who will visit your yard. Be sure to supply tube feeders for them, designed in such a way to keep out larger birds. Thistle feeders are a favorite of finches. Thistle ocks Shepherd hooks make great thistle feeders and come in various sizes. Green feeders with weighted trap doors will keep out squirrels and crows.
When selecting food, you have a number of choices. For small birds, millet is definitely the seed of choice. Wild bird seed combinations will ring the dinner bell for a large variety of wintering feathered friends. Look for a combination that includes black sunflower seeds, as well as nuts and dried fruits. Making a combination like this available will bring in such birds as cardinals, catbirds, finches, chickadees and nuthatches.
In addition to the seed combinations mentioned above, try these ideas: spread peanut butter on pinecones. You can mix in a little bacon fat with the peanut butter and then roll the pinecone in bread or cereal crumbs. Also, string popcorn, cranberries and dried fruit and hang from a tree. Beware the squirrels will not be denied the opportunity to visit this smorgasbord!
NOTE - Before you begin feeding birds during the winter, decide up front you will do this consistently. Your feathered friends will come to rely on you for regular nourishment during the winter and may go hungry if the cafeteria suddenly closes up shop.
Water is another important concern in winter. Check with your lawn & garden center for an immersible heater. Place this in the bottom of a birdbath and it will keep the water from freezing. In addition to birdbaths, various other shallow containers can be used to offer fresh water to birds saucers, inverted trashcan lids and pie tins. Be sure to monitor the depth of the water because birds do like water that is more than two or three inches deep.
Consider also birds need shelter in the winter. Incorporate in your garden a double blessing for them by planting plants that offer food and shelter. Popular choices include pyracantha, juniper and holly, as well as Japanese barberry. Do keep in mind; the Japanese barberry is considered an invasive exotic plant, so use it with care.
CHECK OUT MORE FROM STEVE BOULDEN by visiting
http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com/
When you consider feeders, have mercy on the little birds who will visit your yard. Be sure to supply tube feeders for them, designed in such a way to keep out larger birds. Thistle feeders are a favorite of finches. Thistle ocks Shepherd hooks make great thistle feeders and come in various sizes. Green feeders with weighted trap doors will keep out squirrels and crows.
When selecting food, you have a number of choices. For small birds, millet is definitely the seed of choice. Wild bird seed combinations will ring the dinner bell for a large variety of wintering feathered friends. Look for a combination that includes black sunflower seeds, as well as nuts and dried fruits. Making a combination like this available will bring in such birds as cardinals, catbirds, finches, chickadees and nuthatches.
In addition to the seed combinations mentioned above, try these ideas: spread peanut butter on pinecones. You can mix in a little bacon fat with the peanut butter and then roll the pinecone in bread or cereal crumbs. Also, string popcorn, cranberries and dried fruit and hang from a tree. Beware the squirrels will not be denied the opportunity to visit this smorgasbord!
NOTE - Before you begin feeding birds during the winter, decide up front you will do this consistently. Your feathered friends will come to rely on you for regular nourishment during the winter and may go hungry if the cafeteria suddenly closes up shop.
Water is another important concern in winter. Check with your lawn & garden center for an immersible heater. Place this in the bottom of a birdbath and it will keep the water from freezing. In addition to birdbaths, various other shallow containers can be used to offer fresh water to birds saucers, inverted trashcan lids and pie tins. Be sure to monitor the depth of the water because birds do like water that is more than two or three inches deep.
Consider also birds need shelter in the winter. Incorporate in your garden a double blessing for them by planting plants that offer food and shelter. Popular choices include pyracantha, juniper and holly, as well as Japanese barberry. Do keep in mind; the Japanese barberry is considered an invasive exotic plant, so use it with care.
CHECK OUT MORE FROM STEVE BOULDEN by visiting
http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com/
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Vertical Gardening by Fran Sorin
Vertical gardening is exactly what it sounds like: gardening vertically rather than horizontally, as we normally do. It's ideal for those with limited space who garden in a small yard or on a terrace, deck or patio, but it also can be used effectively by any gardener who is interested in experiencing different types of gardening. You can use fences, walls, trellises, arbors, pergolas and many different types of containers to garden vertically. As you add lush, draping plants, you can't help but appreciate the sense of artistry that vertical gardening can bring to the landscape. A vertical garden creates privacy and helps hide unattractive views. It also can cool off your landscape and help shade your property. It allows you to grow more plants with less space while offering excellent air circulation for those plants. You'll be able to enjoy your tomatoes and cantaloupes ripening at eye level. And plants suited for vertical gardening tend to have less disease because some pests don't climb vertically. Another bonus: You won't have to weed vertical gardens as frequently because you'll be using less soil. Vertical gardening also allows people with disabilities or those who can't bend or kneel to continue gardening.StructuresReady to get started? Here are several structures that are ideal for vertical gardening: Fences. These are a great way to make use of upward-growing plants, especially climbers and those that have tendrils. And if your fence is unsightly, vertical gardening is a great way to hide it. Trellises. These structures stand alone and can be made of wood, metal, stone, bricks, plastic or even PVC. Arbors or pergolas. There are many styles and materials from which to choose, and these structures can either stand alone or be attached to your house. My rule of thumb is that all outside gardening structures should complement the style of your home. Miscellaneous. Poles, cages, string or large stakes all can work to support your vertical plantings. Also, containers are the foundation for several combinations of vertical gardening. Some unusual objects upon which plants can drape or be trained to grow upward are barrels, old window frames and bed frames or even old kitchen stools. Lots of plants work well in a vertical garden, including the following:Vegetables. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, beans, winter squash and gourds are perfect choices. Some of these plants will entwine themselves around your structure of choice, while others will need to be tied to it for support. Another ideal vegetable is corn because it needs a lot of vertical space to flourish. One of the benefits of growing corn is that you can plant other veggies along with it, such as beans and zucchini, and use the corn stalks as a supporting structure. You'll get double the harvest, and it will look beautiful. Vines. A vertical flowering vine can add beauty to your landscape. Plus, it will attract birds and butterflies to your garden for you to enjoy. Morning glory, clematis, climbing rose, honeysuckle vine, sweet potato vine and cardinal climber are good choices.Fruits. The larger fruits -- melons and pumpkins -- can be trained to grow vertically and can be supported with old pantyhose, strips of cloth or, depending on the size of the fruit, heavy rope. Tie them loosely to avoid damaging the vines. Grapes and kiwi fruit also grow well vertically.
Find more by Fran Sorin here. http://www.fransorin.com/index.asp
Find more by Fran Sorin here. http://www.fransorin.com/index.asp
Friday, September 05, 2008
GARDENING JOBS FROM YVONNE CUNNINGTON
Early fall garden jobs: In the yard
There's still plenty of bloom in the early fall garden Photo: © Y.Cunnington
Watering: One important job in the early fall garden is to continue to water your plants, especially your evergreens and trees and shrubs if it isn't raining enough. Going into the winter well hydrated will help keep your plants thriving. More on winterizing trees and shrubs.
Lawn care: Aerate your lawn and reseed any dead or thin spots. This is the best time of the year to lay sod, overseed or start a lawn from seed because temperatures are cooler and rain tends to be more plentiful than in the hot summer months. More lawn care tips.
Create a new bed: Do soil preparation for any new beds you want to have ready for spring planting.
Landscape projects: This is a good time to plan or do landscaping projects, such as walls, walkways, patios, and decks. See landscape design tips.)
Early fall garden to-do list: In the flower garden
Container plantings: Once they're past their prime, empty containers of annuals and store frost-sensitive containers in the basement or the garage.
Perennials: Don't be in a great rush to cut back all your perennials early. Seed heads and foliage that's coloring up can be beautiful, and the seeds are food for migrating birds. Just cut back plants that are diseased, those looking past their prime, or those that may become "weeds" if allowed to self-seed freely.
Late season gaps: If you have too little color in the garden now, visit your local garden center for some ideas on late-season flowers to add, and take advantage of end of season sales.
Plant or transplant perennials: Divide overgrown perennials—this is the ideal time to divide and move peonies and Siberian and bearded irises.
Deal with spent annuals: Pull or dig out summer annuals that are past their prime, and plant mums and colorful kale for fall interest.
Dig up summer bulbs if you want to keep them. After the first frost, dig up dahlias, cannas, gladioli, and similar non-hardy bulbs for winter storage; see how-to tips.
Garden planning: Make notes about garden changes or plants that you might want to move in the spring.
Think spring bulbs: Buy spring-flowering bulbs while they're in plentiful supply, but don't plant them too early.
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/early-fall-garden.html
There's still plenty of bloom in the early fall garden Photo: © Y.Cunnington
Watering: One important job in the early fall garden is to continue to water your plants, especially your evergreens and trees and shrubs if it isn't raining enough. Going into the winter well hydrated will help keep your plants thriving. More on winterizing trees and shrubs.
Lawn care: Aerate your lawn and reseed any dead or thin spots. This is the best time of the year to lay sod, overseed or start a lawn from seed because temperatures are cooler and rain tends to be more plentiful than in the hot summer months. More lawn care tips.
Create a new bed: Do soil preparation for any new beds you want to have ready for spring planting.
Landscape projects: This is a good time to plan or do landscaping projects, such as walls, walkways, patios, and decks. See landscape design tips.)
Early fall garden to-do list: In the flower garden
Container plantings: Once they're past their prime, empty containers of annuals and store frost-sensitive containers in the basement or the garage.
Perennials: Don't be in a great rush to cut back all your perennials early. Seed heads and foliage that's coloring up can be beautiful, and the seeds are food for migrating birds. Just cut back plants that are diseased, those looking past their prime, or those that may become "weeds" if allowed to self-seed freely.
Late season gaps: If you have too little color in the garden now, visit your local garden center for some ideas on late-season flowers to add, and take advantage of end of season sales.
Plant or transplant perennials: Divide overgrown perennials—this is the ideal time to divide and move peonies and Siberian and bearded irises.
Deal with spent annuals: Pull or dig out summer annuals that are past their prime, and plant mums and colorful kale for fall interest.
Dig up summer bulbs if you want to keep them. After the first frost, dig up dahlias, cannas, gladioli, and similar non-hardy bulbs for winter storage; see how-to tips.
Garden planning: Make notes about garden changes or plants that you might want to move in the spring.
Think spring bulbs: Buy spring-flowering bulbs while they're in plentiful supply, but don't plant them too early.
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/early-fall-garden.html
Flowerbulbs celebrate spring From Yvonne Cunnington
Planting flowerbulbs is one of my favorite fall gardening tasks.
I like to plant them on crisp, sunny autumn days, imagining how, in just a few months, my spring bulbs - colorful crocuses, tulips and daffodils - will brighten winter-weary spirits.
If you plan carefully, the show of bulbs can last from late winter to June. The beauty of spring-flowering bulbs is their incredible variety, in size and shape, color and bloom time.
In fall when the garden is still full of foliage from summer's perennials, it's hard to recall how stark the beds can look in early spring. So try to plant abundantly so your spring show has a bigger impact.
The big three for spring: Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths
If there's one bulb that seems to personify spring, it has to be tulips.
These bulbs are the ultimate visual spring tonic, and there are scores of wonderful tulip varieties to choose from. You can even go for the drama of 'black' tulips.
