What is the Avalon Dessert Plum? The new Avalon dessert plum is a large fruit that ripens about 10 days earlier than Victoria. Aficionados of these fruits should try growing Avalon plums, as they are sweetly juicy, quite large, and beautifully blushed. Best eaten fresh, they also make great preserves and canned fruit. Best of all, growing Avalon plums is fairly low maintenance and they are considered strong, versatile trees. Plums are stone fruits and are closely related to peaches, nectarines, and almonds....

Avocado Repotting Tips When to repot an avocado? Most indoor plants don’t need a new container every year. The first step in learning how to repot an avocado is to determine whether it is time for avocado repotting. This requires you to ease the plant’s root ball from the pot. If the pot is plastic, tip it upside down with your hand over the soil. With the other hand, squeeze the pot several times to loosen the soil/container connection....

What is Beaked Yucca? If you aren’t growing beaked blue yucca, you might not know about this unusual succulent. Beaked yucca’s scientific name is Yucca rostrata, with “rostrata” meaning beaked. It is a large, architecturally interesting yucca plant native to Mexico and West Texas. According to beaked yucca plant information, the plant’s trunk (or stem) can grow to 12 feet (4 m.). It is topped by a 12 inch (31 cm....

What is a Hardy Chicago Fig? Native to Sicily, hardy Chicago figs, as the name suggests, are the most cold tolerant fig trees available. This beautiful fig tree bears luscious, medium-sized figs which are produced on older wood in the early summer and fruit on new growth in the early fall. The ripe fruit is a dark mahogany contrasting with the characteristic three-lobed, green fig leaves. Also known as ‘Bensonhurst Purple’, this tree can grow up to 30 feet (9 m....

Best Fertilizer for Pepper Plants The best fertilizer for your pepper plants depends on your soil. It’s a smart idea to get it tested to find out the nutrient content before making amendments. However, adding compost to the entire vegetable bed prior to planting is always a good idea too. Generally, a balanced fertilizer works for peppers. But if your soil testing shows you have enough phosphorus, you should choose a low- or no-phosphorous fertilizer....

Help, My Blanket Flower Won’t Bloom This Year It’s not that unusual to have blanket flowers bloom prolifically one year and not at all the next. One of the draws of this perennial is that it can potentially produce flowers from spring all the way through summer and into the fall. The problem is that when the plants flower so extensively, they have put so much energy into it that they fail to put enough in reserves....

Bonsai Bougainvillea Tips Bougainvilleas are tropical plants with brilliant bracts that look like petals. Their branches resemble vines, and you can prune them into a bonsai. Can you make a bonsai out of bougainvillea? It is not only possible, but also easy if you follow these bonsai bougainvillea tips. Bougainvillea bonsai plants are not actually different plants than bougainvillea vines. If you want to know how to make a bougainvillea bonsai, start with selecting an appropriate container with good drainage....

Gypsophila Plant Pests Though invasive in some places, baby’s breath plants are not impervious to damage that can be done by insects in the garden. Pests of baby’s breath plants can cause both failure of bloom, as well as complete collapse of the plant if young or not yet well established. As with any plant in the flower garden, when identifying Gypsophila plant pests, it is imperative that growers are able to distinguish between beneficial and nuisance insects....

Can Vegetable Oil Be Composted? Think about it, vegetable oil is organic so logically you would assume you could compost leftover cooking oil. This is sort of true. You can compost leftover cooking oil IF it is in very small amounts and IF it is a vegetable oil such as corn oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, or rapeseed oil. Adding too much vegetable oil to compost slows down the composting process....

How to Grow Sonata Cherries Sonata cherry trees are self-fruiting, so it isn’t necessary to plant a pollinating variety nearby. However, planting another variety of sweet cherries within 50 feet (15 m.) can result in larger harvests. Sonata cherry trees thrive in rich soil, but they are adaptable to nearly any type of well-drained soil, with the exception of heavy clay or rocky soil. Dig in a generous amount of organic material such as compost, manure, dry grass clippings, or chopped leaves before planting....

