About Landscaping

Catnip As a Potted Plant

2010-02-09T08:37:27Z

Although my cat is attracted to catnip whether it is fresh or dried, she seems to prefer to eat the dried catnip. Consequently, I had always harvested all my catnip and dried it before bringing it inside for my cat's amusement during the winter months -- until this year.

Besides the main patch of catnip I had growing this summer for drying, I kept a few plants off to the side in a pot. As the growing season drew to a close, I harvested the main patch for drying but put the potted catnip in the shed. To be honest, I just forgot about it for a while. Upon my return from a 3-week vacation, I opened the shed to take out my bike, and there it was: the potted catnip, as good as new, even without any sunlight or water!

So I decided to bring the potted plant inside the house. I figured that, if it survived that kind of neglect in the shed, it should do fine indoors for the winter. I like to set the potted catnip on the floor so that my cat can play in it. She stands inside the pot with her front paws and rubs her face against the branches, mainly. She seems more interested in the fragrance (which is released as she rubs) than in eating the fresh catnip.

When she "gets carried away" in her catnip dance, some of the branches do suffer damage. The catnip plants are looking a little sad now, after weeks of abuse during these feline Bacchanalian revels. Next year, now that I know how well catnip grows as a potted plant, I plan on starting a few pots of it, rather than just one. That way, during the winter, as one pot of catnip begins to look tattered, I can replace it with another one.

Read article: Catnip

Answer to yesterday's trivia question: Fever Pitch

Catnip As a Potted Plant originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 08:37:27.

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Pictures: Roses to Add to Your Yard

2010-02-08T08:31:39Z

With talk of Valentine's Day in the air, there will be even more attention than usual paid to roses this week. One of the world's most beloved flowers any time of year, the rose receives Super Bowl-level attention during the week leading up to Valentine's Day. All that focus on roses will give gardeners plenty of excuse to contemplate adding a new rose to the landscape this year.

The pictures of roses in this photo gallery provide examples of some of the types of roses now available, by color. Many are All-America Rose Selections. If one of these colors doesn't "grab you," then you may well be color blind!

Movie trivia question: In what movie does the hero send the heroine an e-card in which a dozen rose blooms morph into 12 Pete Rose heads? Answer provided in tomorrow's blog post.

View pictures: Types of Roses

Pictures: Roses to Add to Your Yard originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 08:31:39.

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Ornamental Grasses

2010-02-07T08:11:46Z

I greatly enjoy my maiden grass during the wintertime. After my herbaceous perennials have died back and my deciduous shrubs have dropped their leaves, it's really the only game in town in that patch of my landscape. So there's nothing else around to compete with the beauty of its seed-heads, stalks and blade-like leaves.

Not that maiden grass needs its competition eliminated in order to shine brightly. This is a tall ornamental grass; it's more likely to obscure its neighbors than to be obscured by them.

But ornamental grasses come in a whole range of heights. For example, during spring and summer, I enjoy blue fescue, that ornamental grass with an almost surreal blue color. Blue fescue is a short ornamental grass. It's not something you want to stick in the back row of a perennial bed, because you won't be able to appreciate it with taller plants in the way.

Read article: Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental Grasses originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 08:11:46.

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Alternative Landscaping Course

2010-02-06T08:36:08Z

My prior two landscaping courses covered the basics of landscaping and were geared to a wide audience. The "Alternative Landscaping" course, by contrast, is designed for a narrower, more "committed" crowd who, not content merely to have a pretty landscape, wish to dig a bit deeper and question our attitudes toward the landscape.

Some of the topics addressed in the Alternative Landscaping course include:

Pest control without chemicals
Companion Planting
Earth Day
Invasive plants
Organic weed control
"Green" lawn mowers
Alternatives to lawns
Re-evaluating "weeds"
Woodland gardens

Sign up for free: Alternative Landscaping Course

Alternative Landscaping Course originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 08:36:08.

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Butterfly Weed

2010-02-05T08:13:12Z

Not all plants with "weed" in their names are necessarily weedy, in the sense of being unattractive or undesirable in the landscape. A great example is "butterfly weed" (Asclepias tuberosa), a perennial that bears lovely orange flowers. Some nurseries and catalogs prefer the name "butterfly plant" over "butterfly weed," lest potential buyers be troubled with self-doubts over forking over their hard-earned money for a "weed!"

Butterfly weed belies the "weed" in its name but is true to the other part of its moniker; this plant is a butterfly magnet! Click the link below to learn about growing butterfly weed.

Read article: Butterfly Weed

Butterfly Weed originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 08:13:12.

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Pathways and Walkways

2010-02-04T08:24:38Z

The concept of the path is so empowering that the word is often used metaphorically, as in, "Discover the path to independence!" But this article on pathways and walkways deals not with metaphorical paths, but with the real thing.

