Gardening Question of the Day for Monday, April 7, 2008
(Via Gardening Question of the Day (from the Old Farmer's Almanac))
How do I propagate roses and when? (answer).![]()
How do I propagate roses and when? (answer).
From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
Caught by the Plant Fashion Police
(Via Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas)
It happened not too long ago when I organised a meeting in my office for some of our reception staff. They immediately commented on my pothos making mention that it was "...an old plant." Then a friend who visited our garden pointed to the hydrangea stating that it was "...a grandmother plant." A Grandmother plant? Sure, to him it was one of those plants that every grandma still has growing in their gardens, but younger gardeners tend to avoid.
It happened not too long ago when I organised a meeting in my office for some of our reception staff. They immediately commented on my pothos making mention that it was "...an old plant." Then a friend who visited our garden pointed to the hydrangea stating that it was "...a grandmother plant." A Grandmother plant? Sure, to him it was one of those plants that every grandma still has growing in their gardens, but younger gardeners tend to avoid.
Really! So who died and made these guys the plant fashion police?
I began to contemplate the situation realising, that perhaps, many of my plants should have been relegated to the dark-ages. Maybe I'm just not making the grade as it pertains to the trend aficionados.
Plant fashion tends to meander much like any form of popular trend. In fact, I'd even pause to say that it is almost on a par with clothing. It seems that every new season brings a surfeit of plant offerings making last season's appear redundant. That delicious bloomer you bought last year has now been superseded by a must-have variegated specimen with a dwarf/weeping habit and a price tag indicative of its absurdity.
It can become a tad tedious, don't you think? Trying to keep our gardens up-to-date and feeling inadequate if we don't. Or have you reconciled yourself to ignore the panderings of the fashion set?
I guess the difference between clothing and plants becomes apparent when you decide to change your complete wardrobe each season. It's not entirely possible to overhaul your garden with such regularity - unless, of course, you only grow annuals. Gardens take time to grow and while we may update particular specimens over time, it would be ludicrous to modernize it holus-bolus.
Regardless, I actually appreciate the stalwarts of our gardens. Box hedges, geraniums, hydrangeas, sanseverias, clivias...they all seem so perfectly at home in any landscape. So, to the Plant Fashion Police I snub my nose and wave the defiant index finger. They can go and enjoy those overrated genetically-modified wanna-be's.
Build a ship in a bottle
(Via Aaron’s Home and Garden)
When building your own ship in a bottle, you will wish to take great care in researching the model you intend to build, and this book comes with deep historical insight into each one of the ships, their rigging, their colors, the flags and arms that were displayed while she sailed.
But getting the ships details right is not as important as actually knowing the details and stories that really make a model come to life in the imagination of those who look into the depths of a bottle.
Ships in Bottles is a book that shows step by step with five different projects, how to build the legendary hand-made ship in a bottle, one project more difficult than the other, beginning with the very basic of models to the hardest; making this summer loads of fun.
Since sailing began and the desire to make better ships sprang from the imaginations of seamen whittling away at pieces of drift-wood, gluing old scraps of canvas together with fragments of whatever twine was laying around, the mysterious andlegendary art of building model ships has inevitably inspired stories of great feats and adventures.
Bottles help keep ship models much longer, as they keep young hands away from fragile rigging, preserving the integrity of history and tales of adventure on the high seas farlonger than if the model were not inside a bottle, also making them easily transportable.
This 64-page paperback, written by Guy DeMarco, published by Schiffer in January of 2000, now in its second edition, with 38 black and white photos, 16 color photos, measures 11 x 8.2 x 0.5 and ships at 11.2 ounces.
Five historical ship model projects, kept for that magical scene in a bottle; one ship harder than the last, developing skill and manual dexterity into works of nautical art that will last generations, Ships in Bottles by Guy DeMarco will help your models achieve authentic grace and the embellished style of a professional.
Getting Children Interested in Growing Vegetables
(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)
What is the best way of getting your children interested in growing vegetables? Well in my view you need to give them their own space. Tell them this plot is yours.
What is the best way of getting your children interested in growing vegetables? Well in my view you need to give them their own space. Tell them this plot is yours.
