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While considered a nuisance in some places, its positive attributes can outweigh the negative, and many who keep fish want to learn more about it and how to grow duckweed in ponds or aquariums. What is Duckweed? Found virtually all over the world in aquatic environments, duckweed is one of the smallest flowering plants, measuring 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch (.15 to .3 cm.) long. It has one to three light green leaves with a flat, oval shape....

About Hellebore Wedding Flowers Every bride-to-be wants her wedding day to be a beautiful, outstanding event that her guests talk about for months afterward. For this reason, many of the traditional wedding décor and fashions are being left behind and replaced with more unique, personalized wedding ideas. The traditional, formal bridal bouquet of red roses and wispy, white baby’s breath has been abandoned for natural looking wedding bouquets full of less common blooms and accents....

Herbicide Adjuvant Guide Adjuvants are common additives to many types of chemical plant formulas. You can find them in both herbicides and pesticides. Using herbicides with adjuvants can perform as wetting agents, solvents, stickers, stabilizers, spreaders, and penetrants. Adjuvants are the catalyst that makes the chemical formula better, faster, and more useful. An herbicide adjuvant guide should help sort out the various types and their functions. Many of us are familiar with surfactants, some of which are herbicide spray adjuvants....

Covering Potato Plants Traditionally, in March to May seed potatoes are planted 1 ½ to 2 feet (46-61 cm.) apart in a 6 to 8 inch (15-20 c.) deep trench. They are covered with soil or organic material, such as sphagnum peat moss, mulch, or straw and then watered deeply. In early spring, Mother Nature may do much of the watering. When the potato vines grow to about 6 to 8 inches (15-20 cm....

Propagating Houseplants with Runners by Layering When you propagate from runners and arching stems, it’s called layering. Ivy (Hedera spp.) and other climbers can be reproduced this way. Make sure you water the plant well the day before you choose to perform this method of propagating houseplants. Place a pot filled with cutting compost next to the parent plant. Fold a stem near a node (without cutting it off) to form a ‘V’ in the stem....

What are Rambutans? A rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) is a type of fruit which looks much akin to the lychee with a sweet/sour flavor. It is high in iron, vitamin C, copper, and antioxidants and, while it may be rarely found in your neck of the woods, it is highly prized in Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka into India as well as eastward through Vietnam, the Phillippines, and Indonesia. The name rambutan is derived from the Malay word rambut, which means “hairy” — an apt description for this fruit....

How Long Does it Take for Bulbs to Sprout? Answering the question, “how long does it take for flower bulbs to grow?” may take a little explaining. Spring bulbs grow and bloom when warm temperatures arrive. They only form flowers if they have had the proper chilling period to break dormancy. In most of the country, October is the best time to plant spring bulb flowers. This allows the bulb a chilling period of 12 to 15 weeks, which is necessary for spring bulbs to sprout....

What is a Lanai? The term lanai is Hawaiian in origin and was first used in the late 1860’s to describe a roofed structure or porch with open sides. The benefit of a lanai porch is to enable the user to access the outdoors year round. Some lanais are screened to keep insects at bay and some have paneled glass or plastic “walls” that can be removed when the weather is pleasant....

What are Latin Plant Names? Unlike its common name (of which there may be several), the Latin name for a plant is unique to each plant. Scientific Latin plant names help describe both the “genus” and “species” of plants in order to better categorize them. The binomial (two-name) system of nomenclature was developed by Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus in the mid-1700s. Grouping plants according to similarities such as leaves, flowers, and fruit, he founded a natural order and named them accordingly....

What is an Earthbox? Simply put, earthbox planters are self-watering containers that have a water reservoir built in that is capable of irrigating the plants for several days. Earthbox was developed by a farmer by the name of Blake Whisenant. The commercially available earthbox is made of recycled plastic, 2 ½ feet x 15 inches (0.5 m. x 38 cm.) long and one foot (0.5 m.) high, and will accommodate 2 tomatoes, 8 peppers, 4 cucumbers, or 8 strawberries – to put it all in perspective....

