Adzuki bean nutrition is off the charts with loads of fiber and vitamins. The beans are fairly easy to grow but require a long season, so start them indoors in short-season climates. Growing adzuki beans in the home landscape will help you harvest the health benefits of these small beans and add some interest to the family dinner table through their diversity. What are Adzuki Beans? Legumes are good for the body and good for the landscape....

Diseases of Hydrangea One of the more beautiful landscape plants are the hydrangeas. Whether you like the bigleaf, oakleaf, panicle or smooth leaf variety, they are generally considered easy to care for and provide a giant display of summer color. Common diseases of hydrangea can affect plant health but also the wondrous floral display for which they are known. Treating a sick hydrangea starts with recognizing common diseases and how to prevent and treat them....

Reasons to Thin Apple Trees Apple crops vary from year to year. In years of plenty, thinning out apples allows the remaining apples to grow larger and healthier. Apple tree thinning removes some of the small apples from the cluster, enabling the tree to expend its energy on the fewer remaining apples. Thinning also gives you an opportunity to inspect the tree to see if there are any diseased or broken limbs or any early signs of insect infestation that can then be effectively treated....

How to Draw Songbirds to Your Yard Whether you live in the suburbs, a rural area, on a farm, or even in the heart of a big city, there are birds in the air and they are looking for great gardens to visit. There are a few musts for any size of garden that wants to maximize these visitors: food, protection, and shelter, and water. Yes, the plants in your garden can provide these things, but you need more....

By selecting flowers that do well in your region, preparing a seed bed, and planting at the right time in the fall or winter, you can create a beautiful flower border that will reseed itself year after year. Depending on your location, you may also be able to enjoy tasty veggies late in the season too. Choosing Plants for Fall Sowing Selecting plants for autumn seed planting will depend on the region where you live....

Studies show that Americans suffer from the effects of stress on an unprecedented scale. Now more than ever, we all could use a backyard paradise. Backyard Designs To Relax, Recharge, Reset It’s a paradox that relaxation is necessary to work efficiently. Some people take an exotic two-week vacation that’s meant to compensate for a year’s worth of stress. Instead, it’s important to unwind frequently, detoxing from the information overload that comes with modern life....

Beaufortia Plant Info On a continent populated by such wonders as koalas and kangaroos, is it any surprise that a remarkable plant such as Beaufortia would be present? There are 19 species recognized by the Australian government but many more cultivars created for home gardeners. The wild species are cultivated in limited numbers because they can be quite finicky. The cultivars are more adaptable and produce excellent plants with superior blooming results....

Worm Composting Bins for Home and Garden Vermicomposting is the term for worm composting bins. There are many types of worm bins for purchase, but you can also make your own worm bins. You can take advantage of the natural earthworms in your soil by building earthworm boxes. These are similar to vermicomposting bins, but have no bottom so the earthworms can burrow up into the organic refuse. Old wooden boxes with holes drilled in the bottom would also work for building earthworm boxes....

Burro’s Tail Information Burro’s tail is a heat- and drought-tolerant plant well suited for warm to temperate regions. The thick stems appear woven or plaited with leaves. The succulent is green to gray-green or even blue-green and may have a slightly chalky look. Try a burro’s tail houseplant or use it on the patio or a full sun garden bed. Burro’s Tail Houseplant The misnamed burro’s tail cactus produces long, sweeping stems that are arrayed with thick, fleshy, green leaves....

Are Succulents and Cacti the Same? Desert plants come in all kinds of sizes, growth habits, hues, and other characteristics. Succulents also span the visionary spectrum. When we look at a cactus vs. succulent plant, we note many cultural similarities. That is because cacti are succulents, but succulents are not always cacti. If you are confused, keep reading for basic cacti and succulent identification. The quick answer to the question is no, but cacti are in the group succulents....

