How to Paint Plants: Tips on Painting in the Garden • Take a class in botanical painting or drawing. Classes are often offered by public libraries, gardening groups, nonprofit environmental groups, or departments of forestry or fish and wildlife. Most community colleges offer a variety of non-credit classes at a reasonable cost. • Visit botanical gardens in your region. Most gardens host special events for gardeners and artists, and some have botanical art groups and exhibitions of botanical art....

Why Press Leaves and Flowers? Pressing leaves, flowers, and entire plants is a time-tested craft and art form. People have done this for centuries or longer to preserve specimens for study or medicine, to give as gifts, and to use in craft projects. Most people today who partake in flower and foliage pressing do so for projects simply to preserve the beauty of spring, summer, and fall. During a long winter, these pretty pressed plants bring a little sunshine into your home....

How to Use Lavender in Beauty and Health Products The delicious aroma of lavender should leave you feeling relaxed and soothed. It’s a perfect herb to use in face masks, teas, and body scrubs. Here are some easy ideas: Lavender tea. An infusion of lavender flowers is a great way to unwind at the end of the day. Add one heaping teaspoon of dried flowers to a cup of boiling water and infuse for at least five minutes....

So, what causes hydrangea powdery mildew? Is there a powdery mildew hydrangea treatment? Fear not, read on to learn about treating powdery mildew on hydrangeas. What Causes Hydrangea Powdery Mildew? A powdery substance on the plant is the number one symptom of hydrangeas with powdery mildew. This foliar disease may be caused by several pathogens: Golovinomyces orontii (formerly Erysiphe polygoni), Erysiphe poeltii, Microsphaera friesii, and Oidium hotensiae are most prevalent on the big leaf hydrangeas....

Beginning early in March, we northern gardeners begin to eagerly scour our gardens in search of a telltale sprig of green, a sign that spring is on the way and new growth is beginning. Winter aconite plants frequently come up through the snow, don’t mind a small amount of frost, and will open their buttercup-like blooms at the earliest chance. For gardeners who like to plant perennials that greet you in the spring, learning about winter aconite can provide valuable information....

What is Mountain Alyssum? This little flowering beauty is hardy in USDA zones 3-9, drought-tolerant once established, and excellent cover for rock gardens and other niches that are more difficult to plant. Growing mountain alyssum is a low ground cover only reaching 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm.) in height with a 12- to 20-inch (30.5 to 51 cm.) spread. The evergreen foliage of grey-green color sports plentiful, little, yellow flowers in late spring through the early summer....

How to Grow Kohlrabi After four to six weeks, plant the baby plants outdoors in well-drained, rich soil. Growing kohlrabi is most successful in cooler weather. The early crops started indoors and then transplanted outdoors will provide you with a nice crop. When you think about how to plant kohlrabi, remember that there are many different types. Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family. There are white, reddish, and purple varieties, some of which will mature early and others mature late....

Environmental and Cultural Impatiens Problems One of the most common problems with impatiens flowers is wilting. This is usually due to moisture stress. These plants need to be kept consistently moist, but not soggy. Water stress can also cause leaf and flower/bud drop. In addition to watering, wilting can be a result of heat stress, especially if the plants are in too much sun. If feasible, they should be moved or grown in a shadier location....

Tree Bark Damage While most people begin to panic once there is noticeable tree bark damage, this doesn’t have to be the case. There is still hope for your tree and its overall survival depending on the amount of damage. Most minor damage can be easily fixed by removing injured tree bark. In some cases, as with large split branches or trunks that have not broken off, the tree can be braced....

Mahogany Tree Information If you read information about mahogany trees, you’ll find them both interesting and attractive. The mahogany is a large, semi-evergreen tree with a canopy that casts dappled shade. It is a popular landscape tree in Southern Florida. Mahogany tree facts describe the trees as being very tall. They can grow 200 feet (61 m.) in height with leaves some 20 inches (51 cm.) long, but it’s more common to see them growing to 50 feet (15 m....

