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Honeybee numbers once dwindled due to colony collapse disorder, but all bees are threatened by pesticide use, loss of habitat, and disease. Local gardeners can help by incorporating pollen and nectar-producing trees, shrubs, annuals, and perennials into their gardens. Attracting Native Pollinators It’s important to recognize the difference between social and solitary bees when planning a pollinator garden. Social bees such as European honeybees, paper wasps, bald-faced hornets, bumblebees, and yellow jackets carry their pollen to hives or nests where it is stored as food....

The Rules on Deer Fences Deer are elegant and graceful creatures, but these attributes fall short when they have been in the garden eating your prize plants. Look on the internet and deer fencing designs abound, but many of the ideas are expensive, ugly, or take special skills to erect. Attractive deer proof fencing takes a lot of materials and contractor know how. Single strand electric fences or simple deer mesh are fairly easy control options....

Identifying Wildlife with Kids Wildlife in the garden will vary depending upon the habitat created. Throughout the planning stages, ask children for feedback regarding the types of animals they would like to attract (within reason, of course). This helps encourage engagement in the process. Creating an attractive garden will include a variety of native perennial plantings, evergreens, shrubs, and wildflowers. Do keep in mind, however, that when you teach children about wildlife, it should not be limited to the plants found in the garden but also other elements like rocks, statues, bird houses, and water features....

One of the best ways of attracting bats to your yard is by building a bat house. Learning how to attract bats to a bat house takes a little effort, but it’s definitely worth it. Just think about how pleasant it will be to sit outside on a balmy, bug-free summer night watching the swoops, dips, and squeaks of your very own nighttime entertainment. That’s what building a bat house can offer....

Cucumbers are the go-to pickled garden vegetable, but many other fruits and veggies can be pickled as well. What are the best pickled garden vegetables? While the choice is subjective, the following contains suggestions on some of the best vegetables and fruits to pickle. Historical Notes on Pickling Pickling food dates back 4,000 years ago when the ancient Mesopotamians figured out that soaking cucumbers in brine would preserve them. Christopher Columbus brought pickles on his voyage to America and, by the 19th century, H....

Do Plants Help with Sleep Issues? For centuries, people have been using herbs to help get them to sleep. These herbs might be in the form of teas or aromatherapy, and yes, many of these plants help you sleep. Chamomile and lemon balm, for instance, are well known for their calming properties and find their way into soothing teas to this day. Lavender has also long been used as a calming herb, but what about other plants that help you sleep?...

What is a Bible Garden? The birth of human beings is comingled with our connection to nature and our desire to bend nature to our will and use her bounties to benefit ourselves. This desire, combined with a passion for history and/or theological connection, may intrigue the gardener, leading him or her to wonder what is a bible garden and how do you go about creating a biblical garden? All gardeners know about the spiritual communion a garden provides....

Why Do Flowers Fall Off? In some cases, blossom drop in plants is normal. For instance, male flowers naturally drop from vegetable plants after a few days. Many vegetables, like squash, begin producing male flowers as much as two weeks before the first female flower bloom. That being said, healthy blossoms can suddenly drop from plants due to inadequate pollination, environmental factors, low soil fertility, and thrips. Pollination When healthy blooms fall off vegetables and other flowering plants a few days after they open, the flowers probably weren’t pollinated....

How to Grow a Potato in Water Although potatoes grow underground, they are actually modified stems designed to store starch. This starch can be used as an energy source for reproduction. While potato plants can form seeds, they are usually propagated by vegetative means. In other words, new potato plants grow from the buds or eyes which form on the potato tuber. Follow these easy steps to grow potatoes in water: Step one: Choose a potato which has sprouted a few eyes....

Kalanchoe delagoensis, also known as Kalanchoe chandelier or mother of millions (and is often confused with mother of thousands, Kalanchoe daigremontiana), is an upright succulent with creeping tendrils bunching together on a single stem. This offers an unusual effect in the container or even in a portion of the sunny garden. Kalanchoe chandelier is hardy in drought-stricken, desert areas where thriving plant life may be limited. This Kalanchoe species can exist on limited seasonal rainfall, storing water for existence due to succulent capabilities....

