Garden arbors and arches

One of the most elegant additions you can make to your garden is a decorative accent, and a garden arbor or garden arch not only makes a beautiful accent piece, but it’s also quite useful for functionality too.

Garden arbors and arches are often used in several different ways. Most people buy an arch or arbor for decorative purposes. They may want to create a graceful entryway to their yard or garden for instance, or they might like to enhance a specific area of their garden instead. Garden arbors and arches are wonderful for functionality too though, because many different types of flowers and vines can be planted near them, and trained to climb up the arch or arbor to create an elegant, finished look.

There are a wide variety of arbors and arches to choose from for your garden too, and which one you decide to buy will depend somewhat on the functions you want it to perform, as well as the decorative style you’re looking for.

A garden arbor or arch is often the same thing with a different style, design, or size. Large arbors and arches are useful to create shaded and covered walkways in your garden for instance, and they’re excellent for growing plants and vines which grow quite large. Grape vines for instance, as well as Bougainvillea, Clematis, and many others, are prolific vine growing plants which can reach twenty feet or more in length at their full growth size.

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Garden Tip...

There is no sight more attractive in a window-garden than a fine Ivy vine trained up the casement, over the wall and ceiling; its dark, rich, glossy leaves, and thrifty look, make it an object to be admired. If grown in pots in the house, the soil will soon become exhausted, if the plant is growing rapidly, and it should be changed or enriched with decayed manure at least once each year, care being taken not to disturb the roots to a great extent. It is a mistake to allow Ivies too much pot-room, they will do better if the roots are considerably confined. Soap-suds or liquid manure if applied once a mouth when the plants are growing, will promote a luxuriant growth. When dust accumulates on the leaves, as it will, if grown in-doors, wash it off with a damp cloth or sponge; if this is long neglected, you need not be surprised if you soon discover the leaves to be covered with red-spider or scale-lice. Cold water is the best wash, when washing be sure and treat the underside of the leaves as well as the upper surface. I would recommend the "English Ivy" as being the best sort for general cultivation.
~ James Sheehan
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Most people don’t have enough space in their yards and gardens which will allow them to build an arbor which is six to ten feet long, and ten or more feet tall though, so they go for the more simple, smaller versions instead. These come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials too though, so you’re almost sure to find just what you’re looking for at your local or online garden center.

Some garden arbors and arches come with a garden bench attached for instance, so you have a built in sitting area with plants and vines draping overhead, or climbing up the back of your bench.

There are small garden arbors and arches which also have a window box attached to them, and they’re on wheels so they can easily be moved too. These are useful arbors for smaller vines and tall plants which may need shelter from direct sunlight at different times of the day. They’re also an excellent choice for anyone who may want to move their garden out of the way so they’re able to reach other supplies on their small porch or patio. And if you live in a city of course, or a location which has no yard, these small and portable garden arches are wonderful to use for patio container gardening too.

Gardening Tips and Ideas

Have you ever driven past someone?s home and thought how magnificent their yard looks? Perfectly manicured with incredibly gorgeous gardens ? and that is just the front yard; imagine what their back yard must look like! How did the come up with it? Did they use professional landscapers or was it a do-it-yourself project? It really doesn?t matter as you too can create and maintain that ?perfect? yard look and it won?t take all that much more effort than you are currently doing (even if it is none). Here are a few ideas for figuring out what ?your? perfect garden should look like:

Drive around ? observe everyone?s yard, take pictures of your yard before you start and take pictures of all the landscaping ideas you like. Piece together your yard pictures with the neat landscaping pictures in order to get a clearer sense of what you want.

Magazines ? pick up a few gardening magazines to get an idea of the latest trends and newest innovations.

Books ? buy a gardening book that is specific to your geographic region and climate zone.

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Garden Tip...

