Lead Plant Information Lead plant is a sprawling, semi-erect plant. Foliage consists of long, narrow leaves, sometimes densely covered with fine hairs. Spiky, purple blooms appear from early to midsummer. Lead plant is extremely cold hardy and can tolerate temperatures as cold as -13 F. (-25 C.). The spiky blooms attract a large number of pollinators, including several types of bees. Lead plant is flavorful and protein rich, which means it’s frequently grazed by livestock, as well as deer and rabbits....

Calendula Plant Diseases Calendula is an herbaceous plant native to southwestern Asia, Western Europe, Micronesia, and the Mediterranean. Easy to grow, the pretty golden petals have been used for hundreds of years in cooking, hence its nickname “pot marigold.” Calendula is also used to dye fabrics and, as mentioned, to treat a multitude of health problems. A namesake disease of calendula, calendula smut, is a fungal leaf disease that results in round green/yellow to brownish/black lesions....

How Long is the Mandevilla Bloom Period? How long is the mandevilla blooming season, and does mandevilla bloom all summer? Yes, you’ll usually see the first mandevilla flowers in early summer and the mandevilla bloom period lasts until the first frost in autumn. This beautiful vine is tougher than it looks, but it is killed by frost in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 and 9. However, the roots are still alive and the plant will grow back in spring....

What is a Mickey Mouse Plant? Mickey Mouse plant, native to subtropical southern Africa, is also known as carnival bush, Mickey Mouse bush, or small-leaved plane. The plant is a small, semi-evergreen shrub that reaches mature heights of 3 to 8 feet (1-2 m.). The plant loses its shiny green leaves in spring, but they are soon replaced with new, pink-flushed foliage. Sweet-smelling yellow blooms form at the tips of the branches in spring....

How to Grow Mirabelle de Nancy Plums Mirabelle de Nancy plum trees are partially self-fertile, but you’ll enjoy a larger harvest and better quality fruit if a pollinator is located nearby. Good pollinators include Avalon, Denniston’s Superb, Opal, Merriweather, Victoria and many others. Be sure your plum tree receives at least six to eight hours of sunlight per day. Plum trees are adaptable to a range of conditions, but they shouldn’t be planted in poorly drained soil or heavy clay....

Your Regional To-Do List Most of the chores for upper Midwest gardens at this time of year are maintenance, cleanup, and preparation for winter. Keep pulling out those weeds until you can’t anymore. This will make spring easier.Continue watering any new plants, perennials, shrubs, or trees you put in this fall. Water until the ground freezes, but don’t let the soil get waterlogged.Rake the leaves and give the lawn one last cut....

Oats Covered Smut Information You can find oats with covered smut in many places that oats are grown. But the disease is not easy to spot. You may not realize that your oat plants are diseased until the crop develops heads. Oats covered smut symptoms are generally not visible in the field. That’s because the smut fungus forms in small, loose balls inside the oat panicle. In oats covered with smut, the spores are contained within a delicate gray membrane....

What are Peach Twig Borers? Don’t confuse the peach twig borer with the peach tree borer. The twig borer bores into tender new growth tips, causing them to wilt and die back. The tree borer bores into the trunk of the tree. Both the peach twig and peach tree borer attack stone fruit such as peaches, nectarines, and plums, and can ruin a crop. Peach Twig Borer Life Cycle Peach twig borers have two to five generations every year, depending on the climate where you live....

How to Make a Natural Flea and Tick Powder A natural flea remedy and tick deterrent is simple to make and only requires a few ingredients. Start with diatomaceous earth. This is a natural powder that kills insects by drying them. It absorbs moisture readily, so avoid getting it on, near, or in the eyes, nose, and mouth. Mix diatomaceous earth with dry neem, a product made from a tree native to India....

Light for Pothos: Pothos Lighting Requirements Pothos plants do best in moderate light. Too little light, or too much, can affect the appearance and growth rate of your plant. Too much light can scorch the plant and cause the beautiful, bright green leaves to turn pale yellow. If you want to put your plant in front of a bright window, just be sure the pothos is a few feet away. You can also filter the light with a sheer curtain....