Discerning the level of light meant by light shade is important. If you have light shade plants exposed to too much light, they will decline. The same is true if they are put into extremely bright conditions. Light shade may also be called partial shade or partial sun but is slightly different. What is Light Shade? Plants produce much of their food from sunlight through photosynthesis. This is when the plant turns sunlight into carbohydrates to fuel growth and cell production....

Information on Lithops There are numerous colorful names for plants in the Lithops genus. Pebble plants, mimicry plants, flowering stones, and of course, living stones are all descriptive monikers for a plant that has a unique form and growth habit. Lithops are small plants, rarely getting more than an inch (2.5 cm.) above the soil surface and usually with only two leaves. The thick, padded leaves resemble the cleft in an animal’s foot or just a pair of green- to grayish-brown stones clustered together....

About Love in a Puff Balloon Vine Love in a puff vine is so named because of the seeds inside the papery fruits. If you squeeze the fruits, which have 3 interior chambers, three seeds erupt through the membranes. The seeds have a distinct shape of a white heart etched onto a dark, round form. The heart leads to the common name. The botanical name, Cardiospermum halicacabum, indicates the form as well....

Mapleleaf Viburnum Information Few plants offer both the statuesque beauty and constant seasonal interest as the Mapleleaf viburnum. These plants are easy to establish through seed or their abundant rhizomous suckers. In fact, over time mature plants form thickets of colonized young volunteers. Added to this is their drought tolerance, ease of care and abundant wildlife food, which makes growing Mapleleaf viburnums winning plants for the garden, with durable hardiness in most USDA zones....

Help for Blueberries Not Fruiting Blueberries, and their relatives, the cranberries, are the only native crops of North America that are commercially produced. There are two types of blueberry — the wild lowbush (Vaccinium augustifolium) and the cultivated highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). The first hybrid blueberries were developed for cultivation in the early 1900’s. There may be a number of reasons for no flowers on blueberries. While blueberries can grow in a number of soil conditions, they will only truly thrive in acidic soil with a pH below 5....

Pepper Companion Planting Companion plants for peppers or other veggies work together symbiotically, each giving and/or receiving something from the other. Companion planting simply means grouping different, but complimentary, plants together. This may accomplish several things. Companion planting may provide shade or act as a wind barrier, it may succeed in retarding weeds or deterring harmful pests and disease, or it may act as a natural trellis or aid in moisture retention....

Pepper Seed Viability When saving seeds, the rule of thumb is don’t save seeds from hybrids. Hybrids are made up of deliberately crossing two different strains to create a super plant with the most desirable traits of the two parent plants. If you try to save the seed and reuse, you will likely end up with a product that has latent traits of the original parent plant but dissimilar to the hybrid from which you harvested the seeds....

Why Do We Need Proper Pesticide Storage and Disposal? Pesticides contain a toxic brew of chemicals that are intended to kill living creatures. As such, they have the capacity to do harm to unintended victims and may be dangerous to children, pets, wild animals, fish, and invertebrates. Some chemicals can also do harm to a septic system and are carried far in storm drains and underground streams, spreading their dangers as they go....

Types of Beans Warm season bean plants are cultivated for their highly nutritious immature pods (snap beans), immature seeds (shell beans) or mature seeds (dry beans). Beans may fall into two categories: determinant-type growth, those that grow as a low bush, or indeterminant, those with a vining habit requiring support, also known as pole beans. Green snap beans may be the most familiar to people. These green beans with an edible pod used to be called ‘string’ beans, but today’s varieties have been bred to lack the tough, stringy fiber along the pod’s seam....

How to Grow Dwarf Gardenia Miniature gardenia plants have the same care and site requirements of the larger varieties. Gardenias are native to tropical and sub-tropical regions, and as such have little frost tolerance and perform best in hot weather. Following expert tips on growing dwarf gardenias can help avoid common mistakes that can compromise plant health or blooming. Good gardenia care starts with proper installation and site. These shrubs prefer acidic soil with a pH between 5....