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An Introduction to Hampton Court Garden Festival

Each year, tens of thousands of people flock to Hampton Court Palace for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show. This famous event inspires, educates and entertains professional and amateur gardeners with the most cutting-edge and remarkable designs and displays.

Big and Beautiful

Since 1990, the ever-expanding Hampton Court Garden Festival has been a bright spot in the British outdoor event calendar. This Royal Horticultural Society flower and garden show is the largest in the world, covering 34 acres of land. It is held in the scenic gardens of Hampton Court Palace in East Molesey, Surrey, a stunning location built in the early 1500s for Henry VIII. The Palace sits on the River Thames in the south of London and provides a dramatic backdrop for the Festival. Each year, for six days in July, tens of thousands of people flock to the Festival.

A Focus On Food

While some shows are concerned with display gardens, nostalgic presentations or competitions, the Hampton Court Garden Festival focuses on more practical topics. Food, growing vegetables and sustainability are common themes. Talks by chefs help people get ideas about what kind of produce to grow, how to cook with it, and how to think creatively about seasonal vegetables, fruits and herbs. That’s likely to be a strong theme of the coming year’s festival, since so many people have been spending more time at home and in their garden than usual. Regardless of the size of people’s homes, everyone can learn to grow some herbs on the kitchen counter, or turn their balcony into a little oasis of calm. The Festival helps people understand how to live in harmony with plants and their gardens.

There is often an environmental education theme, and people can attend talks and demonstrations about important ecological issues. Making your garden attractive to pollinators is always a popular question amongst gardeners, and bee- and bird-friendly gardening advice is in good supply. Display gardens are frequently themed around practical considerations for home gardeners. And of course, attendees can purchase plants, flowers, useful tools and other gardening products.

Celebrating Everything That Grows

With live music, fireworks and entertainment, there is truly an air of celebration about all things gardening! This event has a festival atmosphere and is unlike many other shows. One stand-out element is the Festival of Roses, where attendees can wander through a dazzling array of different rose cultivars. In 2019, the Festival of Roses also included a tea room, where tired and thirsty people could sit and enjoy tea and cake surrounded by perfect flowers of every color imaginable.

The fun environment is one reason why this show is so popular. Of course, gardeners love to get together and see what’s new and interesting. But this is a gardening and flower show that anyone can enjoy.

The promotional material for the Festival indicates that they are trying to make it an exciting and stimulating day out for anyone. That’s easy to do when the location is so beautiful, and when there are so many visually delightful displays. Take, for instance, the Floral Marquee. With over 100 exhibitors, gardeners can view and purchase new plants and flowers, and get advice from the experts on site. But anyone walking into the giant tent couldn’t help but be impressed by all the beauty on display. From flowers to succulents, grasses to ferns, everything is available to admire and discuss. And who knows – perhaps a potential gardener might be tempted to buy something, and start their very own gardening journey.

The Royal Horticultural Society tries very hard to make the show accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of knowledge. That’s why they have a Gardening Advice team available, to answer questions and give specialized help and information.

Changing With the Times

One unique feature of the Hampton Court Garden Festival is how quickly the show responds to trends and public interests. Visitors and reviewers comment that unlike the much more traditional Chelsea Flower Show, which prizes expertise and heritage, the Festival showcases bold and brilliant new ideas more readily. People seem to respond to the approachable combination of advice, demonstrations and practical solutions for their own gardens. Indeed, in 2019 the name of the show was changed from the Hampton Court Flower Show. The Royal Horticultural Society said that the name better reflected people’s experiences of the event.

After cancellation in 2020, the first in the show’s thirty-year history, the 2021 show will return in July as usual. There’ll be a lot of people very excited to come back to the beautiful Hampton Court Palace and join with others in this colossal celebration of plants and flowers.

Transplanting Seedlings into the Garden

Transplanting Seedlings Into the Garden

Many home-grown plants get their starts in seedling modules or planters. They have to be carefully transplanted into the garden itself before they reach their full potential. Let’s have a look at how to do that!

Whether your seedlings were raised indoors, in a greenhouse, or outside, they will each eventually need to be moved to a flowerbed, container, or vegetable garden. While this isn’t a difficult task, taking the time to learn a few tips will always improve your results.

Prepare the Bed for the Seedlings

The hard work of preparing the vegetable bed should be completed before the delicate new plants arrive. Turn, till, or loosen the soil and mix in any necessary amendments such as limestone or compost. Lay down boards on which to walk to avoid compacting the soil, and make sure you have water and mulch ready. If you use plant labels, prepare them too, along with a pencil, markers, stakes, and twine. If your plants will need pest-protection measures such as floating row covers or a wire cloche, prepare those ahead of time as well.

Research

Knowing your plants’ root sensitivity will be important to your success. Roots on young plants are generally tender and break easily, but some are more sensitive than others. Most annual and perennial seedlings are resilient and can handle light root damage, but others are not so forgiving. Those with taproots like poppies, larkspurs, and carrots resent any root disturbance. If a seed packet description advises you to ‘direct sow then thin seedlings,’ there’s a good chance the species doesn’t like transplantation.

Spacing

Before removing the seedlings, lay your individual pots out where you intend to plant them. Measure out the spacing. Proper spacing often looks wider than you imagine, but the extra room will result in healthier plants. Space rows out in a similar manner.

Even cabbage and broccoli appreciate wide spacing and will reward you with bigger harvests. Flowers can often be planted closer together, but again, it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. In a flower border, larger groupings are often more effective, especially if you arrange dozens of individual plants.

Extract Your Seedlings

While direct-sow-only flowers can be carefully pre-started in modules and plug trays, it does take some skill and experience to master the transplanting technique. One or two seeds per pot will result in a single plant, and it’s critical to carefully extract the entire root ball without disturbing the roots. When in doubt, always tip a young plant out of its cell by tapping on the bottom or by using a butter knife or flat tool along the edge of the pot to help extract the soil ball in its entirety. It is much like trying to take a cake out of its pan. Many direct-sow-only plants can be transplanted into the garden using this method.

