How to Grow Cactus

Cacti are fun to grow because of their eccentric, even comical shapes. They are extremely beautiful especially when they bloom. If your air is dry and you have trouble growing plants that like high humidity, put away your mister and pebble-filled trays and try cacti instead. They also need less attention than other houseplants. They are part of the large group of desert plants called “succulents” which store water in their fleshy leaves to get them through the long dry spells their native climates are known for. Cacti don’t have conventional leaves, just stems, which are often jointed. They also have “areoles” small holes from which tufts emerge. Sometimes the tufts are soft, like hairs; sometimes they are sharp and spiny. The tufts shelter them from the sun and if sharp, against creatures who might bite them to get at the water inside. The flowers which appear in spring and summer also emerge from the areoles.

Cacti are a large family, with several genera that make good houseplants. Here are some good ones to start with Mammillaria cacti are sometimes called “pincushion” or “nipple” cacti. Most look like small round globes covered with nipples and bear clusters of small, pretty flowers in a crown around the top. Some good ones to try are old lady cactus “Mammillaria hahniana” which is well covered with long white hairs, produces red flowers and generally grows well under 10 inches; the tiny golden star cactus “M. elongata” which is composed of a cluster of long projections with yellow spines and white flowers; M. zeilmanniana, which forms a little round ball and produces pinkish red flowers even at a young age.

Moreover, Easter lily cactus (Echinopsis multiplex) is a little round cactus with vertical ribs and large, pink flowers borne on tall stems; these open in the evening and have a lovely fragrance. Hybrids, which are crossed with species of Lobivia cactus, come in other colors such as red and orange, and may be day blooming. Among the many other good flowering cacti to try are species of Opuntia “prickly pear” Aporocactus “rattail”, Echinocereus “hedgehog”, Ferocactus “barrel” and Rebutia “crown”.

One of the most popular cacti is the Christmas cactus “Schlumbergera truncate or Zygocactus truncatus” a jungle epiphyte that sends out long, arching jointed stems. Lovely red or white tube shaped flowers dangle from the tips around Christmas time. The variety known as “Thanksgiving cactus” blooms a few weeks earlier and can be distinguished by the fact that the last joint on a stem has two prominent teeth. A similar plant, Easter cactus (Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri), is spring blooming. Plants are long lived and can grow as tall as 3 feet and at least as wide.

Most cacti prefer full sun, so give them as much of it as you can. Some will do all right in bright light or under fluorescent lights. They like warm temperatures during the day but can tolerate 40 to 45 degrees at night but don’t let them freeze though and may even bloom better if you turn down your thermostat at night. They like dry air but will take average humidity. In spring and summer when growth is active they should be watered thoroughly. However, during the winter they go dormant for a time, a period they need in order to bloom. They perhaps won’t need water at all during this time unless they wrinkle. If your water is softened water them with bottled water, since they cannot tolerate salt.

Moreover, plant cacti in small, shallow clay pots, with a light, sandy soil except Christmas cacti. Repot in spring if you see roots in the drainage hole. Don’t feed new plants for a year, then feed about once a month during the growing season with a weak concentration of low nitrogen liquid fertilizer; don’t feed cacti at all while they are dormant. They love to be summered outdoors, in fact the cooler days and shorter nights at the end of summer can help to trigger bloom, but bring them indoors when temperatures start to get down into the 40s. Propagate them by transplanting offsets that have developed their own roots.

Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti need more water and fertilizer than other cacti, and they need a more organic soil. Feed them twice a month in spring and summer, and let the soil dry out a bit between watering. But starting eight weeks before the time you want them to bloom, give them a rest. Keep them in a cool place that gets no light at night 50 to 60 degree, give them no fertilizer and just enough water to keep them from wrinkling, and don’t repot them during this time do it in spring. Gradually introduce them to warmer temperatures. Water while blooming, and then keep the cacti on the dry side until spring. They are propagated easily by stem cuttings.    

How to Grow Ranunculus

Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae and members of the genus include the buttercups, spearworts, and water crowfoots. Most of the ranunculus available is the showy hybrids that you see in florist shops. The beautiful flowers which are several inches across are round globes made up of several papery textured petals in bright, almost electric colors like red, pink, yellow, gold, white, and picotee that are with the petals edged in a contrasting color. The name Ranunculus is Late Latin for "little frog," the diminutive of rana and this may refers to several species being found near water, like frogs.

They grow 18 to 24 inches tall. They are hardy only in warm climates, blooming there in late winter and spring and going dormant in the summer; both the flowers and the attractive ferny foliage die back. In zones where there is frost they are grown outdoors for bloom in spring and summer until it gets very hot. They can be grown in beds, but they make a particularly fine show as container plants on a deck or terrace. The most ordinary use of Ranunculus species in traditional medicines are anti-rheumatism, intermittent fever and rubefacient.

The plants like full sun and need moisture around the roots, but they will rot if drainage is poor around their crowns. They are planted in late fall in warm climates in cool ones they are started indoors two months before the last frost. Furthermore, all Ranunculus species are poisonous when eaten fresh by horses, cattle, and other livestock, but their acrid taste and the blistering of the mouth caused by their poison means they are generally left uneaten.

