Follow these tips for growing healthy roses and your garden will be the envy of the neighborhood. Roses are the rock stars of the garden. Rose bushes are stately and impressive, and the flowers look lovely for weeks at a time. Back in 1986 when Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, he signed a proclamation that named the rose as America’s national flower. Fittingly enough, the ceremony that certified “national flower” status for the rose was held at the White House Rose Garden. That’s just one reason why millions of rose bushes are planted every year. Despite the old-fashioned beliefs that roses can be tough to grow, advice from respected rose experts says otherwise. “All plants need the right growing conditions to thrive, and roses are no different,” said Chris Van Cleve, a writer and rose expert who calls himself the Redneck Rosarian. “Just provide the right growing conditions and the right care, and rose bushes can thrive in almost any garden.” Below are 5 … [Read more...] about Tips for Growing Healthy Roses
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Top Calathea Plants and How to Grow Them
How to Grow the Top Varieties of Calathea Plants Calatheas are renowned for their stunning green foliage adorned with stunning patterns and striking hues. The leaves of the Calathea plant represent stunning shades of green, making them the perfect choice for any room. Calathea plants are usually referred to as Prayer plants because of the leaves’ distinctive movement with day and night light variation. Calathea can be a difficult houseplant choice for plant parents. People appear to either like them or dislike them. This is understandable since they can be somewhat demanding to maintain. However, once you've figured them out, they are fairly easy to care for. 7 Popular Varieties of Calathea Plants Here are a few of my top Calathea varieties I'm sure you'll enjoy as much as I do! Calathea Orbifolia Calathea Orbifolia or Round Leaf Calathea is a beautiful but difficult plant to maintain. It has large, round leaves with silvery stripes. It is so attractive, and those who … [Read more...] about Top Calathea Plants and How to Grow Them
Tree Watering Made Simple: The Root Quencher Story
The Inventors of the Root Quencher Want to Spread the Word about Deep Tree Watering to Save One Million Trees. Trees are the anchors of a landscape. Their awe-inspiring size and stature are the first things we notice about a property. But trees need special care, and trees need deep watering to stay healthy and beautiful. Quite simply, when trees don’t receive enough water, they become stressed. And when tree roots don’t receive periodic deep waterings, trees can die. Robert Summers and Maria Caceres know first-hand how devastating it can be to receive bad news about water-stressed trees. They consulted an arborist about the 50-year-old trees planted by Robert’s father on the family-owned property in Pasadena, California. The prognosis was not good. Many of the mature trees in the landscape were dying and aging out. They would have to be replaced. Robert and Maria rejected that idea. Rather than cutting down the trees, they embarked on a concerted effort to revitalize their … [Read more...] about Tree Watering Made Simple: The Root Quencher Story
How Do Mosquito Dunks Work?
You have probably heard of Mosquito Dunks. But how do Mosquito Dunks work? The answer is simple—even though it involves some science. Summit Mosquito Dunks kill mosquito larvae, before the larvae can develop into adult mosquitoes. I will explain exactly how Mosquito Dunks kill mosquito larvae in just a moment. But first it’s helpful to learn a little bit about mosquitoes. How Do Mosquito Dunks Work: Fast Facts About Mosquitoes It has been said that, ounce for ounce, mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on planet Earth. An adult female mosquito weighs just 1/15,000 of an ounce (that’s about 2.0 milligrams). But despite mosquitoes’ tiny size, mosquito bites kill an estimated 1 million people worldwide each year. That’s because mosquitoes transmit some of the planet’s most deadly diseases including malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and West Nile virus. Only female mosquitoes bite—and they bite people, animals, and birds. (Male mosquitoes feed solely on flower nectar.) When a … [Read more...] about How Do Mosquito Dunks Work?
Orchid Garden Pool Landscape
I never expected to design an orchid garden pool landscape. But then I visited a new landscape design client. I quickly realized that just past their front door was a gorgeous swimming pool. How do you landscape a front entrance that’s a pool lanai? Most swimming pools in Florida are surrounded by garden beds with tropical plants on the inside of their screened enclosures. But this pool lanai was surrounded by four bare walls. Deciding on a design theme was easy when I found out my client was an orchid lover. I decided that I wanted to display an orchid garden on the tiled walls. But how to connect them together and take care of them properly and without a lot of maintenance? That part would be a challenge. The Orchid Garden Pool Landscape Design Up to the challenge, I searched for driftwood that would securely hang on the walls. I wanted to attach the various orchid species, tillandsias, bromeliads, and ferns just like they hang from trees in their native … [Read more...] about Orchid Garden Pool Landscape