The Importance of Gardening Gloves

Gardening gloves are an important implement in gardening, although the importance of their use often gets forgotten. Wearing the proper gardening glove for whatever the task might be will get it done more efficiently. You will also save your hide, so to speak, preventing blisters, cuts, scrapes or puncture wounds which will make further working in the garden rather uncomfortable or postpone finishing the task.

These days for every task there is a set of gardening gloves available to match. Choosing the proper type of gardening gloves depends on which task you are planning on completing. From light to heavy weight, the variety of gardening gloves is vast. The more experienced you are, the better you will be at choosing the best one for each purpose. From rose gloves to garden work gloves, choosing the right set of gloves for the job is more important than you would think, and essential to getting your gardening done the most effective way.

Every gardener should have at least the basic general maintenance type of gloves, usually more supple and lightweight. These can be worn when doing your overall garden work including planting, weeding, and pruning. These gloves should be flexible and durable. When the holes start to appear with use, it’s time to get another pair.

Next to be considered are rose gloves, which are used for handling your rose bushes. Because they need to be tough enough to keep thorns out, these gloves are durable, and usually made out of a material such as suede which is lightweight and flexible to also handle the more delicate tasks your roses might require.

The gloves that have padded palms with a dense foam insert are landscaping gloves, perfect for working with digging tools. Since you will want to hold wet and slippery tools or rocks with these gloves, they should have areas of gripping dots. They need to be incredibly durable, although lightweight enough to use for less arduous tasks, if required.

There are so many different kinds of gloves including fox gloves, mud gloves, deerskin gloves, and arm savers, just to name a few. First, decide which task you will need the gloves to perform, then choose the type of glove which best suits the job.

Remember to get the gloves that fit your hands the best. The right size is important. You do not want the gloves to be too tight constricting your movement. You also do not want the glove too big or you will not be able to grip tools properly and dirt will fall inside irritating your performance. For the most part, gloves used for one purpose will also transfer over to doing other tasks. This allows the gardener more freedom, and saves from having to purchase multiple pairs.


Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Take Care of Your Gardening Body

Gardening should be a relaxing and extremely rewarding hobby that fits your lifestyle. It can be a lot of fun and should not cause any pain or discomfort to your physical being.

Among all the tools that are available today, none will do you any service if you do not take careful attention to the most important tool — your own body. While gardening you must remember to position your body properly in order to prevent yourself from the aches and pains that will follow afterwards. A lot of the work can be repetitive motion; so it is good to alter tasks to relieve any unnecessary stress. Learn what tools to use to make the tasks easier. This awareness involves simple things like remembering to wear the proper gloves when pruning the roses, mixing concrete for making stepping stones, or raking the fall leaves to protect your skin from annoying blisters, scrapes, or punctures.

You do not want to think of pain when thinking of your gardening chores... you’ll never get them done! Take the time to learn how to properly position the body when using the hoe or shovel, or lifting a heavy container. Not only will you do the task more efficiently, but you will discover just how enjoyable your gardening hobby actually is.

In order to minimize muscle fatigue and soreness, remember to focus most importantly on your back. To position it properly when lifting and holding objects, make sure to bend at the knees and hips. In order to avoid kinking the back muscles, be sure to use an erect body posture when working at ground level. If you are someone who happens to already have existing back problems, be sure to take this advice seriously in order to avoid further problems.

Out of all the parts of your body you use during gardening, your hands are the ones practically in constant use. Positioning them properly consists of making sure to work with the wrists and hands in a neutral position, especially if you are working against resistance.

It is good practice to spread out your gardening tasks throughout different days. This goes hand-in-hand with the repetitive motion aspect of many of the chores. To ease the soreness and muscle ache completing many chores all at once would cause, complete them over a period of several days instead.

There are several pointers that must be taken into consideration when choosing what gardening tool is best for the particular job. Consider a shorter tool handle when you need greater leverage control. A longer tool handle will provide greater power and are for tasks that will require your full body motion.

Also keep in mind your height. Obviously, taller people will need the taller gardening tools, and if you are short, shorter gardening tools will be needed. By carefully evaluating the proper length of the tools you use, you will avoid excessive leaning that can lead to feeling stiffness in your back.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Upside Down Tomato Plants: DIY

Farmers discovered years ago that tomatoes can grow really well if you plant them upside down. Today, there are plenty of good upside down planters on the market. The only problem is that they can be expensive. But, you can easily make an upside down tomato planter yourself.

