A garden a serves a man’s every day need for s refreshing and pleasent experience.We have to appreciate that the garden serves as a home not only to the trees and plants that appear, but is a home to lots of small and big creatures of animal kingdom. Thus a garden is a conservatotory in these modern times of fast industrialization and increasing threat to ecological balance.

Thus a gardener has to keep in mind the need for aiding ecological balance or nature conservation when designing or planning or restructuring a garden.

In India, garderners (government and private) show a strong tendency for planting exotic species (totally foreign species or exotic to that particular microclimate, as seemingly they beleive that exotic species are attractive.Yes every thing new is attractive and indigenous species look ugly as our eyes got used to them.This tendency for exotic plants and trees either in gardening or largescale social forestry is atrocious and gives no regard for the essence of nature conservation and ecological balance that these gardens can serve for!

A indigenous plant or tree supports numerous other soil flora and fauna, birds and other animals through various ecological relations.An exotic plant or tree on the other hand, while not supporting the flora and fauna of that particular area, may actually have a deteriorating effect!

An example in India is the blunder of planting eucalyptus species for social forestry purposes.Eucalyptus has been given a great promotion by late Mr.Sanjay gandhi decades back as it seemingly required less water and grows fast, evenwhile giving some economic output in the form of timber and pulp.

Eucalyptus could have been selected for the afforestation in the areas where it is a naturally occuring species and will have some ecological relations establishes in the microclimate of that area.But planting this in areas where is is completely new.

Another grave blunder which is being practiced till day is, plantation with eucalyptus after clearing indigenous forest areas for the purpose of quarrying or mining purposes.In thiis case, the animals and other flora and fauna will be severely affected as indigenous species of that particular forest are replaced by eucalyptus and the area supporting their food and shelter requirements gets compressed and increases interspecific and intraspecific competetion. In these cases of reforesting the cleared forests, a mix of the existing species can be used for plantation.These species may not be economically rewarding like eucalyptus or grow fast as eucalyptus or any other exotic species. But they have lot of ecological significance and cannot be valued monetarily. More ideally the cleared area has to be filled in with mud from the existing forest so that the microclimate of the forest is replicated and helps the cleared area to gel uniformly in course of time.

Moreover the indigenous plants or trees survive in the natural rainfall and hence need no additional inputs.

I just gave an example of Eucalyptus, as it is widely planted in India, the similar is the case with unjudicious use of many other exotic plants.

I am not against exotic plants in general, but it has to be avoided when going for large scale plantations.In gardens they can be monitored well and can be accomodated 10 percent.Let the remaining 90% beauty be attined from indiginous species.

I request the readers not to get confused with what i mean indigenous or exotic.By indiginous i mean that belongign to a particular microclimate or small area with in a district or state or a country.By exotic we mean a plant not naturally occuring in that particular area or micro climate.

I hope that enthusiastic readers, gardeners, forestry people will further this discussion.

Ravikumar Uppaluri hails from Kaikalur, Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh State in India.The famous Kolleru bird sancturay, a fresh water lake that attracts birds from as far as siberia, is located near Kaikalur. Having spent the childhhod close to such nature rich areas, a deep interest and love for nature were inculcated right from child hood.Having done masters in agricultural science, This emotional bonding took a scientific and logical enquiry making scientifically and emotionally in sync with the cause of nature.

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Container gardening is quick becoming a favorite with a lot of gardeners. Generally you will find people living in apartments and condos without any lawn area are container gardeners. You will see flowers, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs spilling over the railings of balconies. However, the popularity and ease of container gardens has spilled over to homeowners.

Although the majority of container gardens are seen around decks, patios and porches, you can have a container garden anywhere, even spread among your yard based flower garden. Some gardeners use container gardening to add accents to spots in their garden that may be thin while awaiting perennials to bloom. This is also a way to help achieve just the right color scheme for your garden. Annuals in containers are a way to add color to your perennial garden all season long.

