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Tatarian Dogwood Shrub Info The Tatarian dogwood bush has a rounded canopy. It produces multiple upright stems that never grow above 8 feet (2.5 meters) tall. The plant offers something of interest for every season. In early spring, the dogwood leaves emerge a soft, yellow-green. In late spring, the shrubs are covered with tiny, creamy, yellow flowers arranged in flat-topped clusters. These are followed by berries in summer that provides food for wild birds....

How to Eat Seed Pods Legumes are the most common seed pods you can eat. Others, like Kentucky coffeetree, have pods that are dried, crushed, and then blended into ice cream and pastries as a flavor enhancer. Who knew? Maple trees have little “helicopter” edible seed pods that can be roasted or eaten raw. When radishes are allowed to bolt, they produce edible seed pods that mimic in flavor to that of the type of radish....

1. Check the Ingredients If your dogwood is suffering from blossom drop or just appears stunted, take a look at the back of your fertilizer bag. More often than not, the first ingredient listed is rice or corn. Dogwoods are naturally carnivorous plants, and need to be fed with fertilizers rich in meat. 2. Train Consistently A very common mistake new gardeners make is letting their dogwoods grow untrained, which leads to an unruly tree and headaches for the gardener and neighbors....

When to Sow Nemesia Nemesia plants produce small, vibrant blooms that are very similar to that of snapdragon flowers. Native to South Africa and naturally more cold tolerant than many other flowers, these hardy annual plants prefer cool conditions, and come in a wide range of bright colors. With their easy-to-grow habit, these ornamental plants are an invaluable asset to the home garden. Choosing when to plant Nemesia seeds will greatly depend on your climate zone....

Apricots with Peach Scab Anyone hoping for luscious, juicy apricots from the home orchard needs to know about peach scab on apricots. This fungal disease is also called “freckles,” since small dots show up on the fruit. You find peach scab on apricots more often after a warm, wet spring. The fungus creates lesions on young twigs where the spores overwinter. These spores cause spring infections as the weather warms. They grow fastest at temperatures of about 65 to 75 degrees F....

The berries are yellowish-orange and extremely tart. However, they become sweeter as they ripen and turn deep purple or black. If you’re lucky enough to have access to a rumberry tree, you can use the blueberry-sized berries in a number of ways. Wondering what to do with rumberries? Read on for a few ideas to pique your creativity. Traditional Rumberry Uses Guavaberry liquor is a popular drink in the West Indies, where the berries are strained and mixed with sugar and rum....

Kratom Plant Information What is a kratom plant? Native to the tropics, this tree can grow very tall in its natural habitat. In cooler climates, it has to be protected from the cold, which means it will likely have to be grown in a container. This will keep it from reaching its full height, which is probably a good thing unless you have the space for a very large tree. It can also be treated like a houseplant, spending spring and summer outdoors, and then bringing the plant inside with the onset of cooler temps in fall for overwintering....

How to Start Asparagus from Seed One thing to keep in mind when considering how to start asparagus from seed is that asparagus is a plant that requires patience, especially when starting it from seed. Most of the time, asparagus seeds are started indoors and than transplanted into the asparagus bed later on. First, soak the asparagus seeds overnight. You may want to nick or sand the seedcoat in order to get them to germinate faster....

Lemon Tree Fertilizer Most of the time, people know the basics of how to grow a lemon tree, but they are uncertain about lemon tree fertilizer. Fertilizer for a lemon tree should be high in nitrogen and should not have any number in the formula higher than 8 (8-8-8). When to Apply Fertilizer for Lemon Trees When growing a lemon tree, you want to make sure that you apply fertilizer at the proper times....

Leptinella Information The brass buttons plant gets its name from the small yellow to green flowers it produces in the spring. The plant is in the daisy family, and its flowers look very much like the centers of daisy flowers, minus the long white petals. These small, hard-looking flowers are said to resemble buttons. Leptinella brass button plants are native to New Zealand but are widespread now. They are hardy from USDA zones 4 through 9, though just what that means depends on the zone....