First, you need a good sturdy bucket for each plant. You will need to grow your plant to at least four inches tall before you begin. We’ve used everything from one gallon ice cream buckets to five gallon paint buckets. The main thing your bucket needs is a good handle. A lid is also preferable, but not really necessary.

Cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Make it only an inch or two across, you don’t want your plant to fall out. Put some potting soil in the bucket, catching what falls out for future use. Gently position your tomato plant in the hole so that the roots are inside the bucket and the stems are sticking out of the bottom. You may enlist some help for this step unless you already have somewhere to hang your bucket where you can still reach inside.

Gently fill dirt little by little around the roots. Do not pack it tight. Wrap a strip of newspaper around the stem so that it is half-way in the dirt and half-way out. This keeps bugs that may climb around the bucket from climbing down the tomato plant. This trick also works for tomatoes planted in the ground. Finish filling the bucket with dirt because upside down tomato plants can grow a lot of roots.

Because gravity is pulling down on the plant, it will grow thick sturdy stalks that may curve up into the air. They will sprout more stems per stalk than a normal tomato plant and support a lot more weight. Hang your bucket somewhere that gets a lot of sun. If you use a lid, cut a hole in it big enough for rain to enter. Your upside down tomato plant will not need as much water as one planted in the ground because it’s soil will not drain much.

Tomatoes never touch the ground and can get sun all the way around. This helps them to ripen sooner and more evenly than traditional plants. The gravity and additional circulation also helps the tomato plant produce more tomatoes and bigger tomatoes.

You want to let the soil in your tomato plant become almost dry before you water it again. Tomatoes prefer an arid climate and too much water will produce flavorless, light-colored, grainy-fleshed tomatoes like you find in many super markets. Bark-like scars on your tomatoes are a sign that you haven’t over-watered and your tomatoes can hold up to five times the nutrients of over-watered tomatoes. Use a hose reel to keep your hose stored for the long times between watering. With your tomatoes away from bugs and pests, you could have the harvest of a lifetime this summer!

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Natural Pest Control in Your Garden

Many people are interested in eliminating the use of chemicals and pesticides in their gardens. We just don’t want our families and pets exposed to so many potentially hazardous toxins anymore. So, this brings up the question, “How do I control insects that can destroy my crops without the use of chemicals?”

Who knew that the answer could be “more insects”? Many insects prey on the ones that eat our vegetables. To attract these insects to your garden, you will need to grow plants that attract the predatory insects. For example, ladybugs eat aphids. When trying to attract ladybugs to your garden, plant dill or Queen Anne’s lace. Pirate bugs also eat aphids. You can provide a habitat and food source for them by planting sunflowers near your garden. Parsley attracts bugs that prey on moths, beetles and flies.

Another option is to grow plants that repel insects. For your own comfort, you may decide to plant marigolds, catnip or citronella grass to repel mosquitoes. Marigolds are also effective at repelling many different plant-eating insects. Garlic repels many common pests, such as Japanese beetles, aphids and other beetles that can destroy a vegetable garden.

Insects are not the only pests that you may need to control. Rabbits are a big problem in many areas of the United States. You can put up a fence, but make sure that it is buried a few inches in the ground. Rabbits can squeeze or dig under fences fairly easily. They are less likely to climb into built-up box gardens. Just to be safe, there are a few natural ways to repel rabbits.

Rabbits love clover more than anything. If there is clover around, they will not go near vegetables. So, forget about keeping your lawn manicured and free of clover and it just may control your rabbit problem. If you don’t have clover around, you may want to try another method. Some gardeners have reported success by using hot sauce or red pepper around the garden or even around each plant. Some use vinegar. To use vinegar, soak mulch in it for about an hour and spread it around your garden. The only problem with this is that the vinegar will wear off after a few days of watering, rain or sun exposure. Some people have even used the hair from their brushes or clippings from a salon to deter rabbits. I say, if it’s natural and doesn’t hurt your garden, your family or the rabbits, it’s worth a try.

