To develop a successful landscape plan, first do a walk-a-round before you start digging and planting. Record your landscape’s sun patterns, soil types, wind and water movement. This information will help you select the kinds of plants that will prosper under existing conditions. Sun exposure shifts daily and seasonally. Observe the garden at different times to gain […]
Archive for the ‘Purchasing Plants’ Category
Key Landscaping Tips
Posted by Hugh on January 11th, 2018
Posted in acidic soil, alkaline soil, Attracting birds, Bulb Crops, Camellia, Container garden, Daphne odora, Deciduous, Deer resistant, Environmental Conservation, Evergreens, Fertilizing, Green Privacy Screen, Landscape ideas, mulching trees, Native Plant, Pieris japonica, Planting tips, Purchasing Plants, Rabbit/deer Protection, Rhododendrons, Shade Gardening, Soil drainage, Soil pH, Soil Testing, Summer heat tolerant, Trees & Shrubs, watering tips, Wildlife attractant, Wind protection, winter hardiness, Winter Protection 
Comments Off on Key Landscaping TipsCommon Street and Landscape Trees
Posted by Hugh on January 10th, 2018
Across the U.S. and Canada, city planners, landscape architects, and property owners now enjoy a wide selection of landscape trees to plant on city streets, along roadsides, and in yards and gardens. Over the past half century new and improved varieties (cultivars) are disease and pest resistant and exhibit better branching and architecture. We now know to avoid […]
Posted in American hornbeam, Arborvitae (Thuja spp.), Bald cypress (Taxodium), Birch (Betula spp.), Black gum (Nyssa), Black locust (Robinia), Bradford Pear, Bur oak (Q. macrocarpa), Catalpa, compact tree, Container growing, Crabapple, Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia), Disease prone, Ginkgo biloba, Golden Raintree, Green ash (Fraxinus), Hackberry (Celtis), Honeylocust (Gleditsia), Hophornbeam (Ostrya), Hornbeam (Carpinus), Horse chestnut (Aesculus), Insect (Pest) Problems, Japanese Pagoda Tree (Styphnolobium), Kentucky coffeetree, Kwanzan cherry, Lacebark elm, Landscape Construction, Landscape ideas, Large Shade trees, Magnolia grandiflora, Maples (Acer), Medium sized Tree, Messy Fruits, Mountain ash (Sorbus), Native Plant, Okame cherry (Prunus), Ornamental cherry (Prunus), Pear (Ornamental), pin oak, Planting tips, Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Red oak (Quercus), Redbud, river birch, Serviceberry (Amelanchier), Shade tree, Small landscape tree, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Street tree, Sweetgum (Liquidambar), Sycamore (Platanus), Trees & Shrubs, Tulip tree (Liriodendron), Vitex (Chaste tree), Walnut, Weak branching, Weak wooded, White oak (Quercus), Willow oak (Quercus), winter injury, Yellowwood, Yoshino cherry (Prunus), Zelkova Comments Off on Common Street and Landscape TreesCrypts (Cryptanthus) Are The Easiest Bromeliads To Grow
Posted by Hugh on January 7th, 2018
Crypts (Cryptanthus spp.), members of the bromeliad family, are an ideal low care choice for house plant collectors. Currently, there are over 1200 varieties of Cryptanthus species and hybrids available today. Compare to other bromeliads, which grow in trees or rock outcropping, crypts grow in soil or rock ground. Plants prefer an airy, porous, moist soilless media favored by most […]
Posted in acidic soil, Bromeliads, Cryptanthus, Disease resistant, Fertilizing plants, Flowering house plant, Interior (house) Plants, Landscape ideas, Planting tips, Potting Mix, Propagation (dividing), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer heat tolerant, Tropical Plants (non-hardy), watering tips, winter hardiness, Winter Protection Comments Off on Crypts (Cryptanthus) Are The Easiest Bromeliads To GrowSteps To Making Gardening Easier
Posted by Hugh on December 30th, 2017
Take an inventory of your gardening time, talley up of costs, and develop a plan how to make your garden space more beautiful with less work and cost to you. Plant Smarter Simplify! For example, in my zone 6 garden, bigleaf hydrangeas disappoint tow out of three years and they’re water hogs in the summer. Smooth (AG) hydrangeas (like […]
Posted in Annuals, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Autumn flowering, Bee Favorite, Bees and other pollinators, Bulb Crops, compost, Container garden, Crop rotation, Deer resistant, Fertilizing plants, Flowers, Garden Maintenance, Garden Tools, Globe amaranth (Gomphrena), Landscape Construction, Landscape ideas, mulching, mulching trees, Native Plant, Perennials, Planting tips, Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Raised bed Gardening, Scaevola, Southern Appalachian Region, Spring flowering, Summer flowering, Trees & Shrubs, Uncategorized, watering tips, Winter flowering, winter hardiness Comments Off on Steps To Making Gardening EasierDeck The Halls With These Ten Festive Plants
Posted by Hugh on December 24th, 2017
Celebrate the holiday with these live plants, some of which you receive as gifts. These houseplants can stand alone or complement the festive holiday decor: Poinsettia. No other houseplant captures the Christmas spirit more than poinsettias. Thanksgiving/Christmas Cacti (Schlumbergera bridesii or S. truncata) – these easy to care for dependable flowering cacti (they’re really succulents) come in red, pink or […]
