Roses are among the most beautiful flowers in the world. They are not nearly as fussy as they are thought to be, and if you treat them well, then they will reward you with gorgeous, sweet smelling blooms for years and years on end. There are commercial products meant for roses and their closely related cousins, but there are some homemade, time tested tricks that work just as well. Regardless of which methods you chose to use, remember to love your roses and they will love you right back.
First choose the right place for your rose variety- some prefer full sun, and some would rather have a slightly shaded area. Read the hang tag thoroughly before you purchase and always inspect any plants that you are buying for signs of stress, or parasite. Only buy roses that have solid, green stems with no withered brown spots. If there are leaves beginning, look to be sure that they are not yellow, a sign that they have been forced to grow too quickly, which will stress the plant. Although blooms are pretty, avoid buying already bloomed roses as they may have been exposed to unnatural lighting conditions to get them to bloom before they were really ready to do so.
Once you know where to plant, make sure that you follow the directions for how to plant your new rose. Most nurseries will have a hang tag or other literature that will offer guidelines for size and depth of the hole you will need to dig your plant, and what the best type of fertilizer is and what the best time for adding it is. Some nurseries will have knowledgeable staff that can advise you on the best fertilizer and other products to provide the optimum rose growth. Of course, there are other “green” tricks that are often free and may be better for both the plants and the planet.
After you get your rose firmly planted in its new home, give it a good drink of water, but avoid watering in the middle of the afternoon. Watering is best done in the early morning or early evening hours, and in the really hottest of water, possibly at both times. Loosely mulch around the base of the rose bush to both protect the roots and to help hold in the water. Fertilize with the product of your choice at the time deemed best by nursery experts or the hang tag and then sit back and wait for those beautiful roses to grow in.
My mother grew a Peace rose that was more beautiful with each passing year. Her secret? Once a week she watered this rosebush with the water from the fish aquarium when she cleaned it. Once a month she would feed this gorgeous plant a special “meal” that she lovingly called rosy-food. She would take the peels of two bananas and puree them in the blender with just enough water to make a smooth paste and then dump this on the base of the bush- her roses were often as wide as dinner plates and had a heavenly smell that had just the slightest hint of the bananas in them.
Japanese Garden Design
As westerners, we are often compelled to try to control and plan all design aspects of what we want when constructing something. We try to anticipate every little detail so we don’t make a mistake. Although you will still need to organize and draw out your Japanese garden design, plus determine the shape of your landscape and what you desire for your garden, you should also allow yourself to “go with the flow” and let it “speak to you” as your garden takes shape. In other words, allow for improvisation and ideas to emerge rather than being rigid in sticking to your original design plan.
Before any work begins within the yard itself, a basic garden plan should be drawn up to help you formulate your ideas and the placement of elements. There are several questions you need to address to help with this process:
1) Do you already have an existing garden in the area where you wish to incorporate a Japanese garden style? If so, what type of garden is it (flower garden, English garden, rustic wildflower garden, etc.)?
2) Will you be able to integrate your current garden into the new Japanese garden plan? What aspects and features will remain and what will have to be moved, replaced or removed entirely?
3) What style of Japanese garden are you most interested in – tea garden, courtyard garden, stroll garden, pond and island garden, Zen rock garden or a combination of two or more? For very small areas, you will most likely stick to only one style. For those that have a large landscape, you can have your choice of any of the styles to suit your desires and landscape area.
4) How large is the area of the site that you are considering using? Does it have natural hills and valleys? Are there any elements, such a stream, already present? Take a good visual view of your selected site and note down all the details on paper. Take measurements as well, so you know the exact area size you will be working with.
5) What elements and features are important to you? For example, do you wish to add a waterfall, water basin, or a rock arrangement? Would you like one small area to feature a Zen garden? Is a stepping-stone pathway that leads to a gate appealing?
6) Will you be building this garden by yourself or will you have help? The size, design and amount of work to create your Japanese garden will affect this answer. Obviously, building a very large stroll garden by yourself would take forever and be impractical.
7) If you plan to use large boulders or plant more mature trees (rather than saplings), how will you get them into your garden? Is there room and access for large machinery to help with placement? Keep in mind boulders and large trees are extremely heavy.