Taking care of your garden can be a joyful experience. Knowing that you are giving your family the healthiest veggies around is just an added bonus. Keep your garden nice by using a garden hose reel for your water hose. Hopefully you will get to enjoy your vegetables more than the rabbits or insects will.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Natural Pest Control in Your Garden

Many people are interested in eliminating the use of chemicals and pesticides in their gardens. We just don’t want our families and pets exposed to so many potentially hazardous toxins anymore. So, this brings up the question, “How do I control insects that can destroy my crops without the use of chemicals?”

Who knew that the answer could be “more insects”? Many insects prey on the ones that eat our vegetables. To attract these insects to your garden, you will need to grow plants that attract the predatory insects. For example, ladybugs eat aphids. When trying to attract ladybugs to your garden, plant dill or Queen Anne’s lace. Pirate bugs also eat aphids. You can provide a habitat and food source for them by planting sunflowers near your garden. Parsley attracts bugs that prey on moths, beetles and flies.

Another option is to grow plants that repel insects. For your own comfort, you may decide to plant marigolds, catnip or citronella grass to repel mosquitoes. Marigolds are also effective at repelling many different plant-eating insects. Garlic repels many common pests, such as Japanese beetles, aphids and other beetles that can destroy a vegetable garden.

Insects are not the only pests that you may need to control. Rabbits are a big problem in many areas of the United States. You can put up a fence, but make sure that it is buried a few inches in the ground. Rabbits can squeeze or dig under fences fairly easily. They are less likely to climb into built-up box gardens. Just to be safe, there are a few natural ways to repel rabbits.

Rabbits love clover more than anything. If there is clover around, they will not go near vegetables. So, forget about keeping your lawn manicured and free of clover and it just may control your rabbit problem. If you don’t have clover around, you may want to try another method. Some gardeners have reported success by using hot sauce or red pepper around the garden or even around each plant. Some use vinegar. To use vinegar, soak mulch in it for about an hour and spread it around your garden. The only problem with this is that the vinegar will wear off after a few days of watering, rain or sun exposure. Some people have even used the hair from their brushes or clippings from a salon to deter rabbits. I say, if it’s natural and doesn’t hurt your garden, your family or the rabbits, it’s worth a try.

Taking care of your garden can be a joyful experience. Knowing that you are giving your family the healthiest veggies around is just an added bonus. Keep your garden nice by using a garden hose reel for your water hose. Hopefully you will get to enjoy your vegetables more than the rabbits or insects will.


About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Building a Box Garden

It’s that time of year again! If you’re like me, you are excited to plant your vegetable garden. The box garden is a popular option because it makes the most of a small space. Plus you don’t have to till up the ground or do any really hard work.

Building the box is simple and cheap. Of course, you could go all out and use expensive wood or build a structure capable of withstanding a flood, but it really is not necessary for the classic box garden. Box gardens are very popular in Japan because they are nice, neat and create a lot of vegetables in a small space.

The secret is that the dirt inside never gets stepped on. It’s nice and loose, allowing roots to penetrate really deep. Plants grow stronger, bigger and produce more vegetables when they are planted up off of the ground like this. You can also place plants closer together and squeeze more in.

To construct your own for practically nothing, buy landscaping timbers. They top out at about three dollars each. You’ll need to stack them two high. The box needs to be a rectangle no more than four feet across. This will allow you to reach the center without ever stepping on the dirt. Make it as long as you would like. I use four 8’ landscaping timbers for each side and two 4’ timbers for each end. I hammer stakes in the ground along the outside to keep the walls from toppling over.

Once your box is in place, fill it up with bags of soil. Check the bag to see how many you need. A normal small bag will fill one cubic foot of space, so for a 16’ long box like mine, I used about 30 bags. You only need the dirt to be about eight inches deep for vegetables. You may want to work in some cow manure, peat moss or other types of soil. Once you have it filled, you can use it for many years. I recommend refreshing the soil yearly with peat moss and new dirt so that your garden doesn’t become low on nutrients.

Now you are ready to plant. Water the new garden thoroughly to see how much it is going to settle. You may decide to add more soil at this point. With a shovel or just your hands, dig out rows short-ways across the box. Each row should be four feet long. Plant your vegetables according to each plant’s directions. But remember, because you are using a box, you can plant closer together than the directions might say. For example, tomato plants normally need to be 18” apart. In a box garden, you can plant them as close as 9” apart. Plus you’ll enjoy more tomatoes from each plant.

