Savvy Gardening: Garden Ideas, Tips, Pictures, and More » Plant/Flower Types

Flower Pictures of the Week: Irises

Jennifer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:14:56 +0000

This week we’re showcasing our favorite Iris photos from flickr – enjoy!

Purple Bearded Iris:

photo credit: amandabhslater

Pink Iris:

photo credit: Donnaphoto

Purple Iris:

photo credit: faeparsons

And finally this gorgeous group of Irises – entitled “mmmm colour” -

photo credit: nicer than air

Flower Pictures of the Week: Tulips

Jennifer — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:22:07 +0000

Welcome to our first in a series of flickr flower photo highlights – check back as we select our favorite flower pictures each week!

photo credit: arvindgrover

photo credit: lissalou66

photo credit: [lauren nelson]

photo credit: elbfoto

Happy Spring!

How to Add Roses to Your Spring Garden

Jennifer — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:05:37 +0000

Plant Knock Out roses against your porch to add eye-popping color to your home.

(ARA) – Stroll your neighborhood and chances are you’ll spot landscape shrub roses decorating someone’s garden or backyard. Take a drive into town, and you’ll see them planted at your favorite shopping center.

If you haven’t noticed, landscape shrub roses have taken the country by storm. In home gardens, in containers and along highways, these low-maintenance roses bloom continuously from spring until frost with little to no effort.

“Anybody can grow these hard-working roses, no matter where they live. If you can grow grass, you can grow landscape shrub roses,” says James A. Baggett, editor of Country Gardens Magazine. He likes Knock Out roses for their drought tolerance and disease resistance, especially against black spot.

When designing with shrub roses, think of them as you would any flowering shrub, only this one will bloom continuously all season and do all the work for you!

Here are some tips on using landscape shrub roses in the garden and throughout the landscape.

1. Problem Solvers in Your Landscape
Whether you live in a city or the ‘burbs, have a small garden plot or large acreage, the gardening and decorating possibilities with shrub roses are endless. Plant them individually among other shrubs, annuals and perennials, in mixed beds and borders.

2. Pot up a Container
Renowned garden designer Jon Carloftis prefers to plant shrub roses in containers. “I like to give them perfect planting conditions such as good drainage, rich soil and the addition of regular fertilizer that won’t be an overdose to neighboring plants,” he says. “The results are outstanding when roses are planted in formal urns or combinations of rustic pots.”

From small apartments to grand homes, containers filled with shrub roses bring an understated sophistication to any sized deck, porch and patio. Pot them up in large and small containers, around a gazebo, poolside, or your entranceway for the perfect plant for all seasons.

3. Close to Home
Nothing says simple elegance like the original Knock Out rose. Try planting them “en masse” against your front porch or home. The large clusters of cherry-red blooms say “welcome” with a generous bloom cycle of every five to six weeks. Against your house, porch or deck, the rich, eye-popping red color is a sure winner.

Group several Knock Out roses together to hide unsightly utility units.

4. Second Look Curbside Appeal
Looking for plants with great curbside appeal that add year-round beauty? Cluster shrub roses around a mailbox or blend with perennials to create visual curb appeal. Plant the award-winning Rainbow Knock Out along with perennials. This lovely coral pink rose complements any color scheme and the blooms almost look hand-painted with rich yellow at the base. The plant adds height and color for maximum curbside appeal.

5. Now You See it – Now You Don’t
Do you have an unsightly utility unit, shed, trash can, or pool pump you want to hide? How about a slope or a hazardous spot to fill? Group hardy and attractive roses for a showy “cover-up.” Try planting Pink Double Knock Out with double flowers in a cheerful bubble gum hue. Unfazed by heat, this hardy shrub rose will cover up those unsightly spots with a pink profusion of color.

6. Borders and More
Want to create a natural privacy fence in your backyard? Shrub roses will keep wandering children, pedestrians or stray dogs out of the landscape with a colorful “living wall” hedge.

7. Create an English Garden
You don’t need to dream anymore about having a showcase formal garden. Stake and trim your favorite shrub roses to grow as small rose trees for the look and feel of an English garden. Mix in old-fashioned favorites such as spiraea and hydrangea to create an enviable cottage garden.

