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By Erin Marissa Russell & Matt Gibson If deer are common in your region, as a gardener you already know there’s more to the relationship between people who love plants and deer (who also love plants) than simply enjoying the presence of these graceful creatures as they graze on your lawn. That’s because deer don’t stop grazing at the edge of the lawn. They keep on grazing, continuing right into your flower beds—and they can do some serious damage, especially to young plants or ones they really get a taste for....

Naturally these plans always stir up a desire for action, making it the ideal time to review and implement your spring garden checklist. Gardeners are a fortunate lot. For many folks, the winter season can drag on and become a bit gloomy. The weather’s gray and dull, there’s not enough daylight hours, and our favorite outdoor activities can grind to a halt. But gardeners have a wonderful antidote for the short-day blues....

Tineke Rubber Plant is a variegated rubber tree variety that displays dark and light green patchy leaves with off-white edges and pink stems. Let’s have a look at the Ficus Tineke Rubber Tree Care to keep it thriving all year round. Here are the best types of rubber plants you can grow Propagating Ficus Tineke Rubber Tree You can propagate it easily by taking a small branch from a healthy Ficus Tineke Rubber Tree and allowing it to root in water or soil....

The forget-me-not flower is pretty unforgettable. Those dainty blue (or sometimes pink or white) flowers sure do make a garden look its best! However, some people can’t forget them because they spread like crazy and quickly become invasive! If you’re not careful with the beautiful blooms of forget-me-nots, you’ll find yourself wishing you could forget. Table of Contents If you have bad luck with keeping plants alive, you may want to welcome this relentless flower into your empty flower beds....

Others misidentify the wood-burrowing types with ground-tunneling ones, but these pose no threat to hearth and home either. Hymenoptera Are you confused about the many types of bees that visit your lawn and garden, or maybe even concerned that some might be nesting in your home? Sure, they all buzz around and collect pollen. But many species look alike and are easy to get mixed up. Some, like the carpenters, can become pests, drilling holes in wooden building materials to make nests....

Complete Container Herb Gardening is a great read by best-selling author, horticulturist, designer, and herb enthusiast Sue Goetz. Sue’s passion for herbs is contagious and in the book she shares many herb garden designs and projects for culinary use, aromatherapy, cleaning, natural beauty, pollinators, and more. This excerpt from her book, Complete Container Herb Gardening is used with permission from Cool Springs Press/The Quarto Group, who also provided a review copy....

Question: I’m worried about the soil depth for my herb gardening space. How deep should soil be for herbs? -Ken R. Answer: All herbs that are grown in containers need a pot that’s at least six inches in diameter. Also, consider how large the plant will be when it’s mature so that you don’t have to transplant it to a larger pot during the growing season. However, all your herbs will need to eventually be transplanted into larger containers as they get bigger and outgrow the pots they’re planted in....

Guzmanias (Guzmania spp.) are bromeliads belonging in the Bromeliaceae family with more than 120 different species, though you’ll probably only locate several of the more popular types at your local nursery. With proper care, these tropical beauties are hardy and easy to grow houseplants that add a colorful accent to indoor spaces. Here’s a quick summary of their care with more details outlined below. How Do You Care For A Guzmania Plant: Grow Guzmania plants in soils that drain well, in a humid environment and in temperatures ranging between 60°F to 80°F....

QUESTION: How do you dry onions in the sun? Is this a faster way to cure them? -Phillip S ANSWER: Larger onion varieties and onions that have too much moisture can mold and rot in long term storage, so curing your onions is essential for long term storage. To cure onions, you first dry them out in the sun for a few days, then move them indoors to dry for an additional two to three weeks....

Ever since I started gardening, I dreamed of having a greenhouse of my own. Because Minnesota has such short summers, I never got to spend as much time in the garden as I wanted to. A few years ago, my husband helped make that dream a reality by designing and building a DIY greenhouse for our veggie garden. I was thrilled! It has been amazing to be able to work in my garden for several months longer than I could without it....