You will want to keep your garden hose reel close by for frequent watering because a box garden can dry out more quickly than one located on the ground. Don’t water tomatoes too much or they will lose precious vitamins and turn out whitish and grainy inside. Just a little tip from one tomato fan to another!

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Beautiful Roses: Gardening and Growing Tips

Roses have long since been recognized as a symbol of beauty. Their reputation of fragrance and color are unsurpassed by any other flower. If you are interested in planting roses in your garden, you may be interested in these special growing tips. Follow these simple steps and you will be on your way to a gorgeous rose garden that you will enjoy for years to come.

Any nursery should have a lot of options for you when you are choosing your roses. Some roses are climbing vines and some are more like bushes, so keep your location in mind when selecting your breed. Roses need a lot of sunlight, around six hours per day, so choose an area that gets a lot of direct sun.

Many people make their rose choices based on appearance. There are many different colors and sizes of blooms to choose from. In general, large blossoms will have little or no scent. Smaller blooms will usually have a more intense aroma. There are so many types of rose bushes that you should be able to choose the color and level of fragrance that you desire. If you are looking for something low maintenance, ask for landscape roses. These have been developed specifically for people who want a hearty shrub that is disease and insect resistant.

Plant your roses in full sunlight if possible. Avoid rocky areas and hard clay that may create standing water around the root system of your rose bush or vine. Soil should be able to drain well. Ideally roses should be planted away from competing plants and trees to get enough water and nutrients from the soil to flourish. Adding compost to the soil will help add nutrients and improve soil drainage around your roses.

When you buy your rose plants, they will either be potted or sold with bare roots. Bare-root roses should only be planted in the early spring after the chance of frost has passed. Soak the bare roots in water for about an hour before you plant them. Potted roses tend to have a better chance of survival. Potted roses can be planted in the spring or the fall, just avoid planting during colder weather as much as possible.

Before you plant, check your soil’s pH. A pH of 5.5 to 7.0 is ideal for roses. Check with your local nursery if you need help adjusting the pH of your soil.

You do not want to plant your roses too deep in the soil. Bare-root plants should only be planted with about one inch of soil covering the top roots. If you have a potted rose bush, plant it in the ground at the same depth that it was when it was in the bucket. To help the roots establish their hold, water the freshly planted rose bush liberally the first time. This helps to settle the soil and encourage roots to start taking in nutrients.

Set up your garden for easy care. Use a hose reel to keep your garden hose reel handy. With a little pruning and watering, your roses can bring you a display of magnificent proportion for years to come. You will not only gain enjoyment from their beauty and fragrance, but also from the gardening experience of creating such an alluring exhibit.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Container Gardening

Rapidly becoming a major trend in the gardening world today is the Tuscan garden capturing the beautiful, old world style of gardening. An especially important aspect of a Tuscan-style garden is using containers among the different flowers, trees and shrubs. In order to have a flourishing garden, you must choose the proper type of gardening container to do the most efficient job.

Large objects like urns placed among shrubbery, flowers and trees make ideal focal points and lovely gardening accessories. The use of at least some form of pottery is essential in composing your Tuscan garden. You can choose from large ornate Grecian style urns to simple terra cotta pots. Perhaps you want to use several clumped together, some planted with others empty. Many gardeners like to achieve a more collaborative feel in their own Tuscan garden opting to incorporate several containers.

There are a multitude of options. Have fun mixing the color, texture, and size with the individual plants either contained in the pot or surrounding it. You can be dramatic using contrast or subtle using similar colors. When choosing colors for each gardening container you should remember that the basic color scheme for a Tuscan garden consists of warm, earthy colors such as brown, rusty reds, bright yellow, orange, and deep blues.

When planting in a container, make sure that it has enough drainage holes so that the health of your plants will not be at risk. From any number of varieties of vessels available to plant your plants, it is best to save the ones with smaller necks just for decoration because the plant has difficulty expanding in these quarters unless it is a single small tree in which the urn’s neck would support only the base of a trunk. If a plant grows with long and trailing vines select a container that is tall to accommodate this. When planting succulents or shallow rooted plants, wide low containers will be appropriate.
Mix and match the colors of the pots with the color theme of your plantings. Mix the textures on the containers. Some can be of a high glaze and others can be terra cotta or have an old world quality, and perhaps add a few with Tuscan scenes painted on them to accentuate the feeling.