A lot of people now seem to use their gardens as extensions of their homes, adding garden ornaments and furniture, with some people creating garden “rooms”. These gardeners are also finding the variety, shapes, and sizes of containers helps them pull together specific garden themes. Garden containers come in a wide array of colors from unglazed orange clay to bright and brilliant emerald and blue. There are containers that are made from wood, metal, plastic or resin.

Using a container garden can also help you and your plants and flowers co-exist happily together. With container gardening you can see that each flower receives the correct amount of light, or shade to make it thrive. It’s also easier to have greater accuracy when watering as you do it dependent on the needs of each plant. The rule is that you should first feel the soil, if it’s dry, pour water into the container just until it starts to come out of the bottom of the pot. Wait about one half hour then dump the excess water out of the saucer.

At the end of the summer your favorite plants and flowers can be brought inside to be enjoyed until they can be safely put out for the next year.
About the Author

This article provided courtesy of http://www.floral-facts.com

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(ARA) - Almost every woman in America knows the feeling: you leave your partner to do the laundry and return to find that your linens are pink, your blouses are bleached, and your favorite jeans are three sizes too small. It’s no wonder that in households across America, 89 percent of women are still primarily responsible for doing the laundry.

According to a recent national survey commissioned by GE Harmony — a new washer and dryer system that takes the guess work out of doing the laundry — one in ten men know nothing about laundry, despite the fact that it is one of the oldest domestic tasks in existence. In addition, 23 percent of women consider their partners to have little or no knowledge about laundry procedures.

“There are many household chores of which women tend to carry the heavier load,” says Keith F. Luscher, author and relationship guru. “Laundry is among the most significant. Men have all kinds of excuses for why they don’t do laundry. Everything from ‘I don’t have time’ to ‘I don’t know how to use the machine.’”

But ladies, take note, those excuses no longer have merit. The GE Profile Harmony Clothes Care System is the first washer that communicates electronically to the dryer, presetting dry cycles for better clothes care and increased time savings. The washer talks. The dryer listens. The result is better clothing care. With this laundry pair, and a few laundry-room tips from GE, ladies can relax when it comes to having their men take care of the clothes.

“Our Harmony Clothes Care System, designed for today’s busy lifestyle, offers a solution for families across the country,” says Cynthia Fanning, marketing manager — Clothes Care, GE Consumer Products. “It is smart enough to take the guesswork out of doing laundry, saving time and providing better clothes care. This wash system is in harmony with today’s lifestyles — making the lives of busy men and women everywhere, easier.”

*Simple Sorting Tips: It’s not just color and whites

Sort by texture: separate lint producers, such as terry cloth from lint collectors like corduroy.

Sort by fabric type: separate cottons and linens from synthetics and blends and separate polyester knits from delicate fabrics.

Sort by weight: separate heavy items, such as towels from light items, such as curtains.

* Helpful Washer/Dryer Hints

Don’t overload the washer or dryer — For the best cleaning and drying action, clothes need room to move freely.

Detergents work best in warm-to-hot wash water.

Stop dryer tangles by sorting and untangling clothes prior to and during drying, and never combine two wash loads. Save energy by keeping the dryer filter and exhaust system clean, using “no-heat” cycles when practical and drying similar fabrics together.

For more information about the GE Harmony system, visit www.geharmony.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

About the author:

Courtesy of ARA Content

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As spring begins, my favorite day is the one where,
suddenly, from the ground appear hundreds of tiny shoots
bringing the beautiful flowers planted in my garden the
previous fall.

Daffodils are by far my favorite with their happy yellow
blooms brightening up my garden and my life. You can enjoy
these beautiful flowers as well.

During the fall, you will need to buy and plant the bulbs
for a beautiful spring bouquet. Although some people do
choose to plant bulbs helter-skelter across their yard, the
impact is a thousand times greater if you plant them in
large clumps of 15 or 20 bulbs; this type of planting
accentuates their brightness and beauty.

Directions will be given on the package of bulbs
concerning how far below the ground to plant them and what
types of places in your yard in which they will grow (i.e.,
sunny, shady, partial shade, etc.).

