Information About Inula Plants Inula is a bushy herbaceous summer flowering plant. It blooms from July to October in most zones and produces 5-inch (12.7 cm.) blooms with slender rayed petals in yellow and deep orange-yellow. Most species are hardy to USDA planting zones 5 to 8. Inula is a low maintenance plants that usually get only about 1 to 1 ½ feet (30 to 45.7 cm.) tall with a similar spread....

What is a Cigar Plant? You may be wondering, just what is a cigar plant? An annual in most USDA plant hardiness zones, the cigar plant flower is a tender perennial in other places and is sometimes called firecracker plant. It is a small, multi-stemmed shrub with prolific red blooms that seem to burst like fireworks. These small red flowers have black and white lips and a tubular shape similar to that of a cigar....

Information on Fertilizing Cosmos Information for feeding cosmos plants consists mostly of reasons why you shouldn’t do it. Nitrogen encourages strong greenery and discourages the production of flowers. Most balanced fertilizer blends contain too much nitrogen for flowering annuals. It’s a vicious circle some gardeners get stuck in: they don’t see blooms, so they fertilize their plants hoping to encourage flowers. The more fertilizer they add, the fewer flowers will appear....

Is My Catnip Sick? Catnip is probably one of the easier herbs to grow. In fact, they thrive in low nutrient soil, are drought tolerant when established and reliably come back in spring even after the harshest winter. So why would you have dying catnip plants? If they haven’t been loved to death by your local alley cats, the problem may be fungal or viral. Problems with catnip are usually related to site and conditions, and can be easily prevented....

Is My Pitcher Plant Dying? More than likely, your pitcher plant is just getting older; browning or yellowing pitcher plants are perfectly normal even when plants have received excellent care. As individual pitchers age, they may start to yellow, then brown, and collapse. If it’s only the oldest or largest pitchers doing this, it’s nothing to worry about; your plant is just shedding its oldest pitchers. As fall approaches, a normal plant will begin to go dormant and stop replacing the shed pitchers....

Is Sugarcane Good for You? Sugar gets a bad rap these days, and certainly there is such a thing as too much sugar. However, if you are interested in more natural, unprocessed sugar to supplement a healthy diet, why not grow your own sugarcane. The types of sugarcane most useful in home gardens are syrup and chewing canes. Syrup sugarcane can be processed to make syrup, as it doesn’t crystallize easily....

About Ivy Houseplants Ivy houseplants can actually be one of several different varieties. These include: English ivy (Hedera helix) Irish ivy (Hedera hibernica) Japanese ivy (Hedera rhombea) Algerian ivy (Hedera canariensis) Persian ivy (Hedera colchica) Nepal ivy (Hedera nepalensis) Russian ivy (Hedera pastuchovii) English ivy cultivars are the most common type of ivy grown in the home, but all can be found if you look hard enough. Each of the varieties of inside ivy plants also come in several different cultivars....

Should I Prune My Ixora? Pruning is not entirely necessary for Ixora, also known as flame of the woods. This evergreen shrub produces bright clusters of tube-shaped flowers and can grow up to 10 to 15 feet (3-5 m.) high, depending on the type. If you want to keep your Ixora smaller than that, you can prune it. You can also prune to maintain a certain shape. However, there are some newer cultivars, like ‘Nora Grant,’ that were developed to require minimal pruning....

What Causes Black Spots on Jade Plant? Who isn’t charmed by the jade plant’s chubby leaves and ease of care? If the plant is in the correct light, a low humidity area and has the proper potting mix, these plants don’t require a lot of babying. However, even the best succulent gardener may find their plant has some issues, chiefly black spots on jade plant. The spots can lead to serious decline of plant health and even death if not properly addressed....

Selecting Zone 9 Jasmine Plants When selecting a new plant specimen, it is a waste of time and money to treat it as an annual and simply let it die when the cold season arrives. That is why choosing a jasmine that is appropriate for your area is so important. Zone 9 jasmine must be cold hardy and tolerant of light freezes, which will occasionally happen. Site is also important but the ability of the plant and its roots to survive winter should be paramount....

