When growing houseplants, you may be surprised to learn that the outside environment does affect your indoor plants. If you are trying to maintain a healthy indoor garden, one of the main barriers to your plants’ health is pollution. In cities, and even in suburbs, dust, grime, and exhaust make it hard even for indoor plants to thrive.

Because plants ‘breathe” through their leaves, allowing their leaves to become covered with dust and dirt is not only unattractive, but also harmful to the plants. Therefore, you should pay special attention to cleaning the foliage of your plants, making sure that they are kept clean and free from dirt and dust.

If your plants have shiny smooth leaves, the easiest way to clean the leaves is to give them a sponge-bath with slightly warmed water and a very small amount of soap. Then, rinse with clean water, making sure that no soapy residue is left on the leaves. This will remove any dust or dirt, as well as any pests which may have found their way onto your houseplants.

If your plants have hairy leaves, such as African Violets, keep them clean by occasionally brushing the leaves with a fine soft brush. However, be gentle, so that you do not harm the leaves with rough treatment.

During the summer, you can give your plants special care by returning them to nature for the season. If you have a garden, or even a porch or patio, your houseplants can spend two or three months outside each year. However, keep in mind that you should try to replicate their indoor conditions when you leave your plants in the garden, as they have acclimated to being indoors, just like an aralia plant. Try to replicate the amount of light your plants were receiving indoors, keeping plants in shady or sunny spots as needed. Aralias usually get wilted stems when exposed to too much light outdoors. A nursery can also help you determine which of your plants prefer sunny or shady environments.

While you could take the plants out of their pots and plant them directly in the garden, it is probably better to sink the pots into the soil, leaving the plant in the pot. This will keep your plants from the shock of transferring them to completely new and different soil. Also, the pot will keep the roots from spreading, which would make it difficult to re-pot them at the end of the summer. You may wish to drop some gravel into the hole first, to ensure adequate drainage.

While your plants are spending time in the garden, you should not forget about them. Even with rainfall, make sure that they are adequately watered. Make sure to examine them occasionally to make sure that they are not being attacked by pests. When you bring them back inside at the end of the summer, make sure no pests get a free ride into your house, where they can attack your other houseplants.

The term “bulb” refers to the below the soil growth or “protuberance” of a group of plants. This growth is a storehouse for the plant. Some “bulbs” are in fact “corms” or “tubers”. A tuber is a thick piece of stem with a bud whereas a corm is a stem without a bud. Either way, these “bulbs” will eventually develop into fully grown plants.

There are a great many varieties of beautiful flowers that result from bulbs and they are used by many gardeners because they require little maintenance. They are also seen as a sign of spring - the pretty “snowdrop” being one of the first to appear after the cold of winter.

Planting Bulbs

Bulbs vary in size and the depth to which they should be planted is dependent on this. Generally, the larger the bulb, the deeper it should be planted, from between 3 to 6 inches into the soil. (For the benefit of the reader corms and tubers should be treated the same way.) The ideal way to plant a bulb is to use a spade to cut a hole into the soil, into which the bulb is positioned “pointy” end up and the soil replaced. For soils lacking in nutients, a small amount of bone meal should be added to the base of the hole and mixed into the soil.

It is a good idea to fertilize flowering bulbs each spring, preferably with manure, taking care to prevent the manure from touching the roots or the bulb. The manure should be worked into the soil. To increase the size of the flowers, cut off most of the buds. A regular watering is essential for these plants, even though they have their own “storehouse”.

Spring-flowering Bulbs

Of all the popular spring-flowering bulbs, the tulip has to be the leader. Tulips now come in a huge array of spectacular colours, from creamy white to almost black and in between, vibrant shades of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks along with pastel shades of violet and soft pink. However, you should not overlook the other spring-flowering bulbs such as the crocus, friesia, grape hyacinth and iris for their own beauty. The purple flowering bulbs and of course the tiny yet simply beautiful snowdrop are equally beautiful.