Do marigolds keep bugs away? The best way to find out is to experiment in your own garden, and you really can’t go wrong. Marigolds are beautiful, and there’s no doubt that they attract a variety of beneficial insects that prey on bad bugs, which is a very positive attribute indeed! Read on to learn more about marigold plants and pests. How Do Marigolds Keep Bugs Away? Research indicates that marigold plant roots produce toxic chemicals that kill root knot nematodes, as well as other harmful nematodes that feed on plant roots....

Marjoram Plant Companions Marjoram is a great herb in that it doesn’t really have any bad neighbors. It grows well next to all plants, and it is actually believed to stimulate growth in the plants around it. You can plant your marjoram virtually anywhere in your garden and rest assured it will be doing some good. Its flowers are very attractive to bees and other pollinators, which will improve the pollination rate of all marjoram companion plants....

Ideas for a Moon Garden Creating a garden in the night is easy, and once completed, it will provide hours of relaxing nighttime enjoyment. When designing this type of garden, consider its location carefully. Having a place to sit and take in the view and scents is one of the most important aspects of the moon garden. Therefore, you may want to consider designing the garden around a patio or deck....

Million Bells Not Flowering – Poor Growing Conditions One reason you may be seeing no flowers on Calibrachoa is that your plants are missing some important growing conditions. Inadequate sunlight, for instance, is a common reason they will stop blooming. Make sure you plant million bells where they will get day-long sun. Your million bells plants also need warmth. This is especially true in the spring. Make sure your plants are in a spot where they will be warm and get sunlight....

How to Grow Onions from Seeds Onion seed starting is easy. Onions grow best in fertile, well-draining soil. This should also be worked with organic matter, such as compost. Onion seeds can be planted directly in the garden bed. However, when growing onion seed, some people prefer to start them indoors. This can be done in late autumn. The best time for planting onion seeds outdoors is in spring, as soon as the soil can be worked in your area....

Steps for Overwintering Carrots in the Ground The first step to leaving carrots in the ground for later harvest in the winter is to make sure that the garden bed is well weeded. This ensures that while you are keeping the carrots alive, you do not also keep the weeds alive for next year. The next step for storing carrots for winter in the ground is to heavily mulch the bed where the carrots are growing with straw or leaves....

How Can I Overwinter Strawberry Plants? So how do you protect strawberry plants in winter? One important step to winterizing strawberry plants is thinning them out. Strawberries spread fast, so you don’t need to worry about knocking them back too far – think of it as pruning. Thin until you have about five plants per square foot. Make sure to remove any plants that look diseased. Another important thing to consider when winterizing strawberries is water....

About Phytophthora Root Rot of Peach Trees with peach phytophthora root rot are usually found in soggy, poorly drained areas, especially where the soil stays heavy and wet for 24 hours or more. Phytophthora root rot of peach is somewhat unpredictable and may kill the tree gradually over a few years, or an apparently healthy tree may decline and die suddenly after new growth appears in spring. Symptoms of peach with phytophthora rot include stunted growth, wilting, reduced vigor and yellowing leaves....

Define Pinching Plants Pinching plants is a form of pruning that encourages branching on the plant. This means that when you pinch a plant, you are removing the main stem, forcing the plant to grow two new stems from the leaf nodes below the pinch or cut. Why Do You Pinch Plants? Many gardening experts have tips for pinching a plant, but few actually explain why. There are many reasons for pinching back a plant....

Pine Fines Information Sometimes overlooked, the quality of the soil within a garden is one of the most important keys to success. Depending upon where you live, soil may require certain adjustments in order to create the ideal conditions for plant growth. As you can imagine, the process of amending large garden areas can become quite costly. In fact, this is the reason that some gardeners choose to build and grow in raised bed planters or containers....