A way to alter the mood or tone of your Tuscan garden is to change the arrangement of the containers. The containers should be moveable, so this transformation can be made easily and efficiently. Keeping this in mind, you might want to place some of the heavy, larger containers on low, inconspicuous trolleys. Imagine: you will be able to wheel your garden around and change it whenever you want. This also makes it possible to change the conditions of your plantings will receive. Perhaps they will perform better in one location than in another – one of the great conveniences of container gardening. Another advantage is that you can continue to grow your plants indoors when the colder whether starts to hit your area, more or less, moving the outdoors to the indoors.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Tips for Growing Azaleas

Nothing pops from your garden like a solid coat of flowers. When the azalea bush blooms, this is exactly what it produces. It is known for blooming all at once, creating a burst of color that is rich, has a wonderful fragrance and is famous for its beauty and numerous blooms.

Most azaleas are spring bloomers, but some varieties will bloom in spring and again in the fall. Blooms will last a couple of months each time, depending on the weather, so using azaleas in your landscaping will produce a lot of color for a good part of the year. If your azaleas will be part of a continuous display and you would like for them to stay green all year, you can try to purchase the evergreen variety as opposed to the deciduous type. Most North American azaleas are deciduous and drop their leaves in the fall. But, with over 10,000 registered hybrids, you are sure to find a color and style that will look most beautiful in the space that you have available.

Azaleas generally grow well in warmer climates, although some will thrive in colder areas. Some will do well in direct sun, but most prefer shady areas. Evergreen and Japanese varieties, in general, need a lot of shade to do well. Planting azaleas under the shade of a tree is preferable. This is because certain trees will turn the soil slightly acidic, which is necessary to grow azaleas. Oak trees, pine trees and holly are best. You can bring a soil sample to your local nursery to have the acidity checked. A pH of 5.5-6 is best.

You can make your soil more acidic by tilling in pine needles, oak leaves, coffee grounds or ammonium sulfate (agricultural sulfur). These things can take time to turn the soil, so you will want to check your soil acidity often to get it right.

Plant your azaleas in deep soil. Rock beds and hard clay can cause water to pool up under the roots of the azalea plant, causing it to slowly drown and die. The soil needs to drain well. Soak the soil completely every now and then with your water hose to make sure that the bottom roots have wet soil, but be careful not to water too often. Mulch can help you keep moisture in the soil without over-doing it.

You can fertilize azaleas in the late winter or early spring, but it is not a good idea to fertilize at other times of year. This is because fertilizer can force the plant into blooming at the wrong time and the new growth will make the plant susceptible to freezing during the winter months. More mature azaleas do not need any fertilizing. Prune your azaleas soon after they are done blooming to avoid removing the new blooms’ shoots.

Once your azaleas are established, you will enjoy blankets of color in your yard. You can choose azaleas with different bloom times to keep the colors coming from spring to fall. Azaleas require little maintenance and can make gardening a joy. Just keep your garden hose reel close by for frequent watering, especially if the weather is very hot or dry.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

It’s Time to Beautify Your Outdoors

As spring approaches and the snow starts to melt, a homeowner starts to look for ways to improve the yard's appearance and function, or create “outdoor rooms” around the house, a recent landscaping design concept. Gardening and landscaping designs come in a potentially overwhelming variety of plans and styles so careful planning is necessary to choose the perfect approach for your needs, style, and purpose. Think about your space and what your physical limitations are. Ask what purpose you want your gardening to serve. Determine how much time are you willing to spend on maintaining your outdoor space before getting started.

If you approach the landscaping as decorating outdoor rooms, start by breaking up the yard into separate areas. Each area will have its own purpose making the yard more functional and less cluttered.

There are several ways to create outdoor rooms: structures such as pergolas, gazebos, trellises and planters can be used to frame an outdoor room. Outdoor rooms can also be defined with plantings of shrubs, borders or trees. Groundcover materials can be another way to divide areas, from low-growing plants or grass to brick formations or patio stones. In each area choose colors that work well together to create a consistent and attractive space. Color should be considered when choosing the flowers, furniture, and accessories. Remember to keep bloom time in mind when planning your color combinations.

