Plants and Flowers

You need not to buy a ripe fruit unless you plan to eat it right now. If you bought less-than-ripe avocados, store it in a paper bag with an apple for a day or so. The ethylene gas released by an apple will speed the process of ripening of the fruit. Store it at room temperature, as they won’t ripen in the refrigerator and will turn brown.
If you are going to cut an avocado, take it in your hand and slice through the skin and the flesh to the pit all the way around, lengthwise. Revolve each half in the opposite direction to separate them and use a spoon to make the pit. You can plant the seed in a pot and try to grow your own houseplant, but you should be patient, as avocados need from five to thirteen years to bear fruit. It’s an interesting experiment, though it may result in an attractive houseplant.
Similarly to apples, avocados will get brown when left in the open air.
And as many other fruits avocados entered many recipes.
Avocados are used in Mexican guacamole, you may also try them in salads, where they’ll add richness and flavor. Consider them on sandwiches to add fiber, nutrients and flavor instead of plain old mayonnaise.

Avocados have been considered an aphrodisiac for quite a long time. Advertisement about this fruit even was even restricted because of the connotations early in the 20th century.
The avocado is really a unique fruit. It stores its energy in fat, not as sugar, as most fruits do. Avocados are full of fat, but also they offer 60% more potassium than a banana, have the highest fibre and are good sources of vitamins B6, C and E: all these make them a highly nutritious and useful food.
Avocados are native to Central America, where they’ve been grown for thousands of years and are present in many cultures. In US the largest producers of consumed fruit are California and Florida.
The Hass avocado is most widely-spread and native of Guatemala. There are some other varieties, one of which stays green when ripe, as well as the large new “low-fat” types, which don’t have much flavor.
It is interesting that avocados don’t begin to ripen until they are removed from the tree, where they can be held for several months like in prison. When picked, they’re ready for food in about a week.
The best way to check whether it is ripe by feel. Hold it in your hand as if it is the remote control and gently squeeze. An unripe avocado is like a stone. A nearly ripe avocado will yield slightly under the pressure, but truly ripe will be soft. Avoid avocados that feel loose in their skin – they are overripe.

When you bring your tree home from the store or nursery, place it into a larger pot filled with pebble. Make sure that the pot has a hole at the bottom for drainage.
You need to water your rosemary every day or every second day. The plant doesn’t need much, may be half a cup, but constantly. Let the water run right through the soil and drip out into the tray (do not forget to empty it). Some gardeners prefer just to put plants in the sink and water them that way, letting all the water goes down the drain. Then put them back in place with something under to catch more water.
From time to time, give the rosemary a “bath,” gently washing off any dead leaves and other debris. You can let it stay in water for a little while, and then dry up very well.
Like most pot plants, rosemary likes humidity, so you can take the plant to the shower every few weeks, put it on a bathroom counter, close the door, and take a long, steamy shower.
Ensure that there is enough space in the pot; mix the potting soil with sand or vermiculite – or something else to keep it draining well. If your plant spent the whole summer out of door, keep in mind to bring it in before the first frost.

The wild mint (or Mentha arvensis) is generally classified as a perennial herb. This plant grows most actively in spring period. The Wild mint has green leaves and bright white flowers, with brown seeds. The blooming period of this herb is usually observed in spring, and seeds production starts in the summer and lasts through the autumn. Each year this herb produces new leaves. The Wild mint has a short life span and a moderate growth rate comparing with other herbs. In its full size, the normal plant reaches up to 2.6 feet high, with a maximum height at 20 years of 2.6 feet.
This fragrant herb can be easily found in nurseries, garden stores and other plant sellers and distributors. It propagates through seed and the seedlings but demands attention and care. Cold bedding is contraindicated for seed germination and the plant cannot survive exposure to temperatures below -33°F. This herb has low tolerance to drought and insufficient watering.

The rosemary (or Rosmarinus officinalis) is usually described as a perennial shrub. This dicotyledon is not native to the United States and most actively grows during the spring and summer. The Rosemary has dark green leaves and bright blue flowers, with brown fruits or seeds. The greatest flowering period is usually in the middle of spring, and fruit and seed appear also from spring until summer. Leaves are retained year to year.
This plant has rather long life span comparative to most other plant species and a moderate growth rate. At ripeness, the normal Rosemary reaches up to 5 feet high, with a maximum height at 20 years of 5 feet.
The Rosemary is easily found in greenhouses, garden stores and other plant sellers and distributors. It has comparatively slow ability to propagate through seeds and the saplings have medium vigor. Note that cold bedding is not required for seed germination and the plant cannot survive exposure to temperatures below -3°F. But Rosemary has high tolerance to drought and insufficient water conditions.