Can You Grow Almonds from Cuttings? Almonds are usually grown by grafting. Since almonds are most closely related to peaches, they are usually budded to them, but they can also be budded to plum or apricot rootstock as well. That said, since these fruiting trees can also be propagated via hardwood cuttings, it is natural to assume that rooting almond cuttings is possible. Will Almond Cuttings Root in the Ground? Almond cuttings will likely not root in the ground....

Is Rose of Sharon invasive? Rose of Sharon, also called althea rose, is native to eastern Asia. The first plants were brought into this country as ornamentals. What is the rose of Sharon growth rate? They typically grow to 10 feet (3 m.) tall and each plant has many branches. Some plants are very fertile and scatter viable seeds every year. These grow quickly into seedlings in springtime. Unless you act quickly, you will have a little forest of rose of Sharon plants growing in your garden....

Sweet Potatoes with Fusarium Rot The signs of a Fusarium infection, also known as root rot or stem rot, may be seen in the plants in your garden or later in the potatoes that you store. Rotting sweet potato plants will show early signs on the tips of young leaves, which turn yellow. Older leaves will then begin to drop prematurely. This can result in a plant with a bare center....

Sea Fennel Uses At its roots, sea fennel was a favorite food foraged on the coasts of the Black Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean. Also known as Samphire or Rock Samphire, it has a rich, salty taste and has a place in a lot of traditional European cooking. Growing sea fennel opens up a lot of culinary opportunities. Sea fennel uses in cooking range from pickling to steaming to blanching....

Senecio Plant Info While senecio succulents grow outdoors in warm climates, they are popular indoor plants in areas with cool winters. Senecio succulents are often grown in hanging baskets with the fleshy leaves trailing over the sides. Popular varieties of senecio succulents include string of pearls and string of bananas. Some varieties of senecio that typically grow wild are known by names such as groundsel or tansy ragwort. Some types of senecio produce yellow, sunflower-like blooms....

Can You Root Apple Tree Cuttings? Apples can be started from seed, but it’s a little like spinning a roulette wheel; you never know exactly what you’ll get. The rootstocks of most popular apple varieties tend to be susceptible to disease and are grafted onto hardier rootstock. Another method of propagation is planting apple tree cuttings. This is a fairly straightforward method of propagation but, as with propagation from seed, it’s a bit of a mystery as to what you will end up with, and apple tree rooting isn’t always successful....

If you’d like to learn more about sweet birch trees, read on. We’ll give you sweet birch tree facts as well as growing information. What Is a Sweet Birch? Sweet birch trees are a Betula species native to the Midwest. You can find them in the wild from Southern Maine to Eastern Ohio, and growing all the way down to Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. Several sweet birch tree facts make this tree a standout....

Symptoms of Lethal Bole Rot The first symptoms of lethal bole rot include wilting of mature leaves, which turn bronze or yellow. As the disease progresses, a reddish brown, yellow-edged dry rot develops on boles at the base of the trunk. You may also notice indentations lined with mold, particularly in the trunks of trees younger than four years old. You may notice a foul, rotted odor, primarily at the base of affected leaves....

What to Do with Tigridia Bulbs in Winter? In many ways, Tigridia is quite resilient. It can tolerate heat and humidity, full or partial sun, and a gamut of soil pH conditions. The bulbs cannot, however, survive in wet soil or freezing temperatures. Tigridia, also referred to as tiger flower, peacock flower, and jockey’s cap lily, is native to warmer latitudes like Mexico, Guatemala, San Salvador, and Honduras. This means the bulbs need to be protected from cold temperatures....

Rock Garden Info Rock gardens, also known as alpine gardens, began in the British Islands. Travelers who visited the Swiss Alps spread these gardens at the beginning of the twentieth century. They were so impressed by the exquisite qualities of the flowers and the foliage that they started to grow them in their homelands. In the 1890’s, the rock garden designs found in the Royal Botanic Gardens in England had finally made their way to North America....