Seed modules are rather foolproof. Moving seedlings from a seedbed, however, can be trickier. Start by lifting small seedlings out carefully with a trowel or even a kitchen fork or teaspoon. Keep an empty seed tray nearby so you have a place to put them – it is easier to transport many seedlings laying on their sides. Separate plants carefully and try to do it as quickly as possible to limit the roots’ exposure to outside elements.

Tend Your Plants

In the case of most young flower plants, it’s good to pinch or prune them once they are set out in the garden. The likes of snapdragons, sweetpeas, or zinnias all benefit from pinching just as they form their third pair of leaves. Estate growers and flower farmers nearly always pinch the primary growing tip on their young seedlings if they want bushier plants and many blooms.

If, on the other hand, the goal is taller stems and longer stalks, seedlings should be set out in a grid and planted closer together. Even in a flower border, closer plants will achieve a completely different effect than those set further apart. A snapdragon left un-pinched may grow a single tall stalk of flowers, but that will come at the cost of future blooms. A pinched plant will produce shorter stalks but a bushier appearance with more flowers.

If possible, try to transplant either early in the morning, in the evening, or on overcast days. In this way, you will avoid the harshest of the sun’s heat and radiation, and it will reduce stress on your new plants.

Newly transplanted seedlings will need water right away. Keep a watering can ready even if it rained just the day before.

Plan for the End Goal

If your seedlings are intended for a cut flower garden, they can be placed closer together and set out in rows or grids to help produce long stems. Since you’ll be cutting stems in bulk, the garden’s visual effect isn’t as critical.

If planting flowers into a border or a flowerbed, design is more important. Spacing is key, especially if plants will be growing along with perennials or small shrubs and bulbs. Always consider the fully-grown size of neighboring plants, but also think about your final planting scheme. In a border, one can get much more imaginative as the flowers will need to deliver beauty over a longer time than those in a cut flower bed.

Plant intentionally, always visualizing the final effect. If integrating flower seedlings into a mixed border with perennials, grasses, and small shrubs like roses, be creative, keeping in mind your intended final result.

Some flowers naturally grow in a scattered arrangement, the way they might if their seeds were dispersed in the wild. Matrix plantings are in vogue and appear more natural to the eye. The cloud-like effect of tall wands of flowers scattered randomly among long grasses adds an ethereal quality to your garden, and often can only be achieved by growing many plants at once.

Another planting style is to group solid colors together to create a bulk effect – as if 30 plants are actually all one. Such large swaths make stunning borders, especially if two or three types are repeated within the space. A more traditional method might be to plant 3-5 flowers together in smaller clumps between perennials and grasses. No matter what direction you choose, always plan ahead to be sure you have the space for such exuberance.

Starting seedlings in your home and transplanting them into the garden is a highly efficient way to grow many plants at once, often for less money than a single mature plant at the garden center. Take your time, plan it out, and give a transplant garden a try!

8 Practical Strategies to Avoid Lawn Problems

Keeping a lush, green yard is a dream of many homeowners, but you can run into a lot of issues from brown patches to weeds to compacted soil. If you want to solve these common lawn problems, read on for more information.

With tougher, more resilient grass on the market and a wealth of lawn care information on the internet, it should be easier than ever to keep a well-maintained lawn. Yet many people still struggle with lawn problems. So how do you get rid of them?

Since you’re dealing with nature, you can’t ever control all factors, but there are some common problems every lawn owner has faced and some standard strategies to solve them.

Brown Patches

Problem: When the rest of your grass looks fine and there are only a few problem areas then you’re probably dealing with a layer of dead or decaying vegetation. This buildup of organic material can change the pH balance of your lawn leading to patchy brown and spongy areas. Interestingly, brown patches are often seen in lawns that receive a lot of maintenance and were previously treated with chemicals.

Solution: The first step is to remove the thatch and dead grass from the area and then adding in some nutrients to balance the pH. Another more natural solution includes spraying the area with a diluted solution of molasses to encourage natural organisms to break down the thatch layer.

Dandelions

Problem: One or two dandelions might be cute in your lawn, but if you actually want to grow grass and not a field of dandelions, you’ll have to get rid of them. These hardy perennials will come back every year and can easily spread their seed all over your yard. If your lawn isn’t healthy, it can easily outcompete grass.

Solution: The best way to get rid of dandelions is to dig the whole plant up, roots and all. Get to them before they go to seed to prevent them from spreading. Of course, you can’t completely control the spread of dandelions. Dandelion seeds can fly up to 62 mile! It might be a never ending battle, but by removing them immediately, you can at least keep your lawn nice and clean.

Crabgrass or Grassy Weeds

Problem: Crabgrass is a hardy annual weed and thrives in compacted lawns with high nitrogen content. You might notice that whenever you give your grass some fertilizer, crabgrass tends to pop up. This problematic grass, along with other grassy weeds, are also hard to manage because often the herbicides that kill them will also kill your lawn!

Solution: Spread some corn gluten meal over your lawn. Apply this in the spring about two weeks before the last frost and you’ll notice a significant drop in almost all weeds. You’ll have to do this consistently over three years though to really reap the benefits. If you don’t want to use corn meal you can also apply a layer of mulch which can block out the sun and keep the seeds from germinating.

If you already have crabgrass your best bet is to catch it early when they are young and small. Remove the whole plants including the roots. Do not remove already mature plants. Since crabgrass is annual, it will die off after the first hard frost. Just make sure to seed any thin patches to prevent crabgrass from coming back.

Nutsedge

The problem: Nutsedge is a hardy weed that will quickly outcompete your grass. It will constantly steal away sunlight and nutrients from the surrounding vegetation leading to a lawn full of nutsedge. Unfortunately, this weed is also a perennial so, if left unchecked, will come back every year. To identify nutsedge from grass, roll it between your fingers. If it feels ‘sharp’ it’s a nutsedge as these plants have triangle-shaped stems as opposed to the round stems of grass.