One drawback to planting bulbs is that many times
squirrels will try to dig them up. However, there is an
easy solution to this problem. By wrapping the bulbs in
steel wool and leaving just the tip of the bulb exposed, so
it can grow out of the little wire cage you’ve created, you
can prevent squirrels from stealing your bulbs.

Another option is to plant the bulbs and then cover the
bed with chicken wire or plastic fencing until the bulbs
starting blooming in the springtime.

When the bulbs come up in the spring and begin to bloom,
clip off the blooms as they start to wither. This helps to
keep the bulb from producing seeds, which takes a lot of
energy, and you want the bulb to concentrate all of its
energy to store food in preparation for the bulb’s resting
period.

When the bulbs are finally completely finished blooming,
you will wait to cut off the tops until they are withered
and die back. Until that time, you can bend them over and
slip a rubber band over them to keep them attached. This
will help next year’s growth.

Although the flowers growing in your neighbor’s yard may
seem hard to live up to, planting flower bulbs is a fairly
easy and practical way to begin growing flowers of your
own. So this fall, visit your local store, pick some flower
bulbs that you will enjoy, plant them, and relax until they
bloom beautifully in spring!

Josie Volker’s articles on topics related to flowers and
gardening are published at Flowers eShop , a
premier resource on-line for information about flowers. For
addtional articles by Josie, visit First Class Wedding and Florist by Net

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Our farm, Highland Hill Farm, is located in solid clay in
Pennsylvania near Bedminster Township close to Doylestown. We
therefore like plants that grow well in clay. An arborvita, the
Green Giant is our favorite. Here is why. The hardiness zone for
the Green Giant Arborvita is from zones 5 to 8. Its evergreen
with rapid growth rates that in ideal conditions can be up to 3
feet per year. Site requirements for the green giant is sun to
partial shade, moist well drained soil but does well in clay,
and needs protection from wind . Its texture is fine with its
form conical being narrow to broadly pyramidal, reaching from 50
to 80′ in height to 15 to 20 feet in width. The leaf is rich
green graceful foliage. It keeps its foliage color in the
winter. The Green Giants flowers/fruit are .5″ erect female
cones. The Green Giant has strong wood, casts dense shade, and
has cinnamon red bark when young. This arborvita does not
tolerate salt spray. This arborvita should outlive even your
children.

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Here are several things you can do for your lawn right now that will make it a better lawn all summer.

The first is to move the mowing deck to its highest setting. Mow the lawn tall. The longer you allow the grass leaves to grow, the more energy they can produce for their roots. The more energy in the roots, the healthier the grass plant will be and the thicker it will grow. Thick grass plants shade the soil more than thin, spindly grass plants and this shade stops weed seeds from germinating. So to slow down weed infestations, mow the grass as tall as you can.

Another thing you can do is sharpen the mower blades. Not only does a sharp blade cut better, it also uses ten percent less energy to do its job. Ten percent of the cost of the gasoline you use to mow your lawn will easily pay for a sharpening job on the mower deck. Your grass will also be healthier as the grass blades will be cut instead of whacked and ripped. Clean cuts are said to heal faster and allow fewer fungal infestations on the leaf wounds. And finally, sharp blades make it easier for the lawn mower engine to turn the blades. Sharp blades lengthen the life of the engine and if you’ve ever had to rebuild a motor or buy a new one, you can appreciate how much you’ll save by using sharp blades.

And last but not least, buy yourself a good hat that shades both your forehead and the back of your neck. If you’re like me, there’s a noticeable reduction in the amount of hair protecting my head from sunburn and a good hat to block harmful UV rays is now necessary for garden work.

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Bidens ferulifolia

Within your containers, consider planting Bidens ferulifolia commonly known as the “Tickseed” or “Apache beggar tick”.

Gardeners who require trailing colour for containers or hanging baskets often opt for this native of North America and Mexico. Tickseed stems are quite slender, these fine stems can be expected to trail and sprawl vigorously to around 60cm (24 inches) from a container. The healthy green leaves produced on the many-branched stems are elegantly divided and reminiscent of fern foliage.

