visiting may 11? ‘extras’ to fill out your day (and garden!)

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Today we celebrate Earth Day for the 46th time since U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson suggested the idea for a national day focusing on the environment. After its first celebration on April 22 1970 in the US, Earth Day has grown into a worldwide environmental movement raising awareness of serious issues such as pollution, global warming, deforestation and the detrimental effect of urbanised societies on the environment.

The almighty rose can easily be dubbed as the queen of flowers. It’s one of the most popular plants to give but it’s also an easy way out of the flower shopping hassle around St. Valentine’s Day. However, there is different types of flowers for Valentine’s day or any other cheerful celebration.

Introducing plants into your home or office can create a more positive energy flow. Certain plants have the ability to purify the air, while others provide a sense of well-being, peace, and even stress relief. Eliminating negative energy is an important step in regaining health and happiness. These plants will promote positive energy that will benefit you and those around you!

Spring is finally here and so is warmer weather, as well as the urge to open every window to let fresh air inside your home once again. For one in five people in the UK, however, the latter presents a dilemma.

The solitary mason bee is a North American native pollinator that deserves more attention and respect. Honeybees do a lot of pollinating, but they are not native, their populations are in decline, and they are not as efficient at pollinating as some other species, including mason bees. Learn more about this humble bee and how to support it in your garden.

The main trace elements and micronutrients are molybdenum, manganese, zinc, iron, boron and copper plus calcium for tomatoes. These elements are best provided as water-soluble chelate salts rather than granules.

‘The Garden of Reading: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Short Fiction About Gardens and Gardeners’ edited by Michele Slung.

For something a bit different this book on botanic art covers some of the unusual colours from black flowers, plants and seaweed like strange green, blue and puce pink.

One thing is sure the climate in your garden will change. You already know one week will be different to the next and I can’t remember when two months or any years were the identical to others. In many areas you can get 3 or 4 seasons in one day (or in Scotland one hour!).

There are many interesting terms that may have uses in our UK gardening. We  have probably all experimented with Bonsai aiming for the perfection of small trees in small pots as a demonstration of bonsiers art. I have used the root restriction technique to get miniature or smaller shrubs for a smaller garden but stopping short of root pruning.

Here is a fun and creative way to brighten up your outdoor space for spring!