The Solution: If you’ve tried to pull up nutsedges every spring, you might feel like it’s a never-ending battle as they pop up in the same place every year. That’s because the underground tubers will simply regrow even if you pull them up. What’s worse, these tubers can be dormant for up to three years so it can take years to fully eradicate nutsedge from your lawn. Contact your local lawn care specialist to apply selective herbicide that deals specifically with sedges.

Compacted Soil

The Problem: Many weeds, like crabgrass, thrive in compacted soil and clay. While you can’t really control the type of soil in your lawn, you can at least keep it aerated. In addition to being a favorite of weeds, compacted soil also makes it harder for water and fertilizer to reach your lawn’s roots. This ultimately weakens them while simultaneously encouraging weeds to grow.

The Solution: Healthy soil should be about 50 percent solid, 25 percent water, and 25 percent air. It might not be cheap, but the best thing you can do is rent an aerifier every other year and aerate your soil. Yes, it might not look great having a bunch of tiny holes in your lawn, but your grass will thank you. While it might not look great in the beginning, it will definitely keep your lawn healthy in the long run.

Dry and Dying Grass

The Problem: There are a lot of causes for dry and dying grass so it’s up to you to pay attention to what’s happening. Was there a recent heat wave in your area? Are there other issues with your lawn? You should check to make sure your grass is actually dead and not just dormant by doing a pull test. Simply go to the patch of brown grass and give it a pull. If the grass comes out with no resistance, it is dead.

The Solution: Depending on the problem, the solution will differ. You should consult with a professional to figure out the cause of your dead and dying grass. Maybe your grass is not suited to your climate or maybe you’re dealing with pests and/or disease. Either way, once you have it under control, you will have to reseed the areas as dead grass will not grow back.

White Grubs or Other Pests

The Problem: Grubs deplete the soil of nutrients and can often cause your lawn to yellow and eventually die if left unchecked. Animals, such as raccoons and skunks, that feed on grubs can also tear up your lawn looking for a tasty meal. If you do have grubs, you should be able to find them pretty quickly. Just pull up a patch of dead grass and look for white, c-shaped worms. They’re very easy to spot against the dark soil.

The Solution: Interestingly, insecticides do very little to control grubs. In most cases, they are completely unnecessary. Instead, you can use two biological options:

Milky spore disease - this bacteria controls chewing insects and is long-lasting, though it also takes a few years to reach peak efficiency
Nematodes - combine these with water and apply to the soil in early spring or fall. Nematodes are microscopic worms that occur naturally in the soil. The ‘good’ nematodes attach themselves to grub larvae and kill them. It does take time to work, but it’s very efficient.

It’s essential, though, to prune them correctly. If pruned improperly, you could end up with a plant that stops flowering completely.

Moles or Other Animals Digging up Soil

The Problem: Besides destroying the aesthetic of your lawn, the tunnels and mounds made by moles and other animals can make your lawn one big booby trap. Since the mounds and tunnels often collapse when you step on them, it can often cause injuries to people who are not paying attention.

The Solution: There’s unfortunately no good way to keep moles from digging through your lawn permanently. You can surround your yard with chicken wire buried at least one foot deep, but moles can dig deeper than that and can also travel short distances above ground. You can also trap them, but that doesn’t prevent other moles from moving in. Perhaps the most effective way to keep them away is to place ultrasonic devices near runs. Even then, moles can always dig new tunnels to avoid them.

Conclusion

Taking good care of your lawn requires a bit of research and some practice. However, even the best laid plans can be upended because you are dealing with nature. Still, it’s not completely impossible and with the help of the above strategies and maybe a trip to your local lawn care specialist, you can have the lawn you always wanted.

10 Thirsty Garden Plants That Need Lots of Water

Everything needs water, but some plants are needier than others. It’s important to understand each species’ needs before you add them to your garden. Today, we’ll discuss a few plants that need lots of watering. Desert-garden options these are not, but if you live in humid conditions, these may be right up your alley!

Bigleaf hydrangea

The Bigleaf hydrangea is a deciduous shrub native to Japan, and is known for its lush, oval, colorful inflorescence. The two types of Hydrangea macrophylla are mopheads – with large, ball-shaped, sterile flower clusters, and lacecapes – with small round fertile flowers in the center, and sterile flowers on the outer side of each inflorescence. Depending on soil pH, blooms can change color from pink to blue.

Lily of the valley

Lily of the valley is highly poisonous and originates in Euroasia. Although it is toxic, it is popular in gardens and perfume industry for its charming flowers and fragrance. Lily of the valley is the national flower of Finland and was the national flower of former Yugoslavia.

Sword fern

The Nephrolepis exaltata is commonly known as the Sword fern or sword fern. It is a common and popular houseplant that is native to tropical environments. While the Sword fern can survive droughts, it prefers humid environments and should be misted regularly. It is generally considered non-toxic and is pet friendly.

Blue flag

Blue flag is considered a wetland species, which means it does well planted near pond or lake edges, in water meadows, and near other water features. It can tolerate being in standing water that is less than 6 inches deep and can be completely submerged for a short time. Blue flag is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant that grows 4’31 in high.

Giant taro

Giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos) is a flowering plant that grows in rainforest environments within its native Asia and Australia. Most parts of the plant are highly toxic if swallowed and can also irritate the skin. Native Hawaiians have a saying that translates to “Those who eat Giant taro will have an itchy mouth,” which is used to mean, “There are consequences for partaking of something bad.”

Common sunflower

The Common sunflower is recognizable for its bright flower on a very tall stem. It is often grown in gardens. These flowers have been important in culture: they were worshipped by the ancient Inca people, and today, they represent eco-friendly movements. The artist Vincent Van Gogh made a famous series of paintings about Common sunflowers. Wild versions of the plant branch out to many flower heads, but domesticated plants typically only have one.

Bird of paradise

The Bird of paradise is a bright, flowering plant. It is native to South Africa, where it is important to national culture, even being featured on the country’s 50-cent coin. The Bird of paradise has also become the official flower of Los Angeles in spite of its non-native status. In the wild, these flowers attract sunbirds as pollinators.