It’s no wonder that these roses are the number one choice for folks looking for a carefree landscape shrub rose that looks great and performs beautifully. For more information visit: TheKnockOutRose.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Bonsai – Tools For A Lifetime: The Essentials

Jennifer — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:00:20 +0000

Bonsai is in a way like photography – it is possible to buy dozens of expensive ‘add-ons’ to the basic equipment. Some of these are helpful, others merely give you the feeling that ‘Gee, I’m really an artist’. Tools do not make the artist – the artist uses tools.

But there are tools which are essential to creating the work of art that is each individual tree. Shears, cutters, tweezers, rakes and others will help you shape the bonsai tree. They can help you make the difference between a small, scraggly plant and a beautifully sculpted bonsai tree.

The first tools recommended will surprise you: paper and colored pencils, or a good design program. ‘Begin with the end in mind’ is the catchphrase of all thinking artists. You need to envision the final result, which in the case of a bonsai tree may be decades in the making. Your vision needs to be made concrete, in the form of an image that you can refer to over the months and years of shaping.

You don’t have to be rigidly locked into your initial idea – the tree will often resist your efforts. But you should have some specific goal in mind that is consistent with the nature of the individual plant before you.

In order to realize that vision you’ll need a good set of shears. You will use them for cutting, trimming and shaping.

Quality counts. Poor quality tools dull quickly and don’t cut sharply. Spend a little more and get shears specially made for bonsai work. A good pair, well kept, will last many years. A poor quality pair will wear out, rust and be useless within a year or two. In the long run you will spend less by buying quality.

They need to start sharp and to be kept sharp. Ragged edges, which look smooth to your eye but are evident at the tree’s level, will produce poorer results. Have you ever noticed, for example, that a ragged wound heals badly, much more so than one cut cleanly?

Concave cutters are essential to shaping the bonsai tree. They are used to remove branches and produce a concave wound. Paradoxically, that rounded scar heals faster than a straight one. The final result will be one that makes it difficult to see that any branch existed in the first place.

Sooner or later you will want to wire your bonsai to shape the trunk and branches, in order to produce varying styles and variations within a style. Wire is essential for that purpose. But unwinding wire after months or years represents a great risk to the tree. It should be cut off instead.

Cutting wire without damaging the tree requires skill in any case. But without the proper wire cutters it is nearly impossible. Wire is wrapped tightly and often covers a large portion of the tree. It needs to be snipped off in small sections without stabbing or snipping the trained branch.

Obtain a pair that can be kept sharp, that can cut thicker wire easily without shaking or pushing the tree. It will be helpful if they are the sort that can cut wire at the very tip. That will aid the bonsai artist in being precise and avoiding damage to the branch.

Bonsai – Introduction To the Living Art

Jennifer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:56:58 +0000

Say ‘art’ and most will think of painting or sculpture. There is a kind of sculpture, though, that takes as its raw material not stone or wood but a living tree. That is the art of bonsai.

From the Japanese word for ‘tree in a tray’, Bonsai is the art and product of shaping trees by careful pruning to produce a miniature tree or bush. Not produced from genetic dwarfs, bonsai are the result of years of patient shaping of ordinary species by master artists.

Because they are grown and shaped in a small pot, but are produced from ordinary species – pine, maple and many others – extreme care is required to keep the delicate plants healthy.

Soil type and temperature must be just so – conditions that are only within the artist’s control within a certain range. Pruning techniques take years to master and are only possible to a certain kind of temperament. Potting and re-potting practices must be learned and they are many and varied.

Watering alone is a complex science for these small trees and bushes. Too much and the bonsai will become water-logged and develop fungi and root rot. Too little and the soil quickly becomes dry and leaves wilt and the tree dies.

Soil and potting practices overlap with watering needs since drainage is critical. Pruning habits interact with shaping techniques, which in turn are affected by soil maintenance and watering practices.

Bonsai are among the most difficult products of art to create as all these elements and many more have to be carried out to near perfection merely for the plant to survive. Add to that complexity the goal of creating pleasing shapes, styles and colors for both plant and pot and you have a high art.

On top of the inherent horticultural difficulty of learning and mastering a dozen sub-sciences, there is the need to master the artistic vision and skills to produce any of several basic or advanced styles.

There are five basic styles alone: formal upright, informal upright, slanting, cascade and semi-cascade. From that base branch out a dozen advanced types, including the literati and other difficult forms.

An art of that kind is not mastered in a month.

Craftsmen labor for years to produce a single tree, which may last a hundred years or longer. The trees are then often passed down from generation to generation, each successive artist adding his or her own distinctive style. As the tree is lovingly molded according to the personal aesthetic of each caretaker, past efforts are venerated and learned from.