Summer-flowering Bulbs

These need the same treatment with planting and maintenance as the earlier flowering bulbs. Amongst the numerous varieties of summer flowering bulbs a few stand out as ideal for the home garden. These include the autumn crocus, which is a very good naturalizer and spreads over a few seasons to create a mass of strappy leaves and flower heads: the spectacular gladiolus with its “lion” like flower heads on a striking upright stem: bearded irises that form a stunning array if planted en masse: a number of the lilies including the huge callas and the pretty peonies which resemble roses in the structure of their flower head;: and the passion vine which creates a soft and luscious effect.

If you grow roses in your garden but are having problems keeping them healthy, insects may be responsible. If you do nothing to deter them, they can do a lot of damage. There are ten major rose enemies, which you should be able to identify them if you hope to evade them.

1. Aphids Aphids are the most frequent bug to feed on roses. Most commonly found in buds and shoots, high numbers of aphids will encourage mild growth and blacken the rose leaves. They can also reduce the size of the flowers, or even kill some buds. Aphids are mainly a problem in the spring and early summer. Ladybugs are the aphid’s natural enemy, but you can also use water spray or insecticidal soaps to remove the aphids.

2. Spider Mites Spider mites can cause your rose leaves to dry up and fall off. They are so tiny that you probably will not notice them on the leaves. They are usually found in dry, dusty conditions. To get rid of spider mites, reduce the dust near your plants and ensure that they are watered sufficiently.

3. Fuller Rose Beetles Fuller Rose Beetles will chew on your rose bushes’ flowers and leaves, giving them ragged edges. They eat during the night, and will hide on the underside of the leaves during the day. Pesticides do not usually kill them, so you’ll need to handpick them off your plants.

4. Thrips Thrips leave brown streaks on your rose flowers, especially those that are white or light colored. Thrips can easily move from one plant to another if your rose bushes are planted close together. The best way to get rid of them is to clip and dispose of any blooms that have been infected.

5. Caterpillars Several species of caterpillars enjoy feeding on rose leaves. Because this damage does not threaten the rose plant’s overall health, you should simply remove affected leaves or buds.

6. Rose Slugs Rose slugs are actually the larvae of sawflies, but they look like caterpillars because they have legs. They have many natural enemies, but you can also remove them by washing your rose bushes with a strong spray of water.

7. Leafcutter Bees Leafcutter bees make semicircular holes in the leaves of your rose bushes. Other than killing the bees, which are natural pollinators and therefore helpful for your garden, there is no effective way to stop their work on your rose bushes.

8. Rose Curculio In a pool garden ideas, the common problem is the Rose Curculio that usually affects yellow or white roses. They are about a quarter of an inch long, and punch holes in flowers and buds. The larvae feed on developing buds, making this pest quite destructive for your flowers. You can get rid of them by spraying your rose bushes with an insecticide.

9. Flat Headed Borers Flat headed borers cause your rose bushes to die back, and sometimes they can kill the entire plant. You need to remove anything that has been infested with this pest. Keep your plants healthy by not over pruning them, and ensuring that they receive enough water in order to have a good landscape design.

10. Scale Insects Scale insects are small grey bugs with scales. In a pool landscaping, the ideas The best way to get rid of them is to prune any affected canes, and use pesticides to keep them from infecting remaining canes.

One popular choice for houseplants is the Spider Plant, whose scientific name is Chlorophytum Comosum. This is because they are very easy to care for, and are also quite attractive. While it is possible to over or under water them, as with any plant, they are very tolerant of varying conditions. They are very hardy, and can survive for many years in your home.

Spider Plants’ leaves are long and narrow, and come in several variations, from dark green with yellow stripes to speckles and other types. They grow quickly and have many leaves, making them visually interesting plants to add to your home.

Unlike many other plants, they still grow well when root bound, meaning that you will need to repot them less frequently. As long as you keep the soil relatively moist, your Spider Plant should grow well. You can even go several days without watering them at all, as they are very tolerant of a range of environments.