Orange daylily

The Orange daylily is a perennial plant known for its captivating lily-like blooms. Its natural habitats are meadows and forests, but it is also a common garden plant in temperate regions around the world. Each individual flower lasts only a day, but the plant will bloom new ones for weeks. Orange daylily’s young buds and flowers are edible either raw or cooked. As a bonus to vegetarians, the flowers contain more fats than most vegetables.

Wax begonia

Begonia cucullata is a native of South America. It is often used as a ground cover and also does well in containers. The blossoms of Wax begonia can be red, white, or pink. In some states like Florida and Georgia, Wax begonia is considered an invasive species due to its tendency to reseed prolifically in the right conditions.

Weigela

Named after German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel, the Weigela is known for beautiful tubular flowers in shades of pink. The Weigela blooms in early spring and can produce sporadic repeat blooms through mid to late summer. Weigela is especially attractive to hummingbirds.

Plant Lighting 101: What You Need to Know

All plants need light to survive, and too much or too little can cause them to suffer. Learn how to plan your outdoor planting around each plant’s lighting needs and the best ways to position indoor plants for success all year long.

When it comes to growing healthy plants, light exposure needs to be a key consideration. Too little light will lead to feeble growth, but too much can scorch sensitive leaves and hurt your plant over the long term. How much light is enough? Here’s a guide to understanding the light requirements for both indoor and outdoor plants.

Why Plants Need Light

All plants require lots of light exposure for photosynthesis. This natural process allows plants to harness energy from sunlight in order to transform carbon dioxide and water into glucose—a primary source of plant food that fuels long-term growth.

The more light available, the more energy a plant can harness, and the faster it will grow. However, this only holds true to a point. It’s possible to give growing things too much of a good thing and stress them out to the point of getting stunted or even dying. Some plants need six hours of sunlight per day, while others do better with less.

Here’s how to understand the requirements for both indoor and outdoor plants.

Lighting Needs for Outdoor Plants

The light requirements for outdoor plants are often indicated by the hours of sunlight they should be exposed to per day. When buying a new plant, look for a tag that includes one of these labels.

Full Sun

This label indicates the plant will thrive best with as much natural light as possible and need at least six hours of sun exposure per day. Drought tolerant perennials and most vegetables fall under this category. If you don’t have spots in your garden that stay sunny all day, prioritize places with lots of afternoon sun as it tends to be stronger than morning.

Partial Sun

Plants that fit into this category usually need about six hours of daily sunlight but also benefit from time in the shade. They typically do best with morning sun and some afternoon shade to protect from the scorching afternoon heat. Many flowering plants require partial sun conditions.

Partial Shade

This category represents plants that need four hours or less of direct sunlight (an hour and a half is ideal). Most will do best when planted in an east-facing garden bed that provides sunlight exposure in the morning and shade by midday.

Dappled Sun

This rare requirement refers to plants that need small amounts of sunlight while staying protected, similar to what they would get from the filtered light available under a tree. You can also shield these plants under a lightweight shade cloth.

Full Shade

While full shade plants still need some sunlight, they can’t handle more than three hours per day. They do well under larger plants and should be grown in the shadiest parts of your yard. Best of all, they typically require minimal maintenance once established.

A Note on Sun Levels

With outdoor plants, all sunlight is not equal. For example, direct sunlight along the equator is significantly more extreme than the same amount of light at locations closer to the poles. You’ll need to do some research about your outdoor conditions to determine whether to modify the sunlight recommendations for each variety.

Lighting for Houseplants

The lighting needs for houseplants vary significantly compared to outdoor plants. Indoor light strength is often measured by foot-candles, which refers to the light intensity of a unit of measure known as a candela.

– 200–500 foot-candles: Low-light, deep shade, unsuitable for most plants

– 500-1,000: Low-light but bright enough to read by, suitable for some shade plants

– 1,000-2,000: Bright, indirect sunlight that won’t produce a strong shadow

– 2,000-4,000: Direct light coming through windows, equal to about 40 percent of the midday sun

– 4,000-5,000: 50 percent of the midday sun, intense direct sunlight in a bright room

– 5,000+: Super bight, direct indoor light

Note that full sun outdoors comes in at about 10,000 foot-candles. This means that the darkest shade outdoors still tends to be brighter than what plants get from the sunniest window, so only the most shade-tolerant plants tend to thrive inside without supplemental light.

You can also orient indoor plants based on the directions your windows face.

– North-facing windows: Tend to have the weakest light, may work for shade plants but likely will not grow anything in the winter

– South-facing windows: Often have the strongest light intensity and offer consistent all-day light

– East-facing windows: Benefit most from the morning sun, best for plants that need moderate light exposure

– West-facing windows: Lots of strong afternoon and evening sun, suitable for most sun-loving plants

Proximity to windows makes a huge difference for indoor plants. Moving one just a few feet from a window can easily halve its light exposure, so make your décor decisions carefully.

How Much Light Does Your Plant Get?

Short of measuring your home’s foot-candle output, how can you tell how much light your plants are getting? One easy test is to hold your hand about a foot above a plain piece of paper. If you only see a faint shadow (or none at all), you have low light. A blurry or fuzzy shadow is a sign of medium-intensity light, and a crisp shadow indicates a strong, direct light source.

Signs Plants Need More Light

Your plants themselves will usually tell you whether they are getting enough light to thrive. Signs of too little light exposure include long, spindly stems and yellowing or dropping leaves. This is called etiolation, and it means that the plant is straining to grow towards the available light, but it isn’t strong enough for the plant to photosynthesize properly.

This problem is easy to fix by moving plants into direct sunlight or adding a supplement light source such as a grow light. Even a few hours of exposure a day to artificial light can transform a spindly plant and help it grow more robust.

In contrast, pale leaves or those with crispy browning sections may be getting burned from too much light. You may want to provide shade or move the plant somewhere with less direct light exposure.

