What is a Crimson Sweet Watermelon? Who doesn’t like fresh, juicy watermelon? Growing your own means you have fresh fruit at hand whenever you crave the melon’s sweet flavor. Bright red and firmly fleshed, Crimson Sweet in gardens require room to sprawl but bring a taste of summer to your table fresh from the melon patch. Some tips on how to grow Crimson Sweet watermelons will have your family enjoying them within 80 days in proper growing conditions....

What is Culver’s Root? You may have seen Culver’s root flowers (Veronicastrum virginicum) growing along riverbeds and roadsides in the east, from New England down to Texas. They appear in summer, with long white racemes of small flowers, wildly popular with bees. The spiky flowers look like candelabras, with their many branches tipped by the inflorescences. Occasionally, you see blue or pink flowers if Russian varieties have been grown nearby and the plants hybridize....

What is Datura? Datura plants are often confused with Brugmansia. Brugmansia or Datura, which is which? Brugmansia can become a massive woody tree but Datura is smaller and less woody with upright as opposed to drooping flowers. Trumpet flower has a bad rap due to a history that links it to such dangerous plants as nightshade and mandrake. Let’s set that aside and look at its attributes. Datura plants grow quickly and may get up to 4 feet (1 m....

Reasons to Protect New Trees from Deer Watching wildlife is a peaceful and sentient activity. Deer are especially marvelous to view in the woods and fields but once they are in your garden, the gloves come off. Deer tree protection is necessary for many varieties of trees, as well as the newly planted babies up to a few years old. Deer have their preferences for nibbling, but young bark is especially appealing due to its flavor and tenderness....

Varieties of Agapanthus Here are the most common types of agapanthus plants: Agapanthus orientalis (syn. Agapanthus praecox) is the most common type of agapanthus. This evergreen plant produces wide, arching leaves and stems that reach heights of 4 to 5 feet (1-1.5 m.). Varieties include white flowering types such as ‘Albus,’ blue varieties like ‘Blue Ice,’ and double forms such as ‘Flore Pleno.’ Agapanthus campanulatus is a deciduous plant that produces strappy leaves and drooping flowers in shades of dark blue....

If you are curious about which willow varieties might work well in your yard or garden, you’ll need to start by figuring out how much room you have and what growing conditions you can offer. Read on for an overview of popular varieties of willows. Identifying Different Willows It isn’t very difficult to identify a willow. Even children can pick out pussy willows on a tree or shrub in spring....

Can Lavender Plants be Divided? I recently asked some professional lavender growers about lavender plant division and the general response was that lavender is a sub-shrub and, hence, can’t be divided. Lavender plants are a typical sub-shrub in that they only have a single stem and root system. Branches grow forth from this main stem just above ground level. Lavender plant division performed on the roots of a plant with only one main stem results in a high plant mortality rate, so it is strongly advised against....

The Origin of the Outdoor Vertical Garden Outdoor living walls are fairly common today, but the first modern incarnation didn’t appear until the 1930s. Stanley Hart White, a University of Illinois professor of landscape architecture invented and patented what he called botanical bricks used to create vertical gardens. The idea of a vertical garden is popular today because of climate change. A green wall allows people to grow more carbon-storing, air-filtering plants in smaller, urban spaces....

Designing a Backyard Water Garden There are several factors to consider when designing a backyard water garden. The size of your yard or gardening space, amount of money you wish to spend, and maintenance level are all important considerations. Building a DIY water garden may also require a professional landscaping crew if you choose something beyond the scope of your abilities. For the apartment or condominium dweller, simple container gardens are space savers, inexpensive, and easy to assemble....

While streetlights help get people home safely at night, and outdoor tree lighting can look nice in the back yard, strong nighttime lighting can affect a tree’s biological clock, potentially disrupting their familiar day-night cycle. This can throw off natural flower production and entry into dormancy. Outdoor Lighting for Trees Almost everything that human beings do to change their environment impacts both animals and plants, including trees. Much of the impact is negative....