Use gates, arbors, and paths to create graceful transitions from one outdoor room to the next. The plantings in these transitional areas need to be coordinated with both the spaces they connect.

The most valuable gardening advice to getting started is to start small. Gardening can be a relaxing and extremely rewarding hobby. Keep it simple in the beginning. Smaller projects allow the gardener to focus on ideal care and leave less opportunity for problems arising simultaneously. Gardens can always be made larger, as plants multiply and more are added. Expansion is always an option to a thriving garden. Downsizing an overwhelming and wildly growing garden is very difficult and not very rewarding.

To start, get to know your plants by reading the tags that mark the pots to know exactly what conditions each plant requires. You do not want to plant shade-loving plants in full sunlit areas. You won’t be able to mix plants that need to be watered a lot with ones that do not need much watering. As the plants you chose start to grow and be comfortable with their surroundings you will have to seek advice beyond the tag information if any problems develop.

Most importantly, have fun gardening and decorating your custom outdoor rooms this spring.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Asiatic Orienpet Hybrid Lilies

The "Orienpet" lilies are relatively new to the lily world, produced after years of combining the garden persistence, heat tolerance and color of Trumpet and Aurelian hybrids with the sublime beauty of Oriental lilies. The flower color may vary in Orienpets depending on their complex ancestry and the interaction of many pigments, Orienpet lilies often have more intensely colored flowers in cooler weather. Heat and bright light can lighten their colors. Asiatics grow tall stems with many flowers from small bulbs; larger bulbs of these types are less adaptable to transplanting. Below are listed some various Asiatic Orienpet Hybrid Lilies to plant in your garden bed to make it dazzle between mid-July and early August.

‘Yelloween’ has fragrant flowers of luminous yellow with fluted outer petals. The flowers look straight up into the sky, lighting up a perfect candelabrum inflorescence on strong stems four feet tall.

‘Dunyazade’ can stand (with no staking) up to 8 feet tall. Has luscious lemon flowers opening with cool green nectarines— quite a dramatic lily.

‘Orange Crush’ has fragrant large, creamy open bowl flowers with juicy orange centers. Each lush, sturdy stem growing 4 to 5 feet and taller has an abundance of flowers.

‘Silk Road’ has huge white flowers with deep, intensely crimson pink throats. These flowers have an enormous inflorescence with many well-spaced secondary buds lasting for an extended blooming time. Plus they have a wonderful, powerful fragrance.


‘Caravan’ has slender and strong blue-green stems and carry huge outfacing flowers of intense sunshine yellow with brilliant red centers. This fragrant and unique lily will create the ultimate focal point in your summer garden.

‘Luminaries’ puts on a stunning show with tri-colored flowers on a huge and creamy white background containing a wide sunburst of gold at the throat, encircled with a kaleidoscope of deep pink. ‘Luminaries’ bring a totally new rainbow color combination to lilies that blooming in July. The perfume is a delicious combination of the heady fragrance of Trumpets and delicious scents of Orientals.

‘Mother of Pearl’ has heavy-textured flowers with broad petals of shimmering opalescent white, with soft nuances of lemon and peach at its margins. Its fragrance is sublime like the scent of honeysuckle.

‘Alchemy’ has huge, wide-open flowers of deepest red rimmed with a wide margin of rich coppery gold. This unique, spell-binding combination reminds us of the alchemists’s quest to change metals into gold. ‘Alchemy’ will bring magic to your garden, transforming it with long-lasting color and fragrance in mid-July to early August.

‘Pizzazz’ has brilliant orange flowers with shiny red centers. Their more recurved shape, carried on gracefully arching stems. Its lush blue-green leaves make a marvelous contrast.

‘Radiance’ is a luscious, deep raspberry color that glows from within. Cooler temperatures will intensify the color. ‘Radiance’ has an elegantly sculpted form.