Next to tulips, daffodils are amongst the best-loved spring bulbs, and unlike tulips, their flowers are deer and squirrel-proof.
Beloved for their spring fragrance, modern hyacinths come in showy colors, and are easy to force for indoor display.
Other attractive flowerbulbs
Tulips may be the most popular spring bulbs, but there are many lovely, easy-to-grow, lesser-known bulbs.
More tips for gardening with flowerbulbs
When in fall to plant bulbs? Hint: not too early
Bulb planting: How and where to plant, squirrel solutions
Designing with spring bulbs: How to get more bang from your buck
Bulb leaves: What to do about daffodil and tulip leaves after blooming
Didn't plant bulbs last fall?
You can now buy bulb plants in containers and pop them into your garden at normal bulb-blooming time. So why not try bulb plants in spring?
They include windflowers (Anemone blanda), wild hyacinth (Camassia), guinea-hen flower (Fritillaria meleagris), Persian fritillaria, (Fritillaria Persica) and Bulgarian ornamental onion (Nectaroscordum siculum).
Fortunately, most of them are unappealing to garden menaces such as deer and squirrels.
If you're looking for easy-care gardening, many of these lesser known, unusual spring bulbs also naturalize well to come back year after year, spreading if they're happy.
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/flowerbulbs.html
I like to plant them on crisp, sunny autumn days, imagining how, in just a few months, my spring bulbs - colorful crocuses, tulips and daffodils - will brighten winter-weary spirits.
If you plan carefully, the show of bulbs can last from late winter to June. The beauty of spring-flowering bulbs is their incredible variety, in size and shape, color and bloom time.
In fall when the garden is still full of foliage from summer's perennials, it's hard to recall how stark the beds can look in early spring. So try to plant abundantly so your spring show has a bigger impact.
The big three for spring: Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths
If there's one bulb that seems to personify spring, it has to be tulips.
These bulbs are the ultimate visual spring tonic, and there are scores of wonderful tulip varieties to choose from. You can even go for the drama of 'black' tulips.
Next to tulips, daffodils are amongst the best-loved spring bulbs, and unlike tulips, their flowers are deer and squirrel-proof.
Beloved for their spring fragrance, modern hyacinths come in showy colors, and are easy to force for indoor display.
Other attractive flowerbulbs
Tulips may be the most popular spring bulbs, but there are many lovely, easy-to-grow, lesser-known bulbs.
More tips for gardening with flowerbulbs
When in fall to plant bulbs? Hint: not too early
Bulb planting: How and where to plant, squirrel solutions
Designing with spring bulbs: How to get more bang from your buck
Bulb leaves: What to do about daffodil and tulip leaves after blooming
Didn't plant bulbs last fall?
You can now buy bulb plants in containers and pop them into your garden at normal bulb-blooming time. So why not try bulb plants in spring?
They include windflowers (Anemone blanda), wild hyacinth (Camassia), guinea-hen flower (Fritillaria meleagris), Persian fritillaria, (Fritillaria Persica) and Bulgarian ornamental onion (Nectaroscordum siculum).
Fortunately, most of them are unappealing to garden menaces such as deer and squirrels.
If you're looking for easy-care gardening, many of these lesser known, unusual spring bulbs also naturalize well to come back year after year, spreading if they're happy.
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/flowerbulbs.html
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
August Gardening Jobs From Farmers Almanac
Compost should be watered during dry periods so that it remains active.
Prune only to retain the shape. Do not prune spring-flowering shrubs such as azaleas and rhododendrons.
Mid-August through September is a good time to transplant any shrubs that you've purchased with root balls wrapped in burlap. Make sure you get them in the ground two to three days after purchase. Do not fertilize until the second year, when the feeding roots have become established.
Lawns or bare spots reseeded with grass now will have a chance to get established before winter sets in. Water often and mulch with hay.
In colder regions, houseplants that have been outside for the summer should be brought in at the end of this month. A sudden cold spell will be too much of a shock for them to survive. This is also a good time to take cuttings.
You can still enjoy garden flowers indoors. Sow these annuals inside: sweet alyssum, dwarf marigold, browallia, ageratum, and nasturtium. Grow them in a moderately cool (60 degrees F), sunny window.
Plant fall-flowering bulbs now.
Two or three leaves should be left when cutting gladiolus, so that the bulbs can ripen.
This is the month for transplanting Oriental poppies.
Rock-garden pants should be checked to see if they need thinning. Overcrowded plants will not stay healthy or attractive.
Sow these perennials outdoors for next spring: aquilegia, Phlox paniculata, digitalis, centaurea, and primrose.
Hardy lily bulbs may be planted in the ground and left to overwinter outdoors.
Cut back the flower stalks of perennials that have finished blooming. Cut delphinium flower stalks to the ground, and a new, though smaller, flower stalk will develop. The flower will survive the coming cold days and even light frosts.
Lift, divide, and replant Japanese and Siberian irises soon after bloom. Transplant them to places where they will have "wet feet but dry knees."
If you notice a gap in your perennial bed between spring and fall blooms, visit a local nursery to see what's in bloom there and ask the experts for advice on what to plant.
The vegetable garden is likely to require daily harvesting now. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers should be picked as soon as the fruits are ready. This not only captures the best flavor, but it also makes way for new fruits.
Maximum flavor of herbs for drying is achieved by cutting them just before their flowers open.
Make sure that potatoes are not escaping into the sunlight. Hill or mulch them if they are.
Trenches of new asparagus beds should receive their final filling in this month.
Remove dead pea vines, bolted lettuce, and other plants that have gone by and add them to the compost pile. If they show signs of disease, however, burn them.
Separate melons from the ground with a thin board to prevent decay or damage from wireworms.
Cut out raspberry and blackberry canes that have just finished fruiting.
Most perennials outgrow their containers and require repotting every two or three years.
Check out all the great info the Old Farmers Almanac has to offer.
http://www.almanac.com/
Prune only to retain the shape. Do not prune spring-flowering shrubs such as azaleas and rhododendrons.
Mid-August through September is a good time to transplant any shrubs that you've purchased with root balls wrapped in burlap. Make sure you get them in the ground two to three days after purchase. Do not fertilize until the second year, when the feeding roots have become established.
Lawns or bare spots reseeded with grass now will have a chance to get established before winter sets in. Water often and mulch with hay.
In colder regions, houseplants that have been outside for the summer should be brought in at the end of this month. A sudden cold spell will be too much of a shock for them to survive. This is also a good time to take cuttings.
You can still enjoy garden flowers indoors. Sow these annuals inside: sweet alyssum, dwarf marigold, browallia, ageratum, and nasturtium. Grow them in a moderately cool (60 degrees F), sunny window.
Plant fall-flowering bulbs now.
Two or three leaves should be left when cutting gladiolus, so that the bulbs can ripen.
This is the month for transplanting Oriental poppies.
Rock-garden pants should be checked to see if they need thinning. Overcrowded plants will not stay healthy or attractive.
Sow these perennials outdoors for next spring: aquilegia, Phlox paniculata, digitalis, centaurea, and primrose.
Hardy lily bulbs may be planted in the ground and left to overwinter outdoors.
Cut back the flower stalks of perennials that have finished blooming. Cut delphinium flower stalks to the ground, and a new, though smaller, flower stalk will develop. The flower will survive the coming cold days and even light frosts.
Lift, divide, and replant Japanese and Siberian irises soon after bloom. Transplant them to places where they will have "wet feet but dry knees."
If you notice a gap in your perennial bed between spring and fall blooms, visit a local nursery to see what's in bloom there and ask the experts for advice on what to plant.
The vegetable garden is likely to require daily harvesting now. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers should be picked as soon as the fruits are ready. This not only captures the best flavor, but it also makes way for new fruits.
Maximum flavor of herbs for drying is achieved by cutting them just before their flowers open.
Make sure that potatoes are not escaping into the sunlight. Hill or mulch them if they are.
Trenches of new asparagus beds should receive their final filling in this month.
Remove dead pea vines, bolted lettuce, and other plants that have gone by and add them to the compost pile. If they show signs of disease, however, burn them.
Separate melons from the ground with a thin board to prevent decay or damage from wireworms.
Cut out raspberry and blackberry canes that have just finished fruiting.
Most perennials outgrow their containers and require repotting every two or three years.
Check out all the great info the Old Farmers Almanac has to offer.
http://www.almanac.com/
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Garden not looking its best? Yvonne Cunnington
Almost every flower border needs a mid-summer garden tune-up. By mid-season, chances are strong that the twin scourges of heat and drought have battered your plants.
If your annuals and perennials look exhausted with few flowers, lots of deadheads, and tattered and scorched leaves, don't just give up.
Treat your flower beds to a thorough weeding, cut back plants that don't look good, deadhead finished flowers, and fill gaps with fresh new plants, or pop a container into that bare spot. Also be sure to give thirsty plants a good thorough watering. With luck, your garden will look refreshed when relief appears with cooler fall temperatures and renewed rainfall.
Some annuals, impatiens and newer petunia varieties like the Wave and Fantasy series don't need deadheading and bloom until frost, but if they're leggy with fewer flowers, cut them back to half their height.
Perennials: For their mid-summer garden tune-up, shear back early perennials by half their height. Some, such as Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla spp), have fresh leaves under old ones.
Cutting back spent flower stems and browned leaves promotes also lush new foliage in rock cress (Arabis and Aubrieta), cushion spurge (Euphorbia polychroma) perennial candytuft (Iberis), creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), catmint (Nepeta), cranesbills (hardy geraniums).
A great resource for your mid-summer garden tune-up
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques, by Tracy Disabato-Aust (Timber Press, 2006) is an indispensable guide to caring for perennial flower gardens.
Packed with maintenance tips and lists of perennials by growing conditions, need for regular division or not, re-blooming or not, and much more. Highly recommended!
For later perennials, deadhead when the seedpods outnumber the flowers or when the flower spike is about 70 percent finished with flowering. This encourages repeat flowering with some plants, but the second flush won't be as prolific.
Repeat bloomers include baby's breath (Gypsophila paniculata), campanula, coreopsis, delphinium, foxglove, purple coneflowers (Echinacea cultivars), perennial sage (Salvia cultivars), veronica, summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and, of course, repeat flowering roses.
Diseased-looking or dead-looking plants: To cope with excess heat and drought, some perennials jettison their foliage; the leaves may be dried out but the roots are alive and ready for next season's growth.
The same applies to eaten by pests, such as hosta foliage decimated by slugs. To test if your plant is alive give it a gentle tug; if the roots hold fast, it should be fine.
The plants most likely to succumb to dryness are new plants that didn't have enough moisture to grow a wide ranging root system.
As for plants with diseases, for example, older varieties of phlox that get mildew on leaves, cut them back (don't compost, put in garbage); for next season, consider replacing them with disease-resistant varieties and slug-resistant hosta cultivars.
If your annuals and perennials look exhausted with few flowers, lots of deadheads, and tattered and scorched leaves, don't just give up.
Treat your flower beds to a thorough weeding, cut back plants that don't look good, deadhead finished flowers, and fill gaps with fresh new plants, or pop a container into that bare spot. Also be sure to give thirsty plants a good thorough watering. With luck, your garden will look refreshed when relief appears with cooler fall temperatures and renewed rainfall.