During its extended flowering period from early summer to mid autumn, Bidens ferulifolia can be relied upon to produce masses of bright yellow five petalled flowers. Once its flowering is finished, the spent flower heads produce bristled seedpods, which stick like Velcro to your clothes or a passing animal’s fur. This form of seed dispersal led to some gardeners branding the plant with the name “Burr marigold”.

Bacopa

Consider planting Sutera cordata commonly known as the “Bacopa”.

Just like Bidens, Bacopa is often selected by gardeners who require cascading colour for containers or hanging baskets. This native of South Africa can display flowers of white, blue, pink or purple depending on the cultivar selected. One of the most popular and freely available of these cultivars is Bacopa “Snow Flake”, a white variety that I have seen in more than one or two bridal baskets. The almost innumerable white blooms each comprise of five round edged petals, with a yellow centre to the bloom. The vine-like stems are lushly clothed in down covered jagged green leaves.

Consistent blooming is the order of the day with Bacopa, many gardeners report of non-stop flowering from mid-spring up until early winter. If you plant Bacopa in a position with sun to partial shade, regularly water and feed it, then you too can achieve this amazing level of flowering.

Surfinia Petunias

Within your hanging baskets, consider planting Petunia X hybrida “Surfinia” commonly known as the trailing Petunia. The Petunia is originally from South America, among the plants closely related it are the tobacco plant, the tomato and our humble potato. Every second hanging basket I saw last summer boasted this colourful trailing plant, it indeed is common, but common for a good reason. The velvet trumpeting funnels of colour produced when the plant is in bloom are almost too good to be true. Colours available include white, purple red or pink, all over dark green slightly hairy leaves. It is well within the realm of even the most amateur of gardeners to grow a healthy specimen of this plant. To produce quick growth and abundant blooming choose a location in full sun and apply a liquid feed every second watering. If you are tired of the “Surfinia” petunia, another great variety for hanging baskets that may suit you is Petunia “Million Bells”

James Kilkelly runs a professional garden design service in Galway, Ireland. He has a regular gardening column in an Irish regional newspaper. Visit his website at http://www.gardenplansireland.com/ He also regularly posts his expert advice to a gardening community at http://www.gardenstew.com/

Article’s original location: Tip-top Trailing Plants for Containers

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A flower garden can be a peaceful and beautiful refuge from the rest of the world. Sitting in the midst of fragrant flowers while reading a book or strolling along paths lined with flowers in cheerful colors can help you to wind down after a busy, stressful day. With some planning and work, a lovely flower garden can be yours to enjoy.

Planning Flower Garden Designs

Creating beautiful flower garden designs takes much planning and consideration. You will need to consider the types of flowers and combinations of colors you desire for the garden. You will also need to think about the placement of borders and shrubs as well as seating and ornaments. It is a good idea to choose an overall style for the garden and stick with it. When you begin your flower garden designs project, you should make a scale drawing of the design to help visualize your concepts.

Shapes in Flower Garden Designs

Decide upon the shape and pattern for your flower garden designs. Rectangular flower garden designs are a traditional shape and always popular. Circular shaped gardens add interest to the standard rectangular lawn. Flower gardens planted on a diagonal to the house can make a lawn appear larger than it actually is.

Styles of Flower Garden Designs

There are a number of styles of gardens that you can plant, and many of them are not too difficult to achieve. Some favorite flower garden designs are listed here.

Rose Flower Garden Designs

Rose Gardens are easy to plant and beautiful to see. In addition to modern roses, include fragrant, old-fashioned varieties of roses whose scent will delight. Plant bulbs in the beds and border them with seasonal flowers to keep the garden full of color during the blooming seasons.

Cottage Flower Garden Designs

Informal cottage gardens have an old-fashioned, rustic look about them. These flower garden designs incorporate the use of flowers, plants and vegetables.

