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What are Tree Peonies? Herbaceous peonies are perennial peonies that die back to the ground each year. The roots remain dormant under the soil, then the plant stems push up in the spring. Tree peonies are woody, deciduous shrub peonies. They lose their foliage in the fall but their woody stems do not die back to the ground like herbaceous peonies. Itoh peonies are a hybrid cross between herbaceous peonies and tree peonies, they do die back to the ground in fall like herbaceous peonies but their flower and growth characteristics are similar to tree peonies....

When to Prune Olive Trees Don’t start trimming olive trees during their first year or their second year. You shouldn’t touch that pruner to your tree branches until the olive tree is at least four years old. During these early years, you should encourage foliage to form and leave it alone. A tree’s leaves produce its food, so having many leaves when the tree is young provides good energy for growth....

What is Acacia Gum? Acacia gum is also called gum arabic. It is made from the sap of the Acacia senegal tree, or gum acacia. It is used medicinally as well as in the production of many items. In fact, the many acacia gum uses span numerous professional industries. It may even be an important part of everyday health. Further acacia arabic information can help you decide if you should include it in your diet....

How Corn Pollination Happens Corn (Zea mays) is actually a member of a family of annual grasses and while it doesn’t produce showy petals, it does have both male and female flowers on each plant. The male flowers are called the tassel. That’s the part that looks like grass gone to seed that blooms at the top of the stalk. As the tassel ripens, pollen is shed from the center spike downward to the lower fronds....

What Houseplants Need to Live The most important elements required for healthy houseplants include light, water, temperature, and humidity. If any or all of these factors are not properly implemented, your houseplants will inevitably suffer. Light The amount and intensity of light in keeping houseplants healthy is crucial for their normal life cycle. Insufficient light results in pale, leggy, and weak plants. If this happens, try moving the houseplants to another location such as a sunny window or beneath grow lights, but do so gradually to reduce the amount of stress, or shock, inflicted on the plants....

Tips for Designing an Herb Garden The first thing you need to do is find a sunny, well-drained location in your yard. Although there are some herbs that do well in the shade, most herbs prefer plenty of sunlight to keep them happy. Your next step is to decide what type of herb garden would best suit your needs. If having herbs for your recipes is your main desire, you will be planting an edible, or culinary herb garden....

Why Grow Herbs in Containers? There are many reasons for growing herbs in containers. You may be short on space, have poor soil conditions, want to prolong the growing season, keep the herbs close at hand for use in the kitchen, keep invasive herbs at bay, or maybe you are an apartment dweller with a taste for fresh herbs but no yard to grow them. Whatever your reasons, most herbs are well-suited for growing in containers and can exist anywhere provided they are given the proper amount of sunlight, water, and good soil....

Horse Chestnut vs. Buckeye Buckeye trees, so named for the shiny seed that resembles the eye of a deer, is native to North America. Horse chestnut (which isn’t related to the common chestnut tree), hales from the Balkan region of Eastern Europe. Today, horse chestnut trees are widely grown across the northern hemisphere. Here’s how these Aesculus trees are different. Growth Habit Horse chestnut is a large, stately tree that reaches heights of 100 feet (30 m....

This is where the Universal Edible Plant Test comes into play. If you aren’t sure what your wild food is, you should test a plant’s edibility by following this guide. How Does The Universal Edibility Test Work What is the Universal Edibility Test and how does it work? It is a very simple, but specific, plan to ID wild plants and ascertain their safeness for eating. Basically, it is how to tell if a plant is edible....

Plants for Strawberry Jars Strawberry pots can be a fun way to garden. Consider planting themed gardens such as an herb garden, a foliage garden, or a succulent garden. There are literally tons of plants that can be used for gardening with strawberry jars– herbs, bulbs, flowers, vegetables, tropical foliage plants, succulents, and vines. Create a portable herb garden in a jar, filling each pocket of the strawberry planter with an herb of your choice....

