Kent Higgins
The Best Night Plant Temperature
Just now Oncidium splendidum is beginning to show color as its yellow flowers unfold in an upright spray a yard or more above the thick dark green leaves. Its blossoms also resemble butterflies but are larger than varicosum and the bright yellow blossoms are marked with chocolate brown spots.
Both species keep well as cut flowers and make beautiful corsage or graceful sprays for a vase. A doctor friend whom I advised to purchase plant of this for his solarium informed me recently that they are blooming the second year and doing well, so you see this is another which may be added to the “solarium list.”
Their culture is much the same as Cattleyas and require a period of rest after blooming and until no growth starts. A little liquid fertilizer once in two weeks during then growing period is beneficial. During the resting period do not water as often bu never allow the pseudo-bulbs to shrivel.
Calanthes are now in bloom and afford most graceful sprays in pure white (Harris variety) white with a dark pink throat (Wm. Murray), or regeieri which is similar, bright pink (veitchi) and one of the largest and most beautiful pink or carmine varieties, – Florence. They are all peculiar in blossoming after the pseudo-bulbs have shed their leaves, the blossom stem emerging from the base of the bulb.
The culture of Calanthes is not difficult if a few cardinal points are observed: After blooming the bulbs are allowed to become dry, are either left in the pots which are turned upon their sides or are removed and stored in dry sand or peat in a warm room. About April 1st new growth will start from the base of the bulb and they should then be potted up at once.
Potting material consists of good potting soil, crushed pot shreds or common red brick broken into small pieces which is added in small amount, some sand if soil is heavy and about one-third the quantity of good well-rotted cow manure. A small amount of fine bone meal is also considered beneficial. Three- or four-inch pots for the medium sized bulbs and five-inch for the larger are usually adequate. The bulbs are only inserted into the potting material about a half inch or just deep enough to keep them upright. Little water is given until roots appear and from then on until the leaves turn yellow in the fall they should be given ample moisture and a warm house.
A temperature of about 70 degrees at night is best and as their growing period is during the summer, this is not difficult. They should be shaded from bright sunshine. Bulbs can he purchased from about $2.00 up, according to variety. Orchid plants are naturally long lived and most of them can be readily increased by division so that with care one may gradually increase his stock from his own plants. The Calanthes, just mentioned increase quite rapidly by the production of new bulbs and the old bulbs are planted the second year to increase the stock.
There is more to learn on How To Plant Window Boxes. Drop by today at http://www.plant-care.com/window-garden-small-scale.html. This and other unique content ‘flower’ articles are available with free reprint rights.
A Pruning Achievement For Grape Growing
Success in grape growing depends greatly on pruning. Best time for this is the early months of the year. A warm day in January or February when the ground is clear of snow is ideal, but the job should be accomplished before the middle of March when the sap rises.
Pruning is perhaps the most important skill the vineyardist must master. He must realize that fruit is borne only on wood of the present season which arises from wood of the previous season. This means that last year’s new wood is the only source of buds which grow into shoots bearing probably one to four clusters of grapes each.
The problem becomes (first) one of cutting back a limited number of good canes to a few buds which will produce as many new bearing shoots as the vine can support, and (second) cutting off entirely all remaining (even good) canes which would over-tax the vigor of the vine. With experience the grape-grower learns to tell from the looks of the cane, the size and growth of the vine in the previous year, and the variety’s characteristics for bearing, which and how many buds to leave.
He must constantly plan ahead for new wood low on the vines, so that the vines do not have to spend too much of their energy maintaining a great amount of unproductive wood. This necessary balance between fruiting canes this year and new wood for next year’s crop is difficult both to explain and to achieve, but usually the tendency of the beginner is not to prune severely enough.
More trimming and shaping comes after the grapes have bloomed and set the bunches. Each fruiting cane tries to grow on out into a long leafy cane beyond the three or four clusters which have formed. To make the plant use its strength for the fruit, these should be snapped off at about the second joint beyond the grapes. New shoots will try to grow at these points and often at the joint opposite the grape cluster, but these should be kept broken off as summer progresses. Keep just enough foliage to support the plant properly by making food and to shade the fruit. Usually the bunches of grapes should be thinned by about one-third so that they will ripen faster and more evenly.
You may not always get what you want, but you can find what you need on how to care for lucky bamboo. Visit us at http://www.plant-care.com/lucky-bamboo.html.
A Happy Landscaped Home
If the door is close to the corner of the house, there may not be room for both a corner group and a door planting. In that case the thing to do is to arrange the corner group so that it will also form half of the entrance planting. The half on the other side of the door would be very low as determined by line drawn to edge of the house.
Low Foundation
Whenever the exposed foundation is 3 feet or less in height, it is desirable to use plants only at the above-mentioned areas. It makes the house look larger and more dignified to have the lawn extend right up to the foundation walls.
But if the foundation is more than 3 feet high, we readjust our thinking and break the rule of not having a solid planting around the house. We maintain the general outline of the mass plantings at the corners and next to the entrance, but add a planting that connects them. In effect, this lifts the straight linerepresented .by the lawn in the case of a house with no foundation or a very low one – up to the point where the foundation ends and the house covering begins.
Directing Attention
The reason for having lower plants beside the door than at the corners is simple enough. If we want to pour a liquid into the top of a bottle or other small opening, we usually use a funnel to help do it. Psychologically the same effect results when we look at a house with high corner plantings and low entrance plantings; our attention is more or less funneled from the high points to the low ones close to the door. This is exactly what we want, namely, the attention of the observer to be directed to and centered on the entrance.
Various Architectural Styles
Although it may not be obvious in all instances, you can usually see in these different architectural styles the same guiding principle behind all of the foundation planting arrangements.
On a house with tall pillars in front, it is not advisable to put a single plant at the base of each pillar in order to break the vertical line. This would make it appear as though the pillar was suspended in mid air. There is little danger of monotony even if everyone who owns a house with tall pillars were to handle it in the same general manner; homes of that type are few and far between, so one will rarely see two that are planted exactly alike.
We’ve just scratched the surface looking at the topic of landscaping ideas for small back yards. Visit us for lots of free information at http://www.plant-care.com/1523-backyard-landscaping.html.
categories: landscape,garden,landscaping,gardening,indoor garden
Sponsors
 |
 |