Years of training and experience are required to become a skilled bonsai grower. Ordinary horticulture is by itself a difficult craft. But to produce a miniature tree from ordinary species takes a lifetime of patience and learning.

The results are widely regarded as well-worth the effort, though. Bonsai are admired the world over for their uniqueness, their longevity, variety and beauty and for the skill that goes to produce them.

In an age when brilliant technology can mass produce global cell phones and self-diagnosing automobiles, these individually designed and hand crafted, miniature works of art continue to inspire awe and admiration.

Bonsai – How To Care For: White Pine

Jennifer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:46:50 +0000

Though no bonsai is easy to train or care for, pine is among the easier species. More tolerant to drying, they adapt well to a pot and often require only regular trimming and biannual repotting.

In the wild, pine commonly grow to 50 feet or more with trunks that are a foot in diameter and larger. Yet they make excellent bonsai trees and look stellar in miniature form. Because of their naturally straight trunks and symmetrical branch arrangements they are well suited to the formal upright (chokkan) style.

In the chokkan style, the trunk is straight and rises vertically from the base, in contrast to the cascade (kengai) that is both curved and grows horizontally across the surface. The chokkan thus makes a good starter species for budding bonsai artists.

Bonsai trees are not a dwarf variety, but a full-sized species that has been carefully trained to emulate conditions in the wild on a very small scale. White pine bonsai, therefore, will have the same characteristics as the full grown variety.

White pine have blue-green needles that form in bunches of five, growing from a small bud. Branches grow in a circular pattern, looking down at the tree from above, with several levels around the tree at intervals up the trunk.

A healthy tree looks healthy, especially in the spring when new growth appears. Needles will be a brighter green and start lengthening. Full-sized pines can add two feet or more to their height during the season. You’ll want to remove or reduce some of the new shoots during this period every year or two.

Repotting can be carried out during spring but can wait as late as early autumn, after the summer heat has cooled.

During repotting ensure there is good drainage when you’re done. Pines tolerate dryer soil much better than over-watering. A mixture of 50% soil, 10% peat and 40% coarse sand works well for many, but there are many variations on the material and relative amounts.

Repotting is a good time for root trimming, but be conservative. Pines need a deep pot in order to grow a deep root system for stability. No more than 1/3 of the root should be cut off during the procedure.

Branch pruning is best carried out during late autumn.

It’s common for some of the needles to become brown and fall off in the summer. This needn’t be cause for concern unless the tree is diseased.

Check for large hemispheres of very dark growth on the branch that can indicate the presence of a tumor. If there are none, and only a small percentage of the needles are brown, the condition may well be normal.

Aphids and mealy bugs are common pests, but easily controlled by a commercial or home-grown mixture. Often a slight misting with a dilute liquid dishwashing detergent will take care of the problem temporarily. The needles should be misted with plain water the day after.

Pines can be watered daily provided there is very good drainage, but every other day is fine. Feeding should be done every two to four weeks from early to late spring and again at the end of summer to early autumn. This coincides with the pine’s active growing seasons.

Bonsai – How To Care For: Maple

Jennifer — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:18:00 +0000

Maples come in a variety of sub-species, but all of them make beautiful bonsai trees. Slightly more difficult to care for, they are nonetheless greatly in demand by bonsai enthusiasts. Their leafy appearance is attractive, particularly in the fall when they turn to yellow and red, just as do the full-sized maples.

Some varieties thrive well as indoor plants, but for the most part bonsai trees are outdoor plants. Opinions vary about how much sun they require, but partial sun/partial shade is a safe bet with most types.

They survive winter well in the wild, but in bonsai form they require some care. Less water in the winter is called for and care should be taken that the roots don’t get any frost.

Copious watering in the summer is warranted, provided – as with any bonsai tree – there is good drainage. A little extra moisture isn’t a bad thing, though, especially for the flowering varieties. Maples like moist soil.

They adapt well to various styles, but the informal upright (shakan) may be best, given their leafy nature and somewhat brittle branches. It is possible to train them into the han-kengai (semi-cascade) and others, but extreme care must be taken to avoid splitting the trunk and branches.

Han-kengai can be achieved without wiring by a cord attached to a stake in order to curve the trunk. However, this form doesn’t typically occur in nature. Since traditional bonsai art aims at emulating nature on a small scale, this form is uncommon.