All individuals of the vegetable world are so created as to reproduce themselves from seed or its equivalent. Every plant that grows seems to possess the power to perpetuate its kind. All kinds of flowering plants can be grown from the seed, providing good, sound seeds are obtained, and they are placed under the proper influences to make them germinate and grow.
~ James Sheehan
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Visit local nurseries ? see what is in stock, learn terminology and different plant names. Visit a few nurseries out of town to view a greater variety of plants available (especially native ones).

Draw up your own plans ? you don?t have to be an artist or architect to do this and you really don?t need a professional doing it either. You just have to try and draw your area to scale.

Get some rope/string and visualize ? lay out the rope in the pattern or flow you want your garden or landscaping to take shape of.

Soil testing ? get a few soil samples and take them to a nursery for soil testing to determine the ph factor of your soil. Then you can adjust with compost or organic materials to achieve the best ph for proper plant growth.

Gardening tips are a different matter, unless you sit there an observe someone gardening; you will not pick up any tips by driving around. You know what tips really are? They are common sense approaches to particular problems in our life; we call them tips because sometimes we all need a little ?insider? information or help. Here are a few gardening tips you may not know:

Do not water in the evening or at night ? this can create disease or rot.

Always research your next gardening project ? don?t jump in without first, the knowledge and second, a plan.

Don?t buy plants impossible to maintain ? it is a waste of money and time.

Use mulch ? it lessens your gardening maintenance, keeps moisture in the soil, reduces weeds and enhances the beauty of your garden.

Weed barriers are a waste of time and money ? and they don?t work. Why? Because the weeds grow on top of the barrier.

Keep it real ? go native with plants whenever possible. It will lessen your costs, maintenance time and eliminate plant loss.

When planting ? always put water into the hole before you insert the plant and again after you have filled in the hole.

Pruning ? stay ahead of the game; taking a few minutes each week to trim is easier and faster than pruning back months of growth from bushes and shrubs.

All these gardening ideas and tips are relatively simple and easy to perform, you just have to do it.

Multiply Your Plants With Propagation

Did you know that you can grow an entire garden starting with just one plant? It’s true. By buying and caring for just one small plant, over time and with the proper care, you can end up with many, many more… all at no additional cost. It’s done with techniques known as propogation, and dividing.

Many common indoor and outdoor plants can be multiplied easily using basic dividing and propogation techniques. And once you know how it’s done, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been doing this before now.

Dividing a plant simply means to break it up into smaller pieces. This is often done when a plant becomes too large for a container it’s growing in, or too large for the garden space it’s planted in. You can divide a plant almost anytime though, as long as it is healthy and not too small.

To divide a plant, you’ll need to dig it up out of your garden first, Clean the roots off a bit with water so you can see them well - you can clean the soil off the roots by simply rinsing them gently with a watering can.

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Garden Tip...

The earth in vases of plants that stand out in exposed places, will rapidly dry out; if shells or fine gravel is laid over the surface of the soil, they will prevent it from "baking" after watering, and hold the moisture much longer than without. Try it.
~ James Sheehan
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Once the roots are clean, it’s usually fairly easy to tell where you should divide the plant at because often it looks like you have two or more plants all growing together to begin with. If this is the case, then simply pull the plants and their roots apart into multiple pieces.

If the plant doesn’t have an obvious place to divide it though, don’t worry, it’s still easy to do. Just use a very sharp knife, and cut the plant into pieces from the base through the roots. Be sure you’re leaving plenty of roots for each section you’re cutting off, so the plant can continue growing healthy and strong.

Once you have the plant pulled or cut into multiple smaller plants, then you just need to replant them in separate spaces. You can still have them all in the same garden bed if you’d like, just space them apart as if you’d bought multiple plants at the store, and care for them as you normally would.

Another way to get multiple plants off of one is to simply take cuttings. My mom used to do this with her houseplants actually, when a stem got broken off. She’d simply place the broken stem into a glass of water and sit it in the kitchen window. Within a few weeks new roots could be seen, and she’d plant it into a new pot of it’s own.