About Caterpillars in the Garden Caterpillars can pose a conundrum for gardeners. Exploring how to get rid of caterpillars is an interesting study. We want to prevent caterpillars from ruining our vegetables and munching on our perfect leaves and it’s not always easy to see them, so controlling caterpillars can be a challenge. Caterpillars are simply larvae that are waiting to transform into moths and butterflies. They are often very hungry guests in the garden, however unwelcome....

Cane Cuttings Cane cuttings involve taking bare stems and cutting them into 8 to 13 cm long pieces and either sticking them vertically into pots of compost or pressing them horizontally into the surface of the compost to root. This is how you would propagate plants like the yucca or dieffenbachia. Sometimes you can simply purchase already prepared cuttings of yucca at the store. If you purchase these, just stick them vertically into cuttings compost and keep it at gentle temperatures until roots and shoots start to form....

Overwintering Garden Ponds The first order of business when preparing backyard ponds for winter is sanitation. This means removing any fallen leaves, twigs or other detritus from the pond. This prevents any injury to fish, if you have them, and will give you a head start on spring clean out. Too many decomposing leaves can lead to an altered pH and briny water. Most ponds don’t require a water change, but if the pond has an inch (2....

Reasons for Hyacinth Plant Flopping There are several reasons that can be attributed to hyacinth plant flopping. Let’s go over the most common causes for hyacinths falling over in the garden: Top Heaviness and Variety– One of the most common complaints when growing hyacinth flowers is floppy stems. Top heavy hyacinth flowers cause the stem to flop over while in full bloom. Some of the taller varieties of hyacinth flowers are naturally prone to flopping....

Citrus Plants for the Home Growing citrus houseplants is not only possible, but will add a refreshing aroma when in flower as well as being a decorative addition, with the added benefit of a potential fruit harvest. While many varieties of commercially grown citrus are too large to be grown inside, there are several suitable cultivars of citrus plants for the home gardener, such as dwarf varieties. The following all make wonderful indoor citrus trees:...

Inexpensive Backyard Design If you don’t already have a deck or patio, you can lay your own paving stones or even pour a patio for very little money. For that matter, you can create a space under a tree or other cozy area of the garden. Once you have an outdoor space, think about adding some shade with umbrellas, a sun sail, or build a pergola. If you do the work yourself on a patio or deck, you may have materials left over....

There are about 28 types of hawkweed found in North America, but only half are native varieties. What is hawkweed? This relative of chicory is a fast spreading plant with introduced species that are rapidly claiming native habitat. The plant is considered a pest, and hawkweed control is paramount in some Northwest and Canadian areas. What is Hawkweed? There are around 13 types of hawkweed that are native to North America....

Is Yucca Edible? While yucca and yuca are not botanically related and are native to different climates, they do have the similarity of being used as a food source. The two get confused due to that missing “C,” but yuca is the plant you may have tried in trendy Latin bistros. Yuca is the plant from which tapioca flour and pearls are derived. Yucca, on the other hand, is most notable for its more common use as an ornamental plant specimen....

The Milkweed Flower The milkweed flower (Asclepias syriaca) and its cousin butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) are an integral part of the butterfly garden, a source of nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds. Growing milkweed supplies the larvae of the Monarch with food and shelter, providing caterpillars food and a resting place before they leave the caterpillar stage and become butterflies. As the plants can be toxic, consumption of the plant protects caterpillars from predators....

Paperwhite, or Narcissus, is one of the most foolproof flower bulbs to force. Planting forced paperwhites is so simple, the novice (or even your kids) can easily accomplish paperwhite bulb forcing. Many varieties of paperwhites are available, ranging from all white flowers to those composed of both light yellow and white. Forcing Instructions for Paperwhites Forcing instructions for paperwhites are relatively simple and are as follows: How to Force Paperwhite Bulbs Indoors in Potting Soil First, acquire excellent quality bulbs via mail order, local garden center, or even a florist for planting forced paperwhites in the fall, anytime after October 1st....