Planting Hanging Baskets for Our Queens Platinum Jubilee

A simple single colour Petunia gives a good effect.

My perennial Phlox have been a good stalwart flower for cutting and filling a vase this last few weeks. I found the pink colours had more scent but all the Phlox seemed to drink copious amounts of water (I wondered if water and scent were related). The Penstemon in the same vase as the Phlox was not as successful as they had a far shorter life. Another successful long lasting cut flower is the Alstromeria. The Reds performed better than the yellows but both lasted over a week.

Whether you're revamping a certain space within your home or are moving into a brand new house, you may be wondering how to best select a color palette for a given room.

A stroll through a boutique garden store might lead you to believe that filling a garden with happy, healthy plants is only for the well-heeled. But those very plants that have soaring price tags in the store might be yours for free if you are willing to be a little creative. If you are wondering how to get free plants, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for five tried-and-true paths that lead you to free garden plants.

Instead of flowers and ferns, you can start growing fruits in hanging baskets. It is possible, and there is not just one or two but 6 great-tasting fruit plants perfect for your porch, patio, balcony, or rooftop.

Hanging baskets bring gardens up to eye level, making a garden feel fuller and more complete. On the porch they create an immediate sense of welcome, while plants hanging outside windows create a connection between the indoor and outdoor worlds. Use them to dress up walls or decorate tree branches. The best plants for hanging baskets take advantage of their heightened locations, with trailing stems that cascade over a container’s edges. They also stand up to the challenging conditions of container life. Container plants need consistent moisture. Locate hanging baskets close to a water source and consider attaching a watering wand to the hose to extend your reach. Drip irrigation also works well for containers. Hanging baskets will likely need watering every day in the heat of summer. Try combining several varieties with similar needs, and experiment to find the best mix for your porch or patio.

If you don’t have much space and want to include plants on a patio or in your small yard, then check out the Best Trailing Perennials for Hanging Baskets and Plant Arrangements for a fabulous display of colors!

It’s the end of June, and my vegetable garden looks rough. The heat and the insects have wreaked havoc on my once beautiful Garden of Eden. This is the perfect time to rejuvenate some of the crops using a technique call ratooning.

After my first baby was born, I came to realize that with parenting comes advice. A lot of it. Advice on how to get the baby to sleep. Advice on how to give the baby a bath. And CONSTANTLY – advice on how to feed the baby. It comes from every direction, most often from your mother-in-law and frequently from complete strangers without children. Sometimes this well-intended advice is good and is followed by “because the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it”. But sometimes it is not so good and is supported with rationale like “because I fed it to you, and you turned out just fine”.

Nothing says Christmas more than a poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Did you know that December 12th is known as National Poinsettia Day? Plant breeders have developed a wide range of colors in hues of white, purple, orange, and pink, but red poinsettias continue to be the most traditional color of the holiday season.

In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our ongoing series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to get BirdNote daily.fall bird tasks: my q&a with ellen blackstoneQ. Obviously nobody’s using my nestboxes to raise a family right now—should I take them down? A. Yes, it’s time to take down your nestbox, at least temporarily, and clean it out. It’s a good idea to wear gloves and a dust mask while you do this. Use hot soapy water and a scrub brush, and rinse it with a pot

Elizabeth Lawson is a naturalist and writer from Ithaca, NY, with a doctorate in botany. She’s also the new president of the American Primrose Society.The name Primula translates as “little first one,” and they are a welcome sight of spring. She introduced me to the best primulas for our gardens today, and some primrose legend and lore. Plus: Enter to win the