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Garden Tip...

This question is frequently asked! Do you recommend the use of artificial fertilizers for house plants, and does it benefit them? I invariably answer yes, if used judiciously. The use of good special fertilizers will help the growth of some kinds of plants, which, without such aid, would scarcely meet our expectations. The term artificial fertilizers, applies to all manurial applications, save those produced by domestic animals.
~ James Sheehan
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You can often do the same thing with outdoor plants too, and you don’t always have to wait for a stem or branch to break. Go outside and cut a branch off one of your plants. Try to cut it several inches from the tip and just below a leaf. Then pinch off at least the bottom three leaves on the branch, and place that into a glass of water. Sit it in a window which doesn’t get too hot, and refill the water in the glass every few days.

You can also just place the cutting into moist vermiculite, and you may find the new roots developing faster.

Do any number of these techniques regularly and you’ll soon find yourself overflowing with many beautiful plants.

Creating a Tea Garden

Creating a tea garden is one of the best types of gardens for a beginner to start with - especially if they love tea!

Tea gardens can be created in almost any sized container, or they can be planted outside in the ground too. You can simply plant various types of herbal teas into a designated area of your yard, or create a more formal garden bed for your tea garden instead.

Growing different types of tea will give you a lot of pleasure in the actual planting and growing of the garden, plus you’ll be able to enjoy many different types of tea to drink in your home as well. Here are some suggestions of the types of plants to put into your tea garden:

1. Mint. There are a variety of mint tea plants such as spearmint, peppermint, and others - which can be easily planted indoors or out, and they grow quite quickly too. Mint is a strong and fast growing plant actually though, and it can become invasive if you’re not careful.

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Garden Tip...

The spring is the time of the year in which to do the pruning of all kinds of plants, vines, and shrubs, that are out of doors, as they are then dormant. Some prefer to prune grape vines in the fall, just after they have ripened and shed their leaves. We think it unsafe to prune anything too severely in the fall, especially the grape vine. Much experience has taught us to select the month of March as the time of the year most suitable for performing the operation.
~ James Sheehan
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The best way to grow various types of mint plants is in a container. Whether you want the container inside or out doesn’t matter, it’s simply used to help contain the mint and keep it from invading the other areas of your garden. Containers can be used outside with mint even if you want the mint in a ground based tea garden too. Simply plant your mint seeds or starter seedling plants into any container you’d like - it doesn’t even have to be pretty - then plant that entire container into the ground.

Mint makes a wonderful tea all on its own, or you can use it to flavor lemonade, regular tea, salads and stews instead.

2. Lemon Balm. This is another fast growing herbal tea plant which can be grown inside or out, and in containers or in the ground. This herbal tea plant can get two to four feet tall at full growth, and it likes full to partial sun locations. This plant makes a wonderfully refreshing tea all by itself.

Lemon balm is also excellent to use for keeping various types of bugs and pests out of your garden, and you can rub the crushed leaves onto your skin to keep mosquitos away too.

3. Borage. This herb tastes a bit like cucumbers, and it’s often used in salads or other foods in addition to various types of drinks. This is an annual plant which grows to about three feet in height, and both leaves and flowers are used in teas, drinks, and foods.

4. Chamomile (Roman). This is an apple scented herb which works wonderfully just for walkways and paths, because it makes your entire yard and garden smell delicious. As a tea it also tastes like apple too though, so it tends to be a tea garden favorite for many gardeners. The flowers of this herb are what’s used for tea.

Chamomile only grows about three to twelve inches tall, and it prefers well drained, moist soil in either sun or partial shade.

The Beauty of Topiary Gardening

The term topiary?which is the practice and art of pruning and shaping trees and shrubs to create living sculptures?comes from the Greek word meaning ?places?. Gardeners who specialize in topiary choose evergreen plants with small needles and leaves, dense foliage and a relatively compact growth habit.