For many years, along with co-workers, I would water each individual plant with a hose and rain wand. Yes, it really is as time consuming as it sounds. Then four years ago, I started working for a landscape company/garden center with a drip irrigation system that waters all the tree and shrubs. While this may sound like a huge part of my workload was eliminated, drip irrigation has its own set of challenges and drawbacks....

What Is Durum Wheat? Grains used in our foods are simply grasses. As such, even a home gardener can grow these bases for our favorite meals. Semolina pasta comes from Durum wheat. Making semolina flour starts with harvest, separating the seeds from the chaff, and milling. The whole process isn’t difficult but does require some commitment. Difference Between Semolina and Durum Flour Durum is a variety of wheat high in gluten....

What is Winter Burn? When plants gather solar energy during photosynthesis, they release water as part of the process. This is called transpiration and results in the evaporation of moisture through the leaves and needles. When a plant is not able to replace the lost water due to drought or heavily frozen ground, they will dehydrate. Winter burn in evergreens can cause death to the plant in severe cases, but most likely results in foliar loss....

Ficus Banana Leaf Plants Ficus is the Latin word for fig and is also the genus name of about 800 fig species. Figs are woody trees, shrubs, or vines native to Asia, Australia, and Africa. Those species cultivated for home gardens or backyards either produce edible fruit or are grown for their ornamental value. Banana leaf ficus trees are shrubs or small trees with long, saber-shaped leaves. The leaves emerge red, but later turn dark green and become leathery....

About Floating Pond Plants What are floating plants? This unusual group of plants takes all their nutrients from the water, bypassing any need to have their roots in soil. They’re often food for local wildlife, like duckweed, or provide protected spaces for fish spawning, like parrot’s feather does. Water lettuce and water hyacinth are two of the best-known varieties. If you have a larger pond or another enclosed body of water, learning how to use floating plants can go a long way toward your man-made feature look more natural....

So if you’re ready to turn that bare spot in your yard into the next Mona Lisa, just follow my brushstrokes… Determine Your Flower Garden Theme There are many ways to approach your canvas, and it’s really quite up to you. There is no right or wrong here. I particularly enjoy heading over to the local library or bookstore and pulling up a chair in the gardening aisle. Pouring over pictures of English gardens, their classic beauty is always a welcome sight, or delving into dreams of sophisticated Japanese gardens that inspire zen....

Why Papaya Fruit Drops If you see your papaya dropping fruit, you’ll want to know why. The causes of papaya fruit drop are many and varied. These are the most common reasons for fruit drop on papaya trees. Natural fruit drop in papaya. If papaya fruit is falling off when it is small, about the size of golf balls, the fruit drop is probably natural. A female papaya plant naturally drops fruit from flowers that were not pollinated....

How to Host a Garden Party People Will Love When you’re throwing a backyard party, you should keep one word in mind: effortless. Does this mean you shouldn’t put much effort in? Of course not! But you want your guests to feel comfortable and at ease, and your setup to have a rustic, almost wild element to it. You’re out in nature, after all. This means flower arrangements that are cheerful, bright, and maybe a little thrown together....

Identifying the Garden Pests Whiteflies Whiteflies are part of a group of sap sucking insects that can cause problems in the garden. Other sap sucking insects include aphids, scale, and mealybugs. The effects of these insects, including whiteflies, are nearly all the same. The signs that you may have whiteflies or one of its cousins are a sticky film on the leaves, yellow leaves, and stunted growth. The way to determine if you specifically have whiteflies is to inspect the insects you find on the plant....

Upper Midwest Gardening in July Drought conditions are typical in July in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, so it’s important to keep on top of watering. Some annuals may need water once or even twice a day. Native plants are usually tolerant of the local conditions. Grass, if you don’t want it to go dormant, should be watered regularly. Your flowering annuals can also benefit from fertilizer throughout the month, as soon as the blooms begin to show....