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Garden Shrubs: Uses and Maintenance

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So, you don’t have a fence. It’s alright because you can just grow a shrub that you can form into some sort of boundary marker. This is one of the most common uses of shrubs; and many times, homeowners just let their plants grow without thinking about how to properly maintain them. Shrubs definitely have so much more to offer, aside from being great as hedges. These come in all shapes, colors and sizes, and with proper maintenance, you won’t only have a beautiful natural barrier, but you’ll also have healthy plants that are a joy to see.

Uses of Shrubs

1. Forms a Boundary and Offers Protection

As mentioned earlier, most people plant shrubs in order to define their property line. There are all sorts of shrubs that can be used here, such as the King’s Mantle (Thumbergia erecta), which has vivid green and lush foliage and intense purple flowers. Many kinds of viburnums (Newport and Allegheny), evergreens (holly, spruce, pine), and other low-growing perennials can be used as shrubs. For those who want to amp up the security of their perimeters, they can also use thorny shrubs to help discourage prowlers. Examples are rose, barberry and quince.

2. Provides Privacy and Acts As Shield from the Elements

If you have a shrub that you have formed into a tall hedge, it will provide you some privacy. Naturally, you wouldn’t want your nosy next door neighbor to know what you’re doing in the yard or inside your house. (Remember Samantha’s snooping neighbor on Bewitched? How annoying, right?) So, even though you might like to share a few things with your friends and neighbors, you wouldn’t want to share every little detail of your life. Having a hedge will give you a bit of privacy. Plus, the shrub will also help in protecting you or your home from the brunt of the sun and wind.

3. Gives You Pleasure

Of course, if you’re growing healthy flowering plants or lush, vibrant shrubs, you’ll surely enjoy staying outdoors and just enjoying the visual pleasure of having beautiful flora all around you. Gorgeous ornamental plants provide dramatic foliage which are also a joy to care for or prune. Flowering shrubs can also be trained to grow on your trellis, which will really add beauty to your home.

Maintenance: About Pruning Shrubs

It is a must to keep your garden or landscape well-maintained. If you allow your plants to grow without proper care, these will soon form dense vegetation where thieves or prowlers can easily hide. So, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Home security experts suggest that you grow your hedges to just below 5 feet. More than that and you endanger yourself and your family by having areas where burglars can easily hide. Shorter hedges will delineate your property line while also helping to deter people from peeking into windows on the first floor.

Plants are also best pruned during specific times. This will depend on the type of shrubbery that you have. So, ask an experienced gardener about when is the best time to prune your shrubs to reduce damage to the vegetation. Don’t feel too bad about pruning because this actually encourages plants to develop flowers or fruits when done correctly.

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Claire Davidson is a freelance writer who also happens to love plants of all kinds. She writes about flowers, orchids, grasses, as well as landscaping in Idaho Falls and other gardening or planting-related issues.

How To Protect Your Garden From Frost Damage

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It is frustrating to nurture plants all year round only to have them destroyed by frost. However, the arrival of frost shouldn’t throw you into a panic as there are measures to protect them from frostbite. This can easily be done using readily available materials so you don’t have to spend money while you cushion your garden from the effects of frost. Before you can employ any protection techniques, you need to know exactly what frost does to plants. The soil upon which the plant is dependent for growth, is frozen making it impossible for water to reach the roots. Plant cells are also ruptured by the freezing cold resulting in a slow death. However, plants are affected differently so you should take time to find out which plants are weak and prone to weather damage.


Having understood the effect of frost, you can start preparing for its arrival by staying alert for weather warnings. This way you can water your plants before frost strikes to help it get enough moisture. Watering needs to be done lightly if you want to avoid the formation of frost.

Wet soil encourages absorption of crucial nutrients by the roots. Covering plants is a simple way to protect them and if done right, your garden will emerge bright and healthy after the danger is gone. Use burlap sacks, sheets or blankets to cover the plants. This helps to lock in the moisture by preventing entry of cold air in the garden. It should be done with extra caution because; heavy covers like blankets can crush plants if draped over without a support. Remember to use stones or wood to block spaces near the ground. You should always remove the covering at daybreak lest all your plants die of suffocation. The way you prepare the garden could also make the difference for your plants at the onset of frost season.