Cherry tree crown galls are generally soft, not hard, and cause deformity or rot in the trees. Crown galls also appear on some 600 other species of trees. Read on to learn more about crown fall on cherry trees and what to do about it. What is Cherry Tree Gall? Galls are rounded, rough lumps of modified woody tissue. They appear on a tree trunk or tree roots in response to irritation by bacteria, fungi or insects....

Facts About Spiders in the Garden Most spiders live up to two years. Spiders are found all over the world apart from the oceans and Antarctica. Spiders in the garden construct flat webs between plants, even across garden paths, or along window and doorframes. Most of the time, spiders will stay outside in the garden, but sometimes they will make their way into the house as temperatures drop. Some types of spiders like woody or shrub areas and others like to be in sunny spots around tall grass or homes....

If you live in the southwestern section of the country, you’ll find a large selection of conifers to choose from. There are even conifer plants for desert areas. Read on for more information about these southwestern conifers. Choosing Conifers for the Southwest Conifers can be beautiful specimen trees for landscape planting, but they also serve well in groups as privacy screens or windbreaks. It’s important to take care when selecting conifers for the backyard to ensure the mature size of the tree fits in the site you have in mind....

Want green all year round? Choose conifers for West North Central regions. Not only will you have color in winter, but the plants provide a windscreen, protect understory plants, provide animal habitat and often food, and are generally perfectly happy in a variety of soils. Smaller West North Central Conifers The smaller conifers are great for privacy hedges or windbreaks. They can also be used as shrubs. Their smaller size makes these northern plains conifers easy to maintain....

Universities are popular sites for research and teaching, but they also provide another function – reaching out to help others. How is this accomplished? Their experienced and knowledgeable staff extend their resources to farmers, growers, and home gardeners by offering Cooperative Extension Services. So what is an Extension Service and how does it help with home garden information? Keep reading to learn more. What is an Extension Service? With its beginnings in the late 1800s, the Extension system was created to address rural agricultural issues, but it has since changed to adapt to a wider range of needs in both urban and rural areas....

Flower Drying Methods Always collect flowers that are in peak condition – almost completely open and free from insect damage or breakage. Use pruning shears or scissors to cut the stems when plants are dry to avoid mold. Remove leaves from the stem, as they don’t dry well. If planning to wire the stems, do so before drying. The most popular flower-drying methods are air drying, chemical drying, and pressing. It is also possible to preserve stems and leaves with a glycerin soak....

When to Take Elderberry Cuttings Elderberry propagation via cuttings should be softwood cuttings. These are the best for propagating elderberries due to the new growth that is just at the cusp of maturity. Take your softwood cuttings in early spring when the plant is just breaking dormancy. Cuttings form new roots from leaf nodes on the stem and, voila, you have a new elderberry plant that is a clone of the parent....

About Euphorbia Plants Euphorbias occur naturally in many parts of the world, but most notably Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The variation of form and size provide a spectacle of plant life. Some are as large as trees and others range as small groundcovers. There are over 2,000 species, many of which you will find familiar from interior commercial plantings. Crown of thorns is recognizable by its spiky stems, and donkey spurge is aptly named with thick rope-like stems sprawling away from the plant....

If you, like me, are one of the 40 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies, then it’s helpful to know what the triggers for your allergies are so you have something to blame for the miserable sneezing and coughing fits that follow, and hopefully avoid. So, what are some plants that cause fall allergies? Read on to learn more about allergies in autumn. Ah-Ah-Ahchoo! About Pollen in the Fall Pollen, the common trigger of our seasonal allergies, originates from different sources depending on the time of year....

Importance of Fruit Tree Distance Fruit tree spacing for your backyard orchard is different than that for a commercial grower. Spacing for fruit trees is determined by the type of tree, soil quality, expected tree height and canopy for the mature tree, and any dwarfing characteristics of the rootstock. Giving your fruit trees some distance may mean the difference between crowding them out, thus shading each other, which results in a low fruit set....