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Rose of Sharon shrubs should always be planted below the soil level of the original container. Learn all about care for rose of Sharon shrubs with help from an experienced gardening expert in this free video clip.
Perhaps known best for a delicate scent that has inspired everything from perfumes to hand lotions, the gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides) is a warmth-loving flowering plant. Its showy, fragrant flowers may not be worth it to some gardeners because it's a high-maintenance plant, but if you are motivated, the gardenia is an enchanting garden choice for warm climates.
When winter hits, gardeners must act quickly to protect their roses from snow and cold. Many traditionalists prefer the simple process of piling mulch around the base of rose bushes to insulate them as temperatures drop. But if you live in a windy area or one that is prone to erosion, a better method may be rose collars. These plastic, cylindrical "collars" fit around the base of rose plants and help roses go dormant, stabilize temperatures and hold soil in place to prevent erosion. They are easy to use and can help your roses make it through the winter.
As with most garden flowers, the size of peony (Paeonia spp.) blooms depends on several things, some cultural and some botanical. Cultural influences include the amount of sunlight and water the peony plant receives, the composition of the soil and the type of fertilizer used. Botanically, flower size is relative to which of the three types of peony you are growing, as well as the particular cultivar.
Dracaena deremensis, commonly known as a corn plant, produces multiple upright stems reaching up to 12 feet tall with rosettes of arching evergreen leaves 8 to 12 inches long. Many varieties of this corn plant are green with white stripes and resemble the top of a pineapple, with yellow blossoms appearing throughout the year. This tropical plant grows well outside in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11, but is most commonly grown as a houseplant, and needs only a little care.
Along with the ability to grow 19-foot-tall stems in their watery habitat, lotus plants (Nelumbo nucifera) also have huge leaves and flowers that expand to 24-inch and 12-inch diameters, respectively. This perennial's flowers tend to bloom in the summer in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 11. The flowers are pollinated through several strategies to increase reproductive success.
One key tool that you'll need during the fondant flower creation process is stamens. Make fondant flowers using stamens with help from an experienced culinary professional in this free video clip.
Shrimp flower care is actually a shrub, even though most people see it as a house plant. Find out about shrimp flower care with help from an experienced professional gardener in this free video clip.
Roses need to be cared for in a very particular way, especially if you're planning on using them with arrangements. Learn about rose care and arrangement with help from the go-to color and floral expert for political powerhouses, leading fashion and home designers in this free video clip.
Cold weather poses some very interesting challenges when it comes to orchid care. Learn about cold weather orchid care with help from a gardening expert in this free video clip.
Caring for orchids can cause a lot of different problems if you aren't careful. Learn about problems with orchid care with help from a botanical stylist in this free video clip.
Sherry baby orchids are a lot easier to care for than you might think. Learn about Sherry baby orchid care with help from a botanical stylist in this free video clip.
The Doritaenopsis I-Hsin orchid is very similar to the Phalaenopsis orchid in a lot of ways. Take care of a Doritaenopsis I-Hsin orchid with help from a botanical stylist in this free video clip.
Dancing lady orchids need to be cared for in a very particular way to make sure the plant grows to be as healthy as possible. Find out about dancing lady orchid care with help from a botanical stylist in this free video clip.
Hydroponics is a soil-less system of growing. Grow flowers hydroponically with help from a creative and committed designer in this free video clip.
Taking care of an orchid isn't nearly as difficult as you may think, but it does require that you follow a specific process. Learn about taking care of an orchid with help from a professional gardener in this free video clip.
When making a submerged flower arrangement in a vase, you're going to want to only use specific types of rocks. Find out what type of rocks you use for submerged flowers in a vase with help from a boutique and event decor professional in this free video clip.
