Author: Steve Kent

Now that spring is here, it’s time begin selecting the best plants and flowers for your garden. But before you do, have you ever been guilty of buying plants on impulse only to discover after planting them they look like the forgotten step child, making your garden look ackward? The goal of this article is to teach you how to plan a backyard garden…right now.

Step 1 - Starting with a Solid Plan

Take the time to assess your garden environment. Determine how much sun and shade your garden gets. What type of soil do you have? Is it the well draining type or does it get waterlogged easily? Take note whether your garden is sheltered or exposed to the sun and wind. Now that you have completed your homework, it’s time to buy the best plants for your situation.

Step 2 - Tips at the nursery

Remember shade-loving plants need a sheltered area, plants that love the sun thrive in warm spots, drought-resistant plants can should be located either in sunny or shaded areas and don’t forget that swamp plants are terrific for the poorly-drained areas of your garden.

Step 3 - Soil Testing

I recommend testing your soil first, to determine the pH level of your soil and what type of nutrients you need to add is a good idea. You want to find out if the soil is acid or alkaline. There are inexpensive testing kits available and it's not very difficult to do. Most plants prefer soil that is slightly acidic, but there are some that must have alkaline soil to grow. You can alter the soil’s pH level, but it’s much easier to simply plant for the soil you have.

Step 4 - Design your layout

As you are planning your new garden how will you organize your plants and flowers? Will you group them or will they be random? Grouping your plants create a sense of organization and can be pleasing to the eye especially with vivid colors. On the otherhand, random planting if done with a natural look can also make your garden look quite beautiful.

Step 5 - Experiment with your design

Now that you are ready to begin planting, put your chosen plants around the garden bed and step back to see how they will look. Experiment and move them around until you are satisfied. By grouping plants in small sets of threes or fives can visually look better than groups of even numbers. Place tall plants towards the back or put them in the center if you have a walk way around your garden.

Step 6 - Picking Your Colors

Select interesting combinations of color and texture of plants. To avoid color clashes, you can still plant your flowers side-by-side but be sure they have a different blooming season. Another important aspect regarding color is that foliage have colors ranging from silver, grey or purplish and are just as attractive as the flower. Plan ahead as you will still have attractive plants past the blooming season.

Finally keep your plants away from trees as their roots will steal the necessary nutrients and moisture your flowers need. So with a little planning, plus choosing the best plants and skillfully selecting the right color scheme you will create your beautiful garden for all to enjoy. Now that’s how to plan a backyard garden,

About the Author:

Steve Kent is a successful publisher and webmaster who enjoys helping people live happier lives by providing excellent gardening tips and solutions. If you are looking for the best gardening tips and want to learn how to transform your garden, visit http://www.gardeningtips.howtofinditonline.com

If you are looking for the best spa vacations and want to learn how to take the stress from your life, visit Best Spa Vacationshttp://www.bestspavacations.net

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Author: J. Brian Keith

Are you looking for some inside information on common problems with annuals? Here's an up-to-date report regarding common problems with annuals from experts who should know.

Annuals are among the most varied, most beautiful and most colorful flowers on the market. The sheer variety of annuals, the many colors, shapes and textures they come in, has made them a favorite among gardeners for many years.

With so many different annuals on the market, their ability to resist common plant diseases and insect infestations can vary quite a bit. While some types of annuals are virtually impervious to disease and insects, others require much more care to remain trouble free. When choosing varieties of annuals, it is always best to choose disease and insect resistant varieties when ever you can. Doing so will allow you to use less pesticides, and they will generally be less trouble in the long run as well.

It is also a good idea to choose annuals that are best suited for your climate. Some varieties of annuals are very drought resistant, while others require lots of moisture to look their best. Knowing the requirements of each variety, and tailoring the plants you buy to local conditions, is the best way to grow a successful garden. The staff at your local nursery or garden center can help you choose the hardiest varieties of annuals for your garden.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

It is also important to look for signs of disease or insect infestation every time you work in the garden. For instance, as you are pulling weeds, look at the plants. Are the stems intact, or are they showing signs of cracks or other damage? Is the foliage leafy, green and free of holes and spots? Catching problems early is the best way to cure them.

When watering annuals, it is best to avoid overhead watering if you can. That is because splashing a lot of water on the foliage of plants can encourage a variety of diseases. Most plant diseases love moisture, and standing water on plants is a great way for existing diseases to spread throughout the garden, or for a new infection to take hold.

A combination of drip irrigation and soaker hoses is usually the best choice for watering the garden. These methods allow for greater control over the amount of water each plant receives, and they generally allow for deeper, more thorough, watering as well. No matter which method you use, however, it is generally best to water in the morning, since this allows the plants to dry before the hottest part of the day.

