There are more than 25,000 species of this rare and beautiful cone-shaped flower. Some of them are extremely expensive and hard to come by, but other varieties are affordable, available and simple to grow at home.

Hibiscus

There are 10,000 named varieties of the tropical Hibiscus flower. These beautiful and colorful flowers are emblematic of the tropical environments they come from, such as Florida, Hawaii, Jamaica and India. Hibiscus are wonderful for decoration because the flowers will not wilt until their natural time to close –even without water. Opening buds may be picked early in the day, stored in a cool place and brought out for the evening. Storing Hibiscus in the cold slows down the flowers closing by a few hours.

Torenia

Also known as the Wishbone Flower, these annuals and perennials originate in tropical Asia and Africa. Torenia grow to be about a foot tall, with toothed, ovular leaves. Torenia produce a striking amount of beautiful pouched flowers that can grow to be an inch across. Torenia flowers are noted for their wide array of beautiful colors, such as white, blue, purple, mauve or lilac. Tornias can be grown with proper care in an environment that has a temperature of 70 degrees or more.

Lamium

Also know as White Nancy, Lamium is a beautiful ground-covering plant with white heart-shaped leaves and short spikes of pink flowers. Lamium blooms in the summer, grows up to eight inches tall and can tolerate a wide variety of soil conditions. It does best in shady woodland areas.

Portulaca

Portulaca is a group of annual flowers that comes in several varieties. Native to Brazil, Portulaca grow spiraling stems up to five inches long and have cylindrical leaves and bright, colorful flowers up to an inch in diameter at the end of the stems. The flowers can be purple, yellow, pink, scarlet and many other colors. To cultivate Portulaca successfully you need to place them in a spot with plenty of sunlight and sandy soil.

Pentas

Simple to cultivate, easy to care for, and beautiful to behold, Pentas is a wonderful choice for your garden. Pentas is native to tropical Africa and its beautiful red, pink, white and lavender blooms are well-known for attracting hummingbirds. The plant grows up to three feet tall and wide and does well indoors, potted in a sunny spot or outside in warmer climates.

Lavatera

Though named for a Swiss botanist, Lavatera are native to the Himalayan Mountains, Siberia and Australia. These plants come in several varieties, both perennial and annual, with bush-like growth or tall straight stalks. Their large, beautiful flowers last only a day or two before wilting, but the plant produces new flowers for an extended period of time.

Sedum

Sedum, which come in hundreds of varieties, are easy to grow, late-blooming, hardy and beautiful plants. Sedum plants have thick stems, fleshy leaves, and flower heads that resemble lavender broccoli. These plants do best in well-drained soil and can tolerate both droughts and rainy weather. Because they bloom so late in the year, they often remain attractive through the winter.

Abutilon

Also known as the Flowering Maple, the Abutilon is a beautiful plant that does well indoors. Abutilon’s lovely blossoms range from reds, yellows, blues and shades of orange, and its foliage is usually pale green. Depending on how much space it has to grow, Abutilon plants can grow to be very large, which is why the plant is best kept indoors in a small to medium sized pot.

Gazania

Gazania, native to South Africa, is a beautiful, perennial ground cover with colorful daisy-like flowers. Gazania flowers boom in late spring to early summer and come in shades of yellow, orange, white and pink. Gazania thrive in sunny locations with well-drained soil.

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About Amy Nutt

Tidy’s Flowers offers tropical flower arrangements which are suitable for corporate events, birthdays and anniversaries. We offer flower delivery as well.

Many gardeners have taken to spreading out their excess grass clippings across the rest of their yard. You may think this will look tacky, with big piles of grass just sitting in your yard as if you were too lazy to rake them up. However, if you spread them out enough then you won’t even be able to tell that there is an excess amount. Leaving the extra grass on the yard acts as a sort of mulch by preventing evaporation and weed growth. With this extra water, you won’t have to water nearly as much to keep your grass green. When I started leaving my grass clippings, I had to adjust the frequency of my sprinkler system because I was worried my yard was getting too much water!

If your garden is in more need of mulching than your yard, it is not unheard of to rake up all the grass and transport it to your garden. By making a small layer around the vicinity of the plant, you’ll apply all the same benefits from leaving it in your yard. My yard is rather green on its own, but I often have trouble with my plants staying green and healthy. So, rather than leave the grass clipping in my yard, I move them all around my plants. It is just a matter of choosing what your highest mulching priority is.

Sometimes, our pruning activities will lead us to have an amazing amount of branches and twigs. If this is the case, you should consider renting a wood chipper to put all of those branches to use. After one day of intense pruning, you would be surprised at just how many branches you end up with. Rather than throw these away, you can turn them into a huge amount of mulch for your plants. However, if your pruning has not left you with that big of an amount, you should bundle it all up and save it to add onto the next batch. This is because the chipping machines can be slightly expensive to rent, and you want it to be absolutely worth it!