The secret to healthy plants after an episode of frost is the levels of humidity. The lack of moisture in the air during cold days leads to slow death of plants. This is why experts advocate for measures to protect plants form such damage. Moisture is easily preserved through mulching. This is an ancient agricultural practice that employed the use of leaves, bark, straw and grass placed on the soil to prevent moisture form leaving the soil. If there are plants that can be moved, relocate them to a safer spot from the direct touch of frost. Place potted plants in a warm place away from the decapitating cold. Plants with soft leaves are more prone to frost so the gardener should give them first priority and take extra care when handling them. Sturdier plants don’t suffer much but they should not be ignored because excess exposure will leave them vulnerable. Don’t worry if some plants appear dormant when it’s cold because it is only an adaptation method to avoid damage.

Jessica is really passionate about gardening and loves to share her passion with others too. You can have a look at her site on Wall Fountains at Water Fountain Pros if you want to get more information on Logo wall fountains.

Why You Don’t Want Ants in Your Garden or Lawn

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Ants are generally a big nuisance. They get into your sugar bowl; they readily collect where there’s a spattering of juice; and they spoil your favorite desserts. Ants – you really don’t want them inside your home; but what about outdoors? Well, they’re outside, so leave them be, right? If you are an avid gardener, you know that ants are tiny machines of destruction. They can readily destroy your most prized plants and infest your lawn to the point that you can no longer have picnic outdoors or have your kids play in your backyard.

Ants Create Numerous Mounds

So, how can ants wreck your yard? To start with, allowing an ant colony to firmly establish itself in your yard or lawn is not a good idea because these insects can easily overrun your space in a matter of weeks. If you don’t pay attention to your ant problems, you could end up staying indoors all the time. You won’t like to go outside and enjoy your plants because as soon as you step onto your yard, you might accidentally tread on one of their mounds. That’s not a pretty picture, especially if you’ve just disturbed a large group of red fire ants. These kinds of ants won’t just crawl all over you; they’ll bite you – and a fire ant’s sting is painful and very itchy. So, instead of being able to enjoy your garden, you would think twice about venturing outdoors in case you step on one of their mounds. What if you have kids? You certainly wouldn’t want your children playing in a yard crawling with fire ants. In addition to this, mounds are unsightly and they affect plant growth and development.

Ants Sting

As mentioned, ants sting when disturbed. The injury is typically itchy, inflamed and painful. Sometimes, minute pustules or blisters form on the site of the bite. Although ant bites readily resolve in time, some people are hypersensitive. It is also exceedingly rare for fire ants to attack humans. They usually just sting when they are bothered. However, there have been exceptional instances when fire ants have harmed people. Babies, the elderly and incapacitated individuals could be target of ant attacks, particularly if there is an extensive infestation in a specific area.

Ants Could Kill Plants

Are your prized orchids swarming with black ants? Have you noticed that your zinnias are failing to bloom because the buds are teeming with ants? Are your dahlias no longer blooming? Many kinds of ants are attracted to the sweet nectar produced by flowers. Some people say that ants are harmless because they don’t eat flowers. Well, this may not be entirely true. Based on my experience, the black ants that swarmed all over my beautiful ground orchids also brought with them lots of aphids. Ants farm these creatures because they eat the honeydew produced by aphids. Aphids cover stems or leaves, and they deter plants from absorbing sunlight. Black mold also form on the parts that also get coated in honeydew, which further prevents sunlight absorption.

In addition to farming and protecting aphids, ants affect plants’ root systems too. These insects don’t eat roots, but they damage these when they burrow or create tunnels under the ground. Ants’ underground activities pull the soil away from the roots which means that these won’t be able to absorb water well.

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Claire Brent is a freelance blogger who often writes about pest management. She covers many issues, including termite and ant control, diseases caused by insects, green pest control methods, and other pest-related issues. She also provides material for Preventive Pest, a company that provides solutions to difficult pest problems.

4 Crucial Things To Organize Before You Throw The Garden Party Of The Year

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One of the most exciting things you can ever do is throw a garden party for all your friends. It gives you the chance to invite people you don’t get to spend quality time with. Everyone can come together and have a huge celebration. The garden is the obvious place to have it because you don’t want your home destroyed, but at the same time you are never more than 10 meters away from the comfort of your castle. Have a party somewhere else and it doesn’t feel the same. It might be great, but it just won’t feel the same.

The only thing you need to remember is that it has to be well-planned. You can’t just expect everyone to come around and stand about in your garden. If you want it to be amazing there’s some things you need to do and they might need to be done well in advance. You don’t want to run around at the last minute when you should be getting ready to burst open a cold bottle of beer. Grab your pen and paper so you can write these down and get on them straight away. Just don’t be surprised if you’re asked to host a lot more parties in the future.