More summer garden tune-up tips
Annuals: True annuals flower, produce seeds and die, so a mid-summer garden tune-up that includes deadheading helps prolong bloom. This, plus regular water and fertilizer, keeps cosmos, geraniums, marigolds, snapdragons and zinnias flowering longer.
Annuals: True annuals flower, produce seeds and die, so a mid-summer garden tune-up that includes deadheading helps prolong bloom. This, plus regular water and fertilizer, keeps cosmos, geraniums, marigolds, snapdragons and zinnias flowering longer.
Some annuals, impatiens and newer petunia varieties like the Wave and Fantasy series don't need deadheading and bloom until frost, but if they're leggy with fewer flowers, cut them back to half their height.
Perennials: For their mid-summer garden tune-up, shear back early perennials by half their height. Some, such as Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla spp), have fresh leaves under old ones.
Cutting back spent flower stems and browned leaves promotes also lush new foliage in rock cress (Arabis and Aubrieta), cushion spurge (Euphorbia polychroma) perennial candytuft (Iberis), creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), catmint (Nepeta), cranesbills (hardy geraniums).
A great resource for your mid-summer garden tune-up
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques, by Tracy Disabato-Aust (Timber Press, 2006) is an indispensable guide to caring for perennial flower gardens.
Packed with maintenance tips and lists of perennials by growing conditions, need for regular division or not, re-blooming or not, and much more. Highly recommended!
For later perennials, deadhead when the seedpods outnumber the flowers or when the flower spike is about 70 percent finished with flowering. This encourages repeat flowering with some plants, but the second flush won't be as prolific.
Repeat bloomers include baby's breath (Gypsophila paniculata), campanula, coreopsis, delphinium, foxglove, purple coneflowers (Echinacea cultivars), perennial sage (Salvia cultivars), veronica, summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and, of course, repeat flowering roses.
Diseased-looking or dead-looking plants: To cope with excess heat and drought, some perennials jettison their foliage; the leaves may be dried out but the roots are alive and ready for next season's growth.
The same applies to eaten by pests, such as hosta foliage decimated by slugs. To test if your plant is alive give it a gentle tug; if the roots hold fast, it should be fine.
The plants most likely to succumb to dryness are new plants that didn't have enough moisture to grow a wide ranging root system.
As for plants with diseases, for example, older varieties of phlox that get mildew on leaves, cut them back (don't compost, put in garbage); for next season, consider replacing them with disease-resistant varieties and slug-resistant hosta cultivars.
Check out Yvonne Cunnington's site for great gardening tips.
Also Yvonne's book is a must have.. http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/index.html
Thursday, July 17, 2008
How To Care For Your Lawn: Debunking Lawn Care Myths
Three Lawn Care Myths
Myths are abundant when it comes to caring for the American lawn. In this article, I'll address just a few in hope of setting the record straight.
Myth One: Chemical fertilizers and insecticides are necessary in order to get golf green grass.
In truth, using chemicals is not only unhealthy for us, our children, our pets and the environment, but it does nothing to build up the health of the lawn. Because these fertilizers act quickly, they can make an unhealthy lawn look better faster. Meanwhile, these chemicals can chase away earthworms, kill off the soil microbes involved in decomposition and soil formation, and cause tremendous top growth of the grass blades without allowing the roots to grow at the same pace.
For expanded organic thought, take a look at Chemical-Free Lawn: The Newest Varieties and Techniques to Grow Lush, Hardy Grass by Warren Schultz. It can help you figure out easy ways to keep your lawn green and chemical free.
Myth Two: The foundation of a healthy lawn is the consistent use of fertilizers and weed controls.
Not true. The foundation of a healthy lawn is healthy soil! What makes a soil healthy is its texture, structure and what's called soil life. A healthy soil will allow water, air, nutrients and roots to move through it with ease. It's filled with good stuff like microorganisms, worms and other beneficial life forms. Without sponge-like soil (that can soak up water and drain with ease) as your foundation, you will find yourself treating the symptoms (with weed controls and over-fertilizing), rather than getting to the "root" of the problem.
A great book to read to gather tips on soil is The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers by Joe Smillie and Grace Gershuny. What's great about this book is they give important information about how to get your soil in top shape without bogging you down with overly-scientific information.
Myth Three: Watering lawns every day is critical (especially in the sweltering heat of summer) to keep it looking green.
If you have a sandy soil (test it with a soil pH meter to find out), you may have to water twice as much. Not only is it a waste to water on a daily basis, but it's also unhealthy for the grass. If the grass stays wet for too long, it becomes more susceptible to diseases and insects! Also: Use common sense and conserve water.
Note: I'd like to pay special thanks to Stuart Franklin, the author of "Building A Healthy Lawn." This book has been helpful to me over the years in understanding good lawn-care practices.
Myths are abundant when it comes to caring for the American lawn. In this article, I'll address just a few in hope of setting the record straight.
Myth One: Chemical fertilizers and insecticides are necessary in order to get golf green grass.
In truth, using chemicals is not only unhealthy for us, our children, our pets and the environment, but it does nothing to build up the health of the lawn. Because these fertilizers act quickly, they can make an unhealthy lawn look better faster. Meanwhile, these chemicals can chase away earthworms, kill off the soil microbes involved in decomposition and soil formation, and cause tremendous top growth of the grass blades without allowing the roots to grow at the same pace.
For expanded organic thought, take a look at Chemical-Free Lawn: The Newest Varieties and Techniques to Grow Lush, Hardy Grass by Warren Schultz. It can help you figure out easy ways to keep your lawn green and chemical free.
Myth Two: The foundation of a healthy lawn is the consistent use of fertilizers and weed controls.
Not true. The foundation of a healthy lawn is healthy soil! What makes a soil healthy is its texture, structure and what's called soil life. A healthy soil will allow water, air, nutrients and roots to move through it with ease. It's filled with good stuff like microorganisms, worms and other beneficial life forms. Without sponge-like soil (that can soak up water and drain with ease) as your foundation, you will find yourself treating the symptoms (with weed controls and over-fertilizing), rather than getting to the "root" of the problem.
A great book to read to gather tips on soil is The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers by Joe Smillie and Grace Gershuny. What's great about this book is they give important information about how to get your soil in top shape without bogging you down with overly-scientific information.
Myth Three: Watering lawns every day is critical (especially in the sweltering heat of summer) to keep it looking green.
If you have a sandy soil (test it with a soil pH meter to find out), you may have to water twice as much. Not only is it a waste to water on a daily basis, but it's also unhealthy for the grass. If the grass stays wet for too long, it becomes more susceptible to diseases and insects! Also: Use common sense and conserve water.
Note: I'd like to pay special thanks to Stuart Franklin, the author of "Building A Healthy Lawn." This book has been helpful to me over the years in understanding good lawn-care practices.
Friday, July 11, 2008
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Monday, June 30, 2008
Build a Backyard Parterre
Its hard to think of anything more formal than the symmetrical knot garden, with its crisp miniature hedges of contrasting colors artfully laid out and carefully clipped to resemble the interwoven threads of ancient Celtic knot work. Knot gardens have been a part of traditional garden design for hundreds of years, yet they are rarely seen these days.
To keep the textured, woven effect that is the defining feature of these gardens, the miniature hedges must be clipped and manicured on an almost daily basis. Few of us have time for such obsessive forms of horticulture. For this reason alone, they have fallen from favor and have now largely been replaced by the less labor-intensive yet equally decorative plantings known as parterres.
Parterres are basically knots without the woven effect, and their strong lines and four-season appeal have much to offer the modern gardener. Here we give you an adaptation of the classical knot garden, a pared-down, simplified parterre based on a mid-17th-century English design that you can easily install and maintain, and that will coexist comfortably with looser, less formal plantings.
Traditional knot gardens typically used miniature hedges of contrasting colors, true English dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa'), santolina, and germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) among the most common choices, and purple barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and golden arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold') offering some newer variations. However, in climates where harsh winters are the norm, dwarf boxwood is not reliably hardy, and miniature hedges of santolina and teucrium will not hold up under the weight of snow.
For our adaptation, therefore, we have chosen to construct the entire knot out of the reliably hardy boxwood, Buxus microphylla 'Winter Gem'. (If 'Winter Gem' is not available, B. x 'Green Gem' or B. sinica var. insularis 'Wintergreen' would be equally good. Or you could use the dwarf Japanese yew Taxus cuspidata 'Nana', although it won't have the liveliness and density of boxwood. In addition to their hardiness, both yew and boxwood are equally happy in sun or shade.
The Best Site Parterres are at their best when viewed from above, even if only slightly from above, so try and locate the planting where you will be able to look down on it. In choosing a site for your knot garden, look for a level spot not too far from the house, somewhere that will be visible year-round from indoors, not just from out on your deck during the summer; knot gardens are beautiful in winter, too.
The evergreen outline of the knot garden we present here makes a perfect frame for massed plantings of annuals, perennials, and even herbs and vegetables (see Editor's Note), so if possible, choose a site that gets plenty of sun. If your property tends toward being shady, you can use the knot as a frame for shade-loving plants: Hostas, astilbes, and impatiens look wonderful grouped within the knot's evergreen framework. Finally, in looking for the ideal site, take into account the possibility that you may later want to extend your planting. Formality has an uncanny habit of growing on you: Once you see how captivating a knot garden can be and what visual enjoyment it provides throughout the seasons, you may find yourself yearning to create another.
Getting Started Our knot garden is a 21x21-foot square (see diagram). The central circle is six feet in diameter, the paths that separate the beds are three feet wide, and the total linear footage of evergreen edging (boxwood or yew) is 165 feet. (We have built a little leeway into this figure; no two plants are the same.)
You have a choice of exactly how many plants to buy. If you buy large specimens and plant them just touching one another, you will instantly achieve the illusion of an established planting, but large plants are much more expensive. By increasing the spacing between plants, you can cut down on the number of plants you will need. You can also cut down on cost by buying young, small specimens (sometimes called slips) and spacing them farther apart. If you do it this way, your miniature hedges will take a few years to knit together, but you will still achieve the "patterned" look right from the start.
To calculate the number of plants you will need, first divide the total linear footage of the knot outline (165 feet) by the average size of the plants you are buying. Then, by adjusting the distance between plants, you can come up with a final number for how many plants to buy. For example, if you are buying 'Winter Green' boxwood with 18-inch-diameter crowns, and planting them crown to crown, you will need to buy 110 plants. If this exceeds your budget, you can cut down on the number of plants needed by adjusting the spacing between them. For example, by spacing the plants one foot apart instead of crown to crown, you will need only 66 plants.
If this still exceeds your budget, you can plant your knot garden in stages, doing just the central circle this year and adding the satellite beds next year. Alternatively, you can lay the whole knot garden out per our plan, but edge with boxwood only those beds your budget will allow, and edge the other beds for this first season with a perennial such as 'Silver Mound' artemisia, or even with massed annuals such as alyssum. In other words, you can do as much or as little as your budget will allow and still have a beautiful, eye-catching knot garden in the first season.
Laying Out the Design Locate the center of the 21-foot-square area and drive in a wooden peg. Attach a three-foot-long string to this central peg and use it to mark out a circle six feet in diameter. (Tip: Once you have described this circle, use orange surveyor's spray paint to keep it visible.) The circle will be your reference point for laying out the remainder of the knot, so the more visible it is, the better.