Wire frames or cages are sometimes used to provide a template for the design and add support to the finished product. Topiary sizes range from small ball-shaped ivy plants grown in six-inch pots to large privet hedges carefully trimmed into animal or human forms. Not for the beginning gardener with rare exceptions, practice of topiary demands a steady hand, perseverance and the willingness and ability to keep the topiary plant trimmed to the desired shape.

The earliest European topiaries date from the time of ancient Rome. After some years spent in obscurity, they regained popularity in the 16th century, when they began showing up in multiple forms in the formal terraced gardens and parterres of wealthy European families, and as single objects in smaller cottage gardens of the less affluent.

Typical topiary gardens at that time featured low hedges with potted trees trimmed into the shape of balls on posts and hedge plants shaped as obelisks. As the fashion for topiary grew, it became more complicated, especially in Holland and England.

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Garden Tip...

All plants will not flourish in the common temperature of a living-room; some require a low temperature, and others need a warmer one. The following plants require a temperature of from 70° to 80° in the day-time, and 55° to 60° at night Begonias, Coleuses, Calceolarias, Bouvardias, Ferns (tropical), Hibiscuses, Poinsettias, Tuberoses, Heliotropes, Crotons, Hoyas, Cactuses, all kinds, Caladiums, Cannas, Palms, Orange and Lemon Trees, Geraniums, etc.
~ James Sheehan
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Graceful and elegant as it can be, some topiary gardens feature more historical or even whimsical shapes, such as a huge hedge sculpted by pruning tools into the shapes of a farmer behind his horse and plow. There is little question about topiary being easy to maintain; even the slowest growing plants will need to be trimmed vigilantly if the shape of the original topiary design is to be well maintained.

Famous examples of topiary gardens can be found worldwide. In Manipur, India, what is believed to be the world?s tallest topiary stands 61 feet and is high sculpted of a shrub widely used in Indian gardens into a tiered shape that honors a god of the forest.

England?s Cliveden, Hidcote Manor, Great Dixter and Levens Hall gardens all offer excellent examples of topiary viewed by thousands of topiary lovers every year, as do the gardens at Chateau de Villandry in France and Villa Lante in Italy.

In North America, There is a fascinating topiary garden in Columbus, Ohio that recreates the tableau found in a painting by the French Impressionist artist George Seurrat. Both Massachusetts? Hunnewell Arboreteum and Maryland?s Ladew Topiary Garden offer outstanding examples of this interesting gardening art. The Ladew garden features a fox hunt scene complete with horses, riders, hounds and a fox!
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Garden Tip...

The proper time for trimming hedges of all kinds is in mid-summer, after the shrubs have made a thrifty growth; we would advise an annual pruning in order to have the hedge looking finely.

It is a bad plan to allow a hedge of any kind, especially an evergreen one, to run a number of years without trimming. If a hedge is neglected so long, and then severely pruned, it will look stubby and shabby for a year or two after. With a pair of sharp hedge-shears, a person having a straight eye will make a good job of the trimming every time.
~ James Sheehan
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Tips to Grow Your Own Plants from Seed

One of the most rewarding parts of gardening is to start something beautiful completely from scratch. And while you can do this by purchasing a starter seedling plant, it’s actually quite easy to grow many plants and flowers from seeds too.

Many popular flowers and plants grow easily from seeds, and once you have at least one growing you can often collect the seeds each year and start new plants from them as often as you’d like. There are various ways to grow plants from seeds, and here we’ll look at some of the most common.

Keep in mind that you can buy seeds from a store if you don’t have any plants to harvest them from to start with.

The plastic bag method: If you have very small seeds, you can often start them growing with a simple plastic sandwich bag and a paper towel. Just get the paper towel moist, and sprinkle the seeds on it. Then fold it up and put it in the plastic bag. Seal the bag and put it in an area which gets indirect sunlight. You might also want to mark the bag with a date so you’ll be able to tell when the seeds may start sprouting.