8) Will your garden be formal, semi-formal, or informal (rustic)?
9) Many Japanese gardens are actually built around a theme. Do you have a theme in mind for your garden? An example of a theme would be a miniaturized version of “The Bridge To Heaven”, which is a marble and stone bridge that spans the famous Dragon Beard Ditch in China. This bridge was built over 600 years ago to allow the Ming and Qing emperors to cross over on their way to the Temple of Heaven. Your theme could even revolve around a smaller replica or area of an original famous garden of Japan. Read books and view photographs of existing gardens to get some ideas.
10) What do you want to achieve with your garden? Will it be used primarily for meditation? Do you wish to incorporate a strolling pathway with new visual delights beyond each curve? Do you want the invigorating sounds of water, such as a waterfall or fast moving stream? Will it be a place to sit quietly and contemplate nature? Understanding the concept behind the garden design is important.
In conclusion, these types of questions should be contemplated carefully and answered thoroughly before you begin to put your design down on paper, otherwise you could end up with a garden that holds no meaning for you or your visitors. A Japanese garden should have a “reason for being.” What are your reasons?
Water Gardening
There are a lot of new trends surfacing in gardening, and water gardening is one of the new interests. Water gardening can include waterfalls, ponds, streams and fountains, all of which can be combined with lighting, plants, and fish. Water gardening need not have a pond or natural water source moreover, it could be a plastic tub, plastic lined shallow in the back yard or, almost anything that will hold water.
An important consideration in planning a water garden is the choosing a location. Plants and fish both need plenty of sunlight, places in direct light away from trees and bushes are the top places. This will also help prevent leaves and debris from collecting in the water.
When planning for a water garden the next step is to choose the size you want. This depends of course on the resources you want to dedicate to it, how much money and time you are willing to spend. A water garden can be expensive if you go for a big garden filled with plants, rocks, fish, and lights. Also think about your property’s size, which will also affect amount of time you’ll spend maintaining your water garden.
Aquatic pond plants can be free floating, submerged, or marginal. What type you select is a matter of aesthetics and preference. Some plants are known for their scents, some for supplying oxygen keep the pool healthy, and some are just picturesque. Remember that the plants should only cover about half of the water, especially if you have fish. Fish are not only nice to look at; they’re beneficial in that they help keep debris at a minimum and help in controlling larva and other insects.
One of the big challenges in water gardening is maintaining water free of algae. Algae problems are usually the result of nutrients in the water from feeding fish too often or over fertilizing plants. By cutting back on feeding and fertilizing, adding more plants, putting in a pond filtering system, or replacing the water with fresh water, algae is easily controlled. If a pond is constructed correctly and maintained properly algae problems can be kept at a minimum.
All garden pools, no matter the size, require some maintenance during the year. With proper planning you can create a healthy equilibrium between living and decorative features of a water garden that can almost care for itself with simple maintenance inputs from you.
Quality Front Yard Landscaping Ideas
A lot of people spend a significant amount of money on the interior of their homes, but that is not enough in the modern age. Imagine you are going to someone’s home for the first time, what are you going to see first? You are going to see the front yard and the rest of the home from the outside.
This is the ‘first impression’ that you are going to have the home and you might even have that role over to the rest of your time in the home. When the front yard is not good enough, the home might not be deemed good enough aesthetically. Let’s take a look at Ideas4Landscaping three quality front yard landscaping ideas to keep in mind and give a try.
Large Perennials for Your Front Yard
The first idea is one that will not be as expensive and is something that can truly personalize the entire experience. You will not have to fret over the logistics of the landscaping that is going to be done. This is the charm of going with flowers and using them to your advantage for all landscaping needs.
Large perennials are fantastic because they are able to do a lot in the modern age. They are able to bring out the beauty of the home (when selected [properly) and can truly do the trick.
Seating Area for Your Yard
This is something that is going to be slightly more costly, but is quite the eye piece for those who do go down this route. You are going to set up a circular area that is made just for seating. It is going to be close to the front entrance, but not quite. There is something about this that can be quite appealing to the naked eye.
When you see this kind of seating area, it is going to be something that is unique and something that is going to catch everyone’s eye. In the end, this is what you are striving for.