The easiest way to lay out the four satellite beds is to cut a template from an inexpensive blue tarpaulin to the measurements given (see diagram). Lay the template on the ground and use wooden pegs or spray paint to mark the outline. All the paths that intersect within the knot are three feet wide. Have a piece of wood at hand, marked off at three feet, so that you can check quickly and easily as you go that your paths are of uniform width.
You will need to remove all grass from the central circular bed and the satellite beds once they are laid out. Renting a sod-stripper for the day will help with this otherwise laborious job, and the cost is minimal.
Planting The easiest way to plant hedges, whether miniature or otherwise, is to dig a planting trench, placing the excavated dirt onto a tarpaulin as you go. This gives you the chance to shuffle plants around as needed and also allows you to amend the soil uniformly, if necessary. Boxwood has a fibrous root system, and this makes it relatively easy to transplant into the trench. Water the shrubs well before backfilling your trench.
Plant the central circle first; it will be your reference point for the four satellite beds. Then plant one bed at a time, remembering that the intersecting paths are all three feet wide.
Finishing Touches The overall design calls for something with a little height to be placed in the central bed-a standard rose; a small, carefully pruned tree; a birdbath-even a dense planting of ornamental grass. The delicately variegated Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' is especially attractive against the cool-green boxwood. Plant annuals or perennials in the satellite beds.
Give the newly planted hedges a gentle, conservative clipping just to establish uniform height. (An early summer clipping is usually sufficient to keep the garden looking good, but you may want to give the hedges a light haircut at the end of summer as well.) Then mulch carefully around the base of the hedge, using a good layer of dark, finely milled mulch. Finally, edge the grass crisply all around your new knot garden.
What Will It Cost? The total expense depends on whether you go with young, small plants widely spaced or more-mature ones planted so they touch one another. Remember that you can also build the parterre in stages. Boxwood is more expensive than yew but is much better suited to parterres. Small 15- to 18-inch plants cost around $40 each; large 18- to 24-inch specimens are around $50 to $55 each. Most nurseries will give a "landscaper discount" of 25 percent to 30 percent for a quantity purchase. (Yew plants tend to be much larger than boxwood, so you'll need fewer of them; they are about the same price as the large boxwood.) The total cost would be around $4,000 retail if you buy the biggest plants (deduct up to 30 percent of this for a wholesale discount and you may be lucky enough to spend only $2,800). If you buy smaller plants and space them conservatively, you could spend as little as $3,000 retail (or $2,000 wholesale).
If you are buying large, field-dug boxwood plants, they will probably arrive balled and burlapped-and they're heavy. Be prepared: Rent a handcart at your local rental center. The cost is minimal, and it will make the job of moving the plants infinitely easier.
To keep the textured, woven effect that is the defining feature of these gardens, the miniature hedges must be clipped and manicured on an almost daily basis. Few of us have time for such obsessive forms of horticulture. For this reason alone, they have fallen from favor and have now largely been replaced by the less labor-intensive yet equally decorative plantings known as parterres.
Parterres are basically knots without the woven effect, and their strong lines and four-season appeal have much to offer the modern gardener. Here we give you an adaptation of the classical knot garden, a pared-down, simplified parterre based on a mid-17th-century English design that you can easily install and maintain, and that will coexist comfortably with looser, less formal plantings.
Traditional knot gardens typically used miniature hedges of contrasting colors, true English dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa'), santolina, and germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) among the most common choices, and purple barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and golden arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold') offering some newer variations. However, in climates where harsh winters are the norm, dwarf boxwood is not reliably hardy, and miniature hedges of santolina and teucrium will not hold up under the weight of snow.
For our adaptation, therefore, we have chosen to construct the entire knot out of the reliably hardy boxwood, Buxus microphylla 'Winter Gem'. (If 'Winter Gem' is not available, B. x 'Green Gem' or B. sinica var. insularis 'Wintergreen' would be equally good. Or you could use the dwarf Japanese yew Taxus cuspidata 'Nana', although it won't have the liveliness and density of boxwood. In addition to their hardiness, both yew and boxwood are equally happy in sun or shade.
The Best Site Parterres are at their best when viewed from above, even if only slightly from above, so try and locate the planting where you will be able to look down on it. In choosing a site for your knot garden, look for a level spot not too far from the house, somewhere that will be visible year-round from indoors, not just from out on your deck during the summer; knot gardens are beautiful in winter, too.
The evergreen outline of the knot garden we present here makes a perfect frame for massed plantings of annuals, perennials, and even herbs and vegetables (see Editor's Note), so if possible, choose a site that gets plenty of sun. If your property tends toward being shady, you can use the knot as a frame for shade-loving plants: Hostas, astilbes, and impatiens look wonderful grouped within the knot's evergreen framework. Finally, in looking for the ideal site, take into account the possibility that you may later want to extend your planting. Formality has an uncanny habit of growing on you: Once you see how captivating a knot garden can be and what visual enjoyment it provides throughout the seasons, you may find yourself yearning to create another.
Getting Started Our knot garden is a 21x21-foot square (see diagram). The central circle is six feet in diameter, the paths that separate the beds are three feet wide, and the total linear footage of evergreen edging (boxwood or yew) is 165 feet. (We have built a little leeway into this figure; no two plants are the same.)
You have a choice of exactly how many plants to buy. If you buy large specimens and plant them just touching one another, you will instantly achieve the illusion of an established planting, but large plants are much more expensive. By increasing the spacing between plants, you can cut down on the number of plants you will need. You can also cut down on cost by buying young, small specimens (sometimes called slips) and spacing them farther apart. If you do it this way, your miniature hedges will take a few years to knit together, but you will still achieve the "patterned" look right from the start.
To calculate the number of plants you will need, first divide the total linear footage of the knot outline (165 feet) by the average size of the plants you are buying. Then, by adjusting the distance between plants, you can come up with a final number for how many plants to buy. For example, if you are buying 'Winter Green' boxwood with 18-inch-diameter crowns, and planting them crown to crown, you will need to buy 110 plants. If this exceeds your budget, you can cut down on the number of plants needed by adjusting the spacing between them. For example, by spacing the plants one foot apart instead of crown to crown, you will need only 66 plants.
If this still exceeds your budget, you can plant your knot garden in stages, doing just the central circle this year and adding the satellite beds next year. Alternatively, you can lay the whole knot garden out per our plan, but edge with boxwood only those beds your budget will allow, and edge the other beds for this first season with a perennial such as 'Silver Mound' artemisia, or even with massed annuals such as alyssum. In other words, you can do as much or as little as your budget will allow and still have a beautiful, eye-catching knot garden in the first season.
Laying Out the Design Locate the center of the 21-foot-square area and drive in a wooden peg. Attach a three-foot-long string to this central peg and use it to mark out a circle six feet in diameter. (Tip: Once you have described this circle, use orange surveyor's spray paint to keep it visible.) The circle will be your reference point for laying out the remainder of the knot, so the more visible it is, the better.
The easiest way to lay out the four satellite beds is to cut a template from an inexpensive blue tarpaulin to the measurements given (see diagram). Lay the template on the ground and use wooden pegs or spray paint to mark the outline. All the paths that intersect within the knot are three feet wide. Have a piece of wood at hand, marked off at three feet, so that you can check quickly and easily as you go that your paths are of uniform width.
You will need to remove all grass from the central circular bed and the satellite beds once they are laid out. Renting a sod-stripper for the day will help with this otherwise laborious job, and the cost is minimal.
Planting The easiest way to plant hedges, whether miniature or otherwise, is to dig a planting trench, placing the excavated dirt onto a tarpaulin as you go. This gives you the chance to shuffle plants around as needed and also allows you to amend the soil uniformly, if necessary. Boxwood has a fibrous root system, and this makes it relatively easy to transplant into the trench. Water the shrubs well before backfilling your trench.
Plant the central circle first; it will be your reference point for the four satellite beds. Then plant one bed at a time, remembering that the intersecting paths are all three feet wide.
Finishing Touches The overall design calls for something with a little height to be placed in the central bed-a standard rose; a small, carefully pruned tree; a birdbath-even a dense planting of ornamental grass. The delicately variegated Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' is especially attractive against the cool-green boxwood. Plant annuals or perennials in the satellite beds.
Give the newly planted hedges a gentle, conservative clipping just to establish uniform height. (An early summer clipping is usually sufficient to keep the garden looking good, but you may want to give the hedges a light haircut at the end of summer as well.) Then mulch carefully around the base of the hedge, using a good layer of dark, finely milled mulch. Finally, edge the grass crisply all around your new knot garden.
What Will It Cost? The total expense depends on whether you go with young, small plants widely spaced or more-mature ones planted so they touch one another. Remember that you can also build the parterre in stages. Boxwood is more expensive than yew but is much better suited to parterres. Small 15- to 18-inch plants cost around $40 each; large 18- to 24-inch specimens are around $50 to $55 each. Most nurseries will give a "landscaper discount" of 25 percent to 30 percent for a quantity purchase. (Yew plants tend to be much larger than boxwood, so you'll need fewer of them; they are about the same price as the large boxwood.) The total cost would be around $4,000 retail if you buy the biggest plants (deduct up to 30 percent of this for a wholesale discount and you may be lucky enough to spend only $2,800). If you buy smaller plants and space them conservatively, you could spend as little as $3,000 retail (or $2,000 wholesale).
If you are buying large, field-dug boxwood plants, they will probably arrive balled and burlapped-and they're heavy. Be prepared: Rent a handcart at your local rental center. The cost is minimal, and it will make the job of moving the plants infinitely easier.
Louise Kehoe is a writer and garden designer who lives in Acworth, New Hampshire.
Editor's Note: We're seeing a trend toward more designed and planned gardens, and this parterre is one example. If you don't wish to tackle such an ambitious or costly project but find yourself drawn to this classic design, we suggest you read The Art of the Kitchen Garden, by Jan and Michael Gertley (The Taunton Press, 1999; 203-426-8171; www.taunton.com). It is filled with ideas for using annuals and garden vegetables in designs that mimic the form of the parterre.
by Louise Kehoe Illustration by Margo Letourneau
Create a Knot Garden using Landscape Vision www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Five Easy To Grow Perennials
The perennials that made this list were selected because they all share the following characteristics: they are easy to grow, they add an abundance of color, texture and shape to a garden, they thrive in gardens for a large part of the growing season, they are highly disease resistant and they are not finicky about the type of soil in which they are planted. And finally, although I would not go as far to label them as ‘drought resistant’, they have done beautifully in my garden for several years with minimal watering. Trust me, you can’t go wrong with these plants. They are truly what we in the gardening industry call “tough plants for tough times.”