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Garden Tip...

If a new lawn of any extent is to be made, it should first be plowed deep, and if uneven and hilly, grade it to a level surface. The surface should have a heavy dressing of manure, which should be lightly plowed under, and then the surface should be dragged several times until fine, and then rolled with a heavy roller. The seed may now be sown, after which it should be rolled again. The spring is the best time to do this work, although if the fall be dry, it will answer nearly as well to do it at that time. The dryer the ground in preparing it for the seed, and for the sowing of the same, the better.
~ James Sheehan
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The seed pot method: Get yourself some small peat pots or nursery flats, and some good quality potting mix or vermiculite. Fill the pots with your soil and then plant your seeds in rows. Use the eraser end of a pencil to push the seeds into the soil about one quarter of an inch. Once planted, then you simply keep the pots moist until sprouts appear and they’re large enough to be transplanted into regular pots or the ground outside.

If you don’t have peat pots, you can use an egg carton instead. Simply put some soil into each egg section, and push one seed into it. If you use a cardboard egg carton, then you can simply cut it apart once the seeds have sprouted, and plant the entire thing into your new pot or garden bed when it’s time.

Some seeds can be sprouted by simply soaking them in water for several hours though, and this is a favorite method because it’s so quick and easy. Some seeds will automatically sprout just by soaking them in water, but others will need to be scratched - or scarified - before soaking them. By nicking or scratching the seed shell, the water is able to penetrate and start germination properly. If the shell is quite hard or thick and isn’t scratched or nicked first, then the water will not be able to penetrate and thus the seedling will not start.
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Garden Tip...

There are two simple methods of treatment that Cactuses should receive, namely: First, keep the soil about them constantly dry, and keep them in a warm place. Secondly, the soil should be of a poor quality, mixed with a little brick dust, and they should never be allowed too much pot room. If either of these two points are observed in the treatment of Cactuses, there will be no difficulty in keeping them in a flourishing condition all the time.
~ James Sheehan
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How to Test your Garden Soil for Acidity Levels

As all gardeners know, different strokes for different folks apply as much to plants as it does to people. Some plants such as azaleas and camellias are acid-loving, while others such as clematis prefer a much more alkaline soil to call home.

Soil acidity or alkalinity is defined by the amount of calcium-rich lime in the soil and the type of soil itself. Soil acidity and alkalinity are expressed by their pH; a pH lower than 7.0 connotes an acid soil while one with a pH higher than 7.0 is alkaline.

As a rule, soils found in moist climates tend to be more acidic while those in dry climates are more alkaline. For maximum plant growth and health, you must adjust your soil to suit the acid needs of the plants you plan to use.

Most garden supply centers sell soil testing kits, and some will even test a soil sample for you. Also, if you live near a university with an agricultural extension, your chances of getting a professionally conducted soil test are very high.

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Garden Tip...

Probably the most important matter to be observed in growing house-plants is that of watering them. The cultivator should know just when to water, and to give it where it will do the most good. Amateur florists often exhibit much poor judgment in watering. It is the habit of some to keep the soil about their plants constantly soaked with water, and they wonder why they are not thrifty or healthy. These cultivators do not stop to consider that such treatment is unnatural, and will have an effect contrary to what is desired. There are those who resort to the opposite extreme, and keep their plants all the time in a perishing condition of dryness, which is even worse than if they were watered to death. If we will observe how judiciously Nature distributes the sunshine and shadow, the periodical rains, and the refreshing dews, we will learn an important lesson.
~ James Sheehan
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If you go the soil pH test kit route, your kit will probably consist of a test tube, some testing solution and a color chart. Put a sample of your soil in the tube, add a few drops of test solution, shake it up and leave it for an hour or so to settle.

