ipomoea lobata, fan dancer of an annual vine

Looking to add some life to your home without having to put in too much effort? Why not try a succulent garden? These water-storing plants are perfect for those who want to enjoy the beauty of nature without having to put in too much work. Plus, they come in a wide variety of textures and colours, so you can easily find the perfect look.

Get ready to elevate your home decor game and discover the endless possibilities of an indoor vine garden with our Hanging Indoor Vine Garden Ideas.

I originally wrote this last year but now in April I have checked my Chrysanthemum plants in the cold greenhouse and find I am infested! So it must be worth a rerun. Evil weevil grubs eat roots and tubers of your favourite plants. My tuberous begonias were attacked and destroyed by these pesky pests. It is the white grubs that cause the damage as they eat roots and tubers throughout vine weevil puberty to become small black beetles. The beetles will nibble the edges of leaves but it is the laying of eggs that ultimately cause the problem. The eggs become grubs and your Cyclamen, Primula and Camellias become grub for weevils. Pot grown plants are most susceptible to attack but this pest also affects other plants such as Fuchsias, Gloxinia and Strawberries.

Phlox can be an easy grown half hardy annual suitable for any garden situation particularly a cottage garden. It’s compact bushy habit makes it ideal for planting as drifts of colour, as border edging or in containers. This Phlox differs from the perennial varieties that grow taller and have more scent. Never the less annual Phlox is worth the little effort that is required

Aldi

That bright green, grassy weed in your lawn this month could be annual bluegrass. It is a cool-season, annual weed that grows in moist and compacted soils and even in shady locations. It is a prolific seed producer even when mowed at low heights, with each plant producing over 350 seeds. The first step to getting this weed under control in home lawns is to irrigate the lawn properly. Always apply deep but infrequent irrigation to lawns during periods of inadequate rainfall. This will encourage the turfgrass to have a deeper, more robust root system and help it compete with the annual bluegrass for moisture. Wait until the lawn begins to show symptoms of drought stress before irrigating, especially in the early fall. Annual bluegrass seeds germinate in autumn when soil temperatures drop below 70 °F. Limiting soil moisture near the soil surface reduces the germination rate of annual bluegrass seeds in the lawn.

The pioneering American landscape architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said: “A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his client to plant vines.” Aside from hiding things, vines are great for vertical accents. Unfortunately, perennial vines tend to have a shorter flowering period, and once planted, you are stuck with them forever unless you dig them up and plant something else. I do not mean this in a negative way; I love many of the perennial vines and have several in my landscape, but you may want to add some annual vines to your garden palette that can bloom over several months during the growing season.

Vining and climbing plants add an extraordinary charm to the space, and they don’t take much space and grow vertically. If you agree, these 40 Outdoor and Indoor Vine Displaying Ideas below are ready to inspire you.

I’m not usually much of an impatiens lover, but ‘Fusion Glow’ and the Fusion series from the giant breeders Ball Horticultural will have a place here again next year for its mounding habit and free-flowering, and of course its lovely color (one of several in the series). Also on my list to be sure to track down for next year: that elusive ‘Terra Cotta’ viola (above) I couldn’t find locally this year and should have ordered in advance. Come to think of it, Viola ‘Blue Bronze’ is on the list, too; I just didn’t love the substitutes I grew this year, as I have complained before. Oh, and that variegated Abutilon I found without a label on it (which I have since ID’d). It’s named

I got my first glimpse of what have become my seasonal favorites almost 25 years ago, in the Connecticut garden of Marilyn Barlow, when she was starting Select Seeds (which I’m proud is an occasional advertiser on A Way to Garden). Then, the “nursery” was Marilyn’s yard, and the “office” was her kitchen table. And then, I hardly knew any of the vintage plants, climbing or otherwise, that Marilyn was collecting.Though Select Seeds’ focus is on oldtime plants or ones with an oldtime look, the nursery has taken an increasingly forward-looking approach to environmental practices.On the path toward organic growing, says Marilyn, use of neonicotinoids and other systemic chemicals has been completely eliminated. “Right now we’re growing naturally, with the plants and with the seeds that we do grow here,” she explains. “We use predator insects as the main

THE 2010 SCHEDULE:Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer and probably longer, a group of blogging friends including Todd and Diane at White on Rice Couple; Shauna Ahern the Gluten-Free Girl, and Food2 will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. You’ll love meeting this year’s participants (a full list with links will accompany my post Wednesday and every week). The schedule:7/28: cukesnzukes 8/4: corn 8/11: herbs, greens, and beans 8/18: stone fruit 8/25 tomatoes more to come if we all want it — stay tuned! We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies.HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:Giving back

The plant in question, an East Asian native, is Codonopsis lanceolata (and don’t ask me how I even remember such trivia, when more days than not I can’t remember what tool I was going to get by the time I stand up to walk toward the barn). C. lanceolata, the bonnet bellflower is (no surprise) a Campanula relative.Though virtually nobody in these parts grows it, you can: Asiatica Nursery sold it, and Digging Dog has its blue-flowered cousin, C. clematidea