Plants and Flowers

A healthy fruit tree will live and fructify for many years, but in the end it will die. Each tree produces many seeds which may land in a good growing place and make new trees.
But before planting a tree, you should think thoroughly. If you have free space, plant a tree, but do not plant it unless you are willing to take care of it.
Trees, as any other plants feel comfortable when they fit right.
Annual care of a tree involves pruning, fertilization, irrigation, weed control, disease and insect control, bird control, fruit thinning and harvesting. Each kind of fruit needs specific methods to do their best. It is important to remember and practice these basic principles for full enjoyment of a fruit tree.
Specify climate and peculiarities associated with your location. The main climate differences are related to elevation, winter temperatures and length of growing season.
Fruit and nut trees have so called chilling requirements. These requirements differ between varieties of fruit trees. Meeting these requirements will promote normal growth and bloom after dormant or winter period. Generally, the higher the chilling requirement of a variety, the later bloom will occur in the spring.

Autumn Sunset variety has especially long canes, which makes it a climbing rose.
The most popular flower in America is also one of the oldest flowers in cultivation. There are more than 2,000 different rose varieties to attract us with their history and fragrance. Today, we can choose from old-fashioned favorite flowers, as well as modern varieties that are the result of intensive breeding programs all over the world. The rose has own rich past, and an long-term exciting future.
There are great amount of beautiful roses, far more than any of us can even imagine and once happened to see. When choosing a rose for your garden, there are some important points, which will do the selection process easier.
Though roses are usually planted to admire their flowers, it is important to know what the plant will look like in full size, in order to insure whether it will fit in your garden.
Tea roses and floribundas usually grow up to 2 or 3 feet high. Their form is rough, but they produce a lot of flowers all the growing season. The hybrid tea roses has large, single blooms on long stems, since the floribunda has slightly smaller bunches of blooms on stems that are not as stiff.

Miniature roses have small tiny flowers, and are only 10 to 36 inches tall. These small flowers are ideal for growing in pots.
Bush roses, including all possible types, and ground-cover or landscape roses, are as a rule large and leafy.
Climbers grow from 2,13 meters to 9,14 meters in length, and most of them need some support.
Tree roses, or standards, are roses that grow in tree-like form with a single trunk and a rounded bush or weeping display of flowers on top.
Cold countries` gardeners need to know exactly how hardy their rose is. Gardeners in warmer places must also watch to see what zones are recommended for each particular type, because some roses do not grow well in hot or humid weather.
Many roses, especially well-known old varieties, have just one blooming in a year. Think over the period of blooming and chose those, blooming for 3 weeks or the whole summer.
Selecting roses resistant to diseases is the only effective way to avoid problems and huge need for chemicals. You can look for many modern roses, which are now being bred for improved disease resistance.

Few plants are as many-sided, carefree and dynamic as grasses. Besides these plants do flower and really can compete with flowering perennials.
Grasses create modern independent design that will liven up almost any garden. They really provide high style and need low just a little care.
The biggest misunderstanding about grasses is that they will invade your garden. In fact, most grasses sold for home gardening and landscape design are well-behaved and won’t be invasive.
Ornamental (or decorative) grasses are really magical because they constantly change landscape. They are lush green early in spring, and flower in summer. In the autumn, you will get grasses pluming and then they will change color to wheat, gold, flaming orange or copper.
The pictures of many front garden show how gorgeous grasses may be throughout the fall. And even in winter the wheaten-colored leafage of ornamental grasses still looks attractive.
No other garden plants are so easy to care for. All that you need to do is to cut down and clear away the previous year’s growth in late winter or early spring.

Don’t let the branches wither. A fresh cut will make it easier for the branches to take up water.
Cut branches demand a period of transition. After placing your branches in a container or just bottle of water, take it away from sunlight, in a cool place. A basement will be best for these purposes.
Cover the branches loosely with a plastic to prevent them from drying out. Do not forget to check the water in the container every day and change it when it becomes muddy or discolored.
Within 1 - 6 weeks you will see the buds swelling and beginning to open, but all depends on the type of branch and when you cut them. Only now you can move your flowering branches into sunlight and place them on display. Pussy willow and forsythia will open the first. And the closer to their natural flowering time you cut branches, the quicker they will bloom.