Understanding the lighting needs for different plants will help you ensure you give them what they need to thrive. Do your research now so you can place plants where they will best get their needs met for the healthiest garden possible.

Now Is the Time to Prune Your Garden Roses

Roses benefit greatly with a regular, hard prune before the weather warms up and the bushes are dormant. This encourages lots of new growth and plentiful blooms. Follow these tips on pruning your roses.

Roses are one of the few shrubs that thrive with frequent, strategic, if not heavy pruning. While pruning roses may seem intimidating, the basics are simple to understand, beginning with understanding what type of rose plant you have in your garden.

There are many types of rose bushes ranging from climbing, hybrid tea, floribunda, and more, and each has a slightly different method for pruning.

Prune in Spring and After They Bloom

Knowing when your type of rose bush blooms will help direct you on when to prune it correctly. All roses are essentially pruned in the same way – first in spring with a hard prune, and again after they bloom to remove old flowering stems. Since there are some roses that bloom just once a year, they may only need the heavy spring pruning while other types may need tidying up throughout the season after they re-bloom.

When in Doubt, Prune Fearlessly

Imagine that every new bud will grow into a long cane, and you can visualize what the shrub may look like in mid-season. The shorter the canes on the first spring pruning, the healthier and thicker the new canes will be.

6 Basic Rose Pruning Tips

1. Prune Hard in Spring

The first hard prune is always in late winter or spring, removing dead canes and reducing healthy stems to help stimulate strong, healthy growth. Every cane should be cut back at least halfway to the ground and reducing the plant to just a few canes will result in stronger stems.

2. Prune Fearlessly

It’s hard to over-prune a rose bush. The basic rose pruning essentials apply to all roses and while there are many techniques and methods, as long as you don’t cut the plant to the ground, you are safe to cut. Nearly all roses are grafted onto a hardier or healthier rootstock (near the soil line) so it is hard to make a serious mistake unless you cut where the rose branches near the ground.

3. Remove Most Of the Old Canes

If overwhelmed, begin by removing all old or weak canes in spring just as the rose bush is beginning to sprout. Leave only the thickest, youngest and strongest canes, reducing their length to at least half. Older stems can be identified by being woody, grey, or thin and branchy. These will not produce solid flowering stems All roses bloom on the current season’s new growth sp cut back to the strongest, most robust emerging new stem. This may be near the trunk and rarely at the end of a cane.

4. Prune Again Just After They Flower

Always prune after your plant blooms (deadheading) except if your rose bush forms lovely rose hips that are also a feature of some species and varieties. Cut flower roses like hybrid teas and many modern hybrids considered ‘everblooming’ will require the faded flowers to be removed. Those flowering stems are best reduced by half to stimulate a second and third set of flowers throughout the season.

5. Pruning Thoughtfully if Your Rose Produces Rose Hips

Some shrub roses and old-world or antique roses are grown not just for their flowers but often for their unique, showy, and edible rose hips. Most roses grown for their rosehip display are pruned only in the spring, requiring just some tidying up with pruning shears during the growing season. This is particularly true with the Rosa rugosa varieties often known as Beach Roses.

6. Some Roses Have Attractive Thorns and Foliage

Not all roses are grown for their flowers and rose hips. A few garden varieties are cultivated more for their attractive thorns or foliage. Rosa glauca does produce nice pink, single flowers but is often included in gardens for its lovely purple foliage. Thorns are often more attractive than flowers too. Rosa sericea subsp. Omeiensis f. pteracantha (the Chinese Winged Rose) is grown strictly for its long, translucent and scarlet thorns. Savvy gardeners will often prune these shrubs lightly if at all, to retain all their attractive features.

7. Always Trim for Health Not for Looks

Unlike other shrubs, where once tends to trim and sheer the plant to create a pleasing shape or form much as a barber might work, roses require the opposite approach. Pruning out all branches that are weak or thin, regardless of the shape of the final bush. Obviously form is still important but pruning a rose bush is more like pruning a tree than it is a topiary or a typical flowering shrub. You will need to visualize and imagine every new growth emerging from a bud as a long cane.

Tools and Safety

Always use sharp cutters. Ideally, secateurs that are clean and sterilized with a 10% bleach solution between cuts as nearly all roses are susceptible to many pathogens spread from plant to plant. Removing and disposing of all cut stems and foliage, especially at the end of the season, is wise (never compost such waste to encourage the spread of diseases). In warmer climates, rose enthusiasts even cut and remove any green foliage that is old at the end of the season to reduce disease transmission.

Roses can be dangerously thorny so invest in leather or suede pruning gloves, an essential tool when cutting long canes. Keep a trash bucket or wheelbarrow nearby in which to drop cut canes. Leaving any on the ground invites injury to children, bare feet or pets. Cut exceptionally thorny branches into smaller bits and send them to the trash bin rather than the compost pile.

Understanding Temperature for Plants

If you want your plants to thrive, you need to pay attention to the temperature they live in. Learn how to determine what temperature your plants need both indoors and outside so you get the best results possible.

Plants are picky about their living conditions, and the wrong temperatures can make it hard for them to thrive. Understanding the role temperature plays in plant growth makes it easier to ensure your plants get the best start in life possible. Here’s what you need to know.

Plants, Temperature, and Photosynthesis

Temperature is considered second only to light as the most vital component for plant growth, and it’s a critical factor in photosynthesis. During this process, plants pull energy from the sun, which they transform into glucose to use as fuel. Temperature extremes on either end of the spectrum interfere with this process.

If the temperature drops too low, your plant may stagnate and die, especially if exposed to lots of cold water. Likewise, high temperatures will speed up plant respiration and can break down existing sugars, leaving the plant with little food to support further growth. This causes it to drop its leaves and become spindly.

Understanding Temperature Ranges

Temperature’s overall effect on plants varies based on many factors, including its sunlight exposure, elevation, temperature variation between day and night, the proximity to surrounding heat-retaining structures (like rocks and walls), and the moisture drainage levels in the soil.