Russian laurel (Prunus laurocerasus "Schipkaensis") is a variety of English laurel, also called cherry laurel or Schip laurel. The shrub has narrow, evergreen leaves and blooms with creamy white flower spikes in spring followed by black fruit that is inedible to humans, but a favorite of birds. Native to central Asia, the plant is hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture planting zone 5. The Russian cultivar is shorter and wider than the standard English laurel, reaching from 2 to 5 feet tall and 5 to 8 feet wide, with one zone lower hardiness than the standard English laurel, which is…
Although firecracker ferns have the name "fern," they are not true members of the fern family. This deciduous shrub makes a colorful addition to raised beds and containers because the foliage and blossoms hang thickly down from the plant. Firecracker ferns grow energetically in warm regions, and they are hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 9 through 12. Trim a firecracker fern periodically to keep it a healthy and attractive part of your landscape.
The brightly colored, pom-pom shaped or daisy-like blooms of dahlias provide beauty in your garden all summer. Dahlias are tall plants with heavy flower heads, so you'll need to add extra support by staking the flowers to keep them from breaking or falling over. Staking also makes the dahlia blooms easier to see. Check the dahlias frequently to see whether you need to add more ties to your stakes. Dahlias grow quickly and you'll want to keep up with their growth.
The voodoo lily, with the trade name Arum cornutum, is a perennial bulb or corm that produces a showy leaf and flower. This plant has a maroon speckled leaf and a foot-long flower spike. The voodoo lily can start from seed, or even bird droppings, but most voodoo lilies start with purchased bulbs. Careful planning and planting reduces the care necessary to keep this lily blooming every spring.
Dwarf aquarium lilies are green, red or brown and add a touch of color to an aquarium. Dwarf lilies are native to India and are a smaller version of large lily pads that grow in outdoor ponds. This type of greenery has smaller leaves shaped like arrowheads and grows slowly. Purchase lily bulbs or plants that have already sprouted leaves for decorating an aquarium.
The Jasminum sambac shrub, known to Hawaiians as pikake, produces fragrant, white flowers in the spring and summer months. In Hawaii, farmers grow pikake commercially, harvesting the flowers to sell to lei makers. It is not usually necessary to prune pikake, but doing so forces the plant to grow more flowers and extends the harvest. Pruning also helps rejuvenate older, less-productive pikake plants. For workers on pikake farms, where plants grow close together, pruning makes it easier to move between the rows and harvest the flowers.
Iris hollandica, commonly known as Dutch iris, is a species of flowering bulb that blooms for a few weeks in April or May. Blue and blue-purple flowers are among the most common flowers, along with yellow, white and bi-colored blooms. Growing the bulbs is fairly straightforward to do, provided you select an appropriate planting location and offer basic care as the bulbs establish themselves.
The crown imperial flower (Fritillaria imperialis) is a spring-blooming beauty. Each plant forms a single stalk that blooms a cluster of tubular flowers of striking colors including red, yellow and orange. Above the blooms arise green, erect bracts, reminiscent of a crown. Crown imperial is an excellent addition to home gardens in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 to 9. It grows from a spiral-shaped bulb; plant bulbs in the fall about four to six weeks before the ground freezes.
Teaching concepts, ideas and facts to young children generally is best done through hands-on experiences to keep kids interested. The learning process for understanding the parts of a flower uses basic terms and visual aids to help kids grasp the words and concepts being taught. A lesson plan for teaching pre-K children about flowers should instruct and intrigue children at the same time.
Lilies are colorful and fragrant flowers that range from creamy whites to rich reds. Though many flowers are categorized as lilies, true lilies originate from the Lilium species and include the Asiatic lily and Easter lily, as well as the tiger lily and trumpet lily. These flowers grow from bulbs that produce rich green, broadleaf foliage and can reach mature heights ranging from 2 to 8 feet. True lily bulbs produce one sturdy stalk per bulb that develops single or multiple blooms. As the bulbs reproduce, the lily plant grows into cluster formations having many stalks and flowers.
Raised decks sit several feet about the ground, which leaves an empty space that can turn into a jungle. Instead of dealing with the unpleasant location, landscape the area under the raised deck. Use the area to entertain guests or create a relaxing environment to enjoy the outdoors. Landscaping under the deck not only improves the look of your home, but it can help direct water and moisture away from the foundation as well.