Soak the claw shaped tubers in water for a few hours before planting them. Place them in the soil with the claw facing down. Start with small pots, filled with a light, rich potting soil, and move them up to larger pots as they grow, keeping them cool at night and keeping their soil moist. If you love unusual cut flower displays then Ranunculus are the plant is best for you, in vibrant, exciting and perfect for making a dramatic impact.

Moreover bring them outdoors only after danger of frost has passed. After they stop blooming in summer, let the foliage die down and the rubers dry out. Therefore some to have them in the bags of dry peat at about 50 degrees till the planting time. Even warm climate gardeners dig ranunculus up and store them over the summer. However, buttercups are mostly perpetual, but infrequently annual or biannual, herbaceous, aquatic or terrestrial plants, habitually with leafs in a rosette at the base of the stem. 

Creeping Sedums Plants

Sedums is also called stonecrop are succulents they have thick, fleshy leaves filled with water. There are an enormous number of them, most of which are good rock garden plants, especially the low growing ones. Some of these are also good ground covers. I find the larger species very effective in borders. Most species have attractive flowers; some are also grown for their leaves, which are colorful and variegated.  Moreover sedum demonstrates a wide variation in chromosome numbers, and polyploidy is common. Thus, chromosome number is an important taxonomic feature.

Sedum acre (gold moss) is a yellow flowering prostrate creeper that is ideal as an edging, in rock gardens, and even in cracks between paving stones. S. spurium forms a six inches mat and blooms in a variety of colors. S. kamtschaticum forms clumps a foot high or less and bears yellow flowers in the latter half of the summer. Good border types include S. spectabile, whose varieties Meteor and Brilliant bear reddish pink flowers in late summer, and Autumn Joy, with pink flowers in fall that turn a deep mahogany and leave seeds heads that are pretty all winter. The plants have water-storing leaves and their flowers frequently have 5 petals, seldom 4 or 6. There are typically twice as many stamens as petals. The leaves of most stonecrops are edible, excepting Sedum rubrotinctum, though toxicity has also been reported in some other species.

Sedums need good drainage, especially in winter but are otherwise not fussy about soil requirements. They are very easy to propagate by stem or leaf cuttings or from seed. Division is easy but not often necessary.  Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are usually recognized as stonecrops. Numerous sedums are cultivated as garden plants, due to their interesting and good-looking appearance and hardiness. Furthermore, sedum can be used to provide a roof covering in green roofs, where they are preferred to grasses.

How to Grow Hyacinth Flower

Hyacinthus is a small genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. To grow Hyacinth flower actually perfume the room, than they do in gardens. The leaves, which seem to stick around forever, are quite unsightly, and even the flower heads, look rather lumpy among the more dainty shapes of the other bulbs. However, grown with something to soften them, such as a sea of forget me nots or blue flowering periwinkle; they’re not hard to take. It is highly recommended Hyacinth bulbs are planted in the fall and borne in spring. The Victorians revered hyacinths for their sweet, lingering fragrance, and prudently massed them in low beds, planting in rows of one color each. These flowers need indirect sunlight and should be watered moderately.

 The flower heads become less thick as years go by an improvement, there are hyacinths you can grow besides Hyacinthus orientalis, from which the big Dutch cultivars are commonly derived.  So try Roman hyacinth in blue, pink and white. Roman hyacinth has a looser luster but more stems per plant. Moreover, the common hyacinth is hardy, but you can still try it north of there if you give it some winter protection and plant it fairly deep. So keep in mind that Hyacinth bulbs are poisonous; they contain oxalic acid and handling hyacinth bulbs can cause mild skin irritation. Protective gloves are highly recommended.

If you want to grow north plant hyacinths as early in fall as possible; in warm areas refrigerate the bulbs for a few weeks and plant in late fall. They like a sandy loam of moderate fertility that is moist but very well drained. So grow in full sun or light shade. Moreover, plant the large bulbs at least five inches deep and six inches apart, trying to make the effect of natural groupings to offset the rather stiff bearing of the leaves and flowers. Thus, after plants are finished flowering in spring, cut back flower stalks but let the leaves to die back naturally.

 Source: Charismatic Planet

Bellflower or Campanula Flower

Bellflower is also called Campanula, whatever kind of flower garden you have; there is a bellflower for you. The flowers vary considerably in shape and size; though most are blue colors, however some are violet or purple, and some are white. They are extremely beautiful in pastel gardens, with roses, or just anywhere you want to a blue accent. Some grow on plants of mid- border height, others on low cushions, and others on long, trailing stems. Most bloom in early summer, but some, especially the low growing varieties will continue to flower, though less heavily, throughout the season. 

Campanula persicifolia “Grandiflora”, the popular peach leaved bellflower, is available in blue varieties such as “Telham Beauty” and a white one “Alba”. It grows almost two to three feet tall. C. glomerata also grows up to two feet; its variety “Superba” is a wonderful rich purple, “Crown of Snow” is white. Moreover low growing bellflowers include C. carpatica, blue or white, six to 10 inches and C. poscharskyana, lavender, 12 inches tall but sprawling C. rotundifolia is blue and one to two feet, but he variety “Olympica” is more compact. This last species can be eddy in some gardens. 