1. Heuchera micrantha ‘Palace Purple’ (Coral Bells). Low growing burgundy leaved perennial that can be showcased in the front of a border. In my garden (Zone 6), it retains its leaves for four seasons out of the year. It looks stunning in combination with red, soft purple, blue or yellow flowers. Can be used in both sun and partial shade effectively. Zones 6-8
2. Knautia macedonica (scabiosa like flower). Grown for its abundance of deep crimson red, scabiosa like flowers. Blooms profusely (if continually dead headed) from late Spring until frost. Spreads rapidly. Attractive to bees. I use it ‘en masse’ in my garden to complement my soft pink digitalis (foxgloves) and echinacea. Zones 5-9
3. Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’- (Reed Grass). Can be grown in sun or partial shade conditions. If grown in ideal conditions (moist soil), this grass can become invasive. Especially beautiful in the fall with its dense form and seedheads blowing in the breeze. Can be cut back to ground level in Spring. Zones 6-9
4. Macleya cordata (Plume Poppy). This perennial is one of the most attractive foliage plants on the market. Can be grown in sun or partial shade. Capable of growing as tall as 8 feet and spreads rapidly. I use it in the back of my borders for height and depth. Also blows beautifully in the breeze. Has the potential for being invasive so give it plenty of space. Zones 4-9
5. Eupatorium fistulosum (Joe Pye Weed). Grown for its dusky mauvish-purple large flowerheads that bloom from mid-summer through the fall. Thrives in sun and partial shade in the back of the border. Loves moisture. Grows 5-6 feet tall. Can be invasive in moist soil but is easily kept under control if divided every few years. Attractive to butterflies. Zones 3-8
Recognized as one of America's leading gardening experts, especially in the area of environmentally conscious gardening, Fran Sorin is changing how people perceive gardening. Her multi-media exposure reflects her philosophy that, similar to exercising and following a wholesome diet, gardening is a necessity for living a healthier life. http://www.fransorin.com/index.asp
http://www.fransorin.com/book/ Fran's Book "Digging Deep"
Find these Perennials and more in Landscape Vision's award winning plant data base. Purchase our software today and see these plants on your property, in your gardens. www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Shade gardening tips From Yvonne Cunnington
There's no doubt that shade gardening can be a challenge. Growing flowers in full sun is easier, and you have more colorful plants to choose from.
Even so, those of us with gardens that sizzle in the sun often find ourselves longing for cooling shade.
A lush bed out of the heat and glare of the sun can be an attractive, inviting and calming oasis in the garden The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from the first experience of a treed backyard with brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else?
Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade. Getting them to thrive is a matter of enriching the soil.
Do keep in mind that a flower garden directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. In general, most plants that grow well in the shadows, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early in the season before the leaves come out on the trees.
This doesn't mean there won't be other flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from. Impatiens is one of flowers that will give you color in the shade all season long - one of the big reasons it's such a popular annual.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage will be your shade garden mainstay through the season.
The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from the first experience of a treed backyard with brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else?
Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade. Getting them to thrive is a matter of enriching the soil.
Do keep in mind that a flower garden directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. In general, most plants that grow well in the shadows, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early in the season before the leaves come out on the trees.
This doesn't mean there won't be other flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from. Impatiens is one of flowers that will give you color in the shade all season long - one of the big reasons it's such a popular annual.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage will be your shade garden mainstay through the season.
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/Shade-gardening.html
REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT YVONNE CUNNINGTON'S BOOK, FLOWER-GARDENING MADE EASY. http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/Gardening-book.html
Landscape Vision, landscape design software offers plants for your shade garden. Check out our software www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Even so, those of us with gardens that sizzle in the sun often find ourselves longing for cooling shade.
A lush bed out of the heat and glare of the sun can be an attractive, inviting and calming oasis in the garden The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from the first experience of a treed backyard with brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else?
Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade. Getting them to thrive is a matter of enriching the soil.
Do keep in mind that a flower garden directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. In general, most plants that grow well in the shadows, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early in the season before the leaves come out on the trees.
This doesn't mean there won't be other flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from. Impatiens is one of flowers that will give you color in the shade all season long - one of the big reasons it's such a popular annual.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage will be your shade garden mainstay through the season.
The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from the first experience of a treed backyard with brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else?
Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade. Getting them to thrive is a matter of enriching the soil.
Do keep in mind that a flower garden directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. In general, most plants that grow well in the shadows, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early in the season before the leaves come out on the trees.
This doesn't mean there won't be other flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from. Impatiens is one of flowers that will give you color in the shade all season long - one of the big reasons it's such a popular annual.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage will be your shade garden mainstay through the season.
http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/Shade-gardening.html
REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT YVONNE CUNNINGTON'S BOOK, FLOWER-GARDENING MADE EASY. http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/Gardening-book.html
Landscape Vision, landscape design software offers plants for your shade garden. Check out our software www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Lawn Tips Old Farmer's Almanac.
The more you let nature do the work for you, the easier it will be to care for your lawn. These tips could help you improve your relationship with your lawn:
Don't overwater. Make the lawn seek its own source of water, building longer, sturdier roots. Cut back on water especially in midsummer to let the lawn go dormant, strengthening it for fall and winter.
Excess water leaches away nutrients and encourages insects. Deep waterings at irregular intervals are better for the lawn than frequent light waterings.
Let some weeds grow in that expanse of green. A slightly wild lawn lets volunteer grasses, wildflowers, herbs, and even wild strawberries grow, adding color and variety to your landscape.
The struggle against weeds is the single most expensive, time-consuming task in caring for a lawn. Clover grows low to the ground and smells lovely after it's been cut, and it often stays green after the rest of lawn has turned brown; dandelion greens taste great in a salad.
The higher grass grows, the slower it grows. Adjust your mower blades to cut grass at two to three inches instead of 1-1/2 inches to save time, money, and water. Turf clipped at heights greater than two inches develops the largest, most extensive root system.
Leave clippings on the lawn to filter down to the soil, decompose, and recycle nutrients back to the roots. Look into the new "mulching mowers" that recycle clippings back onto the lawn.
If you're seeding or reseeding, use a mix of seed that includes slow-growing or low-growing grasses, like fine-leaf fescues that also have low water and fertility requirements. Combine the fescues with a low-maintenance Kentucky bluegrass like 'Park', 'Kenblue', or 'South Dakota Common'.
Moss and sorrel in lawns usually means poor soil, poor aeration or drainage, or excessive acidity.
During a drought, let the grass grow longer between mowings, and reduce fertilizer.
Water your lawn early in the morning or in the evening.
The best time to apply fertilizer is just before it rains.
In areas of your lawn where tree roots compete with the grass, apply some extra fertilizer to benefit both.
Don't overwater. Make the lawn seek its own source of water, building longer, sturdier roots. Cut back on water especially in midsummer to let the lawn go dormant, strengthening it for fall and winter.
Excess water leaches away nutrients and encourages insects. Deep waterings at irregular intervals are better for the lawn than frequent light waterings.
Let some weeds grow in that expanse of green. A slightly wild lawn lets volunteer grasses, wildflowers, herbs, and even wild strawberries grow, adding color and variety to your landscape.
The struggle against weeds is the single most expensive, time-consuming task in caring for a lawn. Clover grows low to the ground and smells lovely after it's been cut, and it often stays green after the rest of lawn has turned brown; dandelion greens taste great in a salad.
The higher grass grows, the slower it grows. Adjust your mower blades to cut grass at two to three inches instead of 1-1/2 inches to save time, money, and water. Turf clipped at heights greater than two inches develops the largest, most extensive root system.
Leave clippings on the lawn to filter down to the soil, decompose, and recycle nutrients back to the roots. Look into the new "mulching mowers" that recycle clippings back onto the lawn.
If you're seeding or reseeding, use a mix of seed that includes slow-growing or low-growing grasses, like fine-leaf fescues that also have low water and fertility requirements. Combine the fescues with a low-maintenance Kentucky bluegrass like 'Park', 'Kenblue', or 'South Dakota Common'.
Moss and sorrel in lawns usually means poor soil, poor aeration or drainage, or excessive acidity.
During a drought, let the grass grow longer between mowings, and reduce fertilizer.
Water your lawn early in the morning or in the evening.
The best time to apply fertilizer is just before it rains.
In areas of your lawn where tree roots compete with the grass, apply some extra fertilizer to benefit both.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Why Landscape Design Software?
Why Landscape Design Software?
Landscape design software gives you an accurate view of final plans before you invest time and money.
Change your mind as often as you like while planning your landscape, no cost associated with trial and error, experiment away!
Import a photo of your home or yard so you can plan your landscape around it.
You can build an accurate shopping list.
Resize plants, trees, etc.
Landscape design software is not just a gardening tool, it is fun!
What Makes Landscape Vision Software Different?
It is The Easiest To Use.
Five Simple Steps To Creating Your Dream Landscape.
No Complicated CAD Drawings.
No Complicated Instruction Manuals.
No Need For Pages and Pages of “Frequently Asked Questions”.
Easy To Navigate Help Feature.
Quick Fact Sheet.
Real Plant Pictures Not Renderings. (You do not want to see renderings on your lawn or in your garden. You want real pictures.)
Informative Plant Bios. (Voted "Best" by Top Ten Review)
Full Screen View.
Import Your Own Plant Images.
Offers The Ability To See Outdoor Living Products On Your Property.
Opportunity To Purchase These Products On Our On-Line Store.
Import More Outdoor Living Images Into Our Categories.
Free Flow Sketching Function.
Walkways and Pavers.
Shopping List with Real Plant Pictures and Outdoor Living Product Reference.
You Do Not Pay For More Software Then You Need!
24/7 Quick Response Support.
Landscape Vision Software Version 5.4 - Download Now Just $39.95. www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Rose Gardening
Can rose gardening be easy?
Well, yes, if you start by picking strong, disease-resistant rose bushes.
Roses come many colors and forms and in range of growth habits, sizes and shapes. Fortunately today, many newer roses are being bred for hardiness and good disease-resistance.
Like most other garden flowers, roses will thrive if you give them what they need:
Lots of sun – At least six hours of good strong sunlight daily - less sun and you get fewer flowers.
Good soil – Well drained, but able to hold moisture, and enriched with manure and/or compost. Roses are heavy feeders that thrive in rich soil.
Timely care – Plenty of water and fertilizer and proper pruning at the right time. Be sure to stay on the lookout so you can nip any rose problems in the bud before they get out of hand.
Rose gardening : When to plant roses: New roses establish more quickly in the cool moist conditions of spring or fall, so plant soon as soil becomes workable in spring, or in fall.
Always water regularly until established (for about the first two months after planting). Roses are available bare-root or container grown.
Planting bare root roses: Keep roots moist before planting. It's a good idea to soak them in a pail of barely lukewarm water for an hour or so before planting.
Dig hole large enough for roots to spread. Place so that bud union (a swollen area between the root and canes) is at least 2 inches below soil line in warmer zones, 4 to 6 inches deep in Zones 2 to 4. Back-fill planting hole with soil into which you've mixed some peat moss and manure to three quarters full. Firm soil around roots, water well and let drain.
Finish filling the planting hole, adding soil to form a mound over canes (in fall, this provides winter protection, in early spring, protection from sunscald). Remove mounds when roses begin to leaf out.
By Yvonne Cunnington Acknowledgement: Reprinted with Permission. ©Yvonne Cunnington http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/.
Landscape Vision Design Software offer Roses in addition to Perennials, Annuals, Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Ground Cover, Cacti, and Grasses in our award winning plant data base. Visit our home page http://www.landscapeyourvisons.com/
Well, yes, if you start by picking strong, disease-resistant rose bushes.
