DIY: Decorating Plant Containers

Decorating plant containers.  

It is a lot of fun to decorate clay pots with your kids. Begin with a clean, smooth pot and then add imagination. You can paint the outside of the pot with acrylic paint. If you want to achieve a “color wash” look, you can either thin the paint (craft stores carry products for this purpose) or apply the paint and then gently wipe some of it with a paper towel while it’s still wet. Another option is to glue and seal some photos, magazine clippings, or paper drawings to your container. This can be done with Mod Podge—a  glue, sealer, and finish all in one. It comes in different finishes including a “sparkle” version to add some glitz to your craft. Use one coat to glue-on the material and another to seal over the surface. For more information, click here for a more extensive article on Decorating Clay Pots.

SOURCE: http://www.kidsgardening.org/node/13761

Poinsettia Care - Shopping Tips

Here are some items to consider while making your poinsettia selection:

Avoid plants with foliage that is beginning to yellow. The actual flowers of the poinsettia are the golden yellow clusters (cyathia) in the center of the colored bracts. The colored bracts are actually the plant’s leaves that change color to attract pollinators. When you choose your poinsettia, make sure the plant you choose still has the bright golden yellow clusters in the center.

Avoid purchasing poinsettias that have been left in the plastic wrapping. This could cause the leaves to yellow and drop before the holiday season is over. 

Seen at the 4th Best Christmas light display in the country.

A protective sleeve should be placed on the plant to shelter it from cold temperatures on its way from the store to home. The poinsettia should be taken home and unwrapped as soon as possible. Leaving the plant in an unheated car while you continue to shop will cause cold injury. 

November Garden Tasks

Vegetable Garden 

• Clean out old plants and compost including Asparagus beds as the fronds fade. Harvest Jerusalem artichokes, broccoli, radishes, peas, parsnips, lettuce, leeks, potatoes, kale, collards, celery, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
• Prepare beds for early plantings of peas this allows for an earlier planting in the spring before the soil dries out enough to be worked.
• Plant Fava beans (cover crops can double as a source of beans for the table), garlic, onions, rhubarb and artichokes.
• Prune the fruiting top sections of evergreen raspberries once they finish producing fruit and leave the lower section of branch for next years early crop. Other raspberries can be topped off at 5 feet and staked.
• Store your bounty by freezing canning or hanging in a cool garage.

Flower Garden

• Plant pansies outdoors now and enjoy the flowers until late spring. Mound soil or leaves around the base of hybrid teas and other grafted roses to protect the graft union from frost.
• Prune rampant suckers from the base of lilacs which will take away from next years bloom.
• Prepare and plant wildflower bed and broadcast seeds. This can be done in the spring as well but you can get a head start now and focus on other tasks come spring.

General Landscaping 

• Prepare open beds in the flower and vegetable garden with organic matter and organic fertilizers. Chopped leaves, peat moss or compost can be added now to improve the soil’s humus levels. This improves the structure, drainage and nutrient holding capacity of your soil. For established beds work in organic matter and fertilizers around the plants and cultivate them into the to few inches of soil.
• Mow lawn to 1.5 to 2 inches for the winter This keeps the lawn healthy and prevents the lawn from matting down.
• Keep leaves and compost or make a dedicated leaf mold pile for future mulch unless they are from allelopathic trees (producing chemicals that inhibit other species growth) like the genera Juglans (e.g. Black Walnut or Aesculus (e.g. Horse Chestnut).
• Drain and clean man made pools and ponds. Remove tropical plants and store hardy lilies.
• Very last call for planting trees and shrubs including woody fruiting plants.

Source: http://www.horticultureguy.com/garden-calendar-planner/november-garden-tasks/

Meet the Corpse Plant: Smelliest Plant Ever!

One of the world’s largest and rarest flowering structures, the corpse flower is a pungent plant that blooms rarely and only for a short time. While it is in bloom, the flower emits a strong odor similar to rotting meat or, aptly, a decaying corpse.

There is a good reason for the plant's strong odor. “It all comes down to science," said Tim Pollak, outdoor floriculturist at the Chicago Botanic Garden. "The smell, color and even temperature of corpse flowers are meant to attract pollinators and help ensure the continuation of the species.”

