When to Harvest an Orange Times for harvesting oranges vary depending upon the variety. Picking oranges may occur any time from as early as March to as late as December or January. It’s helpful to know what variety of orange you have to determine the right time for picking oranges. To be more specific, these tips should help: Navel oranges are ready for harvest from November to June. Valencia oranges are ready in March into October....

Foraging Vines For Wreaths You can find grapevine wreath forms at any craft store, but it’s a lot more fun to create your own! The best time to harvest vines is late fall through early winter when leaves are falling and vines are starting to go dormant. If you harvest vines in late winter or early spring when the sap starts to flow (think maple syrup season), then your vines are likely to snap instead of bend....

But sometimes people miscalculate, or their lives change, and the tree or shrub turns out to be growing in an inconvenient place. Here are some tips about how to help the tree survive a transplant. Evergreen vs. Deciduous Transplant Trying to transplant an evergreen tree is more difficult than moving a deciduous tree. That’s because evergreens hold onto their leaves or needles all year long. That means that the trees will be bulkier and heavier than a deciduous tree of a similar height....

How Much Water Should I Give My Plant? Bringing greenery into the interior freshens air, livens a space, and creates a restful sight for the eye. Houseplants are the best way to achieve all of this and provide diversity in your décor. Watering a houseplant is probably the most crucial care the plant needs, but many plants are finicky about their moisture requirements and can be difficult to gauge. Houseplant watering doesn’t have to be a guessing game if you know a few tricks....

Humidity for Houseplants Indoor plants need humidity levels between 40 and 60 percent, and suffer from stress when the humidity for houseplants is outside that range. If you don’t have a hygrometer to measure the humidity inside your home, watch your houseplants for signs of stress. Consider raising humidity levels when your houseplants exhibit these symptoms: Leaves develop brown edges. Plants begin to wilt. Flower buds fail to develop or drop from the plant before they open....

Common Fruit Tree Diseases Fruit trees are very diverse, but there are some common fruit tree diseases that can be found in many of them. The best thing you can do when preventing fruit tree diseases is to prune the tree(s) to allow sun and air through the branches, as disease spreads easily in dark, damp environments. Peach scab and leaf curl Peaches, nectarines, and plums often fall victim to the same problems, like peach scab and peach leaf curl....

Butterfly Bush Pruning Pruning butterfly bushes is easy. These shrubs are extremely hardy and adaptable. Unlike most pruning guidelines, there is no surefire technique on how to prune a butterfly bush. However, as with most shrubs and trees, it is always a good idea to remove any broken, dead, or diseased limbs by cutting them at the point of origin. Most people prefer to cut back the entire shrub to within a foot or two (31-61 cm....

How to Care for a Jade Plant Learning about the care and maintenance of jade plants (Crassula ovata) is easy. The most important factors to consider when growing jade houseplants is water, light, temperature, and fertilizer. Watering a Jade Plant One of the most important things when you care for jade plants is to make sure that they are watered properly. Never let a jade plant dry out completely. Also, do not water a jade plant too often, as this can cause root rot....

About Japanese Snowball Trees Topping out at 15 feet (5 m.), Japanese snowball trees might better be termed shrubs. Japanese snowball shrubs grow in a range of 8 to 15 feet (2-5 m.) for mature height, and a little larger for mature spread. Snowballs are upright, multi-stemmed shrubs. Japanese snowball trees flower heavily in spring. The pure white clusters appear in April and May, some reaching 4 inches (10 cm.) wide....

About Japanese Katsura Trees The grown up name for Katsura tree, Cercidiphyllum, refers to a genus of trees from Asia, in particular Japan and China. The trees are suited for moist soil in full sun and get no larger than 45 feet (14 m.) tall. In fact, the majority of the trees are almost better classified as big bushes rather than trees. While there are other varieties, Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonica) is one of the most popular landscape trees....