Roses come many colors and forms and in range of growth habits, sizes and shapes. Fortunately today, many newer roses are being bred for hardiness and good disease-resistance.
Like most other garden flowers, roses will thrive if you give them what they need:
Lots of sun – At least six hours of good strong sunlight daily - less sun and you get fewer flowers.
Good soil – Well drained, but able to hold moisture, and enriched with manure and/or compost. Roses are heavy feeders that thrive in rich soil.
Timely care – Plenty of water and fertilizer and proper pruning at the right time. Be sure to stay on the lookout so you can nip any rose problems in the bud before they get out of hand.
Rose gardening : When to plant roses: New roses establish more quickly in the cool moist conditions of spring or fall, so plant soon as soil becomes workable in spring, or in fall.
Always water regularly until established (for about the first two months after planting). Roses are available bare-root or container grown.
Planting bare root roses: Keep roots moist before planting. It's a good idea to soak them in a pail of barely lukewarm water for an hour or so before planting.
Dig hole large enough for roots to spread. Place so that bud union (a swollen area between the root and canes) is at least 2 inches below soil line in warmer zones, 4 to 6 inches deep in Zones 2 to 4. Back-fill planting hole with soil into which you've mixed some peat moss and manure to three quarters full. Firm soil around roots, water well and let drain.
Finish filling the planting hole, adding soil to form a mound over canes (in fall, this provides winter protection, in early spring, protection from sunscald). Remove mounds when roses begin to leaf out.
By Yvonne Cunnington Acknowledgement: Reprinted with Permission. ©Yvonne Cunnington http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/.
Landscape Vision Design Software offer Roses in addition to Perennials, Annuals, Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Ground Cover, Cacti, and Grasses in our award winning plant data base. Visit our home page http://www.landscapeyourvisons.com/
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Unique Mother's Day Gift.
Hey everyone, looking for a last minute Mother's Day gift? Does your Mom garden? Check out unique landscape design software for a special gift for Mom.
After you make your purchase from our site (see link below) we send Mom an email telling her you have purchase our easy to use landscape design software, Landscape Vision, just for her. We give your Mom a link to download the program, and we tell Mom that this cool gift came from you!
Check out or new version.
http://www.landscapeyourvisions.com/
After you make your purchase from our site (see link below) we send Mom an email telling her you have purchase our easy to use landscape design software, Landscape Vision, just for her. We give your Mom a link to download the program, and we tell Mom that this cool gift came from you!
Check out or new version.
http://www.landscapeyourvisions.com/
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Mother's Day
Is your Mother into GARDENING?
Give Landscape Vision an easy to use landscape design software as a gift this year. Something different and useful!
We have a gift option on our order page. To check out of software click here:
www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Here's a little history on Mother's Day.
Main article: Mother's Day (United States)
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.
When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
Give Landscape Vision an easy to use landscape design software as a gift this year. Something different and useful!
We have a gift option on our order page. To check out of software click here:
www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Here's a little history on Mother's Day.
Main article: Mother's Day (United States)
The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.
When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.
Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.
Lawn Care Tips from The Old Farmer's Almanac
The more you let nature do the work for you, the easier it will be to care for your lawn. These tips could help you improve your relationship with your lawn:
Don't overwater. Make the lawn seek its own source of water, building longer, sturdier roots. Cut back on water especially in midsummer to let the lawn go dormant, strengthening it for fall and winter.
Excess water leaches away nutrients and encourages insects. Deep waterings at irregular intervals are better for the lawn than frequent light waterings.
Let some weeds grow in that expanse of green. A slightly wild lawn lets volunteer grasses, wildflowers, herbs, and even wild strawberries grow, adding color and variety to your landscape.
The struggle against weeds is the single most expensive, time-consuming task in caring for a lawn. Clover grows low to the ground and smells lovely after it's been cut, and it often stays green after the rest of lawn has turned brown; dandelion greens taste great in a salad.
The higher grass grows, the slower it grows. Adjust your mower blades to cut grass at two to three inches instead of 1-1/2 inches to save time, money, and water. Turf clipped at heights greater than two inches develops the largest, most extensive root system.
Leave clippings on the lawn to filter down to the soil, decompose, and recycle nutrients back to the roots. Look into the new "mulching mowers" that recycle clippings back onto the lawn.
If you're seeding or reseeding, use a mix of seed that includes slow-growing or low-growing grasses, like fine-leaf fescues that also have low water and fertility requirements. Combine the fescues with a low-maintenance Kentucky bluegrass like 'Park', 'Kenblue', or 'South Dakota Common'.
Moss and sorrel in lawns usually means poor soil, poor aeration or drainage, or excessive acidity.
During a drought, let the grass grow longer between mowings, and reduce fertilizer.
Water your lawn early in the morning or in the evening.
The best time to apply fertilizer is just before it rains.
In areas of your lawn where tree roots compete with the grass, apply some extra fertilizer to benefit both.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/index.php
Don't overwater. Make the lawn seek its own source of water, building longer, sturdier roots. Cut back on water especially in midsummer to let the lawn go dormant, strengthening it for fall and winter.
Excess water leaches away nutrients and encourages insects. Deep waterings at irregular intervals are better for the lawn than frequent light waterings.
Let some weeds grow in that expanse of green. A slightly wild lawn lets volunteer grasses, wildflowers, herbs, and even wild strawberries grow, adding color and variety to your landscape.
The struggle against weeds is the single most expensive, time-consuming task in caring for a lawn. Clover grows low to the ground and smells lovely after it's been cut, and it often stays green after the rest of lawn has turned brown; dandelion greens taste great in a salad.
The higher grass grows, the slower it grows. Adjust your mower blades to cut grass at two to three inches instead of 1-1/2 inches to save time, money, and water. Turf clipped at heights greater than two inches develops the largest, most extensive root system.
Leave clippings on the lawn to filter down to the soil, decompose, and recycle nutrients back to the roots. Look into the new "mulching mowers" that recycle clippings back onto the lawn.
If you're seeding or reseeding, use a mix of seed that includes slow-growing or low-growing grasses, like fine-leaf fescues that also have low water and fertility requirements. Combine the fescues with a low-maintenance Kentucky bluegrass like 'Park', 'Kenblue', or 'South Dakota Common'.
Moss and sorrel in lawns usually means poor soil, poor aeration or drainage, or excessive acidity.
During a drought, let the grass grow longer between mowings, and reduce fertilizer.
Water your lawn early in the morning or in the evening.
The best time to apply fertilizer is just before it rains.
In areas of your lawn where tree roots compete with the grass, apply some extra fertilizer to benefit both.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/index.php
Climbing roses. Old Farmers Almanac
Should climbing roses be trimmed back the same as other roses?
Yes, but avoid pruning them too much. Novice rose growers often make that mistake. Climbing varieties usually fare better with light pruning. Generally, you should trim them after they bloom, to make room for new blooms. Different varieties behave differently, though, so you should consult your local nursery to find out what is best for your variety. No rose will bloom well if its blossoms don't get enough sunshine and air because they are too crowded.
From Old Farmer's Almanac
Yes, but avoid pruning them too much. Novice rose growers often make that mistake. Climbing varieties usually fare better with light pruning. Generally, you should trim them after they bloom, to make room for new blooms. Different varieties behave differently, though, so you should consult your local nursery to find out what is best for your variety. No rose will bloom well if its blossoms don't get enough sunshine and air because they are too crowded.
From Old Farmer's Almanac
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Growing impatiens in your garden by Yvonne Cunnington
If you're thinking of growing impatiens, also known as Busy Lizzy, you're in good company. Impatiens are the most popular bedding plants in the world.
These attractive shade annuals got their botanical name because their seed pods explode when they ripen, shooting their sticky seeds far and wide. Perhaps these annuals are impatient to reproduce.
These attractive shade annuals got their botanical name because their seed pods explode when they ripen, shooting their sticky seeds far and wide. Perhaps these annuals are impatient to reproduce.
Types of impatiens for your garden conditions.
Impatiens are popular because they're easy-to-grow and flower in shade all season.
Today's cultivars are more tolerant of sun than many older varieties, but too much sun will stunt their growth, resulting in shorter plants with smaller leaves and not as many flowers.
Available in many colors - red, scarlet, pink, white, rose and mauve - and in star patterns and bicolors with light colors inside the flowers and darker colors at the margins of the petals, impatiens comes in single, semi double or fully double flower forms.
There are varieties of New Guinea or sun impatiens you can grow if you don't have shade or part shade in your garden.
Today's cultivars are more tolerant of sun than many older varieties, but too much sun will stunt their growth, resulting in shorter plants with smaller leaves and not as many flowers.
Available in many colors - red, scarlet, pink, white, rose and mauve - and in star patterns and bicolors with light colors inside the flowers and darker colors at the margins of the petals, impatiens comes in single, semi double or fully double flower forms.
There are varieties of New Guinea or sun impatiens you can grow if you don't have shade or part shade in your garden.
Tips for growing impatiens.
You will find a good supply of impatiens at nurseries and garden centers in the spring. For best success, choose bushy-looking plants with leaves that are lush and green.
If you like to plant many flats of impatiens, you can grow them from seed yourself.
Impatiens grow about six to 24 inches tall, but their eventual height in your garden depends on moisture and nutrient levels, how far apart you plant them and how much sun they get.
If you want your impatiens to grow taller, space them quite close together, about six inches apart. But if you want them to spread out more, plant them at least eight inches to one foot apart.
Impatiens will grow in the shade under deciduous trees. In such conditions, be sure to give them extra care, as tree roots often use up the available water and nutrients. The key to success is a weekly watering and additional fertilizer every three weeks or so through the season. (Learn more about growing plants in dry shade.)
Give your plants the best start possible by mixing compost or slow-release fertilizer into the soil at planting time and finish off by watering thoroughly. To keep them looking their best, water deeply once a week through the entire growing season, and fertilize regularly.
Impatiens make great container or window box plants in filtered shade. If you're growing them this way, plant them in a soil-less mix, not garden soil. Then water regularly and fertilize weekly.
If you like to plant many flats of impatiens, you can grow them from seed yourself.
Impatiens grow about six to 24 inches tall, but their eventual height in your garden depends on moisture and nutrient levels, how far apart you plant them and how much sun they get.
If you want your impatiens to grow taller, space them quite close together, about six inches apart. But if you want them to spread out more, plant them at least eight inches to one foot apart.
Impatiens will grow in the shade under deciduous trees. In such conditions, be sure to give them extra care, as tree roots often use up the available water and nutrients. The key to success is a weekly watering and additional fertilizer every three weeks or so through the season. (Learn more about growing plants in dry shade.)
Give your plants the best start possible by mixing compost or slow-release fertilizer into the soil at planting time and finish off by watering thoroughly. To keep them looking their best, water deeply once a week through the entire growing season, and fertilize regularly.
Impatiens make great container or window box plants in filtered shade. If you're growing them this way, plant them in a soil-less mix, not garden soil. Then water regularly and fertilize weekly.
By Yvonne Cunnington Check out Yvonne's great gardening book
Basic Gardening!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Happy Arbor Day!
What is Arbor Day?
Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care.
Founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872, National Arbor Day is celebrated each year on the last Friday in April.