However, there is one ailment to watch out for with Spider Plants. If the tips of the leaves become brown or spotted, you should change the type of water you give them. The chlorine and fluorine sometimes found in city water can damage the plant, so if the leaves are turning brown, switch to rainwater or purified water.

Not only can they tolerate varying amounts of water, but they are also tolerant of varying amounts of light. Although they do best in indirect sun, they can also withstand very bright sunlight for hours. They do particularly well in areas that stay around 65 degrees, but can go down to 55 degrees at night, because they are naturally used to a nighttime drop in temperature.

Spider Plants also tolerate a range of soil types, and are not demanding when it comes to fertilizer. While you should not overdo it or neglect them, applying fertilizer once in the Spring and once in the Summer is fine.

During the summer months, they grow beautiful, small, star-shaped flowers. These white flowers grow on a stalk that will grow to be three feet long. While they have this stalk, be sure to stake it if it is bending or learning excessively.

Spider Plants are particularly well suited for hanging baskets, especially as older plants which have produced many leaves. However, they grow quickly and can outgrow such pots, so you may have to divide the plant and repot it every couple of years. In a basket, they can grow to be several feet wide, and two feet tall even before the flower stalk grows.

Spider Plants, in addition to centerpiece dracaena plants, can be an easy way to add interest to your interior environment. Just like the Lucky Bamboo, they are very tolerant of a range of conditions, and are very beautiful plants. They can be found in any nursery, and are a perfect choice for the beginning gardener.

A wide range of house-plants, grown to have beautiful flowers and foliage, is now available at nurseries. However, many times the life of these plants is unnecessarily short-lived because of unsuitable treatment by their new owners. However, with knowledge of their requirements and appropriate care, these plants can easily be grown successfully indoors.

For the most part, these plants are easy to grow. However, a few require special care because they are tropical plants. Many plants are popular gifts during the Christmas season, but often their new owners do not understand how to provide the correct care and attention. Therefore, you should read a little about your new plant, so that you can help it thrive and keep its full beauty for as long as possible.

If you are a beginner with indoor plants, you should proceed cautiously, first choosing easy to grow plants. Most nurseries can help you choose appropriate plants that will not be difficult to grow. After you have some experience growing these plants, you may wish to attempt more difficult species.

Many unusual species of plants, previously grown only in hot-houses, have recently become popular for decoration in homes. Some of them are native to the tropics, so they require special care. Many can be acclimatized for growth indoors in temperate countries. However, if you are a beginner, you should proceed with caution when choosing such plants. Some are more capable of growing in a hot, dry climate than others, and these should be chosen first, to gain more experience in growing such plants indoors.

Most often, if a plant has thick, leathery foliage, it will respond best to indoor conditions. This is because the leaves are constructed to reduce transpiration to a minimum, which suits them well for the conditions found in a typical living room. Dry living rooms tend to increase transpiration, or the loss of moisture by the leaves. In these plants with thick foliage, there are devices which help the plants to reduce transpiration. The Christmas Cactus is a common example of this type of plant. Indoor houseplants such as the Pony Tail Palm react in the same way.

On the other hand, plants such as the maidenhair fern, Cyclamen, or Fuchsia, have thin leaves. These lose moisture very quickly, which dries out the plant. As a result, they are not easy to cultivate indoors. They grow best in a moist atmosphere, but many living rooms are too dry for them. Any attempt to make the room a more hospitable climate for the plants will be damaging to the furnishings of the rooms.

Planning your new backyard garden is easy if you follow a few simple steps to ensure success. Often, these steps will give you new ideas to ad interest and unique features to your garden you might not have thought of. Whatever your design hopes and plans, there is a simple process that you can follow to make sure that your new garden goes smoothly and looks great when you’re done!

Start by making a list of the elements that already exist in your yard. For instance, you might have a tree or two, landscaping that slopes or has a small hillock on it, etc. If you live in an urban setting, make notes of items that change light gradients and exposures, like nearby tall buildings, trees, and so forth. Drawing a simple map of your yard and including these elements in a simple plot drawing will do the trick.