Mother of Thousands (bryophyllum daigremontianum) is a beautiful and interesting house plant, and one of my favorites. If you have one of these plants in your home, you’ll want to know how to care for it, so it thrives for years to come. In this guide I’ll cover everything you need to know about caring for your Mother of Thousands. But first, a quick summary of mother of thousands plant care....

Commercial farms often preemptively treat their soil with fumigants. However, these compounds are biocides – they kill all forms of life, including beneficial nematodes, soil microbes, and earthworms. Meloidogyne spp. Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) truly are a menace. There are over 100 species in the Meloidogyne genus found worldwide, and they can affect almost every type of plant. And the worst part about it is that you might not even know that your plants are infested until it is too late to save them....

By Matt Gibson Whiteflies, also called aleyrodidae, (scientific name is Trialeurodes vaporariorum) are small, white, soft-bodied, winged insects that are closely related to aphids and mealybugs. Whiteflies are pests which are commonly found on indoor plants, in greenhouses, and on tomato crops. Whiteflies are so small, that they are often hard to detect with the naked eye. Like aphids, whiteflies are usually found in clusters on the underside of leaves. As small as 1/12 of an inch and triangular in shape, whiteflies would be nearly impossible to spot if they were nocturnal creatures and didn’t fly around during daylight hours....

Scientists aren’t exactly sure how many species exist, because new ones are still being discovered in unexplored tropical areas. Polypodiopsida “Jurassic Park” comes to mind for many of us when we think of ferns – abundant, spiky greenery thrashing about as huge dinosaurs crash through the forest in pursuit of human intruders. At 300,000 million years old, they were, indeed, among the dominant plant species when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. And as many as 15,000 species now call our planet home....

Bamboo is a grass, but its wood is strong enough to be used in flooring and furniture. In the garden, bamboo is usually grown for its ornamental aspect or as a privacy tree, as it grows quickly and mostly in clumps that can be dense enough to offer curtain-like foliage. How to Grow Bamboo from Cuttings in Water? To grow bamboo from cuttings in water, cut several 10 inches long cuttings from a new growth that has at least two nodes and two internodes....

Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum spp.) take center stage in fall, just as most annuals and perennials are closing up shop for the season. These extravagant flowers have disc-like blooms in a variety of bright hues. Most commonly, you’ll find them in grocery stores and nurseries in August and September in shades of white, orange, yellow or rust, but they’re also available in pinks and purples. Chrysanthemums are from China, where they’ve been cultivated since at least 500 B....

by Matt Gibson Orache is making waves in culinary circles as a superfood that has been widely ignored for years in favor of its more popular cousins, spinach and quinoa. Want to grow some orache in your own garden? Now that the world is getting caught up on the many healthy benefits of orache, seed sales have risen to an all-time high, and the orache plant, which was once only cultivated as an ornamental by gardeners, is now being harvested and enjoyed in salads and more....

The appealing images of beautiful houseplants on social media are helping to spark interest and attract newcomers. Growing houseplants is fun, healthy, educational, and rewarding – and you can join anytime, even if you’ve never watered a houseplant. This article is a beginner’s guide to growing plants indoors – it can’t take you from novice to green thumb in one step, but it can set you on the journey. To get started with houseplants, pick plants suited to the conditions in your home and learn the basics of their care....

Agapanthus plants are generally resistant to most pests and diseases. As a child growing up in Delaware, I was always fascinated by agapanthus, a plant I was only familiar with from ogling books filled with pretty pictures of different flowers. I still vividly remember my excitement on my first trip to California when I saw them growing outside, with their rounded flower heads and long, strap-like leaves. And now, I am fortunate to live in Zone 9b, where I can grow them in my own garden!...

But you don’t have to toss these perfectly good plants! If you make the effort to keep them alive throughout the winter, you’ll be rewarded with even larger, more robust plants the following summer. In the spring, many of us buy those tried-and-true annuals that provide floral interest all summer long. Think geraniums, violets, marigolds, and of course, petunias. It’s hard to imagine a trip to the nursery in the spring without picking up a hanging basket (or three) filled with vibrant bloomers....