Learn more about Arbor Day and how to give a tree, a life time gift.
http://www.arborday.org/shopping/gifttrees/
Landscape Vision is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation, when you join you receive 10 FREE TREES, we donate ours to our local parks department. You should join, plant your tress, improve the earth!
Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care.
Founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872, National Arbor Day is celebrated each year on the last Friday in April.
Learn more about Arbor Day and how to give a tree, a life time gift.
http://www.arborday.org/shopping/gifttrees/
Landscape Vision is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation, when you join you receive 10 FREE TREES, we donate ours to our local parks department. You should join, plant your tress, improve the earth!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
If You Want to Do One Thing on Earth Day:
CALL FOR CLIMATE!
Global warming is our most urgent environmental problem. Scientists tell us that the time for action is now or never. Yet Congress is weighing legislation that falls far short of what is needed, and will unfairly burden the poor and middle class.
For Earth Day 2008, join Earth Day Network in one of the largest Earth Day campaigns in US history, Call for Climate. Be one of nearly a million people who will phone Capitol Hill on Earth Day to call for tough and equitable national action on global warming. Put this number in your phone now!
Ask for your representative. Tell them the current global warming proposals in Congress are inadequate. Tell them you want:
A moratorium on new coal-burning plants,
Renewable energy,
Carbon-neutral buildings,
Protection for the poor and middle class in the new green economy.
Tell five friends about this campaign - have them enter the number into their phones now. Make sure they call on Earth Day, April 22nd.
Take action and sign Earth Day Network's Sky Petition.
Our elected leaders need to hear that climate change demands swift and strong action. The time for waiting and inadequate solutions is over.
This Earth Day, it's time to change the forecast for global warming. Climate change must rise to the top of the national agenda. On April 22th, Americans will be hearing our global warming message and we will be mobilizing support with our Call for Climate campaign.
Global warming is our most urgent environmental problem. Scientists tell us that the time for action is now or never. Yet Congress is weighing legislation that falls far short of what is needed, and will unfairly burden the poor and middle class.
For Earth Day 2008, join Earth Day Network in one of the largest Earth Day campaigns in US history, Call for Climate. Be one of nearly a million people who will phone Capitol Hill on Earth Day to call for tough and equitable national action on global warming. Put this number in your phone now!
Ask for your representative. Tell them the current global warming proposals in Congress are inadequate. Tell them you want:
A moratorium on new coal-burning plants,
Renewable energy,
Carbon-neutral buildings,
Protection for the poor and middle class in the new green economy.
Tell five friends about this campaign - have them enter the number into their phones now. Make sure they call on Earth Day, April 22nd.
Take action and sign Earth Day Network's Sky Petition.
Our elected leaders need to hear that climate change demands swift and strong action. The time for waiting and inadequate solutions is over.
This Earth Day, it's time to change the forecast for global warming. Climate change must rise to the top of the national agenda. On April 22th, Americans will be hearing our global warming message and we will be mobilizing support with our Call for Climate campaign.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Why you should landscape your property.
Check this info out.
Researchers at Clemson University conducted a study of Home Sales and compared the results based on varying levels of Landscape quality. Not only were type, size and condition of the plantings considered but also the overall design. Landscapers were rated "poor", "good", or "excellent". Well designed landscaped homes had faster sales because of first impressions...-
Research Group, Clemson University 2001
Money Magazine had this to say on this matter...
Landscaping as a home improvement project has a recovery value of 100-200% if it is well done and harmonizes with the nearby surrounding. This compares to a Kitchen overhead of 75-125% or a Bathroom redesign of 80-120%. - Money Magazine
Landscape Vision 5.4.2 design software can help you improve the value of your property.
www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Researchers at Clemson University conducted a study of Home Sales and compared the results based on varying levels of Landscape quality. Not only were type, size and condition of the plantings considered but also the overall design. Landscapers were rated "poor", "good", or "excellent". Well designed landscaped homes had faster sales because of first impressions...-
Research Group, Clemson University 2001
Money Magazine had this to say on this matter...
Landscaping as a home improvement project has a recovery value of 100-200% if it is well done and harmonizes with the nearby surrounding. This compares to a Kitchen overhead of 75-125% or a Bathroom redesign of 80-120%. - Money Magazine
Landscape Vision 5.4.2 design software can help you improve the value of your property.
www.landscapeyourvisions.com
Friday, April 18, 2008
Earth Day April 22nd
Earth Day was created in 1970 to spark a revolution against environmental abuse and the organizers, including EDN Board Chairman Denis Hayes, would not take no for an answer. Neither should we. Global warming is real and we're part of the problem. Now, we need to become part of the solution. Check out how you can become part of the solution.
http://www.earthday.net/resources/2006materials/Top10.aspx
Landscape Vision is a member of Earth Day Network. From time to time we will post information from the EDN to give you the tools we all need to help save our planet! Little steps add up.
http://www.earthday.net/resources/2006materials/Top10.aspx
Landscape Vision is a member of Earth Day Network. From time to time we will post information from the EDN to give you the tools we all need to help save our planet! Little steps add up.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
IF I HAD A HAMMER!
Landscape Vision's good friend Andrea Ridout, of the nationally syndicated radio show, "Ask Andrea" has finished her much anticipated book, "If I Had a Hammer"! I encourage all of you do-it-yourself types to check out this book. Andrea really knows home improvement, we just love her here at Landscape Vision. Good for you Andrea, we're all proud of you.
Just click on these links below for either Barnes and Noble.com or Amazon.com
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=andrea+ridout+hammer
Editorial Reviews
Have fun, save money, and improve your home with these easy step-by-step projects
Are you looking for a way to make your bathroom a little more beautiful? Or maybe you'd like to give your tired furniture a face-lift, improve your home's air quality, or fix a toilet. No matter your DIY needs and no matter whether you're a DIY novice or expert, home improvement guru Andrea Ridout, host of the nationally syndicated radio show Ask Andrea, has ideas, expertise, and advice to share with you.
If I Had a Hammer offers easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations designed to make home improvement simpler than ever. With a little help from Andrea, you'll be able to tackle repairs, painting and decorating, bathroom and kitchen remodeling, wood care for furniture and floors, and much more with projects that often take as little as an hour. Also, you can try a few of Andrea's energy-conserving projects that can dramatically improve your utility bill—Andrea's projects are friendly on the environment and on your wallet! With If I Had a Hammer, you'll have the tools to keep your home functioning and looking as good as—or even better than—new.
Biography
Andrea Ridout is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show Ask Andrea and is a frequent renovation expert on national and regional television programs. Her articles and advice have appeared in Reader's Digest, Woman's Day Home Remodeling, and Country Home, among many other publications. She lives near Dallas, Texas.
Cooperative Extension Services
Contact your local state cooperative extension Web site to get help with tricky insect problems, best varieties to plant in your area, or general maintenance of your garden.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/resource/coopext.php
Offered by our friends at The Old Farmer's Almanac
http://www.almanac.com/garden/resource/coopext.php
Offered by our friends at The Old Farmer's Almanac
Outdoor Planting Table from Old Farmer's Almanac
Check out Old Farmer's Almanac "Outdoor Planting Table" Provides you a time table for planting. Put in your zip code to see your area's planting times.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php
The best time to plant flowers and vegetables that bear crops above ground is during the light of the Moon; that is, from the day the Moon is new to the day it is full. Flowering bulbs and vegetables that bear crops below ground should be planted during the dark of the Moon; that is, from the day after it is full to the day before it is new again. The Moon Favorable column below gives these days, which are based on the Moon's phases for 2008 and the safe periods for planting in areas that receive frost. See Moon phases for the exact days of the new and full Moons.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php
http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php
The best time to plant flowers and vegetables that bear crops above ground is during the light of the Moon; that is, from the day the Moon is new to the day it is full. Flowering bulbs and vegetables that bear crops below ground should be planted during the dark of the Moon; that is, from the day after it is full to the day before it is new again. The Moon Favorable column below gives these days, which are based on the Moon's phases for 2008 and the safe periods for planting in areas that receive frost. See Moon phases for the exact days of the new and full Moons.
http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Gardening Jobs for April! Old Farmers Almanac
Start coleus cuttings now to plant outdoors in the garden by early June. These colorful plants are enjoying a revival as fine accents to annual and perennial borders.
Rake or remove mulches from all flower beds.
Plant rosebushes. They often do best if planted before growth starts and buds swell. And if you want to increase their fragrance, surround them with parsley.
Scatter annual poppy seeds in your flower garden and let them grow where they will. They don't like to be transplanted.
Broadcast lime, wood ashes, or a mixture of the two over alkaline-loving perennials such as delphiniums and dianthus. Bring color outdoors to patios, porches, and even the garden with pansy plants, which don't mind cold nights. To encourage constant flowering, routinely remove spent blossoms and keep them from getting bone-dry.
Sow sweet peas as soon as the soil can be worked. Nick the seeds with a nail file and plant them five inches deep, but cover them with only about three inches of soil. Hoe more soil up around them as they grow.
Plant lilies-of-the-valley, violets, and garden lilies. Divide summer- and fall-blooming perennials, including delphiniums, irises, chrysanthemums, daisies, and phlox.
Although we think of this as a rainy month, it can fool us. Keep transplanted flowers well watered during dry spells.
When danger of frost has passed, uncover strawberry beds and keep them well watered.
Plant blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and fruit trees.
Start seeds indoors for heat-loving crops such as eggplant, tomatoes, and squash.
To determine whether your garden soil is ready for seeds, grab a good handful of it. If you can form it into a ball, the soil is too wet. If it crumbles through your fingers and reminds you of chocolate cake, it's ready for planting.
If the soil is ready, give it a good stirring and let it sit for several days. Then top-dress it with compost or well-rotted manure and plant beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, radishes, parsnips, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips.
If you got your peas in last month, be sure to give them a good fence for support, made of chicken wire, twine, or stubby branches that are at least three feet tall. Otherwise, plant them this month as soon as you can.
Scatter spinach or lettuce seeds around emerging bulb foliage to make wise use of your garden space, and have a leafy green crop at the ready to cover the bare spots left by deadheaded spring flowers.
Prune forsythias as soon as the flowers fade. Cut the oldest stems to within a foot of the ground, but be sure to let the plant keep its arching form; don't turn it into a gumdrop or cannonball.
Feed your trees. As soon as the frost goes out of the ground, give them a well-balanced slow-release fertilizer. Scatter about six good handfuls per each 10x10-foot area. Store leftover fertilizer in a small plastic trash can or a covered plastic container, and label it.
Rake your lawn to remove all leaves, dead grass, and small twigs. Sow seed for a new lawn, or fill in bare patches by first covering the area with compost or other organic matter. Roll the lawn if the ground isn't soggy.
If you receive mail-order nursery plants before your soil is dry enough for planting, make a trench and heel them into the ground in a protected area.
Don't fertilize strawberries in the spring. This is when the leaves are developing, and you'll get lush growth and meager, soft berries. Wait until blossoms appear and use a light hand.
Don't set tomato plants out in the garden too soon. They hate cold soil and cold nights (under 55 degrees F).
Don't forget to vent your cold frame. April days may feel chilly, but the temperature under the glass can get over 100 degrees F on a sunny day. Salad greens are unhappy over 65 degrees F, and most other plants will perish over 85 degrees F.
http://www.almanac.com/
Rake or remove mulches from all flower beds.