Thankfully, plants are relatively resilient to most temperature fluctuations, especially between daytime and nighttime. In fact, flowering plants often do best with daytime temperatures between 70-80 degrees F (21- 26°C) but nighttime temperatures closer to 55-60 degrees F (12-15°C). These lower nighttime temperatures help the plant recover from moisture loss, which leads to longer-lasting flowers with more intense coloring.

Outdoor plants tend to handle temperature changes better than indoor ones. Here’s a general rule for the minimum temperatures most annual plants can handle outside.

However, each plant species has its own temperature requirements. When buying new plants, it’s important to research what maximum and minimum heat level they can best handle.

Indoor Temperatures for Plant Health

Growing plants indoors gives you more control over their environment, but this coddled environment means they can become more sensitive to temperature fluctuations over time. Thankfully they have a larger comfort range than most people do. People usually feel best in indoor temperatures between 72–82°F (22–27°C), but plants have a broader comfort temperature range of 58–86°F (8–30°C).

When choosing indoor locations for indoor plants, pay attention to potential temperature danger zones. These are places where the temperature can jump from extremes quickly, such as windowsills and drafty doorways. Long-term exposure to these spaces can stress your plants, so choose locations where the temperature won’t vary as much.

If your indoor plants show signs of stress, there are two primary options for promoting growth again. These include either increasing the available lighting (to promote photosynthesis) or decreasing the nighttime temperatures (to promote respiration).

Indoor Germination

While indoor plants will do best if you keep their temperature stable, the rules change slightly if you’re starting seeds for plants that will eventually move outdoors, like for a vegetable garden. In this case, you want to subtly mimic the variation of day and night temperatures so the plants don’t go into shock when planted outdoors.

It’s also possible to mimic the seasons indoors for plant germination. For example, many seeds need to be cold stratified before planting, meaning you need to keep the seeds in the refrigerator for several weeks to replicate winter temperatures before planting them in the “spring.”

Germination rates increase as the temperature goes up, but only to a point. Get it too hot indoors, and seedlings might suffer after sprouting. Some cool-season vegetables, such as broccoli and lettuce, require chillier temperatures between 55–70°F(13–21°C), while warmer weather plants like squash and tomatoes prefer to germinate in temperatures between 70–85°F (21–30°C).

The Importance of Outdoor Soil Temperature

If you’re growing plants outdoors, the soil temperature is a crucial factor in success. All soil microorganisms have optimal temperatures in which they operate, and ground that is too chilly or hot keeps them sluggish, which may negatively affect your plants.

You can measure the ground temperature with a soil thermometer to ensure you plant at the right time. For best results, use it in the early morning when the soil is coolest, and get the reading between one and three inches down in the ground. Take the temperature for three consecutive days and average the results for the most accurate reading.

If you need to warm the soil up quickly, covering it with dark mulch will attract sunlight and bring up the temperature within a few days. Plastic sheets work even better because the synthetic material holds heat in. You can also till the first few soil layers to bring it to the surface and promote excess water drainage that could be cooling it down.

Sometimes, waiting for the soil to warm isn’t realistic, and you need to get seeds in the ground fast. Here’s a closer look at the minimum and optimal soil temperature requirements for different plant varieties so you can assess when planting makes the most sense.

Minimum Soil Temperatures for Germination:

35°F (1°C): onion, lettuce, spinach.
40°F (4°C): broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, Asian greens, kale, radish, Swiss chard, peas
50°F (10°C): celery, asparagus, corn, tomatoes.
60°F (15°C): cucumbers, beans, eggplant, peppers, squash, watermelon.
75°F (23°C): eggplant, okra, pumpkins.

Optimal Soil Temperature for Near-100% Germination:

65°F (18°C): parsnips
70°F (21°C): spinach
75°F (23°C): lettuce, asparagus, onions
80°F (26°C): carrots, beans
85°F (29°C): cabbage, beets, radishes, eggplant, peppers, Swiss chard, tomato
95°F (35°C): watermelon, corn, cucumber, squash

Is Your Temperature Wrong? Three Signs of Problems

Sometimes you might not notice problems with the temperature around your plants until you see signs of stress around them. Here are three ways plants express something is wrong with their growing conditions:

Note that each of these plant conditions could be caused by other problems unrelated to temperature. Observe the problem carefully and experiment with different changes until you see what makes an improvement.

Ikebana: The Art of Japanese Flower Arrangement

Ikebana has been practiced since the sixth century. It’s the classic art of Japanese flower arranging and encompasses a simplistic form of shape and style. Find out all about this Japanese art form, its history and how it is used today.

Ikebana, or the fine art of Japanese flower arrangement, has roots in ancient Japanese culture and Buddhist customs. Ikebana is enveloped in tradition, with indications of Ikebana being practiced as early as the sixth century. This art form has been passed down through Japanese society for centuries and has seen many resurgences and revivals in both Japan and in Western culture. Below, we have outlined the history, cultural traditions, and artistic principles of Ikebana that remain popular around the world today.

A Brief History of Ikebana

To someone who has not heard of or studied Ikebana, the practice can simply appear as an aesthetically pleasing way of presenting floral arrangements. Instead, Ikebana is a centuries-old and sophisticated art form that invites both the curator and the observer to view the world and its natural beauty through a gracefully cultivated lens.

Ikebana, also known as kadō, is a traditional Japanese art form centering around the arrangement of flowers in a vase. Ikebana arrangements vary in style and can feature elongated, extraordinarily curved lines or more simplistic, natural presentations.

The practice of floral arrangement was introduced by Buddhists from China and India some time in the sixth century. Flowers were originally left as offerings at Buddhist temples and did not carry a deeper meaning behind their design.

By the fourteenth century, the practice of floral arrangement began to adopt deeper symbolism and principles that guided the construction of its simple yet exquisite designs. Ikebana was heavily influenced by cha-no-yu (the traditional Japanese tea ceremony) and combines the ancient styles of rikka and nageirebana, two different schools of thought for floral design.