Can You Eat Pindo Palm Fruit? Jelly palms do indeed bear edible pindo fruit, although with the abundance of fruit dangling from the palms and its absence from the consumer market, most people have no idea the fruit of the pindo palm is not only edible but delicious. Once a staple of practically every southern yard, the pindo palm is now more often thought of as a nuisance. This is in large part due to the fact that pindo palm tree fruit can make a mess on lawns, driveways, and paved walkways....

What are Spindle Galls? Walking through a newly leafed forest or even just around your own garden in the springtime can reveal many breathtaking and astonishing sights. If you’re very lucky, you might even find some spindle galls. Although these interesting leaf deformations can at first appear like some sort of severe plant disease, the truth is that they’re very rarely dangerous to your plants. If your favorite tree has developed strange spiky growths on the upper surfaces of its leaves, you may immediately be concerned it’s an early sign of plant disease....

What is Chinaberry? Chinaberry is a member of the Mahogany family (Meliaceae) and is also known as “China Tree” and “Pride of India.” So, what is chinaberry tree? Growing chinaberry trees (Melia azedarach) have a dense spreading habitat attaining heights of between 30 to 50 feet tall (9-15 m.) and hardy in USDA zones 7 through 11. Growing chinaberry trees are prized as shade trees in their native habitat and bear pale purple, tube-like blooms with a heavenly scent much like southern magnolia trees....

Why Do Bird of Paradise Leaves Curl? The natural form of bird of paradise is as a 5 to 30 foot (1.5-9 m.) tall tree. There are several varieties but each one has huge paddle shaped leaves that start out as curled tubes from the main body. The leaves unfurl as they mature, but even older foliage will bear some curve at the edges. Bird of paradise is a tropical plant with 18-inch (46 cm....

Wildcrafting Info Long ago people did not have the same luxuries as we do today. They could not go out shopping for various household items or gifts for decorating. Instead, their gifts and decorations came from what was readily available in and around their homesteads. Some of these materials were gathered from the wild, while other items were taken from their gardens. Wooded areas and open prairies are filled with plants you can use for wildcrafting....

Learn as you go along, and you’ll find dieffenbachia troubleshooting is no more difficult than for any other houseplant. In fact, being prepared to correct a disease problem is important information for the indoor gardener. Learning why it has happened to your plant can help you correct it early before it spreads to other areas of the plant. Understanding how disease is passed or picked up may help you avoid it altogether....

When to Trim a Dogwood Tree Part of proper dogwood pruning involves knowing when to trim a dogwood tree. In areas where boring insects are a problem, never prune a dogwood tree in spring. The wounds created by pruning cuts provide an entry point for these devastating insects. In addition, if pruned while the tree is actively growing in spring and summer, the wounds bleed copious amounts of messy sap. Therefore, the best time to prune a dogwood tree is in late fall and winter while the tree is dormant....

Serendipity in the Garden Planning a garden is fun. We put everything in its designated place, exactly how and where we want it to be. However, Mother Nature sometimes has a way of rearranging our gardens and placing things how and where she wants instead. This is serendipitous gardening. Serendipity in the garden can be anywhere. Look closely and you will find it. Take a stroll through the garden and you’re sure to find a few welcome newcomers, or in some cases, not so welcome....

Fig trees need winter protection in areas where the temperatures will drop below 25 degrees F. (-3 C.). There are two types of fig wintering that can be done. The first is fig tree winter protection for fig trees in the ground. The other is fig tree winter storage for trees in containers. We’ll look at both. Ground Planted Fig Tree Winter Protection If you live in a colder climate and you’d like to try to grow figs in the ground, winterizing a fig tree properly is especially important to your success....

Choosing Foliage Plants for Your Home In choosing your plants, consider the location’s environment. Determine whether a particular plant will only survive or thrive in that environment. Go to your library and find references of the specific care of plants being considered for the indoor environment. It is important to begin with good quality, healthy, pest-free plants. Make sure leaves possess good color for the species, with no brown tips or margins....