About Cherry Plum Golden Sphere Golden Sphere cherry plum trees hail from the Ukraine and are readily available through much of Europe. These deciduous plum trees have a rounded to spreading habit. Foliage is ovate and dark green accented by white blooms in the spring. The ensuing fruit is large and golden-yellow outside and in. Cherry plum makes a lovely addition to the garden either as a fruit tree or specimen tree and can be grown in the garden or in a container....

Sometimes plants are considered companions simply because they have similar growing requirements in terms of soil conditions, climate, etc. Whenever you decide to plant anything, you should learn about the plants that are companions to it in order to maximize your plants’ performance. This is exactly what I did with my cranberry plants. Read on to learn more about plants that grow well with cranberries. What to Grow Near Cranberries Cranberries are an acid-loving plant and perform best in soil with a pH reading that is between 4....

If you are interested in growing small trees in pots, read on. We’ll tell you the best conifers for this purpose and how to take care of them once they are in containers. Dwarf Conifers for Containers Conifers are trees that bear cones to hold their seeds. They are excellent landscape plants, adding subtle shades and interesting shapes as well as textural contrast. But pines and spruce trees are too big for many yards....

Contorted Mulberry Info The leaves of this attractive tree are a light green color, somewhat glossy, and heart-shaped. They turn yellow in the fall. From mid to late summer, small yellow flowers bloom followed by fruit similar in shape and size to a blackberry. Fruit is white and ripens to a pink or light violet. Depending on variety, it can take up to ten years for a tree to start producing fruit....

When to Prune a Climbing Hydrangea Deadheading: If your climbing hydrangea doesn’t need pruning, just remove old, wilted blooms to keep the plant looking tidy. Maintenance pruning: Cutting back hydrangea vines is best done immediately after flowering, before new buds appear. Otherwise, you risk cutting off flower buds that appear soon after flowering, thus drastically reducing development of new blooms for the upcoming year. Winter-killed growth: Dead or damaged growth should be removed in early spring, when buds are appearing or just beginning to open....

Why are My Flowers Fading? You may be asking “why are my flowers fading?” Some flowers are acutely sensitive to heat and extreme sun. Too much exposure to sun or heat drains the flowers of their bright colors. Many flowers prefer morning sun and filtered afternoon light. Other causes of faded flower color include the fact that flowers generally fade after pollination. Once pollinated, flowers no longer need to attract their pollinating suitors and, thus, begin to fade....

How to Care for Hydrangea Indoors If the hydrangea is a gift, remove any foil wrapping. Keep in mind that hydrangeas sold during the holidays may not be hardy enough to survive indoors. If you’re serious about growing hydrangea as a houseplant, you may have better luck with a plant from a greenhouse or nursery. Move the hydrangea into a large container filled with high quality potting mix. Place the plant where it receives bright light....

What is a Leek? Perhaps you may be wondering, “What is a leek?” Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum) are members of the onion family, closely related to onions, garlic, shallots, and chives. Unlike their counterparts, leeks develop long, succulent stems rather than producing large bulbs. These stems are used as an onion substitute in many dishes. How to Grow Leeks Leeks can be grown from seeds or transplants. When growing leeks from seeds, it’s often easier to start them indoors even though they’re considered cold tolerant, as hard frosts can be detrimental to young plants....

Growing shooting star from seed is the easiest way of propagation. Let’s learn more about shooting star seed propagation. When to Plant Shooting Star Seeds Plant shooting star seeds directly in the garden. The time of year for planting depends on your climate. Plant after the last frost in spring if you live where winters are cold. Plant in autumn if your area has mild winters. This allows your shooting star plants to get established while temperatures are cool....

But there’s more to know about this common red birch tree. Read on for more fun facts about the water birch. Meet the Red Birch Tree The water birch is also known as the red birch, river birch and western birch. Its natural range extends from Alaska and the Pacific northwest across to the Rocky Mountains. The red birch prefers growing in the lowlands, along streambanks and riverbanks. Betula occidentalis is a relatively short, scrubby tree with multiple trunks, none growing very thick in diameter....