Rikka floral arrangements were stiff and more formal in style, whereas Nageirebana offered a simpler, more natural design with freedom of line. Two of the most important Ikebana principles emerged during mid to late 15th century. The first instructed that floral arrangements were to represent the great care and intentionality that went into their design. The second rule designated that floral designs were to reflect ‘heaven, humans, and earth’. Both of these principles are still in effect today.

From its inception, Ikebana has always been considered an aristocratic art form practiced by upper class Japanese men and women alike. Notably, all of Japan’s most celebrated generals practiced flower arranging to calm and clear their minds.

By the 19th century the art form was practiced almost exclusively by women. The first original practice of Ikebana was restricted to Buddhist priests and members of the Buddhist community. However, under the dual influence of Buddhism and Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, the Japanese derivation of Ikebana began to take shape and eventually evolved into a widely practiced secular Japanese custom.

The practice of Ikebana today carries with it centuries of Japanese heritage and tradition, retaining its roots as a way of harmonizing and honoring the connection between people and the natural world.

Principles of Ikebana

The principles and traditions of Ikebana combine aesthetic preferences with philosophical ideology. More specifically, Ikebana invites individuals to immerse themselves in nature and consider the deeply interconnected relationship between human beings and the natural world around them.

Ikebana dictates that floral arrangements should represent time and thought, meaning that the flowers should be thoughtfully chosen and arranged with great care. Historically, Ikebana designs were intended to reflect the three main elements: heaven, humans, and earth. These three symbolic elements are often realized through three different heights often seen in Ikebana designs.

The oldest published Ikebana manual, called the Sendenshō, was published during the 17th century. This instructive text outlines rules and principles of Ikebana with illustrations. There are many schools of Ikebana that vary in style and theory that are most often passed down within families from one generation to the next. While each school applies its own unique styles and techniques, many of the foundational principles in each school are the same.

First, Ikebana is a minimalist art form, intentionally creating empty space and focusing on the beauty of very few and simple but exquisite elements. Asymmetrical designs that feature complementary elements are preferred, as they are intentionally chosen to represent emotion or philosophical ideas, such as the three main elements mentioned earlier. The vase an artist chooses is also very important and plays a part in your design’s artistic expression.

Modern Ikebana

Like other art forms, Ikebana has evolved over time as cultures change and reshape themselves due to external influences. Many Ikebana artists today allow their creativity to surpass the traditional rules that have dictated Ikebana over the last few hundred years, preferring to draw inspiration from identity and the world around them. Some artists intentionally include flawed materials or unexpected vase choices to emphasize an idea or an intended emotion. However, the message at the heart of Ikebana endures as an acknowledgement of the duality of nature as both a fleeting moment in time and a constant, ever-present cycle.

16 Healthy Vegetables to Grow in Your Garden

With hundreds of different vegetables out there, choosing the right ones for your garden can be tricky. There are lots of factors to consider – soil, temperature, and sunlight requirements, growing season, and, of course, taste! In this article, we’ll help kick start your research by introducing you to our favorite garden vegetables.

Broccoli

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) is a nutritious, cool-weather crop in the cabbage family grown extensively worldwide, both commercially and in home gardens. It is eaten as a nutritious vegetable, raw or cooked, and is frequently added to salads, casseroles, or vegetable platters. Its name comes from a similar Italian word that means the flowering crest of a cabbage.

Garden pea

Garden pea (Pisum sativum) is an annual vegetable that makes a hardy, cold weather crop. Also known as the green pea or garden pea, it grows from 1 to 1.5 feet tall. Peapods form after the first year and both peas and pods are edible and can be eaten cooked or raw. Excellent in stir fry, tender tips, called pea shoots, are also edible.

Common bean

Common bean is one of the most widely produced cash crops in the world, with 23.6 million tons grown in 2016. China is the largest producer of the Common bean , accounting for 79% of the market share. While the Common bean is known as a staple food source, the leaves can be used to trap bedbugs and the beans are widely used in a type of fortune-telling called favomancy.

Field mustard

Field mustard (Brassica rapa) is a plant that is widely cultivated and produces oilseed. Canola oil is made from the Field mustard oilseed. Field mustard attracts white butterflies who gain nutrients from its flowers.

Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum is an annual or perennial herbaceous vine native to Central and South America that produces a large, juicy, edible fruit known as Tomato. Today there are over 10000 cultivated varieties. Although tomato is the world’s most popular vegetable, botanically it is a fruit.

Cayenne pepper

The Cayenne pepper is a plant that produces bright red pepper vegetables. This chili pepper is commonly used for cooking in places such as the Southern U.S. and Central America. Most are moderately spicy, though because there are so many variants, the spice level can vary dramatically. Cayenne powder is also a popular seasoning product made from Cayenne pepper plants.

Beet

The Beet (Beta vulgaris) provides a variety of uses for food products and garden growth. The roots are commonly consumed as nutrient-rich vegetables, the body of the sugar beet is used to make table sugar, and the leaves are harvested as a separate vegetable: chard. In 18th-Century Silesia, an area that is now part of Poland, the first-ever beet sugar extraction plant was created by a royal decree from the king.

Head Cabbage

A member of the brassica family, Head Cabbage grows well in cool weather and full sun. It can be eaten raw, shredded in salads, or in soup, and is fermented to make sauerkraut.

Wild-carrot

The Wild carrot is a common flowering plant with light, delicate flowers. Originally native to Europe and Asia, it has also spread to North America and Australia. Studies of historical paintings suggest that the Wild carrot was cultivated in Turkey, Spain, and North Africa for centuries.

Cabbage

When you look at a wild Cabbage plant, you may be surprised by how many edible vegetables were derived from it. Native peoples selectively cultivated the wild Cabbage over centuries to produce broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and more. The wild form of the plant is also edible.

Garden asparagus

Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a flowering plant species that undergoes photosynthesis in its stems and branchlets. Garden asparagus has a long history of cultivation for culinary and agricultural purposes. The ancient Greeks first cultivated this plant 2,500 years ago.