Now go ahead and make a bullet list of the items you want to include in your garden. These can be plants, flowers, walkways, waterfalls, ponds, sculptures and more. Anything you can think of that you think would fit well and is affordable for you to acquire. If you aren’t sure of its cost, write it down anyway and find out prices later. Don’t expect to get everything you’d like to have right away, so if it’s something you’d like to include in the future, go ahead and list it. It’s easier to plan for these things now than it is to try to “work them in” later.

The next step is to walk through your house or building and look at your garden-to-be from the windows and balconies that might face it. Make note of which spots are easily visible from your location, as these will become your garden’s “hot spots” later on-the spaces you’ll want to make extra-nice and visually geared towards the window that looks out on them.

Now that you have all of these things listed and plotted, start thinking about your budget. How much money can you spend? Often, you will not build your garden all at once. Most people, in fact, build their gardens in stages, starting with design elements and working towards completion. So figure an immediate budget (how much you can spend right now) and then a monthly budget for continual improvements. Once you have a budget, you can begin pricing individual elements of your new garden.

Start the pricing process by finding out how much individual items and pieces will cost. How much to buy a new pond? If you won’t be installing it yourself, how much will that cost as well? What about landscaping changes, plant borders, brick bridges etc.? Call a reputable landscape designer or two and get bids on those jobs if you aren’t going to do it yourself. If you will be doing much of this yourself, make sure you’re physically up for the task and that you have the right tools for the job. Most major garden and landscape tools can be rented, so don’t expect to have to buy a $1,500 mixer or former, but do expect to spend some money on basic hand tools like shovels and pickaxes if you haven’t already got them.

Once you have priced the elements (both objects and labor) consider which ones you’re going to do right now and which ones can wait. Often, landscaping labor is cheaper when done as a whole rather than in pieces, so consider getting all of the major landscaping elements done first. If that is not possible or if you plan to do the landscaping yourself, then focus instead on the “hot spots” we mentioned earlier and see what you can do to make those start looking great now.

Now is also the time to reconsider the elements on your list of things you’d like and decide whether they can wait or be done away with or replaced altogether. Overall, your budget and your time and needs will be what decides your garden’s final look. Imagination is very important, and you’ll find that while you might not be able to afford to just buy some things you’d like, you may be able to make them or create similar things to replace them.

Above all, make sure you enjoy the experience. Don’t make your new garden’s creation a chore, but instead make it an experience you’ll enjoy and remember happily. A garden is a retreat, a relaxing place to look at or go to and the creation of your new garden should begin this experience.

You can have an attractive arrangement of flowers in your home throughout winter and spring if you plant bulbs in ornamental pots that have been filled with fibre.

The bulbs should be planted into the pots as soon as they are available, usually in August through to early September, in order for them to be successful. The purpose-made fibre should be made damp before it is placed into the bowl. Prior to this, a few pieces of charcoal should be placed into the bowl. The tips of the bulbs should be just visible when they are set into position in the fibre.

Place the bulbs in a cool position to ensure that the roots develop freely. The ideal position is outdoors beneath a 9 inch mound of peat, or covered with sacking and a piece of board to prevent rain getting in.

Should it not be possible to place the bulbs outdoors, they should be placed in a deep box or bath in the coolest possible place and covered as per the outdoors method. Around 4 to 8 weeks later, root development should be considerable and shoots of about 2 inches should be evident. If this is so, the covering must be removed and the bulbs left until the shoots have turned green. “Forcing” can then commence, placing them in a warm room. The shoots will very quickly come into bloom provided the fibre is kept moist.

To ensure that the display is over an extended period of time, choose varieties carefully.

Hyacinths - The “Roman White” variety of hyacinth is the very first of this group to flower. It has blooms that look like white bluebells. Next after this variety are the prepared hyacinths - they have been specially treated to induce flowering at Christmas time.