The solution in the tube will change, after which you can compare the color of your sample with the color chart that came with the kit to determine the pH of your soil sample. Higher end soil testing kits also usually include a booklet that will tell you how to interpret the results of your tests.

When you?ve identified the pH of your soil, you can change it to be more acid or alkaline depending upon the result your test obtained and the soil needs of the plants you want to plant. Usually, it?s easier to make soils more alkaline than it is to make them more acid?and because different soil types react in differently to added lime, clay soils and peaty soils require more lime than sandier soils.

Making highly acidic soil more balanced can be a lengthy project. It?s better to test your soil each year and make the indicated adjustments gradually. In addition to lime, adding hardwood ash, bone meal, crushed marble or crushed oyster shells will also help to raise the soil pH.

If your soil needs to be more acidic, you can use sulfur to lower the pH. Mix the sulfur thoroughly into the soil before planting. Sawdust, composted leaves, wood chips, cottonseed meal, leaf mold and peat moss will also lower the soil pH.

New gardeners rarely understand the whole issue of pH soil balance, but as you become comfortable with your new hobby and want to introduce a wide variety of plant species, it is important that your soil condition are optimal for your garden plants. For many, the process may seem complicated but it really needn?t be. Just test your soil conditions once a year and then either plant in that area according to the soil, or adjust the soil conditions to meet the needs of your existing plants.

Pruning and Shaping Trees and Bushes Creatively

Many inexperienced gardeners are hesitant to prune or clip back branches on the trees and bushes in their yards, because they don’t know it’s quite easy to do, and they don’t realize it’s very helpful for the grow and vitality of the plants too.

Trimming and pruning has practical and safety purposes first of all. If a tree branch is dead, you risk having it fall on your roof, a car, or even a person. So trimming it off is the safest thing to do. The same applies to bushes… if you have one with branches sneaking into your rain spouts, the best option is to trim those before they create damages that could lead to further problems.

Trimming and pruning will also allow you to shape your bushes and trees nicely though. Some people don’t like a manicured, neatly trimmed look however, and would rather keep everything as natural looking as possible. Unfortunately if you don’t trim and shape a bush or tree in its younger years, it can have growth problems and safety issues as it matures.

Trimming for shape and design can still look quite natural too, as long as you purposely keep the natural shape and flow of the bush in mind while you’re trimming. You can also create unique and unusual looks by trimming, and the results can sometimes be quite surprising.

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Garden Tip...

The spring is preferable to the fall for setting out trees and shrubs of all kinds. In the Northern States they should be set out about the first of April, to give the roots time enough to become established before warm weather starts the leaves.
~ James Sheehan
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I have a couple of large bushes up against the front of my own house, and they were quite overgrown and unruly when we first moved in. They’d been neglected for so long in fact, that most of the undersides of each bush was completely dead. Now I’ve never confirmed exactly what type of bush these are, but they’re a lot like standard hedge bushes or boxwoods. In theory, they’d look quite nice if they were cared for from the beginning.

Since mine needed such work though, I couldn’t just shape them into the standard square or rounded shape that most people do. I had to cut a large portion of those branches away at the bottom, and I did the majority of this gradually over a two year period. Once I had most of the dead material cut away, I realized the trunks and branches were quite interesting. They had strange knarled shapes and wonderful texture to them.

So I set about shaping one of the bushes in a way that would allow the shape and texture of those branches to be much more noticible. I started trimming the green pine needle sections into small balls. The first time I did this, it look like I had an overgrown Bonsai tree in my yard and everyone expressed condolences to the bush. My husband would even yell warnings to the bush every time I picked up my clippers! The bush ended up flourishing just from my trimming though, and it grew into the new shape wonderfully. I now have an interesting, unique yard decoration in the form of a bush as a result.

I liked it so much in fact, that I’ve started working on several more bushes to get similar results. And I planted Morning Glory vines around the base of the first bush, and these now climb all over it which makes it even more striking, particularly when the flowers bloom in the early mornings.

