About Flowers that Bloom all Summer When thinking about adding more color into the landscape many gardeners opt for annual plants such as pansies or marigolds. But if you really want to stretch your dollar and at the same time elevate the palette of the garden, look no further than perennials that bloom all summer, or at least the majority of the season. Unlike annuals which die after a season, perennial flowers keep giving year after year....

Willow Oak Tree Information Willow oaks (Quercus phellos) are popular shade trees in parks and along streets. This tree grows fairly quickly and can become too large for some urban settings. The plant tolerates pollution and drought and has no serious insect or pest problems. The main factors for good willow oak tree care are water at establishment and some support when young. Willow oaks develop nicely symmetrical pyramid to round crown shapes....

Planning Your Xeriscape Design Here are some things to consider when planning your xeriscape design: Take notes of problem areas Take a walk along your property and survey the landscape. Observe and take note of areas that are especially difficult to water and maintain. These areas could include sites such as steep slopes, corners or narrow strips of lawn, rocky areas, and water or drought-prone locations. Steep slopes, especially those on south and west exposures, waste water through runoff and evaporation....

Benefits of Xeriscape Garden Shading Xeriscape shade gardens may seem a novelty at first but consider the properties of shade. Shade helps reduce moisture evaporation, it provides shelter from the scorching sun, and it can often protect lower story plants from the leeching and damage that occurs from the wind. In its simplest form, the shade comes from trees and larger bushes. Construction options also exist such as trellises, pergolas, rockeries, and other man-made, shade-producing alternatives....

Are Yellow Watermelons Natural? Yellow flesh on your watermelon might come as quite a surprise since the exterior doesn’t look any different than the red variety. The flesh of watermelons turning yellow is a natural mutation. In fact, the originator of our commercial variety, which comes from Africa, is a yellow to white fleshed fruit. The fruit has a sweeter, honey-like flavor as compared to red fleshed melons, but many of the same nutritional benefits....

Creating Wildflower Gardens In contrast to the formal English garden or even a traditional vegetable garden, a wildflower garden is truly inexpensive, easy to plant, and simple to maintain. You don’t have to spend endless hours weeding your wildflower garden because wildflower gardens are meant to be…well…wild! You also don’t need to spend hours watering or fertilizing your wildflower garden because the plants you will choose for your garden will be native species to your particular region of the world....

What is Bacterial Leaf Scorch? Shade trees are prized for their regal dimensions and comely leaf displays. Bacterial leaf scorch disease seriously threatens not only these trees’ beauty but also their health. The symptoms may be slow to notice at first, but once the disease takes fire, the tree is often close to death. There is no treatment or bacterial leaf scorch control for this disease, but there are some cultural steps that can be made to ensure a beautiful tree for the last few years of its life....

Root-Knot Nematode Symptoms in Beets Healthy beets are the goal of every grower, but sometimes your plantings hold secrets you don’t realize until it’s too late. Root-knot nematodes are one of those unpleasant surprises. Although they’re tenacious and tricky, these tiny roundworms can be defeated. Beets with root-knot nematodes can actually exhibit a variety of symptoms, from simply not looking right to stunting or long, languishing deaths. Yellowing foliage and withering despite adequate water are together telling signs, but there’s no 100 percent way to identify beets with root-knot nematode without exhuming a few volunteers....

Read on to learn some tips on how to get rid of Bermuda grass but not the plants you want to keep in your garden. Bermuda Grass Control Bermuda grass is native to the harsh climate of Africa. It is widely used in the southwest and southern United States. The plant’s vigor and tolerance of heat, drought and heavy foot traffic make it an ideal choice to colonize difficult to maintain, low nutrient areas....

What to Plant with Blueberries Blueberry shrubs grow happily in small groups and also work well in a hedge row. These berry plants get about three feet (1 m.) high and almost as wide. They tolerate cool weather, which means that gardeners in many regions around the country get bumper crops. Blueberry plant companions can help the shrubs to grow. If you want to make life as easy as possible for your berries, you may not want to leave them in solitary rows....

