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When to Quarantine Houseplants There are a few cases where you should keep houseplants separate and quarantine them: Anytime you are bringing home a new plant from a nursery Anytime you bring your houseplants inside after being outdoors during warm weather Anytime you spot pests or disease on your current houseplants If you separate houseplants by quarantining them, you will save yourself a lot of work and headaches in the future....

What Causes Powdery Mildew on Pepper Plants? Powdery mildew on pepper plants spreads primarily by wind, but also by splashing water. The disease is also transmitted by humans, and sometimes by insects such as aphids, thrips, and whiteflies. Certain weather conditions favor the disease, particularly weather fluctuations such as warm, dry days followed by cool, moist nights. Plant crowding is also a contributing factor, as is excessive use of high-nitrogen fertilizer....

Help, My Lemongrass Leaves are Brown! Like me, you’re probably asking “Why is my lemongrass turning brown?” Insufficient watering/fertilizing The most obvious reason for a lemongrass plant turning brown would be lack of water and/or nutrients. Lemongrass is native to areas with regular rainfall and high humidity so they may need more water in the home garden than other plants. Water and mist the plants regularly. To keep other plants nearby from getting drowned out by the frequent watering, plant the lemongrass in a bottomless container buried in the soil....

In order to manage these piles of castings, it is important to answer the question, “What do worm casting mounds look like?” Once you are armed with a bit more information, you may decide that worm castings problems are worth living with when compared to the benefits they provide for your garden. What Do Worm Casting Mounds Look Like? If you have small, quarter sized piles of dirt in your yard or garden, you are lucky!...

Apricot Trees with Bacterial Spot Bacterial spot is an infection caused by the bacterium, Xanthomonas pruni. Though the name may imply that only apricot trees may become afflicted with this disease, many stone fruits are susceptible. This includes fruits such as peaches, plums, and even cherries. These bacteria, which commonly spread in the springtime, can be found in cankers that have formed on trees. During periods of wet weather with high humidity, bacteria are able to spread....

When to Pick Black-Eyed Peas Originating in subtropical Asia, black-eyed peas are actually legumes rather than peas. They are a common celebratory feature of many New Year’s Day meals in the southern United States. Although a popular crop in that region, black-eyed peas are actually cultivated around the globe, yet many of us only know them as the dried white bean with a black ‘eye.’ Black-eyed peas can actually be harvested as either a fresh snap bean about 60 days post germination or as a dry bean after about 90 days of growing time....

So which are the best flowering weeping trees for a small garden? Read on for our recommendations for blooming weeping trees. We’ll point out a few pink flowering weeping trees and a few purple ones. Blooming Weeping Trees Weeping trees are those with branches that cascade down instead of heading out horizontally or pointing upwards. They tend to lend a serene air to the backyard. The weeping willow is a classic example of a weeping tree, but it’s a big one and doesn’t offer showy flowers....

When to Fertilize Blueberries While there is not a first or last date to fertilize blueberry bushes, the general rule of thumb is to fertilize blueberries in the spring before their leaves have grown in. This is so that the blueberry fertilizer has time to penetrate the soil and make it to the roots of the blueberry bush before it enters active growth. You should be fertilizing blueberries once a year....

What is Botrytis Blight? Botrytis blight on plants is caused by Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that attacks tender parts of the plant in the presence of high humidity. Botrytis blight symptoms on flowers include spotting, discoloration, and wilting. Buds often fail to open. It may look as though the flowers are old and fading. You can tell the difference between an old flower and one affected by botrytis blight by the pattern of discoloration and wilting....

If you are just putting in your shrubs, you’ll have more than a few excellent choices for shrubs with yellow spring flowers. Read on for good recommendations. Bushes with Yellow Flowers You can find yellow bushes everywhere, from the coldest to the hottest regions of the country. One popular yellow bush is forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia), a cold hardy bush that fills with brilliant yellow flowers in early April. Once the display is done, the dark green, leafy bushes blend into the landscape nicely or create a lovely, informal hedge....