Feeding once per month is fine, with a slow-release fertilizer from spring to autumn. Taper off during hot summer months, though. An organic type works well, but Peter’s 20-20-20 is also a good mix. Hold off any feeding for a few weeks after repotting.

Since they can produce ample branches and leaves, root systems tend to grow accordingly to support them. Pruning, therefore, should be taken as a concerted project. For fewer branches and leaves, roots can be pruned more aggressively.

Branch pruning is best carried out in fall or winter when there are fewer or no leaves. This gives a clearly visible working area, leading to fewer mishaps. Maples heal better if pruning paste is used to seal the wound after branch removal.

Pinch back new growth during the active growing season to keep foliage to a moderate level. Remember you are creating a bonsai, where the goal is somewhat minimalist. A fully leaved tree looks more like an ordinary houseplant.

Wiring is less common with maples for a variety of reasons beyond the somewhat brittle branches. They acquire pleasing shapes with leaf and branch pruning without extra effort and they scar easily.

Like most bonsai trees, repotting every two years is a good practice. When replanting a mixture of 60% soil, 20% peat and 20% coarse sand will provide the correct drainage environment. This is best done in early spring, before buds have started.

Bonsai – The Basic Styles, Part III

Jennifer — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:30:03 +0000

Kengai (Cascade)

The cascade style is among the more beautiful and desired, but also more difficult to achieve. The trunk grows down below the level of the container, often twisting as it does so.

In nature, a tree growing near a cliff subject to heavy snows, avalanches and wind may assume this inverted position. Those forces are not generally available to the bonsai artist to imitate, however. Nevertheless, with wiring and patience it can be accomplished.

To remove obstacles from growth in this direction, it’s important that the tree and pot be placed near the edge of a table or bench so the trunk can hang below the horizontal. Also, since the trunk will be on the side and below, it’s important to use a heavy pot for stability.

As the trunk is encouraged to grow in the downward U-shape, branches should be trained to sprout horizontally to give the tree a full appearance. Planting directly in the center, not near the edge of the pot, is standard practice.

Often the tree will be trained to grow up and over, rather than simply over the edge. This gives a flow to the look and is accompanied by a tip that resides directly above the center. Branches should be trimmed to create a ’stair-step’ pattern to complement the cascade and give it a ‘meandering river’ look.

Since the trunk and several branches will reside below the pot, extra care is required to ensure that all receive adequate water and nutrients. Foliar feeding (applying fertilizer solution by spraying leaves or needles, which is then absorbed by the foliage) is recommended.

Han-Kengai (Semi-cascade)

Another style, han-kengai (semi-cascade) is often categorized separately. In this case, the cascade projects over the horizontal plane at the base of the pot, but neither the trunk nor branches grow below that level. In the semi-cascade style, the tip remains above the level of the ‘ground’.

The category is not sharply defined, since some han-kengai will have portions that are below ‘ground level’, while others will project out horizontally. In either case they retain the curving trunk style common to both the kengai and han-kengai styles.

As with any style, using the proper species for your envisioned design is imperative. Fortunately in the case of the kengai and han-kengai, many will serve. Junipers are a popular choice, but flowering cherry trees are also used. Even cedars are used, where the flexible wood makes them an accommodating partner in the project. Some flowering species are used, such as chrysanthemums. ‘Weeping’ species are also good choices, such as willows.

As with the kengai, it’s important to ensure that the slow-moving nutrients make it to the tips. Foliar feeding is easily accomplished but needs to be done regularly as part of the watering and feeding practice.

Bonsai – The History of a Living Art

Jennifer — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:14:25 +0000

The craft of shaping miniature trees in a small pot first arose over a thousand years ago in China, where it was known as pun-sai.

Even then the variety of individual bonsai was astonishing, as known from ancient drawings. Gnarled, faux-windswept trunks, with sparse leaves to full-flowering miniature blossoming trees dot the historic record.

The Chinese artists often went one step beyond nature and shaped their trees into replicas of real animals and imaginary icons. Native birds, mythical dragons and a host of tiny fauna formed the models for many of these fine sculptures.

As Zen Buddhism spread from China to Japan during the Kamakura period, so too did the art of bonsai. The late 12th century saw the migration of both artists and craft techniques to the small island in the northeast.

