Planting Beautiful Flowering Containers
Have you ever walked past a container filled with gorgeous flowers and thought “Wow, I wish I could plant a container that looks like that!” With a few easy tips, anyone can plant a beautiful flowering container.
1. Select a container. Anything will work, as long as it has drainage holes.
2. If you are using a large container, place a layer of Styrofoam packing peanuts or empty plant cell packs in the bottom of the pot to lighten it up as well as to save on potting mix. Fill the container about ½ way with a high quality potting mix. It is very important to use potting mix as both potting soil and top soil will compact in the container and the plants will not thrive.
3. Next add a layer of hydrated water retaining crystals (if they are not already included in the potting mix). The package should give directions on how much to use for the size pot. The crystals do their job the best when they are in a layer at about the level that the plants root balls will be within the container. Add some more potting mix and then you are ready to plant!
4. The number of flowering plants that you select will depend on the size of the plants, the size of the container and how fast you want it to fill in. Also take into consideration where the planted container will be placed and select plants with the correct sunlight requirements. Choose plants from each of the criteria below:
Thrillers are the large, upright plants that give the container its dramatic focal point. Plant these either to the back of the container or in the center.
Fillers are the ones that fill in the space around the thriller.
Spillers are planted around the edge of the container and form the “skirt” as they spill over the edge. Some examples are Bacopa, trailing petunias,
5. After planting, add potting mix to the top edge of the container. Sprinkle slow release fertilizer (if not included in the potting mix) around the plants, water and enjoy!
Starting your Own Seeds
Who’s ready for some vine ripe tomatoes, fragrant basil and colorful flowers? I’m guessing we all are! Winter here in the midwest seems to linger a long time. A great way to help with the itch to get growing is to start seeds indoors. Interest in growing our own vegetables and herbs continues to increase. Are you interested in starting plants from seeds to help keep costs down or to take advantage of some heirloom varieties that you can’t buy? The following information will help you to successfully start and grow your own plants from seed.
1. Choose your seeds
This is the fun part. All those seed catalogs to choose from! If you are interested in heirloom varieties, check out Seed Savers exchange. They have a great variety of heirloom veggies and flowers.
2. Know when to start your seeds
The rule of thumb is to start your seeds indoors 6 weeks before they can be planted outdoors. Some need a longer germination period. Check the packet for more information. Here in zone 4-5 midwest, most plants should be started in mid-March to April, depending on how cold tolerant the plants are. For most larger size seeds (beans, squash, melon, cucumbers), it is easier to plant them directly in the ground rather than starting them indoors. This would be after the chance of frost, generally mid to late May here in Wisconsin. You will need to find out the date for your area.
3. Use a seed starting mix
If you are starting seeds indoors, it is important to use a special seed starting mix. Potting soil is too heavy and will hold too much moisture. The seed starting mix is much lighter and helps keep the new seedlings from staying too wet and “dampening off”, whereas the seedling gets a fungus that causes the stem to rot through and the seedling dies. It doesn’t matter too much what you start the seeds in. There are a lot of growing systems out there to choose from or you can go simple. I personally have used egg cartons (the cardboard kind) to start my seeds. You can use yogurt containers with holes in the bottom or cell packs left over from last year. Use what is most convenient for you.
4. Growing
Most seeds need some warmth from underneath to help them get started. If you plan to continue starting seeds indoors, you may want to purchase a seed propagation mat. Otherwise, use some creativity. Your house’s radiator may even work. You can also set up a DIY bottom heater. Check out the article Here if you are interested in trying this method. Once the seeds have germinated, they need light. I always thought they needed special grow lights. Turns out I was wrong! Most gardeners use 4 foot long garage lights and hang them from the ceiling in the basement or garage. The lights need to be 4 inches above the seedlings and turned on for 16 hours a day. As the plants grow, be sure to keep moving the lights up. Once the plants get a bit larger and produce a second set of true leaves, they can be transplanted to a larger pot, depending on what they were started in.
5. Planting
When you transplant your seedlings outside will depend on your individual area, the weather and the plant. Some plants can tolerate very chilly weather, including a frost. Others prefer much warmer temperatures. The best practice is to check the seed packet for specific information. Seedlings also need a period of ‘hardening’ during which they are outside for awhile but still getting protection before they are planted. This can be with the use of a cold frame, an unheated greenhouse or simply by setting them outside on warmer days and moving them indoors for the night or if the weather gets cold. After a couple of weeks getting acclimated, the seedlings can be planted and in a couple of months you should be enjoying fresh produce and beautiful flowers.