Shade Flower Garden Designs

Shade gardens are good flower garden designs for spaces with many trees blocking the sunlight. There are many flowers that do well in shady areas, including impatiens, begonia, azalea, hosta and viola. The lack of leaves on the trees in spring allows spring bulbs to grow, filling the space with color.

Wildflower Flower Garden Designs

Wildflower gardens are flower garden designs that feature plants indigenous to the area where the garden is located. These gardens tend to require less pampering than some of the other types listed here, usually not requiring much weeding or amendments to the soil.

Butterfly Flower Garden Designs

Butterfly gardens are delightful flower garden designs, planted with flowers known to attract butterflies. Plants such as marigold, lilac, coreopsis, lavender, black-eyed susan and goldenrod are all good choices for butterfly gardens.

Hummingbird Flower Garden Designs

Likewise, hummingbird gardens are a good choice for those who enjoy spotting these small birds. Hummingbirds like richly colored flowers with sweet nectar and a tubular shape. Red and fuschia flowers in particular tend to attract hummingbirds. Some hummingbird garden favorites are morning glory, petunias, azalea, rose of sharon, delphinium and honeysuckle.

Want more Garden Design Tips?? Learn more tips and techniques at our Garden Design resource site - your-one-stop-shop for Garden Design!!! If learning the latest garden design techniques is important for you then visit out site now!!! www.gardendesignshq.com

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Simply put, hydroponics is the growing of plants without soil. The word “hydroponics” comes from the Greek word hydro, which means “water” and ponos, which means “labor or water-working.”

Typical Dirt Gardening:

All plant leaves need light, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Plant root systems require water, nutrients and oxygen. When plants are grown normally (in soil) water takes nutrients from the soil and carries them to the plant roots. The water and nutrients are taken up by the roots to feed plant growth. Soil drainage then allows water to be replaced by air in the gaps between soil grains. This supplies the roots with oxygen.

Hydroponic Gardening:

In hydroponic plant systems, you dissolve the nutrients in water. Soil is replaced with a “growing medium” - a soil substitute - that holds the roots and supplies them with water, nutrients and oxygen. You can deliver the nutrient solution a couple of ways: You can drip feed it to each plant, or you can flood the root chamber, then drain it out. These methods require a pump and timer to circulate the nutrients through the roots. You can also grow the plant roots in the air by spraying them with a fine mist of nutrient solution, or grow them by aerating the solution under each root mass with an air pump.

Actually, six basic types of hydroponic systems make up the basis of all hydroponic gardening.

Wick
Water Culture
Ebb and Flow (or Flood & Drain)
Drip
Nutrient Film Technique (N.F.T)
Aeroponic

Let’s take a look at these 6 basic hydroponic plant systems:

Wick

The wick system is the simplest and easiest to build of all the systems available. It has no moving parts, and requires no electrical energy source or special attention.

The nutrient solution is drawn into the grow bed from the nutrient reservoir through the capillary action of wick material and absorbent grow media. When plants get very large, they may use nutrients faster than the wicks can supply them.

Water Culture

The water culture is another very simple hydroponic system. Plants grow with the roots suspended in the nutrient solution. The structure that holds the plants is usually made of styrofoam and floats directly on the nutrient solution. An air pump delivers the nutrient solution and oxygen to the plant roots. The main disadvantage of a water culture system is that it doesn’t work well with large plants or with long-term plants.

Ebb and Flow (or Flood and Drain)

The ebb and flow hydroponic system works by temporarily flooding the grow tray with nutrient solution and then draining the solution back into a reservoir. Usually the pump is submerged and is connected to a timer.

The ebb and flow system can be used with a variety of growing media. The entire grow tray can be filled with grow rocks, gravel or granular rock wool. You can use individual pots filled with growing medium. This makes it easy to move plants around or even move them in or out of the system.

Drip Systems (Recovery and Non-Recovery)

Drip systems are probably the most widely used type of hydroponic plant system. Basically, a timer controlled pump delivers nutrient solution to drippers located at the base of each plant.