There are over 200 species of jasmine. Here are some of the types commonly grown in the United States and USDA plant hardiness zones: Winter jasmine (J. nudiflorum): Zones 6 through 9, may even bloom during winter Arabian jasmine (J. sambac): Zones 9 through 11 Common jasmine (J. officinale): Zones 7 through 10 Star/Confederate jasmines (Trachelospermum spp.): Zones 8 through 10 How to Keep Jasmine Over Winter If you are growing the plants in their rated zone, you need to provide a layer of organic mulch to the roots of the jasmine in winter....

Raising Pigs at Home For many, backyard pig farming is worth consideration. Unlike many livestock animals, pigs require less space to be raised. This is especially attractive to those wishing to keep pet pigs in the backyard or for homesteaders on small farms who wish to raise their own meat. Before keeping backyard pigs, there are several factors that will need to be considered. Raising pigs at home can be difficult for a variety of reasons....

What is Coppicing? Coppicing pruning has been around since Neolithic times, according to archaeologists. The practice of coppicing pruning was particularly important before humans had machinery for cutting and transporting large trees. Coppicing trees provided a constant supply of logs of a size that could be easily handled. Essentially, coppicing is a way of providing a sustainable harvest of tree shoots. First, a tree is felled. Sprouts grow from dormant buds on the cut stump, known as a stool....

Is Hottentot Fig Invasive? The hottentot fig ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis) was introduced from South Africa to California as a ground stabilizing plant. The spreading roots and groundcover nature of ice plant helped halt erosion on California’s coastal dunes. However, the plant became so naturalized that it is now classified as a weed and requires careful management to prevent it from taking over native plant habitats. The hottentot fig flowers do not turn into any verifiable fruit and it’s not related to the fig tree, so the reason for the “fig” in the name is not clear....

About Japanese Weeping Maples The scientific name of Japanese weeping maples is Acer palmatum var. dissectum, of which there are several cultivars. The weeping variety is both delicate and supple, bearing the lacy leaves on branches that bend gracefully toward the ground. The leaves of Japanese weeping maple trees are deeply dissected, much more so than regular Japanese maples with erect growth habits. For that reason, Japanese weeping maple trees are sometimes called laceleafs....

What is Lettuce Drop? Lettuce drop is a disease caused by a fungal infection. There are two species of fungus that can cause the disease, one of which only attacks lettuce, peppers, basil, cauliflower, legumes, and radicchio, called Sclerotinia minor. The other species, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, may infect hundreds of different plants, including many that may be in your garden. As with most fungal infections, lettuce sclerotinia favors humid, wet environments. A lot of rain, lack of airflow between plants, and leaves touching damp ground can all make lettuce beds more susceptible to the infection....

Assassin Bug Identification Assassin bugs are 1/2 to 2 inches (1.3 to 5 cm.) long and have a curved mouth part that looks like a scimitar. They may be brown, tan, red, blackish yellow and often bi-colored. The curved mouth part acts as a siphon. After the bug catches its prey in its spiny or sticky front legs, it will stick the mouth part into the insect and suck out its liquids....

Why You Would Want to Disbud a Rose Bush? By doing the disbudding, a cluster of blooms on a floribunda or grandiflora rose bush will typically produce bigger blooms in the cluster, thus a very showy looking bouquet or spray of blooms. If the main center bud is removed from the cluster of buds on a floribunda rose bush, the other buds will typically open at the same time, thus creating a big full beautiful bouquet or spray of blooms....

Salinas Lettuce Information California’s Salinas valley is the foremost lettuce-growing region in the world. One of the area’s most popular types of lettuce, Salinas iceberg lettuce is grown across the United States and much of the world, including Australia and Sweden. How to Grow Salinas Lettuce Plant Salinas lettuce as soon as the soil can be worked in spring. Plant a fall crop, if desired, in June or July. You can also plant Salinas lettuce indoors three to six weeks ahead of time....

Why Soil Compaction is Bad What would be easier to run through, a pile of bricks or a pile of pillows? For a plant, compacted soil is like a pile of bricks. Roots must work harder to grow into soil, which means that there will be less roots, which means that the plant takes up fewer nutrients and water. All this translates to poor plant growth. Beyond this, when soil is too compact, it can make it difficult for water to percolate through the ground....