Create a Show Stopping Spring Display
One of the great things about spring is the early burst of color that we get from bulbs after the long days of winter. Sunny yellow daffodils, tulips in a rainbow of colors, fragrant hyacinths are all familiar spring flowers. By spending some time planning this fall, you can have a spectacular spring display to enjoy after the dreary days of winter. The following guidelines will help you with your planning.
1. Spring flowering bulbs must have a period of cool temperatures to bloom. The recommended growing zones are 3-7. If you live in a warmer zone, you will need to prechill the bulbs before planting. Place them in a refrigerator in October for 8-10 weeks before planting. If you live in the northern states, this is not necessary as our temperatures get cool enough.
2. Choose the site where you want to add spring blooming bulbs. Most bulbs need ample sunshine. However, if they are an early bloomer, you can plant them under deciduous trees and the bulbs will have saved enough energy before the trees leaf out. The other important consideration is drainage. Bulbs need good drainage. If the soil stays too wet, the bulbs will rot.
3. The bulbs can be planted two ways, by excavating the entire area (this works well if you are planting a large number of bulbs) or individually. Follow the recommended depth guidelines for the type of bulb you are planting. If the soil is dry, be sure to water well after planting. And don’t worry too much about which end of the bulb is up. The bulbs know to send shoots up and roots down so they will adjust.
4. Sit back and wait to enjoy the beauty next spring!
Having a bulb planter can make this fall task go much quicker. Click HERE to purchase one from Natural Havens.
Fairy Gardens
Some fairies are believed to be friendly and give luck and prosperity to humans who treat them respectfully. Invite these magical beings to visit your garden by creating a new sanctuary for them.
A fairy garden is a miniature garden that is said to be attractive to fairies. The plants used in the garden all stay small and resemble larger plants such as shrubs. Adding miniature furniture and accessories adds to the large garden feel, as well as being appealing to fairies and giving your garden a personal touch. You can choose to add a fairy figure or just leave the garden as is, for the real fairies to find. Use the following tips to create your own fairy garden.
1. Select a container. The best ones have a large open surface area for adding lots of plants and accessories.
2. Choose your accessories. Create a scene within your garden by choosing from a variety of furniture and structures including fairy houses and furniture. Structures, such as arbors and paths, help to define the garden space. The accessories you add will give your garden a personal touch.
3. Select your plants. Different plants can be used for different purposes, the important thing is that they stay small and won’t quickly outgrow the garden space. Remember to select plants that have the same water and light requirements. Some examples are:
Groundcovers (Lawn)
Scotch or Irish Moss
Creeping Thyme
Baby Tears
Cushion Pink
Corsican Mint
Trees
Lemon Cypress Cone
Euonymus variegatus
Shrubs
Hens & Chicks varieties
Blue Mouse Ears Hosta
Polka Dot plant
Zebra plant
Ageratum
Flowers
Variegated Dwarf Myrtle
Gold leaf sedum
Sedum “Fairy pink”
Dwarf Myrtle
Mexican Heather
Boxwood Honeysuckle
Angel Vine
Cigar Plant
Alyssum
4. Use a good quality potting soil.
5. Lay out your garden before you plant. Decide where you want paths, where you plan to place furniture and features, what direction the garden will be viewed from. Experiment with different arrangements until you find one you prefer.
6. Be sure to maintain your fairy garden as you would a larger one. Water when the soil has dried out, taking care not to over-water. Use pruners to trim plants so they don’t become too large. (Any plant that does out grow its environment should be removed). Pluck out any weeds that appear as well as remove any dead leaves or plants. Proper fertilization will help keep your garden looking lush and healthy.
Remember to be creative and have fun! The possibilities are unlimited and the gardens are enchanting.
Click HERE to find all the items you need to create your own personal fairy garden.
Tips on Caring for Houseplants
While our outdoor gardens are dormant (and possibly buried under snow), this is the time of year to give extra attention to our indoor plants. This article gives you some tips on how to keep your indoor plants looking their best throughout the winter months.
