Plant Gardens 101

Bedding plants have become an indispensable item for landscape use, presenting an array of flowers and foliage that add colour and texture to the landscapes of homes, apartment complexes, shopping malls, public buildings, city streets and parks.

They are ideal for planting on their own or with most other plants in a whole range of arrangements such as hanging baskets, tubs and pots, window boxes, troughs and of course in borders in the garden. Bedding plants are temporary so your displays can be different each year.

Bedding plants are really all plants that, irrespective of their growing habits, are used to make a temporary show. For example: (more…)

Most bedding plants are easy to rise from seed, but some smaller seeds, such as begonias, can be difficult to grow. We do not need a greenhouse to germinate seeds. Placing a seed tray or pot with a polythene bag over it on a window-ledge is also effective. We can purchase seedlings with just two or three leaves. They are usually purchased by mail order and come in trays containing between 100 and 400 plants. They will require pricking out soon after they arrive into seed trays or pots. (more…)

Undoubtedly, the type of plants one would enjoy growing in his garden are the most expensive ones. That’s why some plant lovers remain with some unsatisfied desires their entire lives. But here there’s a way to salve frustrations like these with little if any expensive sacrifices. Instead of visiting a gardening shop, pay a neighbour who has the plants you cry for a visit and offer a cleaning up service of the garden in exchange for tubes or bulbs you will plant in your own back yard.

The technique you need to use is called vegetative propagation. It consists in putting stem, leaf cutting or root into the ground and caring them until they start growing into new plants, like clones taken from the original plant. This way you can make the plants you stare at yours (in time).

This original technique requires lesser material and space. The plastic containers ordinary used to nurse plants aren’t necessary. Simply plant the fragments into your existing soil and than sprinkle them and deal with them like with every flower you would like to grow. Some plant growers possess an entire collection of enchanting specimens which originated from this type of cloning. They include beautiful, famed blossoms like the fuchsia-coloured geranium, the purple sweet violet, or the copper-like rose blooms of the Autumn-joy stonecrop. (more…)

Undoubtedly, the type of plants one would enjoy growing in his garden are the most expensive ones. That’s why some plant lovers remain with some unsatisfied desires their entire lives. But here there’s a way to salve frustrations like these with little if any expensive sacrifices. Instead of visiting a gardening shop, pay a neighbour who has the plants you cry for a visit and offer a cleaning up service of the garden in exchange for tubes or bulbs you will plant in your own back yard.

The technique you need to use is called vegetative propagation. It consists in putting stem, leaf cutting or root into the ground and caring them until they start growing into new plants, like clones taken from the original plant. This way you can make the plants you stare at yours (in time). (more…)

Most bedding plants are easy to rise from seed, but some smaller seeds, such as begonias, can be difficult to grow. We do not need a greenhouse to germinate seeds. Placing a seed tray or pot with a polythene bag over it on a window-ledge is also effective. We can purchase seedlings with just two or three leaves. They are usually purchased by mail order and come in trays containing between 100 and 400 plants. They will require pricking out soon after they arrive into seed trays or pots.

Smaller plants called plugs and are more advanced in their growth than seedlings and are ready to plant out immediately. Plugs mean you can grow plants that would be difficult to germinate yourself. When buying trays of plugs, check they have good root growth and the leaves and shoots are not damaged, mouldy or turning yellow. Prick out the plants into individual pots and keep them in a greenhouse. Plants regularly need water then we could put them in a cold frame to harden them off two or three weeks before planting. The smaller plants will have been kept in warm conditions, so slowly acclimatise them, or harden them off, before planting outside. This can be done by placing the plants in a cold frame for a couple of weeks. (more…)