While bonsai was already a highly developed skill in China, as it grew in Japan it evolved into the highest of arts. The care and patience required, the complexity in miniature and the creation of a living work of art suited the temperament of the horticultural artists of Japan.

Planted first in the monasteries, the art of bonsai was practiced and refined by the learned scholars and cloistered artists of this rural society. This gentle art, requiring the skill of a jeweler and the patience of a saint, suited the monks well.

Developed to a peak during the 18th century, where they were frequently regarded as treasured objects by the nobility, bonsai rapidly became popular beyond the walls of the monastery and the palace.

As Japan grew from an agricultural society to an industrial and trading powerhouse in the 19th century an ironic historical twist occurred. The agricultural art of bonsai spread from the monasteries to the general populace.

As Japan, for centuries fiercely isolationist, opened up its ports and palaces to Westerners, the distinctive miniature trees drew the attention of awe-struck visitors. Nowhere before in their travels had seamen and ambassadors seen anything like these carefully crafted living things, so like their larger cousins.

Many adopted the practice of placing fine bonsai in a ‘tokonoma’ – a special niche in every Japanese home whose purpose is to display special ornaments and prized possessions. Among these was invariably a bonsai or two.

Museum exhibitions of bonsai in the Western world became popular at the same time as they began to display animals and artifacts from travels and conquests around the globe. In London, Vienna and Paris bonsai were all the rage. With the Paris World Exhibition in 1900, the future worldwide fame of these miniature trees was assured.

As with any popular phenomena, there grew pressure to mass produce bonsai to meet the demand for these unique living works of art. But bonsai resist mass production. Each must be carefully tended over decades to produce even a recognizable tree, much less a work of art.

But many new artists developed many new forms and this living art is now practiced and the products displayed around the globe. Bonsai are treasured in the US and Asia, but also around Europe, South Africa and Australia. Anywhere there is abundant sunshine can be found the bonsai.

The history of this unique form of art is hardly finished as the artisans continue to create new and ever more varied ways of shaping and displaying these glorious miniature trees.

Bonsai – Basic Watering and Feeding: Nutrients

Jennifer — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:03:01 +0000

Trees are amazingly self-sufficient. They take in needed elements from the environment without having to move to fetch it as animals do. But that can be a limitation as well, since they are dependent on finding what they need nearby.

In the case of most trees, elements leech through the soil and into contact with the roots. Bonsai, since they’re confined to a pot, need supplements added artificially. Fortunately, supplying the right ones in the correct amounts at the appropriate times is one of the simpler tasks associated with caring for them.

Bonsai ‘food’ can readily be obtained from a local nursery or gardening section, or purchased online. The most common type contains NPK, nitrogen (N), phosphates (P) and potassium (K). The last is usually in the form of potash, a material made from the ashes of wood and plants. Beyond these three, bonsai need a number of other nutrients, including iron (Fe) and vitamins (especially B-vitamins).

In a pinch, beer makes a good home-recipe substitute for a B-complex, since it contains several B vitamins. The risk is that, unless the alcohol content is very low, you can damage the tree. Be sure to use a weak American beer and dilute it to at least half-beer, half-water before using.

Whether using beer or commercial B-complex supplements, spraying onto the leaves in cooler or moderately warm weather is an ideal way to apply. Above 85F (29C) the stomata (holes) in leaves close and the tree stops aspirating (’breathing’) – the exchange of gases and moisture through the leaves is radically lowered.

Spraying the leaves during hot weather cools them enough to open up, but they lose moisture to the hot air, which drys out the leaves and ultimately the tree. More bonsai are killed from incorrect watering practice than through any other means.

One good way to apply nutrients is to use commercially available pills. Place them on the soil to the left and right of the trunk and water daily. The water and natural leeching process will import the nutrients down through the soil.

How much nutrient to supply depends on a number of factors, including the age, size and species of the tree, how long the tree has been growing since the last re-potting, how good the drainage is, the development of the root system and others.

Some experimentation will be needed, but following the directions on the packet is a good beginning. Watch for burned leaves or drooping flowers, one sign of too much of a good thing.

Nutrient supplements should be added in larger amounts during the growing season, but small amounts are helpful during the fall (Sept-Oct in the Northern Hemisphere) to aid color enhancement. NPK 0-10-10 is useful at this time.

Feeding every 2-4 weeks is best, but don’t feed the tree immediately after re-potting. Wait three or four weeks. Feeding is best carried out while the soil is moist, but for the pill-type can be part of the watering regimen.