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Garden Tip...

If one has a fine lawn and desires to keep it so, he should never work upon or mow it when the turf is wet or soggy. The impression made by the feet in walking over the sod while in this state, will leave the surface rough and uneven afterwards. Do not water the grass or plants while the sun is shining hot, as it will scorch the leaves and make them turn yellow. All weeds, such as dandelions, plantain, etc., growing up through the grass, should be carefully and thoroughly dug out by the roots with a knife or pointed spade; if allowed to remain, they will soon become so numerous as eventually to kill out the grass and give to the lawn an appearance of neglect.
~ James Sheehan
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Now the downside of shaping a bush or tree in specific ways is that you’ll find yourself having to trim it regularly in order to keep the appearance you want. My bushes are so much healthier now that I find myself trimming for shape several times each year, and they could stand to be done about once each month if I wanted to devote that much attention to them.

So if you want to trim your bushes and trees in a certain way, then look at magazines or pictures online to see what kinds of ideas others have come up with. And drive around your neighborhood too, so you can get an idea of what various shapes look like as the bushes and trees “grow in to” their new shapes. Then start on your own, doing a little bit at a time, and adjust as needed while you go. If you start with a mature bush or tree then you’ll need to take your time with the shaping and pruning, but eventually you’ll end up with a beautiful new look that you just might love!

Creating scented garden paths and walkways

Creating a garden path or walkway which is filled with wonderful scents is fairly easy to do, and you’ll love the end results too! There are actually several ways to create scented walkways and garden paths, so here we’ll look at each…

1. Plant small scented flowers and herbs between your walkway stones. If you have a walkway or path in place already, or you plan to create one soon, one of the easiest things to do is add flowers and herbs which will release their scent each time someone walks the path.

Planting lavendar between your pathway stones for instance, will provide beauty as well as scent. Whenever you or someone else walks down your garden path, their feet will brush up against or crush the lavendar, and this causes it to release more of it’s sweet smell. Other plants you might want to consider for this technique include low growing herbs or flowers which have a strong smell such as lemongrass, sage, or rosemary.

2. Plant bushes or flowers along either side of your walkway. If you have plenty of scented bushes and shrubs, or flower beds with sweet smelling flowers in place already, then all you need to do here is create the walkway. This can be fun because putting the garden path in after already having blooming flowers and bushes in place, usually means you’ll have to create something of a winding and meandering path through your garden. And these are some of the most enjoyable kinds of garden paths you can have, because they allow you to slowly stroll through your plants and flowers, taking the time to enjoy them leisurely with all of your senses.

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Garden Tip...

In planting tree roses received from the nursery or elsewhere, be sure and set them deep; the stem, for six or eight inches above the collar, should be under ground. If wet moss be tied about the stem and head of the tree after it has been planted, and the moss kept wet for a week or two after planting, or until the buds begin to start, it will, in nine cases out of ten, save the tree. The moss maybe removed after the growth begins. If planted in the fall, the body and top should be well wrapped up in straw.
~ James Sheehan
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If you’re starting a brand new garden however, then you’ll of course have a great deal of freedom in choosing what plants and flowers will be along either side of the garden walkway. And this is also fun, because you’ll get to discover a whole world of scented flowers, plants, bushes and shrubs to choose from.

3. Put arbors and arches over your walkway, and grow scented climbing vines. This last idea combines the previous two to some extent, and it works quite well for putting scented garden paths into narrow spaces, while also helping to create additional shade and quiet space within the garden too.

An overhead walkway simply encorporates some type of arched structure or frame that is both high and wide enough for people to walk comfortably through. Once the structure is in place, you’ll simply plant climbing vines which produce scented flowers for as many seasons of the year as possible. As the vines mature, they’ll climb your walkway’s arched structure, and eventually encompass it completely. And when the flowers start blooming of course, even approaching near the walkway will be a wonderful experience.

