Blossom Lady / Topics

Most indoor plants are relatively easy to grow, so it can be frustrating when your arrowhead plant or Christmas cactus keels over. Don’t feel bad if your plant fails to thrive; we’ve all made indoor gardening mistakes from time to time. Chances are, you haven’t paid enough attention to the plant’s needs, or you’ve killed it with kindness. Here are some suggestions for preventing problems with houseplants.

Looking for a beautiful bouquet of flowers without spending a lot of money on fresh cut flowers? A cutting garden is a budget-friendly option because it's in an easily accessible spot at home where you can snip to your heart's content. Think of the whole garden as an atmospheric flower garden that looks just as good outside as it does inside. It's such a joy to see flowers blooming in the garden that it's often hard to cut them down to bring them indoors. That's the beauty of a designated cutting garden. Find a secluded, sunny spot in your garden that guests won't notice and fill it with plants meant for cutting. Then treat your cutting garden as your own private source of flowers for bouquets that beautify your indoor spaces. Think you're out of room for a new garden, even if it's tucked away? How about setting aside a few rows in your vegetable garden for flowers. It's a win-win situation. You get flowers to cut and the flowers attract more pollinators to your vegetables. Let's get started.

Most houseplants are relatively easy to grow, so it can be frustrating when your arrowhead plant or Christmas cactus topples over. Don't feel bad if your plant doesn't thrive; we've all made houseplant growing mistakes from time to time. You probably didn't pay enough attention to the plant's needs or killed it with kindness. Here are some suggestions for avoiding problems with houseplants.

Wildflowers are truly wonderful materials for the gardener, especially the mixtures that can be grown from seed. They are usually labeled by climate or geographical area and contain between 6 and 12 different kinds of flowers. Many such mixtures are available from catalogs and garden centers. Discover how to grow wildflowers from seeds in this short guide.

For most of us, the home garden is the epicenter of our attempt to live a greener life, and one of the few places where the only invited guest is nature itself. The things we grow there are the purest and safest possible. The problem is that the things we grow them with often aren't. Here are some ideas of how to help you stay away from toxic tools in the garden.

Most of the organisms that decompose organic matter are aerobic—they need air to survive. As the pile decays, the air inside the pile is consumed and the rate of decomposition declines. Bacteria that require less air to function take over. These bacteria work more slowly than aerobic bacteria. That’s why a pile that’s never turned and doesn’t have some other way of gaining access to air takes such a long time to decay. Learn the best techniques for introducing air into a compost.

July means mid-summer. That spells oppressive conditions for both plants and people. It's not bad enough that the heat bakes you: The mosquitoes and ticks take that as a cue to feast upon you. The chief task of Southern gardeners is fighting drought. Northern gardeners should be watchful for dry conditions, too, but not to the same degree. Mid-summer is a good time for Northerners and Southerners alike to take stock of the garden and consider suitable adjustments for next year's garden. Discover the short ultimate mid-summer gardening to-do list.

Nine out of ten gardeners grow tomatoes, and that number would rise to 10 out of 10 if the holdouts tried a fresh garden tomato and compared it to a grocery store purchase. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh, homegrown tomato! However, many gardeners who grow tomatoes encounter growth problems. As the summer gets warmer, some tomatoes have trouble bearing fruit. Be patient, and you'll start seeing little green tomatoes again when the nights start getting cooler. In the meantime, harvest ripe tomatoes in time to relieve stressed plants of their heavy load. This list of common tomato plant problems and their solutions will help you identify a problem-whether it's just starting or already full-blown-and show you how to fix it so you can save your tomato plants and harvest delicious tomatoes this year.

Succulents and cacti are very popular plants in gardens all over the world, in part because they can survive in so many different climates. They're beautiful to look and nearly indestructible. Hacking your own homemade soil for these uniquely beautiful plants is easy to do if you follow the formula below; it may be used for indoor or outdoor containers or in planting beds. No matter what kind of cactus or succulent you're growing, the rules are pretty similar among the different species. Here are the general rules for growing top-quality succulents.

Be prepared for when the weather gets steamy. Get tips on how to keep your garden alive when extended periods of hot, dry weather arrive. A drought can be a gardener's worst nightmare. When a hot, dry weather pattern sets in, it affects your landscape in many ways. There is nothing you can do to prevent a drought, but there are some strategies you can employ to minimize the impact on your garden. Learn best tips for gardening in drought conditions.

Growing tomatoes is often the impetus for starting a vegetable garden, and every tomato lover dreams of growing the ultimate tomato: firm but juicy, sweet but tangy, aromatic and without blemish.
Unfortunately, there are few vegetables more prone to problems than tomatoes. The trick to growing great-tasting tomatoes is to choose the best varieties, plant them properly, and control problems before they occur. Start here with some tried and true tomato growing tips to make sure you can have a great tomato harvest each year.

Any gardener can tell you that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. But the second best time is today, so dig in and make it happen. Seedlings aren’t expensive and a tree provides untold benefits, including shade, birdsong and even an increase in your property value. Here are 14 top tips to get you started.

There are over 500 different species in the Viola genus, including annuals, perennials, and even some subshrubs. Many self-seed and give you years of enjoyment. Violas are edible flowers and make unexpected garnishes and salad ingredients. They can also be candied for a frosty effect or to decorate cakes or other sweets. Violas tend to have small flowers and tolerate heat, with a long blooming season from early summer to early fall. Pansies have larger, more intensely colored flowers and are most commonly used as winter bedding. However, there is such a wide selection of violas that you can find a plant to suit any garden situation, from hanging baskets to patio containers to woodland borders.
These cheerful, edible, cool-season flowers are easy to grow and a delight in the garden. Discover everything you need to know about growing bright, cheery violas, in this brief practical guide.

There is a wide variety in the genus Geranium, but most of the commonly grown species are low-growing, dense, carpet-like plants with flower stalks that poke and weave through neighboring plants. The flowers float on top of the plant in shades of white, pink, magenta, purple and blue. The flowers are small - about an inch - and cupped, which attracts many butterflies and bees. Hardy geraniums can be used in a variety of ways in the landscape, depending on the variety. Some varieties make good bedding plants, others are ideal for woodland gardens and semi-shaded locations, while still others make excellent ground covers or rock garden plants. A few hardy geraniums bloom only once, usually early in the season, but most begin blooming in mid-summer and bloom again sporadically throughout the growing season. Newer varieties, such as 'Rozanne', flower throughout the summer. Discover some handy tips on how to grow this beautiful flower in your garden.

Flowers are beautiful, bringing a splash of color to our gardens and veggie patches. But they are so much more than just beautiful. Flowers play an important role in our ecosystem, they can be edible, and they are perfect for attracting beneficial insects and other small helpful animals. This is especially true for pollinators. The functioning of our ecosystem rests on the tiny backs of these pollinators - a huge burden to carry with their small shoulders! In fact, we rely on pollinators to produce up to a third of our food. Discover how to plant with pollinators in mind, and the bees, birds, and butterflies (and your fruit-bearing plants) will thank you.