Like all asters, the late-flowering purple aster, or spreading aster, is in the family Asteraceae. It grows wild in U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 4 to 8, but has also been cultivated for use as a landscaping ornamental. It reaches a height of 1 to 3 feet and, true to its name, blooms in August through October. This flower thrives in dry, rocky soil, making it an ideal plant for a rock garden.
Drop flowers are flowers used to decorate cakes and are made by resting a piping tip close to the surface of the cake and “dropping” the flowers as the piping bag is squeezed. Other types of flowers are made with tips that shape individual petals of different sizes. Drop flower tips allow all the petals to be formed at the same time. The size and shape of the flower is determined by the size of the drop flower tip and the amount of spaces it has for decorator icing to pass through.
Daisies, a member of the plant family asteraceae, come in a large range of varieties. The diminutive common daisy produces a carpet of small white flowers perennially during the summer months, while the large flowered shasta daisy blooms well into the fall months. Creating a landscape design focused on this family of flowers requires the proper planting conditions. Mixing multiple varieties ensures your garden remains in bloom from early spring until the first autumn frost.
Calla lilies grow outdoors as tender perennials, but you can also enjoy them inside as houseplants. The plants require bright sunlight and warm temperatures to produce healthy foliage and flowers. Bright sun is sometimes found by placing the plant near a sunny window during the long, summer days. Supplementing natural sunlight with a fluorescent grow light allows you to enjoy the calla lily during the short, winter days or if you don't have a suitably sunny window in your home.
The holiday season receives a flush of color with the blooming of a Christmas cactus. Like Easter and Thanksgiving cacti, these cultivars may produce a stunning number of flowers in such shades as pink and peach. Plant lovers hail Christmas cacti for the ease with which they can be crossbred, in addition to their attractive pigments. Hand pollination can result in scores of beautiful plants grown on the cheap. The process is most effective when cactus flowers are most fecund: the day after they open.
Rose bouquets commonly are given around Valentine's Day and are found at weddings, anniversaries, play openings and other occasions where the sender wants to say either "congratulations" or "I love you." Roses bouquets quickly wilt and die if not properly cared for. A two-tired bouquet has two layers of flowers, so use extra care to ensure the bottom layer receives light and water to help the bouquet last longer.
Keeping a pot of chives on your balcony or a chive plant in your garden gives you season-long access to this tasty garnish. With a flavor reminiscent of mild green onions, chives are suitable in salads, sprinkled over a bowl of soup or piled on a baked potato. The method of clipping chives from the plant is quick enough that you can do it while the food is cooking. People eat the stalks, or leaves, of the plant, rather than the flowers.
The stately Blue Point juniper (Juniperus chinensis “Blue Point”) is a tall, conical-shaped shrub with blue-tinted foliage. A versatile shrub, it offers a quality replacement for the Italian cypress in cooler regions, provides the ideal accent to a zen garden or, planted in rows, acts as a privacy screen or wind barrier. Blue Point junipers are hardy to zones 4 through 9 on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Although Blue Points typically grow from 8 to 10 feet tall, there are several ways to coax them to put on a few more feet. Bear in mind…
Orchids and lilies require different growing conditions, but used together in an arrangement, they can make a strikingly elegant statement. Because they are both prima donnas in the garden, the exotic orchid and regal lily need supporting players that do not compete with their interplay. Before using these gems in a fresh arrangement for your summer table, learn what family each represents and how each should fit into your design.
Watercress thrives predominantly in areas that experience cool winters with minimal frost. Prolonged freezes or extreme summer heat kill this perennial plant. This water plant grows wild in streams and small rivers, sometimes becoming invasive and overtaking the waterway. Although it's harvested as a wild food, there are other types of cress that look similar but don't have the same flavor as watercress. Proper identification ensures the plant you are harvesting is Nasturtium officinale, or true watercress.
Plants spread their seeds in a variety of ways. Many have evolved tasty fruits to encourage animals to consume and carry their seeds far away. Other plants utilize the power of the wind to carry their seeds to distant places. By far the most unique method of seed dispersal is ballistic -- seeds literally explode from the pods where they developed. Ballistic seed dispersal is used by just a few plants, many of which are weeds. In the Northwest, a couple of major noxious weeds shoot seeds: the Robert geranium and the Scotch broom.