Building pathways -- or walkways, their more upscale cousins -- may be an ideal option for homeowners looking to connect point A to point B in a landscape. Is foot traffic across a portion of your lawn causing unsightly wear marks on your grass? Installing a pathway or walkway could be just the answer to solve the problem. You might call it "the path of least resistance": instead of fighting the flow of the foot traffic, use it as an indicator of where your future pathway or walkway needs to be located.

In this article, I interview David Gatti (of HGTV fame!) on the subject of building pathways and walkways. David begins by explaining the difference between them.

Read article: Pathways and Walkways

Pathways and Walkways originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 08:24:38.

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Ice Plant

2010-02-03T08:52:06Z

Well, we made it to winter's halfway point yesterday, marked by the celebration of Groundhog Day. That's why Groundhog Day's arrival always brings a smile to my chapped lips, regardless of Punxsutawney Phil's prognostication: February 2 is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and nothing that "the little rat" (as Bill Murray calls him in the movie) says can alter that fact.

There are moments of impatience over the course of the arduous journey through winter when I tell myself that I never want to hear the words "snow" or "ice" again. But when those moments pass and I begin thinking more clearly again, I realize that some of my favorite plants contain those otherwise nasty terms; for example:

As I explain in my article on ice plant, it does not receive its name from its hardiness (although ice plant is, in fact, rather hardy). Rather, when the sunlight hits ice plant's foliage just right, the succulent leaves appear bejeweled with ice crystals.

Read article: Ice Plant

Ice Plant originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 08:52:06.

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Did the Groundhog See His Shadow?

2010-02-02T07:53:37Z

Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his hallowed burrow this morning and announced that he did, indeed, see his shadow. That means 6 more weeks of winter. Who is Punxsutawney Phil? For those who have never watched the movie, Groundhog Day, that's the name of the famous groundhog who annually predicts when spring will come based on whether he sees his shadow on February 2.

And what is the significance of Groundhog Day for plant lovers? Groundhog Day is our only holiday that focuses squarely on weather. It occurs at a time when weather occupies Northerners' thoughts more thoroughly than at any other time of the year. We know we're still stuck in winter, but enough of the winter has elapsed that we feel we can now justifiably view the spring equinox as being just around the corner. More than any other holiday, Groundhog Day is the "looking-ahead" holiday.

That's what plant lovers in cold climates do in the wintertime: we look ahead. By the time February 2 arrives, we've already completed the most difficult portion of our ascent out of the pit of winter's darkest days (i.e., the winter solstice), standing half of the way to the longed-for spring equinox. The future looks bright as we survey it from our Groundhog Day burrows -- and nothing can overshadow our optimism.

Read article: Groundhog Day

Did the Groundhog See His Shadow? originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 07:53:37.

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Valentine Roses: Rose Color Meanings

2010-02-01T09:05:14Z

For many of us, Cupid doesn't fly in on a conveniently early date to remind us to buy our Valentine roses. In fact, the chubby cherub is more likely to sneak in at the last moment and shoot us in the back with one of those mischievous arrows. Not only that, but for all his alleged acumen in the art of love, Cupid offers no tips on selecting the right Valentine roses for the occasion.

To truly "get it right," you need to bone up on rose color meanings. Discover how to send the right message to recipients of Valentine roses, by following a time-honored formula that spells out their meanings according to color.

The formula derives from the Victorian era, as Catherine Herbert Howell explains in Flora Mirabilis. If you know the formula, a rose becomes more than just a thoughtful gift: it becomes a message. Howell specifies that "the red rose [is] for passionate love...."

So be wary of sending the wrong message with Valentine roses: the recipient may know more about the meanings of flowers than you ever imagined. That friend of the opposite sex whom you wish merely to cheer up on February 14th may take a red rose the wrong way!

Read article: Valentine Roses

Related resource: Valentine's Day Cross Stitch Patterns

Valentine Roses: Rose Color Meanings originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 09:05:14.

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Fig Trees

2010-01-31T08:05:08Z

It's the eternal question of the northern gardener: "Can I grow X in my climate?" where X is some exotic fruit, heralded through the ages as a little taste of paradise. Marie Iannotti treated the question in her blog recently, because one of her readers wondered about the possibility of growing fig trees in New Jersey (U.S.).

While fig trees are not, in fact, hardy enough to be grown in New Jersey, About.com's Gardening Guide offers some workarounds. She explains, for example, how you can maintain potted fig trees in a state of dormancy during the winter, as opposed to moving them into a sunroom or greenhouse.

Fig trees were among "the first plants ever to be cultivated by humans," writes Steve Nix. About.com's Forestry Guide goes on to say that fossilized remains from fig trees "dating to 9400-9200 BC were found in an early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley." Find out more in this article on fig trees.

Resource related to fig trees: Tropical Flowers

Fig Trees originally appeared on About.com Landscaping on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 08:05:08.

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