When working with annuals in the garden, it is important to be on the lookout for signs of insect problems. The most common insects that trouble annuals include spider mites, aphids, caterpillars and white flies. Any possible infestation should be attacked at the first sign of trouble. The best way to control any outbreak, be it insects or disease, is to control it early before it has the opportunity to spread.

There are a number of products on the market to treat problems with insects and disease. Of course, no treatment regimen can be effective until the problem is identified, so if you are unsure what is causing the problem be sure to consult with a more experienced gardener. In addition, it is important to always follow the package instructions of any insect or disease control product you use, to dispose of unused products properly, and to wear protection gear like gloves and masks when applying the product.

Sometimes it’s tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I'm positive you’ll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.

About the Author:

B. Keith Johnson is a contributing author for
Flower Gardens. Visit his other sites for
Product Reviews, Free Website Content and
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Author: Andrew Bicknell

Knowing the proper way to care for your flower garden can be the difference between a beautiful swath of flowers that everyone makes glowing comments on or a so-so garden that seems on the verge of dying all the time. As with all things learning the how to care for your garden can take time , but if you follow some of these basic tips you will be well on your way to having beautiful blooms all summer long.

1. Do you have the essentials covered? Just like any other plant, flowers are living growing organisms and without the proper necessities they will wither and die. They need a consistent water supply, varying amounts of sunlight depending on the plant, and rich fertile soil. The more pampered and cared for they are the better they will respond. During times of intense heat and little rain be sure to water more often.

When planting you new flowers it is important to follow the directions on the packaging they came in. Bulbs need to be planted at the correct depth. Shrubs, perennials, and annuals can't be planted to deep or to shallow. Try to keep mulch and soil from around the stems to allow for proper water drainage.

2. Mix perennials and annuals. Perennials will return year after year, at least for a few years after planting. Annuals will usually only last for one growing season. By mixing annuals in with the perennials you will be assured of always having flowers in bloom.

3. Deadhead your flowers. Deadheading is just what it sounds like. By clipping wilting or dead flower heads from the main plant you will encourage the growth of more flowers. Be sure to pick up any deadheads and put them in your compost pile. Leaving them in the garden can attract bugs or cause plant diseases to attack your healthy plants.

4. Learn about bugs. Most garden insects do more good than harm. Butterflies, beetles and bees are known pollinators. They fertilize plants through unintentional transfer of pollen from one plant to another. 80% of flowering plants rely on insects for survival.

Sowbugs and dung beetles together with fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms are necessary to help in the decomposition of dead plant material, thus enriching the soil and making more nutrients available to growing plants.

Other insects like lacewings and dragonflies are natural predators of those insects that do the real damage, like aphids.

Be sure to give your flower garden a shot of fertilizer every few weeks to keep the flowers blooming longer. It is important to not over fertilize because this can cause the plants to burn.

Following these few simple tips will get anyone novice started on their way to becoming a well rounded gardener. Building on these tips will keep you garden blooming and bringing great satisfaction all growing season long.

About the Author:

To learn more about planting and maintaining a flower garden please visit the website Garden-Choices-Net.com.

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Author: Art Gib

My mother always had a flowerbed or two in front of our house and she would spend a morning every now and again weeding, watering, and generally taking care of her flowers. Yet she never got more adventuresome with her flower choices than petunias, pansies and an occasional geranium. I asked her once why her flower horizon was so narrow when there are so many gorgeous flowers available to experiment with planting and growing. She shrugged and said most flowers looked too high maintenance for her.

A common misconception is that if flowers look particularly elegant or exotic, it means they are finicky and difficult to care for. Hemerocallis, or daylilies are a perfect example of flowers that are both delicate looking and hardy at the same time, requiring very little care to thrive in nearly all conditions.

Daylilies come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes, and are easy to grow. The perennials are not true bulbs, but grow from clump-forming tuberous roots. Although daylilies prefer well drained soil with plenty of organic material and lots of direct sunlight, they will tolerate much less favorable conditions such as extremely damp to dry sandy soil. If planted in heavy shade, hemerocallis usually respond by producing more foliage and fewer flowers.

Daylilies are perfect for a varied garden because the different varieties range in height from 8 inches to 5 feet, and flower size can be as small as 2 inches or as large as 8 inches. The spectrum of colors and shapes also adds distinction and variety to your flowerbed. Unlike some more fastidious flowers, hemerocallis usually bloom the same year they are planted, though they take three to four years to reach mature size, and can live for a very long time if given even moderate care.