Plicatas can be named as the real mystery group. The petals of this variety have light colored centers edged in a darker shade, but this allows space for different combinations. Pot Luck is a variety whose petals have cream colored centers edged with a narrow stippling of yellow. Often the edges of a Plicata look like strokes of stiff dry brush, which has left spots of varying sizes.
One more mysteriously called variety is Witch of Endor. It is also known as a Rebloomer, often producing a second round of blossoms in the autumn. Another similarly named favorite is Witch’s Wand with black Falls and a purplish black Standard.
There is long-long range of irises varieties, most with funny names, like Conjuration, New Moon, Superstition or Strange Magic. Some names speak of other places like: Fresno Frolic, Mt. Cook A’Dawning, Miss Atlanta or Barbary Coast. There are irises named for music like Jazz Jubilee or Mountain Melody, or astronomy like Pulsar and Quasar, or even for drinks like Margarita Time and Tequila Sunrise. Whatever your interests, you can find irises whose names reflect them.
Irises are easy to grow, ask little care and gardening time and offer apparently endless list of colors and hue combinations. The bearded iris is that very flower of dream for today’s busy gardeners.

Cut off dead blossoms and dead bloom stems when the flower stops blossoming, but don’t cut back the leaves until they begin to fade in the autumn, while the leaves are needed to produce blooms in the next year. Do not forget to feed your plants every autumn and after replanting. You can also feed them a month before they usually bloom if you like, but one feeding a year may be quite enough.
Most people buy their first flowers in the spring from garden centers, when they can see these plants in bloom. Larger growers often have colored catalogs with pictures of most varieties, so you have choice. But if you know a little terminology, you choice is much more wider even if there are no illustration.
The three petals that grow right on the top of the iris are called Standards. The three that hang down are called as Falls. The smaller often downy or hair like parts in between are the Beard. If the flower is all one color it is known a Self. Among the few flowers which come in a true black are Bearded irises. Actually, they turn in every color except green.
One of the most known old fashioned irises is purple Bi-tone called Lothario Again. Bi-tones, according to their name, are two shades of one color, in this case, violet silk Standards and deep purple velvet Falls. When the Standards and Falls have different colors they are called Blends.

Offering light-hearted blooms of almost every color of the rainbow, irises are easy to grow and demand little care. Tender petals that may differ in texture from the plush velvet, to the most delicate silk, often on one flower, give you that diversity which will suit almost every taste.
Bearded iris is different from most other spring bulbs, as it doesn’t need cold period to produce blossoms, and that make them perfect for mild winters areas. These flowers are also enough droughts tolerant, and will do well in areas with little or no rains during the summer period. They grow best in well drained soil, but will survive less drainage in drier places.
To plant a rootstock, dig a large hole, fill the center with a well broken soil. Planting a flower in the autumn in a dormant period, cut back existing roots to about three inches. The rootstock itself should sit at about ground level. Plant differ as to whether it is best to cover the rootstock absolutely with a light layer of soil or to leave the tops a bit unprotected.
Irises propagate out from the center, which in the course of time becomes dry and dead. Every three or four years, they should be dug up, divided and replanted to ensure more flowers. The best time for planting in most warm areas is in September or even October, if the weather is hot. In other areas you may transplant them right after the blooming season in the spring, as a rule April or May.

Every gardener knows that shade gardening can be quite challenging. Growing plants and flowers is easier providing adequate sunlight and you have more colorful plants
to choose from.
Though lush shade flower-beds will be always attractive in your garden.
The assumption that the shade is always a problem probably arises from the first experience of growing plants in backyards with brick-hard poor soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If even grass doesn’t grow there, how can anything else do this? For those who have no other choice we may tell that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in the shade.
The first main step to get thriving plant is to enrich the soil in your garden. Bear in mind that a flowerbed directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming.
Generally, most plants that grow well in shade bloom early in spring before leaves appear on the trees.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important first of all, because leaves will make you happy through the whole season.

One of the important points in successful home fruit growing is the nursery stock. Purchase saplings from a reliable, respectable nursery. Such nurseries can guarantee that fruit trees are true to name, have no insects and diseases and if you order your tree by mail, it will be packed and shipped in the correct way. You will not remember the cost of a tree in the long run. But remember that high prices do not always mean high quality, and good nursery stock will not be cheap.
The best age for transplanting is one year old trees. Larger and older trees have to be pruned back when planted and cost more for sure. Younger trees adapt better to transplanting and grow into healthier trees than the old samplings. Trees that are 4-5 feet tall with a trunk of 1/2″ to 3/4″ in diameter will be the best choice.
In your local nurseries you may usually buy trees of proven varieties and rootstocks. Also you can find there a tree of your choice. In addition local nurseries can quickly replace unhealthy trees if problems occur.