One of the most loved holidays, Easter brings together friends and families to celebrate the idea of rebirth, good defeating evil and light breaking through the darkness, as well as end the Lent season with delicious meals.
24.07.2023 - 12:11 / hgic.clemson.edu
Gardeners toss around the term deadheading when discussing flowering, but what does it mean? Deadheading is pruning to remove older, faded flowers from a plant. But why is this technique beneficial to the plant and useful to gardeners?
Annuals and perennials begin growing above-ground stems and foliage starting in the late winter and continue through spring. At maturity, the plants form flower buds that bloom, are pollinated, and produce seed. Under favorable conditions, the seeds germinate and grow into new plants. Most perennial plants have a defined bloom cycle, though some are repeat bloomers. Most annual plants bloom until seeds are produced. During seed production, flowering slows as the plant puts its energy into developing seeds.
So, how can gardeners help their plants “put on” more new blooms throughout the growing season; by deadheading, of course. Removing faded and spent flowers encourages plants to produce additional flowers rather than shutting down their blooming cycle for the season. Some annual flowers are self-cleaning and repeat bloom easily. However, many established perennials can be encouraged to bloom a second time by removing spent flowers and applying a light application of a slow-release fertilizer. Deadheading, in this instance, benefits gardeners by extending the flower bloom. For more information on growing annuals and perennials as cut flowers, see the HGIC Hot Topic, Grow a Cutting Garden.
Flowering plants, both annual and perennial, produce seeds to ensure the next generation of plants. True annual plants start from seed germination and end with seed production in one growing season. Perennial plants produce seed during the growing season but “die back” to the ground at the season’s end. The
One of the most loved holidays, Easter brings together friends and families to celebrate the idea of rebirth, good defeating evil and light breaking through the darkness, as well as end the Lent season with delicious meals.
Yes, we’re talking about mint! The breath-saving, tummy-taming, taste-boosting mint. At Fantastic Gardeners, we love this refreshing plant, and why wouldn’t we? It is fragrant, easy to grow, and has many beneficial uses in culinary arts, medicine, and cosmetics.
Ants. Love them or hate them, it is undeniable that they are amazing creatures. With large, complex societies, fungus-farming techniques and an empire which almost spans the entire globe, it is a blessing that they are so small and have not yet developed an overwhelming collective intelligence.
If you have always wanted to know about the world of different Types of Dragonfly in the Garden, then this post is a must-read!
Now part of this garden is down to crazy paving the Qualcast grass box is needed less and can be put to a different use. It looks like a ‘unibarrow’ has got in on the act to make a feature planter for these pansies.
Ants can be an unsightly nuisance and inspire concern. However they do not directly damage plants but are more a sign that you have another pest problem.
Fountain in Oxford Botanic gardens.
White is the second most useful colour in the garden after green. I am progressively increasing the number and variety of white and grey plants that I grow.
Grasses give a rich combination of autumnal colours
Some animals can be a real pest in the garden. Their crimes include eating the wrong thing, digging in the wrong area, turning grass brown with urine and leaving a dirty mess. Some chose your favourite plants to damage as I know from some aggressive over fed pigeons in my own garden. In my experience the worst offenders are rabbits, cats, mice, deer, pigeons and dogs including foxes. Rats cause concern but have not caused direct damage in my garden.
Where has all the rain gone? In winter there were floods aplenty so I was predicting water rationing by summer. Now it is mid May and the ground is parched and rock hard.
I was picking the Czar plums to make more jam when a wasp was disturbed from eating it’s lunch. Wasps go for my plums just as they are at their sweetest best. My problem was I couldn’t see which plums had a wasp in the fruit if they were above head height or facing away from my hand. The resulting sting set me on the trail of other stingers in the garden.