Yucca palms grow abundantly in arid regions, preferring sunny to partly shady growing locations. During the active growing season, healthy yucca palms may produce an attractive bloom in the center of the plant that rises above the foliage. A yucca palm does not require extensive pruning; however, you might need to trim a yucca palm to keep it neat and healthy.
The camellia is an evergreen shrub that produces large pink or red flowers and is the state flower of Alabama. It is an easy-to-maintain plant that requires little more than adequate sunlight, space to grow and moist soil. If you have been hit with a harsh winter, you may have to prune the camellia bush in January. Pruning camellia in January can help save the plant from disease and keep it healthy as well as vibrant through the rest of the year.
The botanical name for foxglove is digitalis, which means "finger-like," named because the flower bloom easily fits over the end of a finger. Foxglove plants are both biennial and perennial and include more than 20 species. The plants are highly poisonous in their natural form. Some types are used medicinally for the manufacture of herbs and the pharmaceutical heart medicine known as digitalis.
Moonbeam, Early Sunrise, Cranberry Ice and Cherry Lemonade are a handful of the Coreopsis varieties that fill summer gardens with shades of yellow, red and orange to match their names. Growing up to two feet tall, these short-lived perennials handle heat and drought without flinching. Their bright daisy flowers, nodding on slender stems above mounds of lacy, grayish- to medium-green foliage, invite bees and butterflies to the garden. While trimming coreopsis can be tedious, it results in a stream of blossoms from spring to fall.
The highly fragrant, showy flowers and the bold leaves that ginger lilies produce create an undeniable tropical feeling even in temperate gardens. The flowers of this plant come in a wide array of vivid colors including red, yellow, orange and white. Hedychium grows as an annual plant in United States Department of Agricultural hardiness zones 3 through 7. It is a perennial in USDA hardiness zones 8 through 10.
Mango trees require time, space and patience, as grafted trees may take three to five years before they flower, and mango trees have the potential to become very large. On the plus side, you need only one tree to produce fruit. Indian mangoes tolerate humidity poorly and experience mildew problems. Philippine mangoes are more tolerant of moisture and resist mildew.
Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium is a type of chrysanthemum that produces clusters of white-petaled flowers with bright-yellow button centers. Flowers that are harvested and left to dry produce a natural insecticide when pulverized or ground. Known as pyrethrum, the insecticide has grown in popularity because of its low toxicity. Whether you grow the pyrethrum flowers for their repellent properties or attractive inflorescence, careful attention to planting location and watering is necessary.
Aeroponics is the growing of plants, flowers, vegetables and trees -- but without the use of soil. While this may sound strange, studies have found it to be a clean, green and efficient way to grow plants. In a study published in "Forest Ecology and Management" in 1999, researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore found that aeroponic plants grew faster and were healthier than plants grown in soil. However, growing aeroponics indoors requires specific lights to help flowers to grow and photosynthesize.
The lantana is an attractive, sun-loving plant that blooms from spring until frost. Growing between 1 to 6 feet tall, depending on the cultivar, lantanas produce showy blooms in a variety of colors that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Although the user-friendly plant asks for little in terms of care and maintenance, providing its ideal growing conditions encourages the development of healthy blooms. Proper irrigation, fertilization, pest control, disease prevention, pruning and winter protection contributes to its ability to flower, encouraging it to bloom slightly earlier than expected.
Philodendron cordatum grows along the southeastern coast of Brazil, near São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. This attractive plant is mainly an epiphyte that lives on tree trunks and branches. Insects that are attracted to the plant’s odor, pollinate Philodendron cordatum under natural conditions. This popular plant does not require soil in which to grow. If you want to propagate Philodendron cordatum in the home or nursery, you will have to pollinate it by hand.
Calla lilies grow from rhizomes, a bulb-like type of root that stores energy. Calla lilies can't survive cold winters, so in cold locations, you must dig up the rhizome and store it until spring. If you are in a warm location, you may be able to enjoy your calla lily's foliage all winter, although it won't bloom again until the weather becomes warmer.