Posted in acidic soil, Amaryllis, Amaryllis (Bulb), Autumn flowering, Bulb Crops, Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera), Container garden, Cyclamen, Fertilizing plants, Flowering house plant, Kalanchoe, Norfolk Island Pine, plant nutrition, Planting tips, Poinsettia, Potting Mix, Propagation (Cuttings), Propagation (Seed), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Thanksgiving cactus, Tillandsia, watering tips, Winter flowering, Winter Protection Comments Off on Deck The Halls With These Ten Festive PlantsFive Evergreens For Small Garden Spaces
Posted by Hugh on December 21st, 2017
The following five evergreen shrubs are smaller versions of the larger growing species. They make a better fit in smaller urban gardens. Gyokuryu Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica ‘Gyokuryu’) is a fast-growing, broadly conical selection with coarse bluish-green evergreen foliage. The needles are highly ornamental and remain bluish-green through most of the winter in zone 6 and […]
Posted in acidic soil, acidify soil, Arborvitae (Thuja spp.), Bagworms, Bald cypress (Taxodium), Chamaecyparis, compact shrub, compact tree, compost, Container growing, container shrub, Cryptomeria (Japanese cedar), Dawn redwood (Metasequoia), Deciduous conifer, Deer resistant, Disease resistant, Drought tolerant, Evergreen, Evergreens, Heat Tolerance, Landscape ideas, Mites, mulching, Native Plant, Nootkatensis cedar, Planting tips, Propagation (Cuttings), Propagation(grafting), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Small landscape tree, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer heat tolerant, Trees & Shrubs, winter hardiness Comments Off on Five Evergreens For Small Garden SpacesPoinsettias – Best Of Show**
Posted by Hugh on December 16th, 2017
This holiday season poinsettia breeders continue to give plant buyers lovely colors, patterns and shapes. Recently, at Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse in King, North Carolina, Judy Mitchell got the word out about their annual Poinsettia Open House. Close to 400 people attended their openhouse and evaluated the 10,000 poinsettias, choosing which of the 79 […]
Posted in acidic soil, Breeding Plants, Flower arrangments, Flowering house plant, Flowers, Interior (house) Plants, Landscape ideas, Photoperiod (Daylength), Poinsettia, Poinsettia, Propagation (Cuttings), Purchasing Plants, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Tropical Plants (non-hardy), Winter flowering Comments Off on Poinsettias – Best Of Show**Protect New Trees From Winter Sunscald
Posted by Hugh on December 13th, 2017
Across the northern U.S. and Canada, cold temperatures can damage many plants. Wide fluctuations in temperature can be particularly detrimental to newly planted landscape and fruit trees from late fall to early spring. Street trees are particularly susceptible. Sun scald is described by elongated, sunken, dried, or cracked areas of dead bark, usually on the […]
Posted in apple orchard, Apple tree, Asian Pears, Cherries, Cold tolerance, Crabapple, Environmental issues, Garden Problems, Honeylocust (Gleditsia), Landscape ideas, Linden (Tilia), Maples (Acer), Mountain ash (Sorbus), Peach, Pear (Pyrus spp.), Plum, Purchasing Plants, Southern Appalachian Region, Street tree, Sun scald, Trees & Shrubs, Wind protection, Winter bark, winter hardiness, Winter Protection Comments Off on Protect New Trees From Winter SunscaldCare of African Violets
Posted by Hugh on December 8th, 2017
African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) or AVs are among the easiest flowering house plant to grow. They need indirect moderate to bright lighting and moist well-drained potting soil. Grow plants in plastic pots and not in clay (terra cotta). AVs should be repotted annually. Here are some additional cultural tips: Room temperatures: AVs thrive at room […]
Posted in acidic soil, African violet (Saintpaulia), Botrytis disease, Fertilizing plants, Flowering, Flowering house plant, Interior (house) Plants, Mealy bugs, Mites, plant nutrition, Powdery mildew, Propagation (Cuttings), Purchasing Plants, Root rotting, Sanitation, Scale, Soil drainage, Southern Appalachian Region, Thrips, Tropical Plants (non-hardy), watering tips Comments Off on Care of African VioletsNew: The Bushel and Berry Collection Of Patio Fruits
Posted by Hugh on December 4th, 2017
Back in late 2016 Star® Roses and Plants* purchased the company formerly known as BrazelBerries®. In 2017 they have rebranded the plant offerings into the new Bushel and Berry™ Collection. Beside the old favorites, a new collection of edible berry plants are available at participating garden centers nationwide. I have successfully grown two varieties on the sunny portion of […]
Posted in acidic soil, Aphids, Attracting birds, Attracting Butterflies, Bees and other pollinators, Blueberries, Cold tolerance, Container garden, Disease resistant, Downy mildew, Fertilizing plants, Fruits & Vegetables, Insect (Pest) Problems, Landscape ideas, Mites, Planting tips, Powdery mildew, Propagation (Cuttings), Pruning, Purchasing Plants, Rabbit/deer Protection, Raspberries, Repotting plants, Sanitation, Soil drainage, Soil pH, Southern Appalachian Region, Summer heat tolerant, watering tips, Wildlife attractant, winter hardiness, Winter Protection Comments Off on New: The Bushel and Berry Collection Of Patio Fruits
