Can You Grow Peas Indoors? Indoor gardeners rejoice. You can learn how to grow peas inside and enjoy either the sprouts in salads or fully formed pods. Plant successive crops and you can even have fresh peas year around. An indoor pea plant needs 8 to 10 hours of bright light. You can either place it in the sunniest location of the home or use grow lights. Many varieties grow well in containers and will flourish indoors, but snap pea, snow pea and dwarf pea plants are the easiest....

Will Plants Survive in Cars? Plants in a vehicle can definitely survive if you are aware of a few simple things: During summer months, your car can get too hot. One thing that you can do to control this is to keep your windows cracked and avoid parking your car in areas that get a lot of sun. Likewise, your car can get too cold during the winter. You may need to bring your plants indoors or choose a plant that will survive the colder conditions....

Can You Propagate Burning Bush from Seeds? The easiest and surest way to propagate a burning bush is from cuttings taken in spring. These cuttings from new growth are called softwood cuttings. The stem is at the right stage of maturity to root easily if the tip snaps in two when you bend it in half. Rooting a burning bush from softwood cuttings is not only faster, but it also ensures that you’ll get a plant with the same characteristics as the parent shrub....

About Christmas Ferns Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) is a deciduous evergreen fern that grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 9. This particular fern is known as a Christmas fern because some parts of the plant stay green all year long. Dark green leaves, or fronds, reach up to 3 feet (about 1 m.) long and 4 inches (10 cm.) wide. This plant brings color and interest to a garden when other plants are dormant....

Field Mint Information Native Americans used to drink field mint tea as a remedy for colds, and it’s still used today for teas and flavorings for food. It’s an unusual-looking mint plant, with a square stem that grows from 6 to 18 inches (15 to 45 cm.) tall with tufts of flowers puffing out around the stem every few inches. As with other types of mint, you can pick mature field mint leaves first thing in the morning for the best flavor....

Black Walnut Tree Info Black walnut trees are native to the central and eastern United States and until the turn of the century, quite common. These trees can live up to 200 years of age and are one of six walnut species found in the United States. In a natural setting, black walnut trees can be found growing alongside: Elms Hackberry Box elder Sugar maples Green and white ash trees Basswood Red oak Hickory...

Caring for Petunias in Pots Petunia container care is very easy. Soil in containers is prone to heating up and drying out much faster than soil in the garden, but petunias are particularly hot and dry hardy. This doesn’t mean you should neglect your petunias, but you should allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings. Every few days, give them a long, slow drink. Wetting the flowers and foliage can promote disease, so water either from below or close to the surface of the soil....

How to Grow a Cast Iron Plant Indoors Growing cast iron indoors is extremely easy and rewarding. This China native is a member of the lily family. The plant has small purple flowers that only appear near the soil surface and are hidden in its foliage. For what this plant may lack in glitz, however, it makes up for in robust, healthy, dark green leaves. The cast iron plant grows well in low light indoors and is not finicky about regular water either....

The holidays find stores filled with goodies and things to purchase. One thing, plants, should make it into our consumer baskets too. Poinsettias are brightly colored with many variations available. The variegation, striping, speckling, and other patterns of the leaves are joined by hues of red, cream, gold, pink, and green. These natives of Central America are not winter hardy, but make perfect houseplants. Their color and patterns bring in a lively aspect to our holiday appointments....

What are Clock Gardens? The floral clock garden originated with Carolus Linnaeus, an 18th-century Swedish botanist. He hypothesized that flowers could accurately predict time based on when they opened and when they closed. In fact, many such gardens were planted in the early 19th century using his designs. Linnaeus used three groups of flowers in his clock garden design. These clock garden plants included flowers that changed their opening and closing depending on weather, flowers that changed opening and closing times in response to the length of the day, and flowers with a set opening and closing time....

Information on Shooting Star Plants Common shooting star blooms in mid-spring from May to June. The plant forms rosettes of long narrow leaves and singular slender stems. The flowers hang in umbels from the stems and are white to bright pink. The petals grow backward and up, away from the reproductive organs of the plant. These dangle down from the center and may be a pale yellow, pink, or even soft purple color....

Companion Planting with Impatiens Before getting into what to plant with impatiens, let me tell you what impatiens bring to the table as companion plants. Impatiens attract beneficial insects. As stated above, they add long-lasting, vibrant color to dark shady areas, and make excellent borders. Impatiens’ fleshy, succulent-like stems store water and make them drought-resistant, so they do not compete with other plants for water and can be used in dry shade beds....

Companion Planting with Okra Companion planting strives to boost harvests by situating plants that have symbiotic relationships. Used for centuries by Native Americans, selecting the right companions for okra cannot only reduce pests, but also provide a safe haven for beneficial insects, boost pollination, enrich the soil, and in general diversify the garden–all of which will result in healthier plants that are able to fend off disease and produce bountiful crops....

Plants That Grow with Parsnips One reason to grow parsnips in your garden, besides harvesting the tasty roots, is that the flowers on these plants that are allowed to go to seed attract predatory insects. These insects will consume pests and protect other plants as a result, especially fruit trees. The parsnip root also emits a substance toxic to red spider mites, fruit flies, and pea aphids. Fruit trees represent one category of great companions for parsnips, but there are others....

What is Citrus Greening Disease? Plants affected by citrus greening disease, also known as huanglongbing or yellow dragon disease, have acquired a serious bacterial infection. Citrus greening disease symptoms vary widely but include new leaves that emerge small with yellow mottling or blotching, yellow shoots, enlarged and corky leaf veins, as well as fruits that are small with green ends and filled with small, dark, aborted seeds and bitter juice. This bacterium is transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, a tiny, wedge-shaped insect with brown and white mottled coloration....

Pineapple Weed Information Pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea syn. Chamomilla suaveolens) is appropriately named for the small, greenish-yellow, cone-shaped flowers that grow atop sturdy, hairless stems. When crushed, the leaves and flowers emit a sweet, pineapple-like aroma. The leaves are finely cut and fern like. Although pineapple weeds belong to the aster family, the cones have no petals. Reportedly, the small, tender buds are tasty added to salads, brewed as tea or eaten raw, but be careful, as some people may experience a mild allergic reaction....

Garden Roach Control Just like every other creature on the planet, cockroaches are looking for food, water, and shelter. If you find roaches in the garden, you are likely providing all three. So, the first thing to do when controlling garden roaches is to remove any food or water sources and minimize areas that will harbor the pests. Pest control experts refer to this as “exclusion.” Look around the yard for any sources of water such as upturned flower pots, watering cans, or buckets and remove them....

Downy Mildew in Corn Crops Downy mildew is an infection caused by a fungus. There are a few varieties of downy mildew that affect corn and other grasses like wheat and oats. Some of the varieties include Crazy Top and Sorghum downy mildew. Regardless of which type may be affecting your sweet corn, the signs are similar, as are the methods for prevention and control. Sweet corn with downy mildew may exhibit several symptoms, including any of the following:...

Can Corn Cross Pollinate? Corn pollinates with the help of the wind, which catches the fine dust and swirls it around the field. Some corn is self pollinating, but the majority relies upon the other plants standing with it for pollination. Can corn cross pollinate? Most varieties cross pollinate easily, but the resulting plants are not of the same variety as the parent plants, and may even be a completely different strain....

What to Do with Corn Husks Since you’ve been left hanging, here’s what my grandfather used to make for my sister and me using corn husks – corn husk dolls. In fact, the process is quite simple and only requires corn husks and twine or raffia. Very quickly my sister and I were making our own. If you’re really artistic, corn husks can also be used to make other animals and shapes as well....