Over time, all organic mulches need to be replenished. This is because they will naturally decompose in the conditions of your yard. Usually you can tell for yourself just by looking at it, but sometimes it can look perfectly regular but still have problems. If you start to notice any poor plant growth whatsoever, you should replace your mulch. Always keep in mind that during the process of decomposition, your mulch will use up the valuable nitrogen in the soil. Without this, the plants will be missing a key nutrient. There are several types of fertilizers available on the market that are specifically designed to deal with this problem. The use of mulches in the yard and garden is something everyone should try. Not only can it save lots of time by reducing the amount of garbage you have to transport out, but it increases the healthiness and integrity of your plants by putting that so called garbage to good use. So if you think you would be able to save a good amount of branches and twigs for chipping, or if you think that you are ready to stop raking up all your grass clippings, then I think that mulching is for you.

Read about how to grow plants and how to grow grapes at the How to Grow Things website.

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Step 1 - Starting with a Solid Plan

Take the time to assess your garden environment. Determine how much sun and shade your garden gets. What type of soil do you have? Is it the well draining type or does it get waterlogged easily? Take note whether your garden is sheltered or exposed to the sun and wind. Now that you have completed your homework, it’s time to buy the best plants for your situation.

- Tips at the nursery:

Remember shade-loving plants need a sheltered area, plants that love the sun thrive in warm spots, drought-resistant plants can should be located either in sunny or shaded areas and don’t forget that swamp plants are terrific for the poorly-drained areas of your garden.

- Soil Testing

I recommend testing your soil first, to determine the pH level of your soil and what type of nutrients you need to add is a good idea. You want to find out if the soil is acid or alkaline. There are inexpensive testing kits available and it’s not very difficult to do. Most plants prefer soil that is slightly acidic, but there are some that must have alkaline soil to grow. You can alter the soil’s pH level, but it’s much easier to simply plant for the soil you have.

- Design your layout

As you are planning your new garden how will you organize your plants and flowers? Will you group them or will they be random? Grouping your plants create a sense of organization and can be pleasing to the eye especially with vivid colors. On the otherhand, random planting if done with a natural look can also make your garden look quite beautiful.

- Experiment with your design

Now that you are ready to begin planting, put your chosen plants around the garden bed and step back to see how they will look. Experiment and move them around until you are satisfied. By grouping plants in small sets of threes or fives can visually look better than groups of even numbers. Place tall plants towards the back or put them in the center if you have a walk way around your garden.

- Picking Your Colors

Select interesting combinations of color and texture of plants. To avoid color clashes, you can still plant your flowers side-by-side but be sure they have a different blooming season. Another important aspect regarding color is that foliage have colors ranging from silver, grey or purplish and are just as attractive as the flower. Plan ahead as you will still have attractive plants past the blooming season.

Finally keep your plants away from trees as their roots will steal the necessary nutrients and moisture your flowers need. So with a little planning, plus choosing the best plants and skillfully selecting the right color scheme you will create your beautiful garden for all to enjoy. Now that’s how to plan a backyard garden,

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About Steve Kent

Steve Kent is a successful publisher and webmaster who enjoys helping people live happier lives by providing excellent gardening tips and solutions. If you are looking for the best gardening tips and want to learn how to transform your garden, click here and visit Gardening Tips

Having a small garden to work on does not necessarily mean less details and minor work. What should matter most is to closely assess each detail to come up with the best result.

Working on a small garden is never a problem to most landscape designers. Whether the area is large or small, the sales continue to have a gradual annual growth increase of 8% for the last five years.
In addition, from 1997 to 2002 alone, landscaping sales achieved a growth rate of almost $40 billion. This shows that the landscape designers know how to hone their craft well, regardless of the size of the area they work on.

Generally, when people describe small gardens, they refer to those areas that have straight walls, borders, lines, and/or walks. Then a problem is created because small gardens tend to create an impression of being dull, rigid, and boring. The goal of landscaping should delve into how to make the garden look alive, larger, and more appealing.

The Main Concept
The very core of landscaping a small garden is based on how a landscaper can make the most of the size of the area through plant selection.

With a small garden, having the right kind and size of plants is crucial to the outcome of the whole project.
Size is an important factor because the size of the plants that will be used in the garden should project an image of a bigger space, even if the area is quite small. The color, shape, and texture of the plantings should be coordinated.

It is best to use curves to create a visible flow to the design. Since small gardens tend to have rigid, straight lines, it is best to have curves to open up the garden to reveal its natural beauty. It is also important to create illusions that will give a small garden an effect of being larger.

