General Care for Phalaenopsis Orchids

Caladiums are not as difficult to care for as many people think, and they make a beautiful addition to any home or garden.

How to Grow and Care for Euphorbia Euphorbia spp.

The staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) is an exotic plant in the Polypodiaceae family. Native to the rainforests of Australia and Southeast Asia, it’s an epiphyte plant, so grows directly on other plants (typically the forks of trees) and has no need for soil. Its roots absorb water directly from the tree it’s growing on.

Most columbine plants are cool season, spring blooming plants with unique flowers. Rising high above the lobed green to gray green foliage are spikes of flowers, usually facing down with elongated narrow spurs reaching behind. However, there are some varieties that face outward or upwards, do not have spurs, or have double flowers. Available in many colors, columbine plants are ideal for shady wooded areas, but some do well as rock garden plants. The erect, dried brown seed heads are comprised of five capsules that burst open to reveal many dark black small seeds. This plant self-seeds and crosses with other columbine plants. Although a short-lived perennial, the self-sowing make it appear that the plants last for years in the garden. Columbine flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and hawk moths. The plant is deer resistant and toxic for humans, dogs, and cats if ingested.

Native to the Mediterranean and Asia, dill has delicate, feathery foliage and lovely golden-yellow flowers in mid-summer. It’s one of the easiest herbs to grow and readily self-sows by dropping seeds in the garden which will pop up again next year. It’s pretty enough to plant among your flowers, and pollinators love it.

Native to South Africa, Streptocarpus – or Cape primrose – are lovely house plants that are grown for their fresh green leaves and pretty, primrose-like flowers in the UK. The flowers come in a wide range of colours, from white to pink, blues and purples, lemon yellow and red, and they are often bi-coloured. They bloom from spring though to autumn, offering a long-lasting display. Plants in the ‘Crystal’ series flower for even longer, and may even flower all year.

If you're a farmer or just want to raise goats, sooner or later you may have baby goats to care for, particularly if you're raising them for milking. Providing a baby goat, or a «kid,» with the right care will help it grow into a healthy, hearty adult goat.

‘Autumn Joy’ or ‘Herbstfreude’ sedum is a reliable and attractive perennial known for its ability to emerge in spring as if winter never happened, unscathed and still beloved by all. Its fleshy, green foliage fills in quickly and behaves well, rare

Some orchids are temperamental but this Phalaelenopsis has give unstinting blooms for eight months on the trot without any trouble. Growing on one stem which branched into three side shoots there were upto 20 flowers on the Orchid at anyone time. The variety must be resilient as we gave it no special treatment but these Phalaelenopsis or Moth Orchids are one of the easier Orchids to grow.

Marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) is a hardy herbaceous perennial, the root of which was once used to flavour the sweets of the same name. Grown and used for thousands of years for a wide variety of medicinal and practical uses, marsh mallow is found from western Europe to central Asia in damp habitats such as marshes and riverbanks, coastal regions and salt marshes – hence its name. A substantial plant, marsh mallow can grow up to 1.8 m in height and spread, forming a clump of mid-green leaves, shallowly lobed at the edges, which are softly hairy on both sides. Stems clothed with pale pink or white flowers are borne from midsummer to autumn and are very attractive to butterflies.

Eucalyptus is a versatile plant in the home and garden. Houseplant enthusiasts adore the fragrance it brings to the home. In the landscape, eucalyptus makes a striking accent with gorgeous foliage and colorful bark. Eucalyptus plants are easy to care for and can be grown in containers, maintained as a shrub, or allowed to mature into a tree. They are often trained as a standard.

Bromeliads are members of the Bromeliaceae plant family. They typically have striking, sword-shaped leaves and a bright, unusual-looking bloom, which is actually a bract surrounding an insignificant flower. They hail from tropical rainforests, where they grow naturally on the bark of trees, rather than in the ground. Their roots are used to grip on to their host, and they get moisture from a central ‘tank’ or ‘vase’ in the middle of the rosette of leaves that fills with water whenever it rains. In the wild, frogs sometimes raise their young in these tanks.