Plant rosebushes. They often do best if planted before growth starts and buds swell. And if you want to increase their fragrance, surround them with parsley.
Scatter annual poppy seeds in your flower garden and let them grow where they will. They don't like to be transplanted.
Broadcast lime, wood ashes, or a mixture of the two over alkaline-loving perennials such as delphiniums and dianthus. Bring color outdoors to patios, porches, and even the garden with pansy plants, which don't mind cold nights. To encourage constant flowering, routinely remove spent blossoms and keep them from getting bone-dry.
Sow sweet peas as soon as the soil can be worked. Nick the seeds with a nail file and plant them five inches deep, but cover them with only about three inches of soil. Hoe more soil up around them as they grow.
Plant lilies-of-the-valley, violets, and garden lilies. Divide summer- and fall-blooming perennials, including delphiniums, irises, chrysanthemums, daisies, and phlox.
Although we think of this as a rainy month, it can fool us. Keep transplanted flowers well watered during dry spells.
When danger of frost has passed, uncover strawberry beds and keep them well watered.
Plant blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and fruit trees.
Start seeds indoors for heat-loving crops such as eggplant, tomatoes, and squash.
To determine whether your garden soil is ready for seeds, grab a good handful of it. If you can form it into a ball, the soil is too wet. If it crumbles through your fingers and reminds you of chocolate cake, it's ready for planting.
If the soil is ready, give it a good stirring and let it sit for several days. Then top-dress it with compost or well-rotted manure and plant beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, radishes, parsnips, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips.
If you got your peas in last month, be sure to give them a good fence for support, made of chicken wire, twine, or stubby branches that are at least three feet tall. Otherwise, plant them this month as soon as you can.
Scatter spinach or lettuce seeds around emerging bulb foliage to make wise use of your garden space, and have a leafy green crop at the ready to cover the bare spots left by deadheaded spring flowers.
Prune forsythias as soon as the flowers fade. Cut the oldest stems to within a foot of the ground, but be sure to let the plant keep its arching form; don't turn it into a gumdrop or cannonball.
Feed your trees. As soon as the frost goes out of the ground, give them a well-balanced slow-release fertilizer. Scatter about six good handfuls per each 10x10-foot area. Store leftover fertilizer in a small plastic trash can or a covered plastic container, and label it.
Rake your lawn to remove all leaves, dead grass, and small twigs. Sow seed for a new lawn, or fill in bare patches by first covering the area with compost or other organic matter. Roll the lawn if the ground isn't soggy.
If you receive mail-order nursery plants before your soil is dry enough for planting, make a trench and heel them into the ground in a protected area.
Don't fertilize strawberries in the spring. This is when the leaves are developing, and you'll get lush growth and meager, soft berries. Wait until blossoms appear and use a light hand.
Don't set tomato plants out in the garden too soon. They hate cold soil and cold nights (under 55 degrees F).
Don't forget to vent your cold frame. April days may feel chilly, but the temperature under the glass can get over 100 degrees F on a sunny day. Salad greens are unhappy over 65 degrees F, and most other plants will perish over 85 degrees F.
http://www.almanac.com/
A Foolproof Flower Garden By Fran Sorin
Don't settle for potted pansies. With a little effort and patience, you can create your own backyard paradise.Maybe you've just moved from an apartment to your first house. Between family, work, carpooling and everything else -- has it been 12 trips to the Home Depot? -- your first garden awaits your imprint. Planting flowers is a great way to exercise your creativity, but it can seem daunting to the beginner. Don't despair: The investment of time and energy will repay you in spades. After more than 20 years of designing gardens, here's my insider's guide to getting started.
1. Know your property's relationship to the sun. If you have a true southern exposure, you'll get direct sun most of the afternoon. A northern exposure will give you mainly shade; eastern exposure, morning sun and afternoon shade; western exposure, pretty much late-afternoon sun, with shade the rest of the day.
2. Make sure the type of garden you want can be done with the amount of sun you get. For example, although most herb and cutting gardens need direct sunlight (six hours of sun a day), woodland gardens thrive in shade. If you have a shady lot and you want a cutting garden just like the one you saw in a magazine, forget it. Instead, try to re-interpret it by using shade perennials, bulbs and shrubs.
3. Choose a site for your flower bed that can be viewed from inside your house. If possible, take advantage of garden views from outdoor terraces or patios, too.
4. Let your garden reflect your personal style, just as your indoor space does. If you tend toward the traditional indoors, think in terms of a traditional garden with a formal, symmetrical outline, perhaps with pedestals of evergreens to add to the mood. If you lean toward a more rustic style, your outdoor space should reflect that informal feel: Let an abundance of flowers brim over the edges of the garden, and use some flea market finds as containers.
5. When you're ready to experiment with the placement of the flower bed, lay out a hose to outline its shape and size. (Or use spray landscape paint from a paint store.) Leave the hose in one position for a few days before deciding whether that configuration works. Geometric shapes generally indicate a formal design; irregular or island beds are more informal.
6. When the soil has warmed up and is not too soggy, you can dig the bed. First, remove the grass -- roots and all -- with a spade, or use an herbicide (like Round-Up) or an organic grass killer. Then rototill the area or turn it over with a fork. At least 12 inches of good organic matter should be laid on top of the existing soil. Once you've raked the organic matter evenly across the bed, edge the perimeter with a sharp spade to give it a professional, crisp finish.
7. The most effective gardens are simple ones that follow the adage "Less is more." Select plants of various shapes and textures that bloom at different times of the gardening season and that resist disease and drought. Limit your palette to two or three colors. I like to work with combinations of three plants to create a vignette.
8. Plant a lot of each specimen. The repetition of specimens and colors soothes the eye and paves the way for a more glorious design. I plant a minimum of seven of each specimen in a small garden bed, and up to 20-something of each in an expansive area.
9. Plant in a flowing or wavelike pattern. Play around with the plants while they are still in their pots, positioning them around your garden bed to see how they look before you actually plant them. Some of my greatest moments of inspiration occur when I make last-minute changes.
10. Spread mulch as soon as possible after planting (no more than 2 inches thick). Do it carefully, to avoid damaging the plants.
11. Until the plants are settled in (about two weeks), I water every third day early in the morning, 30 to 45 minutes at a time, with a soaker hose or a rotating sprinkler.
12. Over the remainder of the spring (in cool regions, into the early summer), fill in bare areas with exuberant summer bulbs or tubers such as dahlias, cannas, elephant ears, oxalis and colocasias, and annual plants or seeds that can be scratched right into your garden soil.
13. To give the plants extra "oomph," spray them with an organic fertilizer, such as fish fertilizer, once every four weeks, preferably first thing in the morning when it's cool -- never when the temperature is above 80 degrees.
14. Be patient. Plants won't fully mature for a good two to three years. Enjoy the process and keep notes on the plant combinations that give you great pleasure. I think you will be surprised how often you use them as you continue to create new gardens.
Three of my favorite plant trios-- Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage), Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' (coneflower), Liatris spicata-- Salvia greggii 'Maraschino,' Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle), Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff'-- Phlox divaricata 'Chattahoochee,' Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower), Dryopteris marginalis (leatherwood fern)
"Fran Sorin is a great source of gardening information and inspiration. Check out her site, you'll enjoy it. www.fransorin.com Order her latest book Digging Deep http://fransorin.com/book/, it's a must have for any gardener of any level. I love it. "
Yvonne Grenier GM Landscape Vision.
1. Know your property's relationship to the sun. If you have a true southern exposure, you'll get direct sun most of the afternoon. A northern exposure will give you mainly shade; eastern exposure, morning sun and afternoon shade; western exposure, pretty much late-afternoon sun, with shade the rest of the day.
2. Make sure the type of garden you want can be done with the amount of sun you get. For example, although most herb and cutting gardens need direct sunlight (six hours of sun a day), woodland gardens thrive in shade. If you have a shady lot and you want a cutting garden just like the one you saw in a magazine, forget it. Instead, try to re-interpret it by using shade perennials, bulbs and shrubs.
3. Choose a site for your flower bed that can be viewed from inside your house. If possible, take advantage of garden views from outdoor terraces or patios, too.
4. Let your garden reflect your personal style, just as your indoor space does. If you tend toward the traditional indoors, think in terms of a traditional garden with a formal, symmetrical outline, perhaps with pedestals of evergreens to add to the mood. If you lean toward a more rustic style, your outdoor space should reflect that informal feel: Let an abundance of flowers brim over the edges of the garden, and use some flea market finds as containers.
5. When you're ready to experiment with the placement of the flower bed, lay out a hose to outline its shape and size. (Or use spray landscape paint from a paint store.) Leave the hose in one position for a few days before deciding whether that configuration works. Geometric shapes generally indicate a formal design; irregular or island beds are more informal.
6. When the soil has warmed up and is not too soggy, you can dig the bed. First, remove the grass -- roots and all -- with a spade, or use an herbicide (like Round-Up) or an organic grass killer. Then rototill the area or turn it over with a fork. At least 12 inches of good organic matter should be laid on top of the existing soil. Once you've raked the organic matter evenly across the bed, edge the perimeter with a sharp spade to give it a professional, crisp finish.
7. The most effective gardens are simple ones that follow the adage "Less is more." Select plants of various shapes and textures that bloom at different times of the gardening season and that resist disease and drought. Limit your palette to two or three colors. I like to work with combinations of three plants to create a vignette.
8. Plant a lot of each specimen. The repetition of specimens and colors soothes the eye and paves the way for a more glorious design. I plant a minimum of seven of each specimen in a small garden bed, and up to 20-something of each in an expansive area.
9. Plant in a flowing or wavelike pattern. Play around with the plants while they are still in their pots, positioning them around your garden bed to see how they look before you actually plant them. Some of my greatest moments of inspiration occur when I make last-minute changes.
10. Spread mulch as soon as possible after planting (no more than 2 inches thick). Do it carefully, to avoid damaging the plants.
11. Until the plants are settled in (about two weeks), I water every third day early in the morning, 30 to 45 minutes at a time, with a soaker hose or a rotating sprinkler.
12. Over the remainder of the spring (in cool regions, into the early summer), fill in bare areas with exuberant summer bulbs or tubers such as dahlias, cannas, elephant ears, oxalis and colocasias, and annual plants or seeds that can be scratched right into your garden soil.
13. To give the plants extra "oomph," spray them with an organic fertilizer, such as fish fertilizer, once every four weeks, preferably first thing in the morning when it's cool -- never when the temperature is above 80 degrees.
14. Be patient. Plants won't fully mature for a good two to three years. Enjoy the process and keep notes on the plant combinations that give you great pleasure. I think you will be surprised how often you use them as you continue to create new gardens.
Three of my favorite plant trios-- Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage), Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' (coneflower), Liatris spicata-- Salvia greggii 'Maraschino,' Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle), Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff'-- Phlox divaricata 'Chattahoochee,' Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower), Dryopteris marginalis (leatherwood fern)
"Fran Sorin is a great source of gardening information and inspiration. Check out her site, you'll enjoy it. www.fransorin.com Order her latest book Digging Deep http://fransorin.com/book/, it's a must have for any gardener of any level. I love it. "
Yvonne Grenier GM Landscape Vision.
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