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Trees & Houseplants : Home & Garden
How to Control the Red Imported Fire Ants
Persistence is the key to controlling red imported fire ants. Even if you get rid of them, they are usually back the following spring and summer. The reason is that fire ant colonies migrate from untreated areas onto property treated the previous year. Another method of migration is in nursery stock
What Is a Good Ground Cover for Shady, Hard to Grow Areas?
Vinca grows in shady areas with poor soil.vinca spring flowering carpet image by starush from Fotolia.comExpert OpinionVinca minor, also known as periwinkle or myrtle, is one of the best all-around ground covers, according to Barbara Damrosch, landscape designer and author of "The Garden...
How to Deadhead Sweet Peas
Sweet pea, Lathyrus odoratus, is an annual vine grown in gardens for its sweet smelling flowers. Sweet pea flowers bloom in shades of red, pink, white and blue. Grow sweet peas in moist, fertile soil, in full sun. Generally they like cool soil and tolerate light frosts. Deadhead, or cut off, sweet p
How Big Does a Weigela Shrub Get?
The weigela plant was formerly known as the Cardinal shrub, according to the Washington State University website. Native to Asia, this deciduous shrub produces flowers in the spring and early summer. Many different varieties of weigela shrubs are available.
How to Add Top Soil
Whether you're installing a new lawn or preparing a garden for various plants and flowers, adding topsoil is the best way to introduce elemental materials often lacking in the subsoil. Rich with nutrients, topsoil provides plants with essential elements for healthy growth. With a few gardening and c
What Does Chlorine Do to a Plant?
Soil provides plants with water and nutrients, in a dissolved state, that plants need to thrive. Soil gets nutrients from the weathering of rocks and decomposition of organic materials. Nutrients must be monitored so that plants are not getting either too much or too little. Nitrogen (N), phosphorou
How to Water a Tricolor Beech Tree
The tricolor beech tree (Fagus sylvatica "Tricolor") is a sight to behold, with variegated pink, white and green foliage throughout the growing season. Because it is a slow-growing tree that reaches 25 to 40 feet of height in maturity, it makes an excellent specimen planting. In nature, the tricolor
What Is Soil?
Soil is not just dirt. It is the evolving layer of decomposing rock that covers parts of the Earth not covered by water or sand. Soil covers just 10 percent of the Earth's surface but produces all of the world's crops. The biology of soil and its physical properties are the subject of study for agro
How to Grow Broad Fava Beans in Zone 7
Broad beans, or fava beans, can thrive in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 11. Fava bean plants are surprisingly resilient, giving gardeners in zones with milder winters the option to plant in either spring or fall. Unfortunately, the temperatures experienced in zone 7 winters are a bit too low for fa
How to Transplant Lilium
True lily perennials belong to the botanical genus Lilium, which separates them from daylilies and waterlilies often grown by gardeners. These lilies grow from scaled bulbs, not tubers or rhizomes. Typically lilies are best grown in a sunny garden location in a fertile, humus-rich soil that is moist
Plants Toxic to Animals: The Lipstick Plant
With all the different things out there that can harm animals, it's hard to know which plants are toxic to them and which ones are not. In fact, the ASPCA has a list of toxic and non-toxic plants on their website to help pet owners understand the dangers of having certain plants in their homes. The
How to Save a Dying Rosemary Tree
Rosemary trees have earned a reputation among gardeners for being finicky, turning from a healthy tree one day to a shriveled brown fright the next. To save a dying rosemary tree or protect your healthy rosemary tree, you will need to strike a delicate balance between enough water and too much water
How Fast Does White Bird of Paradise Grow?
The Giant White Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) becomes a large, thick-stemmed tropical perennial up to 30 feet tall. Evergreen when not nipped by a light winter frost, it grows into a clumping mass of large paddle-like leaves with white and purple flowers.
How to Fertilize Ornamental Sweet Potato Vines
The ornamental sweet potato vine is also called by the formal name of Ipomoea batatas, and most have light to medium green leaves, although some varieties have purple or even bronze coloring. It is grown mostly in containers as an accent to other flowering plants, but can also be grown in the ground
How to Cold Stratify Raspberry Seeds
Raspberries will not produce fruit until the second year. Once the plant grows raspberries, the fruits produce small seeds that are used to grow more plants. Before you can plant raspberry seeds, they need to go through a cold stratification period. Cold stratification involves combining the seeds w
Bird Feeder Ideas
Birds need extra food during the winter months.Pine Siskin image by catbird338 from Fotolia.comThere are about as many different types of bird feeders as there are birds. Bird feeders can be purchased or made at home, and can be very unique in style. Some of the most creative and unique...
Common Diseases for Spruces
Spruces are often used for landscaping because of their attractive appearance, year-round color and ability to block wind around a home. They are usually a low maintenance tree, but on some occasions, they show signs of diseases that can severely damage them. Understanding the signs of some of the m
Solutions for Rain Water Runoff
Rain water runoff is a growing problem in many American cities. The hard surfaces of roads, sidewalks and parking lots interfere with the natural process of rain water absorption, causing the water to puddle and run off into gutters and sewer systems, collecting pollutants along the way....
Gardening Advice for the Rose of Sharon
The rose of Sharon, scientifically known as Hibiscus syriacus, is a shrub that grows to a height of 12 feet, producing large pink, white, red or purple flowers every summer. It thrives in a variety of well-drained soils when placed in full sun, but has some common growing problems.