The regular large-flowered, untreated hyacinths do not normally flower until the spring.

Narcissus

It is easy to obtain blooms from the Narcissus known as “Paper-white” in December and a succession of blooms can be maintained by numerous other kinds usually found in bulb catalogues.

Other varieties of this group force easily and are followed by other single early tulips.

Holiday Treatment of Room Plants

It can be a problem caring for room plants when you are away on holidays unless you can arrange for someone to water them. It is possible to prevent damage to the plants if you are away for a week or so, provided you take the proper precautions.

The best method is to fill a large bath or similar receptacle with damp moss, then place the potted plants deeply into this, with the moss covering the soil by about 1 to 2 inches. A product known as “granulated peat” or damp sacking can be used instead of the moss. The last step in this procedure is to cover the moistening material with polythene tissue or plastic sheeting to prevent the evaporation of moisture. Ensure that the plants have been well watered before they are plunged.

Another alternative front yard landscaping method is to place the plants in a group with a pail of water nearby, placing a piece of wick between the water source and each plant. This will ensure a constant water supply to the soil around the plant without distorting your garden landscaping plans.

If you have access to a garden, the pots can be placed into the soil up to their rims, ensuring that a shady spot is chosen.

In each of these methods, you must ensure that the soil in the pot is well soaked with water before plunging is done or the plants are connected with the siphon-wicks.

The role of color in any landscaping design is a vital one. When color is not used properly, it can destroy the integrity of the design, causing visual confusion and chaos. The correct use of color however can enhance even the simplest designs, resulting in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.

Using Color Theory for Effective Landscaping To be able to effectively use color, knowledge of color theory is necessary. Do you know the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary colors? What about neutral colors? Using the following table will help.

Primary Colors include red, yellow and blue. Secondary Colors include green, violets or purples and oranges. Tertiary Colors are blends of the primary and secondary categories. Neutral colors include white, grays and silvers. Note: Black is not a color - it is the absence of color!

Creating Harmony between Colors The harmonious use of color occurs when colors are used properly. In order to achieve this harmony, it is necessary to study color combinations and work out which ones go together well. It is a good idea to match warm colors with other warm colors and cool to cool. Whilst there are cool and warm tones in all colors, it is generally accepted that the “cool” colors are blue, pink, purple and green, whilst the “warm” colors are red, yellow and orange.

Using colors based on your needs Select colors that reflect the purpose of the landscape design, for example, if you are after a relaxation area, greens, violets or pinks are the ideal choice. If you are looking for a vibrant space, choose bright colors such as reds, yellows and oranges. To create diversity and depth, mix neutral colors such as white or gray with primary or secondary colors, whilst tertiary colors are used to link or separate primary and secondary colors. Use a color wheel to help you match colors.

Exterior colors complimenting your interiors Matching the color scheme of your garden to that of the interior of your home allows a transition or flow between the landscape and the building. Colors in the garden that when seen from the inside of the house are complimentary and allow for harmony.

Using Seasonal Colors Choose your very own unique set of landscape plants carefully and you will ensure that there is color in your garden all of the year as well as adding interest for the viewer.

Using warm colors cautiously Unlike some people who are blessed with a brick patio and some large area to landscape, then you should be careful how you use “warm” colors such as red, yellow and orange. Their vibrancy gives the illusion of being closer or bigger. “Cool” colors will soften the effect and give the illusion that the garden is bigger.

Because they are easy to grow and extremely tolerant of a variety of conditions, jade plants are an ideal plant to grow indoors. They grow well in pots and are happiest in warm, dry conditions. They can tolerate long periods of dryness due to their succulent qualities and they do not require much in the way of fertilizer.

These plants will live for many years and can grow up to five feet tall, even when indoors. They are the perfect planting for a large, empty corner of a room, with their dark green leaves that are quite often edged in red. When they flower, they have clusters of pink or white flowers that are star shaped and these provide a lovely display.