Pollak explained that dung beetles, flesh flies and other carnivorous insects are the primary pollinators of this type of flower. These insects typically eat dead flesh. The smell and the dark burgundy color of the corpse flower are meant to imitate a dead animal to attract these insects.

“Corpse flowers are also able to warm up to 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius) to further fool the insects,” Pollak told Live Science. "The insects think the flower may be food, fly inside, realize there is nothing to eat, and fly off with pollen on their legs. This process ensures the ongoing pollination of the species. Once the flower has bloomed and pollination is complete, the flower collapses."

Source: http://www.livescience.com/51947-corpse-flower-facts-about-the-smelly-plant.html

Understanding Plant Hardiness Zones

You might've noticed when it comes to talking about plants that we sometimes include a zone number. That number is important because it helps you better determine what plants will not only grow, but thrive in your area. Check out this helpful map and corresponding legend from the USDA to figure out which zone you're located in.

18 Reasons to Plant a Tree

1. Alleviating the “Greenhouse Effect,” trees act as carbon “sinks.”

• One acre of new forest will sequester about 2.5 tons of carbon annually. Trees can absorb CO2 at the rate of 13 pounds/tree/year. Trees reach their most productive stage of carbon storage at about 10 years.
• In its “Reforesting the Earth” paper, the Worldwatch Institute estimated that our planet needs at least 321 mil- lion acres planted to trees
• just to restore and maintain the productivity of soil and water resources, meet industrial and fuel-wood needs in the third world, and annually remove from the atmosphere roughly 780 million tons of carbon as the trees grow. This 780 million tons represents the removal of about 25 percent of the 2.9 billion tons of carbon currently going into the earth’s atmosphere.
• Planting 100 million trees could reduce the amount of carbon by an estimated 18 million tons per year and, at the same time, save American consumers $4 billion each year on utility bills.
• For every ton of new wood that grows, about 1.5 tons of CO2 are removed from the air, and 1.07 tons of life-giving oxygen is produced. During a 50-year life span, one tree will generate $30,000 in oxygen, recycle $35,000 worth of water, and clean up $60,000 worth of air pollution—or $125,000 total per tree without including any other values!

2. Prevents or reduces soil erosion and water pollution.

3. Helps recharge ground water and sustain stream flow.

4. Properly placed screens of trees and shrubs significantly decrease noise pollution along busy

thoroughfares and intersections. 5. Screen unsightly views.

6. Soften harsh outlines of buildings.

7. Depending on location, species, size, and condition, shade from trees can reduce utility bills for air conditioning in residential and commercial buildings by 15–50 percent. Trees, through their shade and transpiration, provide natural “low-tech” cooling that means less need to build additional dams, power plants, and nuclear generators.

8. Windbreaks around homes can be shields against wind and snow, and heating

costs can be reduced by as much as 30 percent.

9. Shade from trees cools hot streets and parking lots. Cities are “heat islands” that are 5–9 degrees hotter than surrounding areas. And cities spread each year.

10. Trees and shrubs properly placed and cared for on a residential or commercial lot can significantly increase property values.

11. Trees also provide nutmeats (walnuts, pecans, and hickory), fruit (plum, peaches, apples, and pears), berries for jams and jellies (chokeberry and buffalo berry) and maple syrup.

12. Trees add beauty and grace to any community setting. They make life more enjoyable, peaceful, relaxing, and offer a rich inheritance for future generations.

13. Trees give people a multitude of recreational opportunities and provide habitat for wildlife.

14. Trees along rivers, streams, and lakes reduce water temperatures by their shade, prevent or reduce bank erosion and silt, and provide hiding places for improving fisheries habitat.

15. They provide brilliant colors to landscapes in the fall. After the leaves drop to the ground and are raked, they provide excellent mulch for flowerbeds and gardens as well as exercise for people.

16. Police officers believe that trees and landscaping can instill community pride and help cool tempers that sometimes erupt during “long, hot summers.”

17. Trees are valuable as commemoratives of deceased loved ones and for passing on something of value to future generations.

18. Finally, many people enjoy planting and caring for trees simply because they like to see them grow.

Sources: Glenn Roloff USDA Forest Service – Northern Region Missoula, Montana