Lettuce

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a hardy annual plant commonly cultivated as a leafy vegetable. The earliest evidence of its cultivation goes all the way back to Ancient Egypt. Its leaves are often used for making salads and they are an excellent source of vitamins K and A.

Winter squash

Cucurbita maxima, commonly known as Winter squash, is an annual, herbaceous plant native to South America. It is widely used for various culinary purposes. Winter squash has a lot of cultivars, which are very diverse in terms of fruit color, size, and shape. Pumpkin is the most popular cultivar of this plant.

Cucumber

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a creeping vine native to South Asia. It has a long history of cultivation – mentions of its use are found in various ancient scripts, including the Bible, Epic of Gilgamesh and Pliny the Elder’s “Natural History”. Today, Cucumber is one of the most widely cultivated vegetable species in the world.

Potato

The Potato is native to North America and in the United States. Potato products are the second most consumed food. This starchy tuber is a staple in diets around the world and is considered the fourth most important worldwide crop.

Field pumpkin

Field pumpkin are most commonly seen as decorations throughout the autumn and during the Halloween holiday, when they are carved and used as traditional jack-o’-lanterns. While the taste of Field pumpkin flesh may not be ideal, eating the seeds after toasting them with a bit of salt can be a delicious treat!

Deadhead: Boost Your Annual Flower Production

Did you know removing wilted flowers from garden plants encourages them to produce more blooms? Learn the benefits of deadheading and the three best strategies to ensure your garden is full of beautiful flowers all season long.

Summer blossoms may look beautiful, but they rarely last as long as gardeners wish they would. If you want to extend the lifespan of your garden blooms, then it’s time to learn about deadheading. “Deadheading” is the practice of removing old flowers from plants after they’ve finished blooming, so you keep the plant looking clean and encourage it to keep producing.

Repeat this garden chore a few times over the growing season, and you’ll enjoy fresh flowers for weeks on end. Here’s what you need to know to get started to ensure you have gorgeous blooms all season long.

Why Deadhead? Four Key Benefits for Plants

Your goal with removing flowers through deadheading is to channel the plant’s energy away from making seeds and back towards producing new blooms or developing more robust root systems.

Doing so has four main benefits:

Improve plant appearances: Dying flowers quickly turn brown and withered or mushy, which dulls the appearance of your whole plant. Deadheading removes these old blooms and keeps your plant looking its best.
Encourages plants to produce more flowers: For plants, flowers are a means of reproduction. The plant’s goal is to get each flower pollinated to produce seeds, and plants will slow down flower production once they achieve it. You can encourage plants to keep making flowers instead by plucking them spent ones before they form seeds so that the plants keep producing new buds instead. Best of all, these second blooms often last longer than the first because they come later in the year once the plant has gotten stronger.
Helps conserve energy: Even dying flowers pull energy from plants, making it harder for them to put resources towards producing new blooms. Cutting back old flower stalks lets the plant regain its energy and put it towards stronger roots instead. This results in a stronger plant in the long run.
Prevents self-seeding: Many plants are aggressive spreaders that will quickly take over your entire garden plot if you let them go to seed. Pluck off blossoms early so that the seed heads can’t mature, scatter, and start to grow somewhere else.

Best Deadheading Strategies

There are multiple strategies for deadheading based on your goals and the plant variety. Sometimes it’s best to use garden pruners, but in other cases, your fingers can suffice. Here are the three standard methods.

Pruning

If you have daylilies, coneflowers, or another plant with large flowers, the most effective method for deadheading is to use hand pruners to take off the old blossoms.

First, check to make sure that the flower stalk doesn’t have more buds that are forming. If not, you can remove the entire flower stalk at the base of the plant. Otherwise, remove only the old flowers until it’s fully finished blooming.

Pinching

Many flowers produce thin, soft stalks that are easy to pinch between your fingers, making it possible to pop off the old flower. This also works well for plants grown only for their foliage like thyme or coleus where you don’t want the flowers to form at all.

When pinching off flowers from plants with multiple blooms per stem, make sure you remove the blossom only to the first set of leaves so that the plant doesn’t get stressed.

You can also pinch off up to one-third of the buds for fall-blooming plants like mums or asters when they start to produce flowers earlier than you want. This will delay the blooms by a few weeks for when it’s more seasonally appropriate.

Shearing

Many plants produce thick profusions of tiny flowers that would be challenging to prune off one by one. A better choice is to wait until most of the flowers are past their peak and then shear back the entire plant by a third with garden scissors. While you’ll lose some still blooming flowers in the process, the plant will recover quickly and put out lots of new buds. This works well for plants that tend to bloom heavily all at once.

Note: Deadheading won’t work if you only remove the petals without touching the rest of the flower. The plant will still produce seeds, which slows down overall flower production.

Which Plants to Deadhead

Not all plants should be deadheaded. In fact, removing flowers may harm some plant varieties, especially many types of perennials. Some perennials won’t rebloom regardless of whether you deadhead them so it’s best to keep the spent flowers in place. Likewise, you need to be careful about pruning back perennials too severely, as you don’t want to stress the plant to the point it dies back and doesn’t come back strong next season.

You’ll know whether a plant can be deadheaded based on the care instructions you receive when you buy it. Most annuals respond well—especially early bloomers that tend to produce flowers over a long season.

Sometimes whether or not to deadhead comes down to weather conditions. For example, delicate petunias often lose all their petals after a rainstorm, so deadheading the flower stems will encourage the plant to produce replacement buds.

When to Stop Deadheading

Removing flowers through deadheading can become a summer-long process once you commit to beautiful blooms.

Even so, it’s a good idea to slow down by the end of the growing season so the plant can successfully set seeds. Not only does this ease the plant’s reproductive frustration and keep it healthier in the long run, but the seeds that form are often beautiful and may even feed birds and other wildlife over the winter. Likewise, letting your plants reseed themselves ensures you get flowers again the upcoming year.

Deadheading is a proven way to maximize the flower potential of your garden plants. Take the time to research each variety before you begin so you understand how to best prune it, and you’ll have healthier plants and gorgeous blooms that last throughout the summer.