How To Grow Phlox- Those Wonderful Perennial Flowers

Shows you how to grow Phlox in your perennial flower garden and gives details of the exciting new varieties now available.

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How To Grow Banana Plants

. Depending on where you live, you may be able to grow your own banana plant in your backyard, perhaps even experiment with varieties that produce fruit with better flavour.

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Create a Rustic Flower Garden - wikiHow

Create a Rustic Flower Garden - wikiHow

10 Disease Resistant Roses.

These are varieties which are free from blackspot and are strong and healthy roses.

1. Caribbean Dawn - Semi-double 2ft tall, patio rose with lots of pink flowers shaded in orange and yellow. Small green leaves.

2. Silver Ghost - Repeat-flowering, 2ft tall with single white flowers and dark foliage.

3. Golden Gate - Repeat-flowering climber with mid-yellow flowers which are semi-double. Ideal for pillars and arches at around 6ft.

4. Summer Beauty - Apricot coloured 2ft 3in floribunda, with olive green foliage and clusters of full flowers.

5. Temptress - Repeat flowering, dark red climber, with glossy dark green leaves. Ideal for walls, pillars and arches at around 6ft.

6. Champagne Moments - Superb floribunda,2ft 6in to 3ft it has clusters of pale apricot flowers, which fade to cream.

7. Cinderella - Repeat-flowering climber with clusters of light pink quartered flowers. Very fragrant and over 6ft tall.

8. Red Finesse - A 3ft dark red floribunda, with rich green leaves.

9. Buxom Beauty - A 4ft hybrid tea rose, highly scented,huge mauve-pink flowers and spiralled buds.

10. Lancashire - Low-growing and repeat-flowering, this gtound cover rose has unscented flowers and dark green leaves.


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Perennial Flower Garden Ideas

Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display

by Michael J. McGroarty

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Flower bulbs need a good, long, winters sleep. Like some people we know, if they wake up before they are fully rested, they get kind of cranky, and then they don’t bloom well at all.

Actually what happens is during a mild winter, the soil stays too warm, and the bulbs begin to come out of dormancy early. They start to grow, and once the tips emerge above the soil line, they are subject to freezing if the temperatures dip back down below freezing. And that’s usually what happens. After the bulbs have emerged, they freeze and then don’t bloom at all, or if they do it’s a very sad display.

Another reason this happens is because the bulbs are not planted deep enough. They may have been deep enough when you planted them, but as the soil goes through the freezing and thawing process, the bulbs can actually work their way up in the ground. One way to keep your flower bulbs sleeping longer, which will protect them from freezing, is to mulch the bed.

In the fall just apply a 3-4” layer of well composted mulch. This layer of mulch will do a couple of things. It will maintain a higher moisture content in the soil, which is good, as long as the soil isn’t too soggy. Well composted mulch also adds valuable organic matter to the planting bed. Organic matter makes a great natural fertilizer.

A 3-4” layer of mulch also acts as an insulator. It will keep the soil from freezing for a while, which is good because you don’t want the bulbs going through a series of short cycles of freezing and thawing. Then when the temperatures drop below freezing and stay there for a while, the soil does eventually freeze. Then the mulch actually works in reverse and keeps the soil from thawing out too early. Keeping it in a frozen state is actually good because the bulbs remain dormant for a longer period of time.

When they finally do wake up it is spring time, and hopefully by the time they emerge from the ground the danger of a hard freeze is past and they will not be damaged. If you can keep them from freezing, they will flower beautifully. The extra organic matter will help to nourish the bulbs when they are done blooming, and the cycle starts all over again.

We also plant annual flowers in the same beds with our spring bulbs. By the time the danger of frost is past and it’s time to plant the annuals, the top of the bulbs have died back and are ready to be removed. The mulch that is added in the fall also helps to nourish the annual flowers, as well as improve the soil permanently. Anytime you add well composted organic matter to your planting beds, you are bound to realize multiple benefits. The key words here are “well composted”. Fresh material is not good.

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com.

Spring Work in Your Perennial Flower Garden

Spring is the time to start staking your herbaceous perennials, to prevent the taller or weaker stemmed plants from flopping down or falling. This is especially important for perennial plants, when heavy rain or strong winds are expected.

Insert stakes early on, it is far more difficult to insert them when your perennials have advanced growth and they are more likely to be damaged.

Taller perennial plants, can be supported by purpose made supports or canes. The former, include half-moon border restrainers, Y-stakes, loops and spiral stakes.

For clump forming perennials, such as helianthus and delphiniums, bamboo canes or metal rods and string will provide great support. Be sure to cover the tops of the canes or rods with eye protectors.

Perennials which are top heavy, like herbaceous peonies and dahlias, are best supported by Y-stakes. Use border restrainers at the front of your perennial borders.

For a natural effect in your perennial flower garden, birch and hazel pea sticks , will help you achieve the look.

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Perennial Flower Garden Ideas

Lupins, The Ultimate Perennial Flower.

Although lupins have been grown for centuries, the much loved sturdy varieties which we now have in our perennial flower gardens, were only created in the 1930's.

George Russell, worked on the blue lupin from North America, crossing it with tree lupins and annual species. He weeded out the weaker and duller plants, until he began producing bigger flower spikes and richer colours. These eventually became known as the Russell lupins., that we now have in our perennial flower gardens.

Because he disliked interference and was a recluse, George Russell kept his records to himself. It was only when he was in his late 70's, that he reluctantly passed on his secrets. Russell only agreed to this, when James Baker, the nurseryman in question, promised that Russell could carry on weeding out the rogue seedlings. This he continued to do, until his death in 1951, aged 94.

After James Baker's retirement, just a handful of dedicated nurserymen have improved the Russell lupins still further. For today's modern taste in perennial flowers, hybrids are being bred with more subtle single colours and stronger bi-colours.

Among these new perennial flower colours are pastel apricot and lemon ice, pink tinged with white and purple-black black and yellow standards. Although these perennial flowers will not produce the same flowers from seed, they can be raised from cuttings, unless protected by plant breeders' rights.

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