In a Recovery Drip System the excess solution runs off and returns to the tank for re-use. A Non-Recovery System does not collect the run-off which therefore goes to waste.

Nutrient Film Technique - “N.F.T.”

This is another very popular hydroponic system. A constant flow of nutrient solution pumped from a tank flows over the roots of the plants in a tube or tray and then returns to the tank.

The growing medium is mostly air, plus whatever medium was used to grow the plant from a seed or cutting (usually rock wool or perlite.)

Aeroponic

The aeroponic system is probably the most high-tech type of hydroponic gardening. The growing medium is primarily air. The roots hang in the air and are misted every few minutes with nutrient solution. A timer controls the nutrient pump much like other types of hydroponic systems, except the aeroponic system needs a short cycle timer that runs the pump for a few seconds every couple of minutes.

Many growers prefer hydroponic plant systems and believe them to be a far more efficient way to provide water and nutrients to their plants. Since food and water go directly to the roots, the plant is able to spend more energy growing above the surface, producing more vegetation, larger fruit, flowers and vegetables.

Copyright 2006 Robert Mosse

Robert Mosse is a gardening and lawn care specialist and author of the “Easy” Lawn and Gardening Book Series. Visit Robert at www.lawn-and-gardening-tips.com for great, hands-on gardening information… and get the Free Guide “101 Garden Tips.”

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When you landscape cautiously, you can save money by maximizing the energy efficiency of your home. This means that you can save money on heating and cooling costs by carefully planting trees, shrubs and even some grasses and vines. Landscaping can not only help decrease the amount of energy you use in both winter and summer, but can also provide an eye-pleasing surrounding for your home. This means that you can have an attractive home environment and save money on energy costs. And that is of interest to just about everyone.

When you carefully position your trees, you can save money in both summer and winter. Large deciduous trees are great additions to any home for this purpose. These trees have large leaves and create shade during the summer. They block the sun, and this reduces how much money is needed to cool the home. Vines growing on the house and shrubs near the home (protecting basement windows) only help further. Now, here is the great thing about deciduous trees: they lose their leaves in the fall. This means that as the leaves fall of during autumn, they let more sunlight in. This means that natural light and even some warmth from the sun will filter into your house during the winter, lowering heating costs. And the best part about these trees is that an eight foot tall deciduous tree costs about the same amount as a window awning for one large window. You can have the beauty of nature protect you and save you money in a way that an awning very could.

Another reason that landscape design with special attention to tree placement is a wise choice is the fact that they act as windbreaks. Without the wind whipping around the house, there is less energy used for heating. There is not even a need to place trees all around the house to achieve energy savings in windy areas. Simply plant trees on the windward side of the house. This will act as a barrier and can result in you spending a quarter less for your energy bill if you live in an area with high winds. In some areas, the savings increased to one third. Fences can also act as windbreaks, as do some other landscape elements.

The United States Department of Energy estimates that energy savings due to the proper placement of just three trees can be between $100 and $250 for the average household. This means that with a properly designed landscape your initial investment can be returned in less than eight years. If you are buying a home, it is a good idea to choose one with energy efficient landscaping. Then you can experience that savings, and still add other features to make the landscape your own.

Proper landscaping also results in other benefits that many people associate with types of conservation. You can reduce air and noise pollution around your home with landscape. Greenscape elements actually absorb sound, and so if you have plants around your house you can actually help block the sound of a nearby road. Additionally, plants are natural air cleaners. While they will not completely rid the air of harmful pollutants, they can create a little pocket of cleaner air around your home, and that can reduce costs due to respiratory illness.

Energy use related to caring for a landscape can also be reduced with a carefully planned out landscape. When you have features that reduce lawn space, you do not have to use as much water to keep it healthy. Additionally, if you set up an automatic sprinkler system, you can save money in electricity to run it and water used by sensibly setting the times for two or three times a week for fifteen minutes at each station.

Carlo Morelli is an author and contributer to OnlineTips.Org, where you can find info on Organic Landscaping.

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