Sunlight
Make certain your plants are receiving the correct amount of light. Southern windows provide high light, east and west provide medium light and north facing windows are low light. If your plant’s leaves are looking a little brown and dry on the edges, try moving it to a spot with less light. If the growth is spindly, try moving it to a spot with more light.
Plants use sunlight to produce food and since there is less sunlight available in the winter months, the plants need to be use the available light as efficiently as possible. To help them, it is important to keep their leaves clean. Dust and grease may accumulate on the leaves, slowing growth. Cleaning the leaves helps keep the leaf pores open. Plants with large, smooth leaves may be cleaned with a moist, soft sponge or cloth. Alternatively, they can be placed in the shower and the leaves gently washed. For plants with fuzzy leaves, a small paintbrush can be used to gently brush the leaves and remove dust.
Temperature
Most houseplants grow well with daytime temperatures between 65 to 75ºF and nighttime temperatures between 60 to 65ºF. Fluctuating temperatures may damage some plants as well as temperature below 50ºF so keep plants away from cold drafts and hot air vents. Make sure the plant’s foliage doesn’t touch any cold windows. Also, don’t place plants on top of the television. This location is too warm and generally too far from windows to provide proper light.
Water
Houseplants will require less water in the winter than in the summer when they are actively growing. The frequency of watering also depends on the type of plant. Some, like ferns, prefer to be evenly moist while cacti prefer to be completely dry before watering. Most houseplants should be watered when the soil is barely moist or is dry to the touch. Water the plants thoroughly until water begins to drain out the bottom of the pot. If a saucer is used, discard the excess water it has collected.
Humidity (the amount of water in the air) is also very important for healthy houseplants. Most houseplants prefer a humidity level of 40 to 50% but most houses have a humidity level of only 10 to 20% during the winter months. To help increase the humidity of the air around the plants, try grouping them together. The water lost from the soil as well as the water lost through the plant foliage will help to increase the humidity in that immediate vicinity. Another option is to place the plants on trays or saucers filled with gravel or pebbles and water. Just be certain that the bottom of the pot is above the level of the water. Misting is not a practical way to increase the humidity level as it would need to be done several times a day to help increase the humidity.
Additional Care
Be sure to regularly turn and prune your plants to keep them shapely. Pinch back new growth to keep your plants bushy. Plants need to be fertilized regularly during their active growth period in the spring and summer. However, since the plants generally are not growing much during the winter months, fertilization is not required. Begin to fertilize houseplants again in March or April as the growing conditions improve and the plants resume growth.
By giving your houseplants some extra care during the winter months, you will be rewarded with healthy and beautiful plants.
To help keep your plants looking their best, click HERE to purchase the stainless steel watering can.
Winter Containers
The annuals have been discarded, the perennials are cut back and the shrubs have been pruned. Now that the growing season has come to an end, our gardens can start to look pretty bare this time of year. One way to provide some color for the upcoming winter months is by using evergreen boughs in the empty planters.
Most places that sell Christmas trees will also have bundles of greens available for purchase. The most common type is the balsam fir, but you can sometimes purchase other varieties as well. Different types include white pine, cedar and other firs such as Douglas or Noble. Using a mix of greens will give different textures to your planter.
What you fill with the greens is up to you. Empty pots work well. For a formal look, use a classic footed urn. At our house, we have a raised brick flower bed that we use. Window boxes can also be used. The containers should be filled with potting mix. If all of the soil was removed, the bottom half of the container can be filled with packing peanuts to help save on soil and reduce the weight. Leave about a 1 ½” space at the top of the container.
Once you have decided on the container, decide about how long the greens should be cut. There is no set rule, just decide what looks pleasing to you. Generally you will want to have some of the boughs draping over the edge of the pot. Fill in the area with the greens, varying the height a bit. After the container is filled in, you can add some decorative touches to it. Include a large bow, add some red dogwood and/or white birch branches, dried flowers or seed heads, large pinecones, holly or bittersweet. You can even add a strand of lights. Use your imagination!
Butterfly Gardening
Butterflies are often referred to as “flying flowers” and it’s no wonder. They come in so many different sizes and colors. As the long, warm days of summer continue, I am always amazed at how many butterflies we start to see. By spending a little time planning a butterfly garden, it’s possible to have these beautiful insects visit your yard as well.