Brugmansia Angel Trumpet Brugmansia is a popular collector’s plant. There are seven species of Brugmansia but innumerable cultivars. The seven species are listed as extinct in the wild and today these plants are grown as ornamental specimens. Brugmansia are heavy feeders and require quite a bit of water. Good Brugmansia plant care will result in a small tree decorated with dangling trumpet-shaped flowers. Caring for Brugmansia outdoors requires warm temperatures and a sunny location with protection from the midday sun....

When placed in the right location, it may even thwart them from venturing into unwanted areas of your garden. Read on for tips on creating a cat-friendly garden. Cat-Friendly Garden Ideas My mother loves to garden but she also has a large assortment of cats too. Although these are largely indoor kitties, they have a designated area all their own outdoors in which they are free to roam about. Mom calls it the “cat palace....

Claret Cup Cactus Information Plants of the Southwest are particularly appealing to those of us who do not live in these wild desert zones. The sheer variety and wonder of the desert landscape is a treasure even indoor gardeners are keen to experience. Claret cup hedgehog cactus is one of those desert beauties that warm, arid climate gardeners can grow outside in their landscape. The rest of us can try growing claret cup cacti as summer patio plants or indoor specimens....

About Growing Citrus Trees in Zone 7 Temperatures in USDA zone 7 may dip down as low as 10 to 0 degrees F. (-12 to -18 C.). Citrus doesn’t tolerate such temperatures, even the hardiest citrus tree varieties. That said, there are a number of things you can do to protect citrus trees grown in zone 7. First off, never plant citrus in an area where it will be assaulted by cold northern winds....

About Calendula Winter Care Calendula is a versatile garden plant. It can be grown in containers or directly in the garden as an ornamental plant, a bright border, a pest deterring companion plant, or a medical herb and can even be grown as a soil amending cover crop. Calendula flowers are edible, and the flowers have been cultivated for hundreds of years to use in dying foods, such as cheeses. The flowers are also used to garnish soups, stews, and salads....

Symptoms of Cole Crop Fusarium Yellows Fusarium yellows in cole crops has been a recognized disease since the late 1800’s. The fungus is closely related to the fusarium that causes wilt diseases in tomatoes, cotton, peas, and more. Cabbage is the most commonly affected plant, but the disease will also attack: Broccoli Cauliflower Brussels sprouts Kale Kohlrabi Collards Radish If any of your young veggies look a bit peaked and yellow, you may have cole crops with fusarium yellows in your garden....

Colorado Spruce Info Colorado blue spruce is a Native American tree that originated on stream banks and crags of the western United States. This sturdy tree is grown in farmlands, pastures and large landscapes as a windbreak and doubles as a nesting site for birds. Dwarf species are attractive in home landscapes where they look great in shrub borders, as backdrops for borders and as specimen trees. Short, sharp needles that are square in shape and very stiff and sharp attach to the tree singly rather than in bunches, like pine needles....

Mixing Shrubs with Forsythia Bush Varieties Despite its bright spring color display, forsythia isn’t meant to be a specimen or stand-alone plant. The color lasts only three weeks at most, and once the flowers are gone, forsythia is a plain Jane of a plant. The foliage isn’t particularly attractive and for most forsythia bush varieties, there is no pretty fall color. You can overcome the shrub’s limited season by surrounding it with other shrubs to create a border with several seasons of interest....

Smaller than store-bought strawberries, which are a hybrid of the wild strawberry and a European species, the berries are a favorite treat to many birds and animals, as well as people. Yes, contrary to what some may think, wild strawberries are not poisonous. In fact, the berries are edible and tasty. There is, however, a similar plant, called Indian mock strawberry, which has yellow flowers (rather than white), that produces berries with little to no flavor....

Not all plants are fussy about pruning, though. Most annual and perennial plants are much more laid back when it comes to pruning habits. Forget to deadhead them? They’ll forgive you. Cut it back too short? No worries, it’ll fill back out in no time. One of my favorite forgiving plants to care for are tomato plants. Can I Cut Tomato Leaves? Yes, you can. Many years ago, before I really knew anything at all about plants or gardening, I bought a small starter Sweet 100 tomato plant....