Considering these, landscaping a small garden will never be a daunting task. As they say, it is all in the details. So whether it is a small or a large garden, landscape designers always take note of the details in the design.

To learn about rain lily and lilies care, visit the Types of Lilies website.

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Varieties first. For redcurrants, Junifer is early and excellent while Rovada (which is one of the best tasting redcurrants there is) crops later. Whitecurrants are thinner on the ground but I like Blanka which yields better thanVersailles (don’t turn your nose up at whitecurrants – their jelly is sensational). All the varieties named have good disease resistance.

Redcurrants and whitecurrants are both completely self-fertile, so there is none of the poring over books needed to decide what goes with what.

As with almost any plant, redcurrants and whitecurrants produce best in good, well-drained soil, ideally with a pH 6 to 7. But that is the ideal and they will fruit in even the poorest ground (provided there is some drainage). It might sound silly, but a couple of redcurrant and whitecurrant bushes planted in parts of the garden that get little attention will not only look good, but they will bring in the birds. Obviously, if you are planting to produce fruit, it makes sense to improve the soil by digging in plenty of well rotted compost or horse manure . Adding a handful of bonemeal per square yard will not go amiss either.

Redcurrants and whitecurrants are usually produced from cuttings (very occasionally from layers). These are grown on and then generally sold bare rooted as one or two year old plants. I would always recommend buying from a specialist mail order nursery as their stock is likely to be more freshly lifted than that of a garden centre, and bare root plants are very much cheaper than container grown ones. Reputable suppliers would include Ashridge Trees, Blackmoor Nurseries, Chris Bowers, Ken Muir and Unwins.

In theUK it is safe to grow redcurrants in full sun. In warmer climates however, they flag badly in hot summers and therefore tend to be grown so they get morning sun but are in dappled shade – usually cast by fruit trees – in the afternoon. Your view of climate warming will lead you to choose which you prefer! What is important however is that they are kept out of the wind; they need moisture to produce large fruit and drying winds affect berry size.

Spacing with currants is important – they should be grown about 120cms (3-4ft) apart in the row with 150cms (4-5ft) between rows. The best time to plant is between November and the end of February. As with all bare root shrubs and trees, keep the roots damp, but not drowned (in a plastic bag with some wet straw or newspaper will do) right up the time they are put in the ground. At planting time, when you take a plant out of the bag, cleanly trim any damaged roots back to just above the breakage and cut the branches of the plant back to about 15 cms (6 inches) if they have not already been. Dunk the roots in a bucket of water and set the plant in ahole plenty big enough for its roots so the crown finishes 3-5 cms (1-2 inches) below soil level. This is important as new growths in future years come from below ground level, not off the trunk of the plant. Return the soil, firm the soil down wth the ball of your foot and water them well.

After care is pretty straightforward. Weed control is important; weeds (including grass) compete for moisture and nutrients and so reduce yields. You can kill about three birds with one stone by weeding well in early spring, and then muching the plants heavily. Redcurrants and their cousins do well when mulched with straw, but any organic matter will do. The mulch helps suppress weeds, improves water retention and ultimately rots down to provide humus and improve the soil. It also helps prevent root damage as all currants are shallow rooted.

Water well until you have picked your crop. Once the fruit is gone, you can water less so as to toughen the plants up for winter. On the assumption October is dry (looks unlikely this year) give them a final water in November and then leave them until it is time to prune them.

Red and whitecurrants need pruning to crop well. They carry their fruit on two or three year old fruiting spurs. The best time to prune is in February or very early March just before the buds begin to swell on a day when no frost is expected for 24 hours. First, take out all wood that is over three years old at ground level. Then thin out the wood that remains so that each bush has a total of nine strong canes - three canes of three year old wood, three canes of two year old wood and three canes of one year old wood.

The most common afflictions of redcurrants in theUK are aphids and fungal infectons. Aphids are a fact of life inBritain and you will already have worked out how best to deal or live with them. Mildew and leaf spot can be dealt with by the application of a proprietory fungicide. Remember these are fruit plants and the instructions on the packet must be followed. However good hygiene, mulching, proper spacing and clean pruning (and disposal of the prunings) will all help keep your plants are disease free. Redcurrants and whitecurrants are carried in strings - clusters of 10-20 berries. When completely ripe, they are quite soft and a deep, rich red . The best way to harvest them is to take off each string, rather than trying to pick the berries individually - I find a small pair of scissors comes in handy here. If you want to eat redcurrants fresh, or use them in jams, syrups, juices and pies they are best picked when they have fully ripened. A neat trick, if you want them for jelly is to pick them when they are still a little unripe as there is more pectin in the fruit and the jelly sets better. Early croppers such as Junifer redcurrants ripen over a period of two to three weeks while a maincrop variety such as Rovada will carry fruit for a couple of weeks longer. Redcurrants deep freeze very well and they are also delicious dried.

