Category: Gardening

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Happy International Day of Happiness

monarch on asclepias, 7 Aug 2012 by mmwm

Today is the International Day of Happiness. The UN designation of The International Day of Happiness is for Wed., March 20th, which is also the first day of spring this year. Let us celebrate !!!! (see here)

What can make one happier than planning your garden if you are in areas where it is still too cold to plant and to be working in your garden if you live in areas warm enough to plant?

On this International Day of Happiness think about how happy you will be when the flowers you love will be blooming in your garden.  Flowers that bring joy not only to you, your family and friends, but your neighbors and people who walk and drive by your yard as well as the insects, birds and animals that survive because of you. Today bring out those catalogs and check off your list all the flowering plants you will grow in your garden this summer.

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The Life of Flowers

flowers

Friends send TheGardenLady pretty photos of plants around the world. I would like to share some with my readers as they come to me.

Click on the image above.

Gorgeous!! Makes one appreciate what a truly wonderful world we live in.

EACH FLOWER IS FILMED FOR TWO DAYS AND PHOTOS ARE COLLATED WITHIN 7 MINUTES TO GET THIS EFFECT

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Beaucarnea recurvata – Ponytail palm

Beaucarnea recurvata (Pony tail palm)by brewbooks

One of my favorite indoor plants is the Ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata). It does look like a pony tail with its long thin leaves arching from the top of the trunk. Though in nature it is a tree that grows tall, taller than some houses, indoors it can remain small for years if kept root-bound in a pot. I have had my Ponytail palm for at least 40 years and it never grew an inch because I had it in such a little pot- the same pot that it was in when I first got it. It likes some fertilizer during its growing season, but I have never fertilized my plant. This summer, I felt a little guilty about not giving its roots room to stretch in all those years, so I put it in a larger pot and used potting soil with slow release fertilizer. I hope I didn’t make a mistake.

Another nice thing about this plant is that it needs very little water. It has a trunk that is fat at the bottom, near the soil. This fat area stores water so it doesn’t want to be watered more than once a month during the winter. In its growing season, it doesn’t need to be watered more than twice a month. That is perfect for TheGardenLady who hates spending time watering indoor plants. But it does need soil with good drainage. It doesn’t want to stand in water.

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9 Last Minute Garden Gifts

Orchids by donsutherland1


It is really last minute to talk about buying last minute presents- especially if you are planning on ordering them on line. But, there is always a way of creating a card in short order telling the recipient that your gift is coming. Better late than never, especially if that gift shows you really thought about the perfect gift for that perfect person. Take a photo of yourself holding some Christmas decoration, print it out with a line or two that says something to the order of: ” Belated gift will be coming. Be on the Lookout for something VERY special.”   You don’t have to tell them that you had thought of getting the gift at the last minute; just mumble that there must have been some shipping snafu. You can always add the line that you wanted to spread out the joy of receiving Christmas gifts for a longer period than just one day of giving. Put your thoughtful card under the tree or in a stocking for the recipient to get on Christmas morning and be the hero.

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6 more things to do in your garden during October

October Garden by Ravenelle

In the last post, TheGardenLady gave a list of 9 things you should do in your garden before the frost of Fall arrives.  Here are 6 more suggestions:

1.  Pull up diseased plants especially tomatoes, squash and potato plants. Do NOT compost these diseased plants. Bag them and toss them out.

2.  Cut back dead perennials where slugs, snails and other pests might hide. But remember to leave some plants for birds and butterflies.

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9 Things You Can Do in Your Garden before a Frost

Garden set up for fall frosts by Carolannie–temporaril…

Fall is a busy time of year for gardeners.  Here are 9 of the many things you can do before a frost:

1. Start planting bulbs. This is the time to plant those bulbs you want to bloom next spring- like daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, etc. You can plant bulbs until there is a hard frost. You can order them from catalogs. TheGardenLady has a number of favorite bulb catalogs.  The nice thing about catalogs is that they send you the bulbs when it is the best time to plant them in your area. But, of course, you can buy bulbs in your local stores if you prefer.

2. Build yourself or buy a compost bin if you don’t already have one.  Sometimes it is best to have at least two compost bins.  There are many instructions for building them online.

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Converting your lawn into a vegetable garden

Now That’s a Vegetable Garden! by UGArdener

As clean water becomes a more scarce commodity and because of the rising cost of using it or the towns’ limiting of the use of water on flowers and lawns due to drought, as well as because fresh produce prices are going up, many people are converting their front lawns as well as their back yards to vegetable gardens.

It used to be that there were rules regarding the plantings on your front yard. These rules may still be in effect where you live. So before you decide to create a vegetable and herb garden on your front yard, or even before you plant drought-tolerant plants and remove the lawn, find out what is allowed in your community.  You don’t want to pay a fine should your town or housing development have laws on the books that don’t allow certain plantings in the front of the house. Or you may not want to destroy your lawn and flowering plants in the front of the house and upset your neighbors’ feelings.

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World Naked Gardening Day

through the flowers. by Casey David

Sometimes I wonder if this Garden Lady is always on top of what is happening in the world. I guess I am too busy in my own garden, weeding, planting or just plain enjoying the results of my labor to keep up with everything that is going on. Or I am enjoying the beauty of other people’s gardens.

So I missed telling my readership about a gardening event that happened, around the world, on Sat. May 5th. Now this is not a gardening event that I would ever attend, nor do I know anyone who would attend it. I am too modest to be part of such an event – I was born modest and grew up believing in modesty. And I don’t know how many of the readers of TheGardenLady would want to participate.  But, still, I feel duty bound to write about gardening events that are happening, even if I think these events are humorously odd.

Now though the event happened on Sat. May 5th, I just learned about it on Monday, May 21st. So I apologize to those of you who depend on TheGardenLady to keep you informed of world gardening events. Though I apologize, I had never heard about this event even though this was the 8th year it was being held. It is thanks to reading the Irish Times online that I became informed of this event.

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Gardening with Health Issues

Gardening from a Wheelchair by mikecogh

Many people love to garden, but because of health issues they think they no longer are capable of working in the garden. “Nurturing something and watching it grow can be very therapeutic and rewarding,  helping people take their minds off their pain and lets them feel that they are accomplishing something worthwhile.”

Because gardening is such a healing activity  health providers are trying to find methods whereby people with pain can continue working in their gardens.

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