Most gardeners can enjoy a hardy bird of paradise plant either indoors or out. It is a striking bush with characteristic flowers. Mandela’s gold bird of paradise has the added appeal of lemon yellow sepals flanked by bright blue petals, with the classic beak-like sheath. The Mandela’s gold plant adds vertical interest with its large banana-like leaves. About Mandela’s Gold Bird of Paradise Mandela’s gold plant can reach heights of up to 5 feet ( 1....

Calochortus lily plants are found naturally in much of the western hemisphere, with the majority growing in California. They rise from bulbs and produce a flattened version of a tulip with widespread petals that resemble a butterfly. This is the origin of the name Mariposa, which means butterfly in Spanish. In warm to temperate regions, these arresting blooms are an excellent addition to the native garden, borders, and perennial beds, and as summer seasonal color....

Succulent Mermaid Tail Plant Info You may not be familiar with plants that are crested in general or what it means. Crested succulent plants are unusual, making them more valuable. A plant becomes crested through a process called fasciation, commonly seen in flowers. With succulents, this is an “abnormal flattening of stems.” When looking closely at a crested plant, you’ll see that the stem is flattened along the growing points. This is what makes the sprouting foliage short and swollen on the plant....

Common Nectarine Insect Pests Very similar to peaches, nectarines are loved for their sweet, juicy flesh. Available in both freestone and clingstone varieties, nectarines and peaches are often used interchangeably in cooking. Not surprisingly, both fruits often face the same pests in the garden. Controlling nectarine pests in the home orchard will help to maintain plant vigor, as well as help to prevent nectarine pest problems in the future. Peach Twig Borer Peach twig borers inhabit and impact many different parts of peach and nectarine trees....

What is Osage Orange? Many people have never heard of this tree. If you mention it, expect questions like: “What is Osage orange?” The Osage orange tree (Maclura pomifera) is no kin to the citrus, but the fruit has a faint orangey fragrance strong enough to result in the common name. Its odd shape and color have given it many nicknames, including green brains and hedge apple. The tree also bears long, tough thorns, sharp as steel and can bust tires....

Preparing Hollyhock for Winter Hollyhock plants readily reseed themselves, so once you have a nice batch, you have a lifetime supply. Hollyhocks begin as a low rosette of floppy, slightly fuzzy leaves. The growth is just vegetative in the first year but by the second year the stem begins to form and flowers appear near the beginning of summer. The huge stalks boast numerous flared blooms that last for weeks. The plants are prone to rust disease, so cleanup is important when overwintering hollyhocks....

What annuals grow well in the Pacific Northwest? The sheer number and variation of Pacific Northwest annual flowers available may surprise you. Why Grow Pacific Northwest Annual Flowers? Annuals are plants that germinate, bloom, set seed, then die back in a single season. Amongst Pacific Northwest garden flowers, you will find tender annuals such as marigolds and zinnias that can’t take chilly temps and hardier specimens like poppies and bachelor’s buttons which can handle a light frost....

Pear Trees and Cold Exposure Chilling hours tell you how long cold temperatures last on average. This is much different from the USDA hardiness zone, which indicates the average annual minimum winter temperature of a region. Why are chilling hours important? Without enough chill hours for pear trees, plants won’t break dormancy, resulting in no flowers, few flowers, or incomplete flowers. All this means a no to low fruit harvest. Your hardiness zone will simply tell you the average temperature in winter....

If you live in Arizona, for instance, and see a hairy, pig-like creature, it is probably a javelina. They range wild in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and south throughout Mexico, Central America, and Argentina. These tropical peccaries survive on a variety of foods; however, javelinas in a garden can pose a problem, where the abundance of cultivated produce is extremely attractive. What is a Javelina? If you live in the southwestern United States, down into South and Central America, you may have experience dealing with javelinas....

What is a Flag Iris? Flag irises are very hardy perennial plants that survive with minimal care and generally bloom in the spring and early summer. Flag irises are most often found in wet, low-lying areas and are suitable for similar conditions in the home garden. There are many varieties of flag irises, including dwarf and tall types. The most common types of flag iris plants familiar to most people include blue flag iris and yellow flag iris....