Picturesque Walkway
The final idea is one that is used by some people with great passion. The goal here is to set up a nice, little walkway that is leading up to the entrance. This is going to be adorned with different ornaments and decorations that are going to increase the appeal of the entire walkway that is being built.
You will realize how much quality is added to the entire front yard with this addition. The walkway is going to be made in accordance with your needs and that is what ensures you get great results.
These are three of the most important and proven front yard landscaping ideas that have been used by homeowners in the past. The charm of these front yard landscaping ideas has to do with the fact they are aesthetically quite amazing. They are going to always work out as you want them to work out. You will never have to deal with landscaping that is not good enough. Remember, these are going to play a major role in the perceived quality of your home.
Homeowner Landscaping With Stones
There are many reasons why you should incorporate landscaping stones into your homeowner landscaping design. The main one however is for beauty, pure esthetic beauty. For a landscaping design to look perfect it needs to have layer and this can be a hard thing to achieve without the use of landscaping stones.
landscaping stones are not the only way to give your yard depth but they are the easiest way. You could try to change the slop of your yard. You could dig lower sports and build up higher ones but this could take forever and you would have to know a lot about landscaping to try to tackle a job like that. Just think of the trouble you could get into with the drainage issues if you were to make a mistake! No, it is far easier to simply use landscaping stones to bring some depth to your yard.
Accent Landscaping Stones
You can use landscaping stones to accent certain portions of your yard, you can even plant some plants in these landscaping stones. They look great round the patio and the fence and you can even get colored landscaping stones to bring more color into your yard.
This kind of color is especially nice to have in winter when everything is so bare and cold looking. The fact of the matter is that you can transform the whole look of your yard with the simple use of landscaping stones. They are like jewelry only for the yard.
There are many different kinds of landscaping stones and they come in all shapes and sized. The landscaping stones that are right for you will depend on the effect that you are trying to create with your yard. And different parts of the yard might require different sized landscaping stones. You can get a wide variety of colors for your landscaping stones and in some cases you may want to mix a couple of colors together to create a whole new and interesting look.
If you are planning to overhaul your yard this year then you need to start looking into using landscaping stones in your design. These will bring the whole yard together and if they are used right will add balance and harmony to your entire garden.
You can get landscaping stones at your local gardening center and even some home building stores will carry them. Shop around and find the landscaping stones that suit your home and your needs best before you make a purchase.
Homeowner Designs For Southwest Landscape
Landscaping is always a very rewarding occupation – whether you do it for yourself or as a profession you always learn something from the projects you take up and you always end up with something more beautiful than you envisaged in your plans. When you do landscape designs for the southwest landscape, you get to put in a little more effort than you would do regularly, as you need to choose the right combination or trees and bushes for it, and as a reward you get better results than in any other type of landscaping.
Trees And Bushes For Landscape Designs For The Southwest
Most of the trees that are used for landscape designs for the southwest are drought resistant and possibly evergreen so you would have to worry about it only when you plant them. The rest would be taken care of by regular maintenance which ordinarily is not much if you know how to do it well at planting time. In order to get the best out of your efforts you need to choose the right type of trees and the combination of plants as well.
The Hoop’s Blue Spruce is a wonderful tree which fares exceptionally well in the southwest climate and environment conditions. This is an extraordinarily beautiful tree that grows fast achieving its full height and width of about 50 feet and 20 feet respectively in less than 24 months. Its form, color and imposing stance makes it a wonderful choice for any type of landscape designs for the southwest.
Another great choice that is very popular for landscape designs for the southwest is the Colorado Blue Spruce. This is an evergreen coniferous tree that can grow to a majestic 60 feet height and upto about 20 feet in width. Its cones and pine needs add a special essence to the air where it is planted which is a great plus for the environment. The best part is that once it is fully grown, and that is in about 2 years time, it can give you that wonderful full forest look and you see and admire in posters.
There is another tree that can be used here, i.e. the Afghan Pine tree. This is a huge 70 feet tall tree when fully grown and can become a great barrier in the path of winds even as a standalone specimen. This is the best choice for border as it requires a lot of maintenance for it drops a vast amount of cones.