These "Orienpet" hydrid lily creations are worth their efforts and will certainly add a touch of intrigue to your summer garden.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Planting Instructions for Growing Lilies

Lilies are amazing displays of incredible natural beauty with their different color combinations, textures and sizes. Plus they add wonderful fragrance to your garden. Remarkably, they have very simple needs and basically, only require you to plant them in the right place. Choose a well-drained location with at least half a day of sunshine. If it’s too shady, the stems will stretch and lean towards the sun; that isn’t much to ask out of any gardener. Most lilies love full sun, as long as the bulbs are deep enough to keep cool when temperatures soar. If the planting spot is too shady, the stems will lean a little toward the light. Trumpet lilies are the most shade sensitive. To keep the ground cool, mulch the area you plant your lilies.

After you receive your bulbs, you can plant them right in the soil. The sooner you plant your bulbs, the better they will grow and perform. In mild climates, they can be planted anytime the ground is not frozen solid. In colder climates, planting in the fall and early winter will produce stems that flower at the expected time for your zone listed for each type and variety of lily. Planting late in the spring will produce later flowering stems, which may be a little shorter than usual if hot weather comes quickly. But the following winter will reset the lilies' "clocks" and put them on the regular blooming time. Bulbs received from a nursery are usually sent at mature flowering size grown for at least two years in their own fields. Many lily species and species-like Asiatic lilies grow tall stems with many flowers from small bulbs. Larger bulbs of these types are less adaptable to transplanting. Trumpets typically produce larger but readily transplantable bulbs. Oriental bulbs vary depending upon their ancestry.

If you want to make up for a late start or are impatient, you can pot your bulbs and leave them in a "root cellar" environment until sprouts appear. As long as moisture is adequate, they will begin to form roots at very cool temperatures. When it is warmer, you can move the pots outside or transplant the rooted mass right into your garden.

It is important to look for a spot that is the first to dry out after rain because lilies can be bothered by botrytis, a fungus that spots the leaves in prolonged cool, wet weather. If you do see "bull's eye" or brown spots on the leaves, use a copper-based spray or any fungicide recommended for roses to guard against botrytis. Botrytis does not hurt the bulbs, but it reduces the leaf area that should be manufacturing sugar to grow a bigger bulb for next year.

As long as the whole sprout is planted deep enough, lilies with very long sprouts will grow beautiful stems, and the stem will come up nice and straight. If you want to cut the gorgeous flowering stems, leave the bottom two-thirds of the stem, in order to make a nice bulb for the following year. Plant the bulbs 4" to 6" deep. Make sure are planted deep enough so that they stay cool in the summer. Deeper-planted bulbs will be really well anchored. One way to accomplish deeper planting is to make a raised bed, with the lily bulbs at ground level and the soil placed 4" to 6" or deeper on top of them. It isn't necessary to feed the lilies unless your soil is poor or you want to raise super show-lilies. If you fertilize, put on a little well-balanced fertilizer at emergence time and about a month later. Slow-release fertilizers are also good. After flowering, lilies only rarely need more water.

Lilies will increase by division and by growth of small bulbs along the old below-ground stem. Clumps getting too thick will produce weaker stems, so it is a good idea to lift and divide them in September or October.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Some Favorite Asiatic Lilies and Oriental Hybrids

Many Asiatic lily species and Oriental hybrids grow tall stems with many flowers from small bulbs. These lilies bring amazing beauty, color, and heavenly fragrance to your gardens. Oriental lilies prefer acid soil and temperate, moist summers. Provide them with some shade, mulching, and light fertilizing, if necessary, and they will produce enormous flowers usually towards the end of summer. Bloom time for Oriental lilies varies depending upon their ancestry. All of the beauties described below grow from three to five feet high.

‘Elegant Crown’ is the first pink Asiatic-Oriental lily blooming early for lilies (late June to early July). Its deep rose color outlined in cream will hold its beauty even during the very hot temperatures that can occur in July.

Another hybrid between an Oriental and an Asiatic lily blooming quite early and heat tolerant is the rare ‘First Crown’. It has huge bronze-rose flowers and a sweet, enticing gentle fragrance.

Elegant, eye-catching and richly fragrant ‘Black Tie’ has rich, deep lipstick red flowers trimmed with bright white. It grows a stately four feet tall and performs in August.

Another blooming in August is the long time favorite ‘Casa Blanca’ with world-famous enormous pure white flowers. The fragrance from this incredible beauty is marvelous. Its stems are broad-leaved and robust.