Daylilies will bloom from late spring until autumn and many varieties have more than one flowering period. Because of the entangled clump-root system of daylilies, they provide excellent ground covers on slopes and are recommended for erosion control.
Daylilies are also particularly effective for blending in structures with the natural terrain. They have a naturalizing effect to blend fences, decks, steps, statues, driveways or shrubbery with the surrounding landscape.

The planting process itself is probably the most rigorous phase of caring for your Hemerocallis. To ensure that they take root properly you should water plants thoroughly after planting, and deep soak them every three or four days until established. If you ordered the plants rather than purchasing them in a garden store they may have become dried out during shipment from a supplier. If this happens, soak well for at least 15 minutes before planting. Although daylilies are drought-tolerant once established, consistent watering while budding and flowering will produce better-quality flowers.

For absolute best results daylily gardens should be mulched well with peat or compost in spring. Waiting until the plant is established to fertilize will encourage initial root growth. Add manure or other organic fertilizer in the early spring just as signs of new growth appear, and again in midsummer.

Very few pests and diseases are enough to harm the resilient hemerocallis, slugs and snails being the major exceptions. Daylilies are not bothered by lily beetle or any other problems of bulbous lilies. Root-knot nematodes could also pose a problem if you are planting on former cropland (especially soybean and tobacco land).

About the Author:

Perennial Place (http://www.perennialplace.com/)carries a wide variety of gorgeous daylilies to make your garden beautiful. Art Gibb is a freelance writer.

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There are many different flowers that you can buy and plant in your garden. These flowers can be annuals, perennials and biennials. You can also buy plants that are in one color combination as well. These types of flowers would look great when they are planted in a manner where you will see how they look throughout the year. Purple flowers are an ideal example of how you can plant a one shaded flower bed.

When you are choosing the various purple flowers you will need to think about the seasonal changes. This is important as some flowers just won’t bloom in winter or some refuse to grow well during summer. The best way to show the beauty of these flowers is to buy a mix of seasonal flowers and the different shades to create a vibrant flower garden.

Your purple flowers don’t have to be confined only to the flower beds they can be planted around trees to provide a dramatic look. You could plant Cloudland Rhododendrons under some trees. The bright purple blue flowers with their silver-grey and green leaves will make the tree stand out even more. You could have Crepe Myrtle growing as a hedge flower.

These purple flowers are summer flowering plants that have large clusters of bright purple flowers that grow on the new tips of the shrub branches. As these shrubs with their clusters of flowers are easy to care for you can see many gardens in warm climates having these shrubs planted in various places.

To bring out the beauty of the Crepe Myrtle’s purple flowers you can plant other flowers under the shrub. You may want to have a carpet of purple and golden crocus planted around the shrub. Another great flower for you to plant in borders and along your garden paths is that of the Day Lily Little Grapette.

This flower has a golden yellow colored center that is surrounded by ruffled purple petals. The dark green foliage provides a perfect background for this stunning flower. To get the most from this purple flower you should plant masses of this Little Grapette flower. This way you will continue to see lots of purple flowers waving in tubs, and edging your flower beds.

These are just a few of the many different purple flowers that you can plant in your garden. With the right care and mixing of flower types through your garden these purple flowers will provide your garden and home with a stunning and elegant look.

Muna wa Wanjiru is a web administrator and has been researching and reporting on internet marketing for years. For more information on purple flowers, visit his site at PURPLE FLOWERS

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Author: J. Brian Keith

The more you understand about any subject, the more interesting it becomes. As you read this article you’ll find that the subject of organic gardening is certainly no exception.

Most of this information comes straight from the organic gardening pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

Organic gardening is steadily gaining popularity, and the good news is that virtually every kind of plant and flower can be grown organically. It is important, however, to choose the plants and flowers that are best suited to your own environment. Choosing plants that are suited to the environment in which they grow is one of the best ways to reduce the use of fungicides, pesticides and other chemicals in the garden.

For example, it may be difficult to use organic gardening methods to grow tropical variety of plants and flowers in a cold climate, just as it would be difficult to grow cold climate plants in the tropics. That is why it is best to use the flowers and plants that are best suited for your own environment.

One great way to choose the right plants for an organic garden is to choose native varieties of plants. Choosing native species is a great way to know that the plants you choose will do best where you plant them, without the need to use chemicals.

Using native species of plants does not mean a dull or boring garden. Native species of flowers and plants are available in just about every color of the rainbow, and in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures as well. A beautiful mixture of native plants can produce an organic garden you will be proud to show the world.

After you have chosen the perfect varieties of flowers and plants for your garden, it is important to choose only the healthiest specimens for your garden. That is because choosing unhealthy plants, or those that are infected with disease or infested by insects, could unwittingly introduce these problems into your garden, and make gardening organically that much more difficult.