Potted Plant Protection Protecting container plants from animals is, for the most part, the same as protecting a garden. A lot of it depends upon how humane you want to be. If you just want to deter pests, each animal has certain sights and smells that will drive it away. For instance, birds can usually be scared away by hanging strips of fabric or old CDs around your plants. Many other animals can be deterred by human hair or chili powder....

How to Create a Sunflower House So you’re ready to begin making a sunflower house with kids. Where do you start? First, choose a sunny location with a source of water nearby. Sunflowers love the sun but still require lots of watering. Sunflowers grow in almost any soil, but if you have heavy clay or sandy soil, the plants will grow better if you work some compost or other organic matter into the soil before planting....

Is a Kiwi Plant Self-Pollinating? The simple answer is no. Although some vines bear both male and female flowers on the same plant, kiwis do not. Each individual kiwi produces either pistillate or staminate flowers. Those producing pistillate blossoms are termed female plants and bear the fruit. It is recommended that you plant one male plant, with staminate flowers, for every eight female kiwi plants. This ensures good kiwi cross pollination and fruit set....

Landscaping With Hemlocks Growing hemlock trees is a piece of cake, provided that you take their many needs into consideration when planting them. The question isn’t so much how to plant a hemlock tree as where to plant them. Unlike many other large landscape trees, hemlocks have evolved while growing in the shade of other trees, so you’ll need to choose a place that’s protected, especially against winter winds and drying summer heat....

About African Hosta Plants The African hosta goes by a few different Latin names, including Drimiopsis maculata and Ledebouria petiolata. Its placement in a plant family is not fully agreed upon, with some experts putting it in the lily family and others with hyacinth and related plants. Regardless of its classification, African hosta is a warm weather plant, growing best outdoors in USDA zones 8 through 10. What draws most gardeners to the African hosta is its unique, spotted foliage....

About Tangelo Trees Additional tangelo tree information tells us that technically, or rather botanically, tangelos are a hybrid of Citrus paradisi and Citrus reticulata and named this by W.T. Swingle and H. J. Webber. Further information about tangelo trees indicates that the fruit is a cross between the Duncan grapefruit and the Dancy tangerine of the family Rutaceae. An evergreen with fragrant white flowers, the tangelo tree produces fruit looking much like an orange but with a bulbous stem end, smooth to slightly bumpy rind, and an easily removable peel....

Lemon Tree Life Cycle The average lifespan of lemon trees is over 50 years. With proper care and disease prevention practices, a vigorous tree can live over 100 years. Diseases can shorten the life of a lemon tree, but good care leads to a strong, healthy tree less susceptible to diseases. Here are a few tips to help you extend the life of your tree: Plant lemon trees in a location with eight or more hours of direct sunlight each day....

Common Types of Lily of the Valley Common lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) has dark green leaves, tops out at about 10 inches (25 cm.) in height, and produces small, extremely fragrant, white flowers. As long as it’s contained from taking over the garden, you can’t go wrong with this variety. There are, however, a large number of interesting cultivars that set themselves apart. Other Kinds of Lily of the Valley Plants Lily of the valley doesn’t necessarily mean white flowers anymore....

Growing Low-Light Edibles Due to higher labor costs, growing edibles in the dark often raises their market value. Low-light gardening can be a profitable solution for gardeners wishing to enter a niche market. Here are three plants which use the energy stored in their roots to produce vegetables in the dark: White Asparagus – Compared to green asparagus, the white version has a sweeter, more delicate flavor. Popular in Europe, white asparagus can be produced by blocking sunlight from reaching the sprouts....

Maidenhair Fern Indoor Growing The most critical part of growing the maidenhair fern inside is careful attention to soil moisture and humidity. Your fern’s soil must absolutely never dry out or it will very quickly produce many brown fronds. It is recommended to grow these plants in pots with drainage holes. When you water a maidenhair fern, take it to a sink, give it a complete and thorough soaking, and let all the excess water drain away....