You can create early spring for your garden plants and trees and home flowers by forcing them into bloom. And forcing spring bloomers is not too difficult task.
There are many spring flowering plants that will easily blossom at your room and also you can experiment with your trees in the garden. Try some traditional trees and bushes: azalea, beautybush, crab apple, flowering quince, forsythia, magnolia, pussy willow, redbud, rhododendron, serviceberry, witch hazel, and fruit trees such as cherries, pears and apples.
Almost all trees and shrubs, which flower in spring, require a period of cold dormancy in order to bloom.
By the middle of January, most of them have had enough cold to allow forcing them into bloom indoors. But there are some plants, for example, crab apples, beautybush, magnolias and redbuds that demand a longer dormancy and it is better to wait with them until late-February or early-March.
Cutting branches will be better to delay until a relatively warm day. If that’s not possible and the branches are already frozen, them, it helps to immerse the entire branch in slightly warm water for a few hours.
Look for swollen, plump buds. You will see both flower and leaf buds on the stems, but note that flower buds will be rounder and larger than leaf ones. Cut the branches at an angle and be sure that your cut them long enough to display.

Petunia is one of the most popular summer flowers providing bright blossoming all summer in beds or containers.
It likes plenty of sunshine. Thrives in hot sunny summers and dislikes high humidity. Different kinds are available for window pots, tubs and urns, hanging baskets, and flower beds. Good soil and sufficient watering will give the best look.
When seedlings will be large enough to handle, prick them out into containers or small pots of fresh compost.
You can grow steadily acclimatized plants to natural garden conditions when all danger of frost is passed and it is constantly warm outside.
Note, that Petunias are not suitable for sowing right into soil in the garden.
Greenfly and other aphids attack both young and deep-rooted plants; grey mould can cause many problems in humid seasons and cool summers. Rain can damage Grandiflora types.

Petunias should be sowed in the beginning of spring at a temperature of 17-21C on a surface of the damp seed or multi-purpose compost. The some hybrid plants demand light for germination so the seed should not be covered, though it demands specific care to guarantee, that the surface does not dry out. Covering of pots or trays with clingfilm is the most simple way to hold a seed constantly damp.
The seed is best sowed as sparsely as possible so that the seedlings have free area to develop two true leaves before transplanting into trays, packs or small pots. Grow on 16C until rosettes of foliage have developed, then reduce the temperature to below 10C if possible as this will help developing basal branching; at higher temperature the plants are can become flabby. Later low temperatures are less significant.
The plants can grow in these containers until planting time in the spring. But be sure that your plants are well hardened well before planting.

Great number of consumers around the world found out, that so called Lucky Bamboo is the perfect office or home plant, which needs so little care to be happy and thriving.
Known for many years as Lucky Bamboo, this plant is not a bamboo, as its botanical name is Dracaena. And grows it in Southeast Asia and Africa dark tropical rainforests.
This plant likes lavish watering, so always keep water levels at about an inch from the base of the canes. It prefers plenty of indirect sunlight and room temperatures at 65-70o F. Though opinions on feeding differ, your Dracaena is a living organism, so it will be useful to add a mild fertilizer from time to time. Since growth depends on feeding, small amounts of fertilizer will keep it at a suitable size.
Like any other plant in your house, Lucky Bamboo can be transferred to a container or pot 2″ larger than the original, or planted for some time into a loose sand or soil mixture providing lots of bottom drainage. To avoid root rot, be sure to let the top of the soil dry out between watering.

Recently planted bamboos require frequent and generous watering. Give your plant good watering two times a week if the weather is mild, and perhaps even daily during hot or windy weather. Check whether each plant under 18,93 liters pot size gets at least 1,89 liters of water. If your plant is over 18,93 liters size more than 3,79 liters is needed. When bamboo reaches the desired size, it can grow with less watering. But until then you must water and fertilize abundantly to get best growth. Insufficient watering mainly in hot or windy weather is the main cause of failure or bad growth of new plants. Over watering of the newly planted bamboos can cause excess leaf drop. Well-acclimatized bamboos are rather lenient to flooding, but newly planted bamboos can suffer from excessive as well as insufficient watering.
Planted in a suitable site, full sun for most of the species, partial shade for some and given sufficient water, Bamboo can grow and eventually flourish. But if you want to see a healthy and attractive plant, you should fertilize it. You may use a lawn fertilizer, as it is high in nitrogen, or an organic fertilizer, though it is more expensive.