These plants are an outstanding and hugely rewarding long term investment. A fully productive redcurrant can yield up to 5 kgs (11lbs) of fruit in a season. Price that up in a supermarket against a plant that will cost you about £4.50! And then remember it will carry on doing so for 20 years.

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Prepare the soil
Roses require rich and loamy soil. When choosing a spot to plant new roses pick one that gets at least six hours of sunshine a day. Roses don’t like their feet wet so stay away from areas that don’t drain well. Dig a hole twice as deep and wide as your rose bush container. Backfill the hole with a mixture of 50% compost and 50% of the soil you’ve removed. Sprinkle in slow release fertilizer per the package directions. Please the rose in the prepared hole. Make sure the soil line on the rose is at the same level as the soil line in your garden. You may have to fill the hole a little more or remove a bit of soil. When you’re satisfied, place the bush in the hole and fill the hole half way and water well. When the water has drained completely fill in the hole.

If your roses are already established freshen up their soil by adding compost, well rotten manure, or top soil. Sprinkle with a slow release fertilizer and work this mixture into the soil around the rose bushes.

Bugs and other critters
Keep ahead of bugs by inspecting the roses on a daily basis or at least twice a week. If you catch problems early they won’t become serious. Aphids love roses. Wash them off with a hard spray from your garden hose. If that doesn’t work use a spray of 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid in a gallon of water. The soap sticks to the aphids and kills them but it won’t hurt the roses.

If you find a grayish to white film on the leaves and rose buds it’s probably powdery mildew. It’s not serious but it will ruin the look of the flowers. Use a fungicide especially for roses. Neem is a good one.

Other problems are dark spots on the leaves, holes, skeletonized leaves and flower buds becoming brownish. Take a sample of the rose bush to your local plant nursery and they can tell you exactly what the problem is and how to solve it.

Dead Heading
One of the benefits of roses is having lots of beautiful bouquets in the house. That’s good for you and good for your roses. Flowers have only one purpose in life and that’s to produce seeds so the plant can reproduce itself. Once the seeds have set many flowers, including roses, stop blooming. Remove the flowers as they become old and the bush should keep producing new blossoms. It will help flower production if you pick blossoms in their prime as well.

Feeding and Watering
Feed your roses a slow release fertilizer per the package directions. Most roses will only need to be fed in early spring right after they’ve leafed out and late summer. Water well after feeding.

As we said roses don’t like their feet wet so water only when the top 2 inches feel dry. Roots go down about three feet so if the top of the soil feels moist the roses don’t need to be watered yet.

You can grow beautiful roses without a lot of effort.

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About Dee Power
Find more tips from Dee Power on growing roses, flowers, fruits, vegetables and trees at Easy Garden Care. Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. She and her daughter have created Party Ideas: Kids Read her Blog

In Japanese gardening there are three basic methods for scenery. The first of these is reduced scale. Reduced scale is the art of taking an actual scene from nature, mountains, rivers, trees, and all, and reproducing it on a smaller scale. Symbolization involves generalization and abstraction. An example of this would be using white sand to suggest the ocean. Borrowed views refers to artists that would use something like an ocean a forest as a background, but it would end up becoming an important part of the scene.

There are essentially two types of Japanese gardening: tsukiyami, which is a hill garden and mainly composed of hills and ponds. The other is hiraniwa, which is basically the exact opposite of tsukiyami: a flat garden without any hills or ponds.

The basic elements used in Japanese gardening include rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones, fences, and hedges. Rocks are most often used as centerpieces and bring a presence of spirituality to the garden. According to the Shinto tradition rocks embody the spirits of nature. Gravel is used as a sort of defining surface and is used to imitate the flow of water when arranged properly. Stones are used to create a boundary and are sculpted into the form of lanterns. Water, whether it be in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It can be in the actual form of water or portrayed by gravel, but no matter what form water is in, it is crucial to a Japanese gardens balance.

There are several forms and types of plants that are signature of Japanese gardening, the main one being Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training everyday, average plants, such as Pine,Cypress, Holly, Cedar, Cherry, Maple, and Beech, to look like large, old trees just in miniature form. These trees range from five centimeters to one meter and are kept small by pruning, re-potting, pinching of growth, and wiring the branches.

Japanese gardening is a tradition that has crossed the Muso Soseki, poet, said “Gardens are a root of transformation”. A Japanese garden is sure to bring about many different feelings and is definitely a transforming experience.

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