Tips to Help With Shopping for Plants

When shopping for plants, sometimes things can become a bit confusing. It’s not uncommong to come home with too much or too little, and you might even find that you purchased things which weren’t overly compatible either. Then of course, there is the quality of the plants themselves… did you pick a dud that can’t be revived, or did you pick a very slow growing plant while it’s too small for your tastes and needs?

While none of us is perfect, there are some things you can do to help make your plant shopping trips more productive, so we’ll create a general checklist for you which may help.

1. Where do you intend to put the new plants? If you’re shopping for new plants which will be kept in pots inside your house, try to decide where you think the new plants will actually reside. This will allow you to know how much or how little sunlight that specific place in your home has available.

The same rules apply to outside plants too. Whether you’re putting them in a new garden bed or a container, you need to have an idea of where exactly you’ll be putting them.

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Garden Tip...

The spring is preferable to the fall for setting out trees and shrubs of all kinds. In the Northern States they should be set out about the first of April, to give the roots time enough to become established before warm weather starts the leaves.
~ James Sheehan
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2. Are there other plants already in place? If you’re shopping for plants with the intention of filling out or supplementing an existing garden bed or container, you’ll need to be aware of what you already have in place so that you don’t cause yourself additional headaches down the road.

For instance: Are those existing plants at their full mature sizes? If not then how much extra room will they take up once they’re fully grown? If they’re not fully grown, then you may want to consider buying annual plants so there will still be room for your existing plants to grow as needed. If you buy perennials to fill the bare spaces, then by the time everything is grown up you may find that your garden bed is over filled, and this may even cause growth problems with the plants in time too.

Also think about the plants which are already there. If you have a garden bed with invasive plants such as ivy or mint planted for instance, you may not have much luck trying to put rose bushes or tulips in there too.

3. What do you want to accomplish? When you go shopping for plants, it helps to have an idea of the end results you’d like before you start actually buying the plants and flowers. If you want to simply add some different flower colors or textures to a garden bed, then it’s usually safe to buy whatever catches your fancy. If however, your garden bed already has too much red in it and you want to balance that out, then it may help to make notes about which colors you’d like to add to the existing mix.

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Garden Tip...

It is a mistake to crowd too many plants into a basket, if they grow they will soon become root-bound, stunted, and look sickly. If the hanging basket be of the ordinary size, one large and choice plant placed in the centre with a few graceful vines to droop over the edges, will have a better effect when established and growing, than if it were crowded with plants at the time of filling. Hanging baskets being constantly suspended, they are exposed to draughts of air from all sides, and the soil is soon dried out, hence careful watching is necessary in order to prevent the contents from becoming too dry. If the moss appears to be dry, take the basket down and dip it once or twice in a pail of water, this is better than sprinkling from a watering-pot. In filling hanging baskets, or vases of any kind, we invariably cover the surface of the soil with the same green moss used for lining, which, while it adds materially to the pleasing appearance of the whole, at the same time prevents the soil from drying out or becoming baked on the surface.
~ James Sheehan
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If there’s a certain garden design style you’re trying to attain, knowing this before going shopping helps dramaticly too. If you want an old fashioned English cottage garden for instance, you’d need to look for different types of plants than those which would go into a desert cactus garden.

4. How to the plants themselves look? Once you’re at the garden center or nursery, you want to pay attention to how the plants actually look, and be honest with yourself about your personal gardening abilities. If you’re not sure how to take care of a Begonia for instance, then it might not be wise to buy one which looks like it needs extra tender loving care.

5. What is your budget? This may seem obvious, but most of us plant lovers tend to spend much more than we ever intended every time we go plant shopping. So if you have a budget that must be adhered to, keep this in mind as you’re shopping. It may help to write down your budget, and write down the cost of each plant you want too. Then if you find yourself over extended, go through your list and decide which ones can be left for the next shopping trip instead.