Mix this one in between the two above with its vibrant peony pink luminous blooms. ‘Bernini’ strikes a perfect balance between color and light. It also grows four feet tall in August with a very sweet fragrance.

‘Mambo’ can reach up to five feet tall with glowing rose red blooms displayed on an upward arching pedicel. The color is an especially elegant garden inflorescence, and its fragrance is a special treat to the senses.

‘Muscadet’ is a sumptuous Oriental lily with enormous white ruffled blooms speckled in deep pink with a lighter pink blush. These aromatic, gorgeous flowers are quite long lasting, too holding their shape and color for over a week.

Each flower of the ‘Saporro’ lily is more than 8 inches across. And two thirds of this lovely, fragrant white Oriental’s sturdy stem is decorated with huge blooms. It blooms in late August, and grows four feet tall.

‘Arabian Red’ is one of the finest rich red-purple Oriental lilies available. These lilies will retain their rich color whether in a vase for over a week or growing in your garden throughout a warm August.

Appropriately named ‘Joyful’ has enormous, exuberant bubble-gum pink flowers with a sunny yellow centers generously topped with strawberry spots. It is the medium height of four feet tall and blooms throughout August.

The longest lasting of all the Oriental lilies ‘Miss Lucy’ slowly unfurls fluffy petals, up to fifty on each flower, creating a cloud of soft pink, white and green. This very unique lily ranges from three to four feet and displays late July to early August.

The glorious lily, ‘Rio Negro’ is deep purple-red, with richly colored black nectarines. It has lush, wide, ruffled blooms and a sweet fragrance.

Making a terrific garden plant and an excellent choice for containers, ‘Stargazer’ is probably the best known lily in the world. The flowers of its three foot stem are crimson with a white edge.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Add Joyful Color to Your Garden with Sunflowers

Sunflowers originated from North America where Native Americans used sunflowers for a variety of uses. Sunflowers are both a beautiful flower and a great vegetable. Healthy, nutritious and attractive, Sunflowers have it all. That is probably why their popularity has spread all around the world.

With a wide choice of sizes, color, and varieties, Sunflowers are easy to grow and add so much to our gardens and yards. They are a good way to attract birds to our homes. Sunflower plants grow well in average to rich soils. They need to grow their roots deep and wide, to enable them to withstand strong winds. Do not plant them in sandy as they are easily uprooted in loose soil. Rich soil is especially important when growing giant varieties. Deep roots also help Sunflowers to withstand most droughts. They grow best in full sun, but are shade tolerant, contrary to what you would think.

They will benefit from a dose of fertilizer when you happen to be applying it to the rest of your garden. This promotes bigger blooms. If you are crowded for space, plant only one or two sunflowers amidst your vine crops. This way they will not seriously shade the vines and add interest with color and shape.

As a vegetable plant, they are high in protein; the seeds are tasty; the oil is great to cook with; and butter can also be produced from the seed. Sunflowers are popular not only because they add warmth to our gardens, but continue to be enjoyed through their many uses. Sunflowers are also great for kids to grow being easy to grow requiring minimal attention. Kids like to grow big things, too. The seeds can also be ground for making breads and cakes. Sunflowers are used to create dyes for clothing, and paint. The plants are medicinally used in ointments and in snakebite remedies.

Sunflower plants can grow over 20 feet tall, and their blooms can reach over two feet in diameter. The most popular giant sunflower plants include Mammoth, American Giant and Skyscraper. Sunflowers are basically separated by size: Giant (varieties grow over ten feet), Regular Sunflowers typically grow from six to ten feet, and Miniatures (gaining in popularity used as bordersor edging).

Space Giant Sunflowers three feet apart in rows three to four feet apart. Regular to intermediate sizes should be spaced two feet apart in rows three feet apart, and space Miniatures one foot apart in rows three feet apart. For individual planting, put the seedling or seeds in just about any sunny location.

Sunflowers always point their blooms or face to the rising sun in the East. Just another reason why they are so named. Some of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous works are his Sunflower series. He painted a total of twelve of these canvases. In many of his letters, Vincent spoke glowingly of the richness of color that he saw in Sunflowers. He really loved the sunflowers for themselves as they appealed to his joy in color, and he certainly left a legacy to enjoy.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.