Choosing the healthiest plants and flowers, on the other hand, will get your organic garden off to the best start, since healthy plants are better able to fight off pests, and to resist bacterial, viral and fungal infections. The healthy plants in your garden will be able to fight off these common ailments without the need for chemicals.

After the plants have been chosen and brought home, they should be transplanted as quickly as possible. It is a good idea to have a good supply of finished compost available when starting an organic garden. Starting a compost bin is a great idea for any organic gardener, since high quality compost often contains nutrients that even the best commercial fertilizers do not. In addition, creating your own compost means less waste going to landfills, and this can produce a healthier environment as well as a healthy garden.

When working a compost mixture in the soil, it is not necessary to go deep. Most plants root only to a depth of about six inches, so working the compost mixture into the first six to eight inches of the soil in the organic flower bed should be sufficient.

When transplanting seedlings from plastic nursery containers, it is important to carefully remove the plant from the container. You should carefully tear away those roots that have grown past the container. Before planting the transplants, be sure that the soil has been adequately prepared with good organic material. Having organic material in the soil not only will provide a great source of nutrition for the young plants, but it will so encourage the growth of beneficial organisms like earthworms. Earthworms can work the soil better than any garden instrument, and they are an integral part of a successful organic garden.

Is there really any information about organic gardening that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

About the Author:

B. Keith Johnson is a contributing author for
Flower Gardens. Visit his other sites for
Product Reviews, Free Website Content and
Free Photo Sharing

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Author: John Ugoshowa

A wild-flower garden has a most attractive sound. One thinks of long tramps in the woods, collecting material, and then of the fun in fixing up a real for sure wild garden.

Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding, for wild flowers are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies. That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbours.

Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then place them so in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point, do you not? If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts.

Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant's own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted.

The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods.

Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.

I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon's seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne’s lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. After you are once started you’ll keep on adding to this wild-flower list.

There is no one who doesn’t love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves, started to be sure before this, have a chance. These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil conditions. If planted with other woods specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You’ll find the hepatica blossoms all ready to poke up their heads.

The spring beauty hardly allows the hepatica to get ahead of her. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. You will find spring beauties growing in great patches in rather open places. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them. For this plant loves the sun.

The other March flower mentioned is the saxifrage. This belongs in quite a different sort of environment. It is a plant which grows in dry and rocky places. Often one will find it in chinks of rock. There is an old tale to the effect that the saxifrage roots twine about rocks and work their way into them so that the rock itself splits. Anyway, it is a rock garden plant. I have found it in dry, sandy places right on the borders of a big rock. It has white flower clusters borne on hairy stems.

The columbine is another plant that is quite likely to be found in rocky places. Standing below a ledge and looking up, one sees nestled here and there in rocky crevices one plant or more of columbine. The nodding red heads bob on wiry, slender stems. The roots do not strike deeply into the soil; in fact, often the soil hardly covers them. Now, just because the columbine has little soil, it does not signify that it is indifferent to the soil conditions. For it always has lived, and always should live, under good drainage conditions. I wonder if it has struck you, how really hygienic plants are? Plenty of fresh air, proper drainage, and good food are fundamentals with plants.

It is evident from study of these plants how easy it is to find out what plants like. After studying their feelings, then do not make the mistake of huddling them all together under poor drainage conditions.

I always have a feeling of personal affection for the bluets. When they come I always feel that now things are beginning to settle down outdoors. They start with rich, lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. As June gets hotter and hotter their colour fades a bit, until at times they look quite worn and white. Some people call them Quaker ladies, others innocence. Under any name they are charming. They grow in colonies, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. From this we learn that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil.

If you desire a flower to pick and use for bouquets, then the wild geranium is not your flower. It droops very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. But the purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves, while rather coarse, are deeply cut. This latter effect gives a certain boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. The plant is found in rather moist, partly shaded portions of the woods. I like this plant in the garden. It adds good colour and permanent colour as long as blooming time lasts, since there is no object in picking it.

There are numbers and numbers of wild flowers I might have suggested. These I have mentioned were not given for the purpose of a flower guide, but with just one end in view your understanding of how to study soil conditions for the work of starting a wild-flower garden.

If you fear results, take but one or two flowers and study just what you select. Having mastered, or better, become acquainted with a few, add more another year to your garden. I think you will love your wild garden best of all before you are through with it. It is a real study, you see.

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You can find out more about gardening in the gardening section of The Free Ad Forum. http://www.thefreeadforum.com/infowizards/CAT/Gardening_75_1.html

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