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What is a Courtyard Garden? There really are no limits, as long as it is in a courtyard, for what makes up a courtyard garden. A courtyard is any outdoor space enclosed by the walls of a house or another building. A courtyard garden may be fully enclosed on four sides, with a gate or another doorway for entry, or it may be three-sided. For instance, you may have a semi-enclosed space as an entryway leading to the front door of your house....

If you can get your hands on currant tomato plants, they will reward you with sweet fruits, perfect for eating out of hand, canning, or preserving. What Are Currant Tomatoes? Currant tomatoes are tiny cherry tomatoes that grow on indeterminate vines. They produce all season long until frost kills the plants. The plants may get up to 8 feet (2.5 m.) tall and require staking to keep fruit exposed to light and off the ground....

What is Dahlia Flower Powdery Mildew? Many species of fungi can cause powdery mildew in ornamental plants. Golovinomyces cichoracearum (formerly Erysiphe cichoracearum) has been identified as the fungus species that commonly infects the dahlia flower. Powdery mildew doesn’t generally spread to flowers in other plant families, as the various species of fungi are host specific. Powdery mildew on dahlias is often precipitated by high humidity (over 95%), moderate ambient temperatures in the 68 to 86 degrees F....

What is Datura? Datura plants are often confused with Brugmansia. Brugmansia or Datura, which is which? Brugmansia can become a massive woody tree but Datura is smaller and less woody with upright as opposed to drooping flowers. Trumpet flower has a bad rap due to a history that links it to such dangerous plants as nightshade and mandrake. Let’s set that aside and look at its attributes. Datura plants grow quickly and may get up to 4 feet (1 m....

Trellis Made of Branches A trellis is a great way to hold up a pea or bean vine, but it can also serve to tidy up the garden. Arranging plants, like zucchini and melons, so that they spread vertically instead of horizontally frees up a lot of garden space. Both tall ornamentals and climbing edibles are healthier with a trellis to prop themselves up on than floundering on the ground. However, if you head to the garden store, a trellis might run more than you want to pay and a lot of commercial trellises may not give the rustic look that works particularly well in a garden....

Dogwood Tree Diseases Dogwood trees suffer from a variety of diseases and conditions, most of which result in only cosmetic damage. Some are caused by improper care, such as water stress, resulting from inadequate irrigation during dry periods. Other avoidable diseases include leafspot and sun scorch, which occur when this understory tree is planted in full sun. However, two dogwood tree diseases are potentially lethal to the trees. Both are canker diseases....

Early Color Change of Foliage When your tree is so stressed from something in its environment that it starts to change colors, you’re witnessing a last stand of sorts. Your tree’s leaves start to change colors, even under normal conditions, due to a lack of chlorophyll. This can happen when the tree starts to prepare itself for winter, or it can happen when the tree or shrub perceives a threat to its well-being....

Choosing and Growing East North Central Evergreen Shrubs When choosing evergreen bushes to grow in the northern Midwest, it’s important to find those that will be hardy enough for the cold and snowy winters. These shrubs also need to be able to handle hot summers, sometimes variable conditions, and stormy spring and fall seasons. Also, make selections based on what you need in your yard. For instance, if you want a year-round privacy screen in your backyard, choose a species that will grow tall enough....

Planting with Elderberries Some gardeners make fritters from elderberry flowers and eat the fruit, raw or cooked. Others leave the berries for the birds and just use the hardy shrubs in a hedgerow. Whether or not you eat the blossoms or fruit of these shrubs, you can still make your garden more attractive by selecting appropriate elderberry plant companions. The shrubs thrive in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 10, so you’ll have many options....

Euryops Bush Daisy The Euryops daisy is a large perennial bush that grows well in warm climates in USDA zones 8 to 11. The plant will bloom all season long or until cold temperatures appear with yellow, daisy-like flowers. The deeply cut, lacy leaves cover a bush that may get 5 feet (1.5 m.) tall and up to 5 feet (1.5 m.) wide. Choose a well-drained, but moist, bed in full sun for growing bush daisies....

