Choosing Shrubs for Your Yard

Shrub Basics With all their wonderful diversity of size, shape, foliage, and flower, shrubs can turn a mundane piece of property into a beautiful showplace. Shrubs make the yard inviting and livable. Youve proba

Growing Guide for Wedding Gown Hydrangea

continue reading below History of Wedding Gown Hydrangea Hydrangeas are one of the most loved flowers around. Its easy to see why: They feature big, beautiful blooms and fit well in a variety of garden

Why Are There Yellow Leaves on my Gardenia Bush?

Yellow leaves on your gardenia could be caused by a couple of different things. It sounds like youve got the water thing under control; gardenias should be kept evenly moist but not soggy or standing in water. Rai

Can Established Boxwoods Be Transferred to a New Location?

Large, well-established boxwoods can be transplanted if you can dig out enough of the rootball. With large plants, this is difficult for a homeowner to do without special equipment such as a tree spade, which leav

A New Garden Favorite: Bloomerang Lilac

continue reading below History of Bloomerang Lilac Reblooming, or remontant, lilacs were first noted in the early twentieth century; they are distinctive because they flower more than once per season.

Growing Guide for Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea

continue reading below History of Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry (Hydrangea paniculata Renhy) is a hybrid of an easy-growing, sun-loving hydrangea species. Vanilla Strawberry was disc

Choose the Top Hydrangeas for Your Garden

Hydrangeas for Sun While most hydrangeas do best in shade, varieties of Hydrangea paniculata prefer sunny spots. Most selections have large clusters of white flowers in summer. The showy blooms fade to s

How to Get Blue Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are sort of the mood ring of the garden landscape. And their mood (or color) is determined by the soil they grow in. The flowers get their color from the pH in the soil. By adjusting the pH, you can t

How to Get More Hydrangea Flowers

All hydrangeas love water. Their name comes from the Greek "hydra" meaning "water" and "angeon" meaning "vessel." Hydrangea leaves sag when the plant is too dry, telling y

How to Grow Heathers and Heaths

Heather and Heath Basics When people mention heather, they are almost always talking about two different genera of plants: heaths and heathers. Although both belong to the Ericaceae family, they are botanically di

What Is The Proper Care For Your Ficus Tree?

Most people who do not have horticultural qualifications would not be aware that there are indeed many hundreds of variations of the ficus species. One of the more commonly seen indoor plants these days is the ficus benj

Plant Trees For Beauty In Your Garden

Deciduous trees areexciting. There is alwaysa promise connectedwith them, for, althoughthey rest during thecolder months to permit sunshineto filter to the earth,they bring glory to the gardenwhen the leaves do come back

Trees Dramatize The Garden

No garden is completewithout at east one ormore trees. A tree, in fact, isoften the most inspiring factorin a landscape. Now that summeris here shade trees willprove of great value. But rememberthat in addition to prote

Trees That Herald Spring

Spring is the time of theyear when nature trulyamazes with a wealth ofbeauty in the form of floweringtrees and shrubs. Aftera long, cold and, of course,unusual winter such as LongBeach has just experienced,know that spri

Liquidambar Tree

In much of the country,in the fall of the year,nature paints the foliageof many of her trees gloriousshades of orange, gold, scarlet,maroon and bronze. In California, few trees colorwell in autumn due to the mildclimate.

Evergreen Brazilian Pepper Tree - The Perfect Patio Tree

The Evergreen Brazilian Pepper might well be theperfect patio tree.Though related to the Californiapepper, it is quite a differentspecimen in many ways. It grows15 to 25 feet tall, is a neat,symmetrical, round-headed tre

The Magical Beauty Of Mimosa Tree

July, with its hot dry days, usually puts the brakes on the any landscape gardeners enthusiasm. The brilliant colors of spring have faded, and now greens and browns have taken their places.Trees or shrubs which bloom in

The Lifespan Of Live Christmas Trees

For most environmentally-conscious folks, live Christmas trees give them a renewable option for celebrating the holidays. But from their perspectives, the lifespan of a live Christmas tree begins when its purchased and

Green Benefits Of Real Christmas Trees

As Christmas trees go up all over the country, many environmentally-conscious decorators are torn between what tree purchase is better for the environment. Should you choose an artificial tree and use it for several yea

Real Christmas Trees Make For Greener Holidays

The holidays are here and Christmas trees are appearing in homes across the world as families prepare for the season. But in these times of economic hardship, families may be tempted to invest in an artificial tree and