Book a tent

This one is the most important out of the lot. You definitely can’t expect all your guests to stand outside when it’s raining. Who knows when there will be a downpour at this time of year? If you have a tent erected somewhere in the garden it means you have somewhere to sit if the worst happens. It’s also a good idea to keep the food undercover. If your garden is big it saves you running backwards and forwards to the kitchen all the time. Once you book one they will come and put it up for you before your party starts.

Hire a big barbeque

This is going to depend on how many people will be at the party. If there’s only a few people you might get away with using a small barbecue you have lying around, but if there’s lots of people you don’t want them to go hungry. That’s why you should have a big barbecue and there will always be plenty of food sizzling away. If you wanted to be really fancy you could even hire someone to come out and cook everything for you. Find out the costs and see if it fits into your budget.

Have lots of lighting

People need to see what they’re doing. It’s nice to look someone in the eye when you’re talking to them instead of staring into the pitch black. You have many options to choose from. If there’s lots of trees lying around in your garden you can hang lights from them. There’s also the solar powered LED ones that you can stick into the ground. Just make sure they’ve been set-up for a few days so you know they are working, plus it gives them a chance to absorb some sunlight. Apparently solar powered lights need this. Who knew?

Make sure everything is safe

The final thing you have to do is to make sure everything is safe. There’s also inviting people and buying alcohol, but I’m sure you can manage that. How can you make sure everything is safe? Well start by clearing the garden so people don’t trip up on anything. If you have a swimming pool you should have a rope around it. The last thing you need is someone falling into the water and no-one seeing what happened. Make sure all electrical cables are tucked away and covered. Make sure you do these four things then you can worry about the entertainment.

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David Hall is a home improvement expert and knows how to organize parties properly. If you too are planning to throw a party then do visit www.portablesheltersonline.com for more information.

How To Detect Infestations In Your Garden

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You will often come across pest infestations in your garden, but mostly when the infestation has become severe. In order to save your garden from severe damage from pests, it is important that you are able to detect the early signs of infestations. It is also important that you are informed about the various pest control methods available to you to control and prevent further pest infestations. This way you will be able to maintain your garden healthily. However, it is essential that you seek professional pest control assistance when you are unable to control the infestation in your garden to avoid the pests from invading your home.

How To Detect Infestations

The only way you can detect early infestations is when you observe your garden regularly. Always visit your garden and inspect all your plants. Be sure to inspect the stems and the undersides of the leaves as this is where pest activity usually occurs and where most of the damages can be found. Here are a few tips for you to understand the different signs of pest infestation:

Wilted Plants

When you find wilted, yellow and warped plants or leaves, this is mostly the sign that aphids have fed on the sap of the plants. You can sometimes still find these insects crawling on the plants along with ants trying to protect the aphids as they harvest the honeydew being produced. However, this type of infestation can also bring about black mold, so you can be sure that they are a problem when you discover your plants covered in black and gray spots. Nevertheless, there is a natural form of pest control to help keep aphids away. All you need to do is grow basil, anise, chives and even garlic surrounding other plants to keep aphids away. Otherwise, you can also soak crushed mint leaves or garlic in water, strain and then have the mixture sprayed on the plants.

Silvery Lines And Damaged Crops

Silvery lines around gardens and damaged lettuce crops indicate that you have slugs and snails living in your garden. These pests are a frustration to any gardener, but since there are various ways to control snails and slugs, all you need is patience and determination. You can locate them hiding under rocks and dispose them, create barriers of copper or eggshells, or have a container buried in the ground filled with beer.

Holes In Plant Leaves

Japanese beetles, caterpillars and cabbage loopers are often the cause of holes in plant leaves. Fortunately, they are easy to detect and control. The beetles tend to feed on plants the entire day without caring about being seen, so all you need to do is pluck them off. Cabbage loopers can be identified by looking out for white eggs that are laid on the top side of leaves. Just like beetles, they can easily be plucked off. If you need to get rid of caterpillars, simply place a potted nasturtium nearby.

Dry Plants

Dry plants are also an indication of mites infestations. Mites are small yellow, red or green spiders that can suck plants just like aphids. Since mites have a preference to infest plants in dry conditions, you can get rid of this pest by soaking the plant with water. You can also combine mild soap and water and mist the plant with the mixture.

Valerie Williams is a freelance writer specializing in natural methods of pest control. She regularly contributes articles to PreventivePestControl.com and other pest control websites.

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