To prevent disease and insect attack, they do require some maintenance, just like any other plant.

If the soil is allowed to remain dry for a long period of time, they will suffer from leaf drop. In contrast as well, if they get wet feet they will develop root rot. The soil should be kept moist during the warmer part of the year and there should be longer time intervals between waterings in the cooler months.

So long as these plants have well draining soil and a moderate and regular amount of water, they will thrive. The best soil for them is a cactus mix to which has been added organic matter. A good balance is 1 part sphagnum peat moss to 3 parts coarse sand.

Jade plants should be exposed to full sun, close to a south facing window, for periods of four hours or perhaps more. Ensure that the temperature is not too high, though - the best range is between 65-75 degrees F (18-24 degrees C). Jade copes well with night time temperatures around 50 degrees F (10 degrees C). If the plants starts to show browning of the leaves it should be moved to a spot where it gets less direct heat from the sun.

The feeding requirements of the jade plant are simple. It will only require some liquid fertilizer every three to four months. A standard fertilizer will be fine. Overgrowth is not common in jade plants and they don’t mind their roots being crowded. It is a good idea, though, to leave any feeding until after Winter, when the plant is dormant.

Mealybugs and spider mites enjoy snacking on many popular houseplants; and jade plants are no exception. Mealy bugs can be banished easily - just wipe the leaves with an alcohol-soaked cloth. Spider mites require a little more effort, but they can be brushed off from your beautiful houseplants when they are evident or sprayed if required.

Wiping the leaves with a wet cloth to remove any build up of dust is beneficial to the plant as it will help the plant to “breathe” through their pores, resulting in efficient transpiration. Dead leaves should also be trimmed to keep the plant looking healthy and to minimize disease.

The beauty of flowering plants is obvious to all. The impact of beauty and color that many flowering plants bring to a garden is something that is desired by almost every gardener. If you are careful and organized with your plantings and arrangement of the flowers in your garden, you will make sure that there is a continuous display of blooms throughout most of the growing season and for years to come. To do this, you should choose flowering annuals and perennials that have different flowering times and if you are very careful and treat your plants well, you will be rewarded with blooms continuously: once one has started to fade, another takes its place.

Soil Requirements

Flower beds and borders require much more preparation than for a lawn. To begin with, the soil must be dug deeper; around 1 1/2 - 2 feet. Whilst flowers will grow in soil that is less deep, the rule is the deeper the hole, the better the production of flowers. The soil should not contain any heavy lumps and animal manure, compost and other organic nutrients should be worked in to this soil. Do not compact the soil, but allow it to settle of its own accord.

The topsoil must be of good quality: well rotted manure, leaf litter, peat moss or heavy sand make good additions. You may apply lime to loosen the soil and wood ash is also a good additive in the spring. Check to see which if any nutrients are lacking in your soil and replace them. Manure should not touch the roots of the plants.

Flower Beds and Borders

The combination of colors that you decide upon should be such that they are pleasing to the eye. Following “trends” is fine as long as the trends are to your taste. Be sure that there is enough contrast in the texture and structure of the plants as well. Too many colors can look “busy” and too much variety in a small bed can have the same effect. Contrast “stronger” more vibrant plants with softer, romantic ones and sharp leaf structures with rounded ones.

The site of the garden bed is also crucial. A spot that is able to obtain a good deal of sun is ideal and it should be close to the house.

Border plantings should be sited away from larger trees and shrubs as these require a great deal of water and nutrients, taking away from the less sturdy flowering annuals and perennials. Heavy landscape rocks may put too much weight on the garden beds making it appear sunken. To add interest and a focal point to the border, use of a set of landscape rock to build stone wall or fence works wonders, as does a backdrop of evergreen shrubbery.

Don’t be frightened to experiment with more than one colour in a border. Multi-colored flowers make ideal borders. Some examples of these are miniature pansies and violas as well as the bold marigolds and even the humble alyssum, which now comes in shades of pink and purple as well as the old fashioned white.