Is Butterfly Bush an Invasive Species? There are pros and cons to growing butterfly bushes in the landscape. The pros: butterflies love the long panicles of bright flowers on the butterfly bush and the shrubs are very easy to grow. The cons: butterfly bush readily escapes cultivation and invades natural areas, crowding out native plants; what’s more, butterfly bush control is time-consuming and perhaps impossible in some cases. An invasive species is usually an exotic plant introduced from another country as an ornamental....

Can Dahlias Be Grown as Perennials? Perennials are plants that live for at least three years, while tender perennials won’t survive cold winters. Tender dahlia plants are actually tropical plants and they are perennial only if you live in USDA plant hardiness zone 8 or higher. If your hardiness zone is 7 or below, you have a choice: either grow dahlias as annuals or dig the tubers and store them until spring....

Can You Grow Peppers Upside Down? Absolutely, it’s possible to grow inverted pepper plants. Apparently, not every veggie does well upside down, but upside-down pepper plants are a go, probably because they don’t have really deep roots. Really, though, why wouldn’t you try growing peppers upside down? Upside-down gardening is a space saver, lacks pesky weeds, foils pests and fungal disease, doesn’t need staking and, thanks to gravity, delivers water and nutrients easily....

About Christmas Ferns Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) is a deciduous evergreen fern that grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 9. This particular fern is known as a Christmas fern because some parts of the plant stay green all year long. Dark green leaves, or fronds, reach up to 3 feet (about 1 m.) long and 4 inches (10 cm.) wide. This plant brings color and interest to a garden when other plants are dormant....

Shrubs for Dry Climates Weather seems less predictable every day and it’s impossible for anyone to say with certainty whether next year will bring rain or drought to zone 7 regions. If your area has suffered from droughts in the past, it makes sense to fill your garden with shrubs for dry climates. However, don’t forget that you’ll need to pick shrubs with drought tolerance that will thrive in the conditions your garden provides....

Christmas Cactus Fungal Issues Rots, including basal stem rot and root rot, are the most common problems affecting Christmas cactus. Stem rot- Basal stem rot, which generally develops in cool, damp soil, is easily recognized by the formation of a brown, water-soaked spot at the base of the stem. The lesions eventually travel up the stem of the plant. Unfortunately, basal stem rot is usually deadly because treatment involves cutting the diseased area from the base of the plant, which removes the supportive structure....

Japanese Cleyera Information Cleyera plants are native to China and Japan, but they have become naturalized throughout the Southern United States. These semi-tropical plants can’t take repeated freezing, and they are rated for USDA plant hardiness zones 8 through 10. New growth starts out red, gradually turning to an unusually dark green color. The glossy, evergreen foliage is attractive year-round. Although it is grown primarily for its foliage, the shrub also has fragrant, attractive, white flowers that bloom at the point where the leaves join the stems....

Cold Frames and Frost Autumn cold frames work like greenhouses, sheltering and insulating tender plants from chilly weather, breezes, and frost. But, unlike greenhouses, cold frames for fall are easy to construct yourself. A cold frame is a simple structure. It isn’t “walk-in” like a greenhouse, and its sides are solid. This makes it easier to build. Like a greenhouse, it uses the energy of the sun to create a warm microclimate in a chilly garden, a place where crops can thrive as the weather turns cold....

Container Gardening Pots The most important item on your container gardening supply list is, obviously, containers! You can buy a huge assortment of containers at any garden center, but really anything that can hold soil and drain water will work. You can use any old bucket you may have lying around, as long as you drill a hole or two in the bottom for water to escape. You can build your own container out of wood, provided you take precautions against rotting....

About Cocklebur Control Cocklebur plants are native to North and South America. Spiny cocklebur (Xanthium spinosum) and common cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) are the two main varieties that can be found throughout the Americas, causing grief to nature lovers, farmers, home gardeners, pet owners, and livestock. Both types of cocklebur produce large burrs with small, sharp hook-shaped tips. Common cocklebur is a summer annual that grows about 4-5 feet (1 to 1....