The most important requirement for a butterfly garden are plants that are attractive to them. Adults need nectar plants and prefer plants with large, flat flower heads that are fragrant. Also consider planting host plants for the larvae to encourage several generations of butterflies to stay within your garden.
Suggested Nectar Plants
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Daylillies (Hemerocallis sp.)
Viburnums (Viburnum sp.)
Marigolds
Petunias
Provide an alternative food source such as a butterfly feeder. If you make your own butterfly nectar, 8 parts of water to one part of sugar is the recommended solution. Clean and refill your butterfly feeder every 5 to 6 days, more often in hot weather. Some butterflies are attracted to over-ripe fruit, such as bananas, plums, pears and watermelon.
Sunshine is essential to butterflies as they need it to warm themselves. Place several large, flat rocks in a sunny part of your garden. Butterflies will use them for basking.
Consider adding a shallow birdbath to your garden. Place a few rocks in the bottom so the butterflies have a place to perch while they take a sip of water.
Certain kinds of butterflies, like the Sulfur butterflies in the photo, will congregate in mud puddles. To attract them, provide a damp area in the garden or form a shallow mud puddle. The butterflies extract minerals from these areas so add salt from time to time. Another option is to fill a bird bath or shallow pan with sand, keep it damp and add salt occasionally.
Shelter is another requirement. Consider allowing a corner of your yard to become overgrown or start a wildflower planting. Log piles and butterfly houses can both be used to provide shelter. Mount your butterfly house 3-4 feet off the ground near flowers that butterflies are attracted to and in the shade to keep the butterflies from overheating. Be sure to add bark strips to the house so the butterflies have something to cling to. Hibernating butterflies may also use the house. Ten species of butterflies in the 48 contiguous states hibernate including Mourning cloak, Compton Tortoise Shell, Millbert’s Tortoise Shell, California Tortoise Shell, Hoary Coma(Zephyr), Question Mark, Angel Wing-Satyr, Green Comma, Gray Comma and the Red Admiral.
By taking the time to add these elements to your garden or by creating a new garden just for the butterflies, you will be rewarded with the sight of these lovely “flying flowers” floating through your garden on warm summer days.
To help you get started with your butterfly garden, click HERE to purchase butterfly products.
Spring Cleaning for the Garden
Now that warm weather has arrived, the bulbs are blooming, perennials are poking out of the ground and shrubs are starting to leaf out. Just as we take advantage of the warm weather to clean our houses, spring is also a great time to clean our gardens.
Start your garden cleaning by removing all the dead foliage from last year’s growth. Most of it will easily come out with a tug or light raking. If not, use a pair of pruners to snip the dead foliage off. Rake through the beds to remove all the dead foliage and leaves. If there are too many leaves piled over where the new plant growth is trying to come through, it could cause crown rot or the leaves may hinder some plants from growing. For shrubs, use pruners to remove any dead wood and do some light pruning to help shape the shrub. For any spring blooming shrubs, it is best to wait until after the bloom time before doing any pruning.
The next step in garden cleaning is to remove any weeds or grass that has worked its way into the beds. The amount of grass and weeds that make their way in can be prevented or reduced by using plastic edging or a natural edge. A natural edge is created by using a flat shovel and cutting an angled trough between the lawn and bed. This trough is then filled with mulch. When the grass roots try to spread into that area, they find just air and die back instead of growing into the garden area. The natural edge is superior to the plastic edging as the plastic can heave, break and limits your flexibility for changing the shape of your garden.
Most plants will benefit from a light top dressing of manure or compost. Fertilizer, such as Osmocote, can also be used. Avoid adding anything to prairie plants and sedum. These plants will grow too much in rich soil and the foliage will become floppy.
The final step is to add a layer of mulch. Using mulch will keep down weed growth, regulate soil temperature & moisture and add organic matter back into the soil. Shredded bark mulch is the most commonly used mulch. Although the bark mulch lasts a long time, it will tie up the available nitrogen while it is breaking down. Cocoa bean mulch is the best choice for use around annual flowers, herbs and some perennials such as roses as these plants need a readily available amount of nitrogen to bloom and grow properly. Other mulch options are straw and leaf mold.
By spending some time in the spring properly cleaning and preparing your garden beds, you will have less work later in the summer and more time to enjoy the beauty of your garden.