What is Winter Burn? When plants gather solar energy during photosynthesis, they release water as part of the process. This is called transpiration and results in the evaporation of moisture through the leaves and needles. When a plant is not able to replace the lost water due to drought or heavily frozen ground, they will dehydrate. Winter burn in evergreens can cause death to the plant in severe cases, but most likely results in foliar loss....

Do All Flowers Need Deadheading? You plant flowering shrubs in order to see those lovely blossoms open. In time, the blossoms fade and die. In many cases, you help the plant to produce more flowers by trimming off dead and wilted blossoms. This is called deadheading. Deadheading is a simple enough procedure. You simply pinch or snip off the wilting flower’s stem, making the cut just above the next leaf nodes....

About Cold Hardy Fruit Trees The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a system dividing the country into plant hardiness zones based on coldest annual temperatures. Zone 1 is the coldest, but regions labeled zone 4 are also chilly, getting down to negative 30 degrees F. (-34 C.). That’s pretty cold weather for a fruit tree, you may think. You would be right. Lots of fruit trees are not happy and productive in zone 4....

Are you intrigued? Let’s explore some ideas for making money from gardening. How to Make Money Gardening Here are some garden money-making tips and ideas to get you started, many of which require nothing more than your own personal gardening experience: Grow microgreens for selling to vegan/vegetarian restaurants or grocery stores. Sell herbs to restaurants or specialty grocery stores. Sell cut flowers to farmers’ markets or florists’ shops. Sell garlic for eating or planting....

Why not extend our outdoor viewing pleasure into the darkness by creating a nightscape? Garden nightscape design is easy and so much fun. There are many ways to create the nightscape of your dreams. Read on for some nightscaping ideas. How to Create a Nightscape Garden You may be asking yourself, “What is a nightscape?”. A nightscape is a garden you can comfortably dine in, sit in, and stroll in after dark....

Greenhouse Fennel Plants Fennel is a member of the carrot and parsley family and is related to dill, caraway, and cumin. It produces aromatic fruits that are incorrectly referred to as seeds. While the fennel seeds are a delicious addition to many foods, this perennial is more commonly grown for its bulb. The fennel bulb does not grow underground but above the soil line. As it grows, soil is piled up around it (blanching) to keep the bulb from becoming green and to retain its sweetness....

What Does a Blueberry Bush Look Like? While these are popular fruits, many people are unsure as to what a blueberry bush looks like. It looks like a typical shrub with shiny, oval-shaped, green leaves. The height can vary, depending on the variety, from a few feet tall to 12 (3.5 m.) or more feet tall. They, of course, have the tell-tale, blue berries. Tips for Planting Blueberry Bushes The most important thing to remember when growing blueberry plants is that they need a very low pH balance to grow well....

Eugenia, a broadleaf evergreen shrub also sometimes called brush cherry, is native to South America and is grown in many other warm regions. With its bronzy leaves and small, fragrant, white flowers this plant’s long taproot helps make it drought resistant. Continue reading to learn about growing Eugenia shrubs as privacy hedges, as well as Eugenia hedge care. Eugenia Shrubs for Privacy Hedge Eugenia thrives in full sun and can tolerate a bit of shade....

While these fruits are heavy, you can grow melons on a trellis as long as you create a strong support system for the vine and each fruit. Vertical Melon Growing Few gardeners have all the growing space they would like. That’s why the vertical vegetable garden has become popular. Using trellises allow you to produce more crops than you otherwise would and often healthier crops too. This includes vertical melon growing....

Easy-to-Grow Plants with Yellow Vegetables Beans – Often referred to as wax beans, yellow beans are available in both pole and bush varieties. Plus, these yellow veggies have the same cultivation requirements as traditional green beans. Wax beans have a mild grassy flavor similar to green beans and they retain their color when cooked. Beets – If the staining effect of traditional red beets is keeping you from serving this healthy veggie, golden beets are the answer....