Well, if you really like to grow this beautiful bellflower, then the plant like sun but will do well in light shade, particularly in hot climates. Also give some moist, moderately fertile, well-drained soil. Sometimes slug control may be necessary. Weed out the invasive types as needed; cut back tall varieties after flowering to encourage them to bloom again. Source: Charismatic Planet

Peony Flower

Peony flowers are classified as “doubles” huge round balls with many petals, however semi-doubles with fewer petals and “single” with one sparser row of overlapping petals surrounding a handsome cluster of gold stamens in the center and “Japanese’s” single with a nest of showy, petal like stamens in the center. Moreover colors range from dark maroon, to bright red, to pink, to white and occasionally yellow. Many especially the pale ones, are fragrant. 

They grow on long, arching stems in a mound of dark green foliage about three feet high and three feet wide. The plants do not bloom for long, although you can choose varieties that bloom for several overlapping periods, and the foliage is attractive all summer and into fall, when it turns a pleasing gold color. Paeonia tenuifolia (fern-leaved peony) is low growing and admired for both its handsome foliage and its dark red flowers. “Tree peonies” are really shrubs that grow into a mound about five feet high and five feet wide; there is a wider range of flower colors among the tree peonies than with the herbaceous kind, including yellows, golds and some with spectacular streaked markings. 

By choosing a selection of early, midseason and late varieties you can keep a peony bed in bloom for as long as six weeks, this is a good idea because they make a good cut flower as well as a grand show in the garden. Some of the many hybrid peony varieties are Kansas a bright red double Festiva Maxima a beautiful variety over hundred years old, which is a white-flecked double with traces of red; and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt a pale pink double.

If you want to grow “Peonies” then you should plant in fall in deep, well-drained soil enriched with organic matter. Thus, making sure the eyes is no more than two inches below the soil surface, because planting too deep may result in failure to bloom. Peonies usually do very well when planted right, even though they may take a few years to get established and bloom well. They are not suitable for climates with very warm winters. 

Staking with peony rings will keep the blooms more attractive, particularly when it rains. If you have planted your peonies correctly and they still do not bloom after several years, other conditions may be at fault, such as excessive moisture or drought, too much heat or too much shade, as well as various pests and diseases. To keep plants healthy, always clean up dead foliage at the season’s end. Heavy feeding may also encourage the plants to bloom. Dig a trowelful of a balanced fertilizer into the soil around each one in early spring and again after flowering. Source: Charismatic Planet

Grow Aster Flower for a Majestic of Fall Colors

The glory of the fall garden, asters range in height from six tall to just above the ground. Colors are shades of purple, lavender, pink, red blue and white. They are hardy, the plants tend to be very vigorous, and some are even invasive. Most garden hybrids are derived from one of two native species. From Aster novaeangliae (New England aster) come “Harrington’s Pink” pale to medium pink and up to six feet tall, and “Alma Potschke” which is three feet tall and a strong pink. From A. novibelgii (New York Aster) come many varieties including Marie Ballard, light blue, three to four feet, and Crimson Brocade reddish pink three feet approx. Moreover Eventide purple three to four feet, Dwarf varieties include Snow Flurry which is white, and Audrey which is blue violet. A. x Frikartii is a very long blooming aster that begins flowering in summer and grows two to three feet tall.

How to Grow Aster

Well, if you want to grown Aster, then asters like moist but well drained soil and plenty of sun as well. Most from big clumps that are best divided every few years by replanting shoots from the outside of the clumps.  Tall varieties must often be staked, but the stems can be pinched early in the season to make the plants more erect as well as more compact and free flowering. This may, however, delay in bloom. With some of the dwarf varieties you must remove some plants each year to prevent them from taking over. Moreover, mulch varieties those are not winter hardy in your zone with evergreen boughs. Remove self-sown seedlings, for they will not come up the same color as the parent plant if they are hybrids and not an original species. Source: Charismatic Planet

Balloon Flower: Decorate Home and Garden

Balloon Flower or Platycodon grandiflorus is a fine old fashioned plant with flower the shape of open bells, some single and some double, in colors that are never garish blue, pink or white. It is perfect for the English garden look. It blooms in midsummer on stems that are normally two or three feet tall. Mariesii is a short blue variety with single flowers, one and half feet tall. However, shell pink is a popular pink variety and Album is white.

How to Grow Balloon Flower?

Well if you want to grow Balloon Flower, then make sure sun is preferable, but platycodon will tolerate some shade. Provide light, slightly acid, moist but well drained soil. Sandy soils are more suitable than clay. The plant forms long lived clumps that do not require division, though it may be done in spring if you dig out the long taproot very carefully. Moreover you must watch out for the shoots which are slow to emerge in spring. Don’t trample them when you are working the soil in their general vicinity. You can mark the spot in fall as a safeguard. 

 Source: Charismatic Planet

How to Grow Pulmonaria Flower

This plant used to be called “lungwort” because its spotted leaves resembled diseased lungs and, in the homeopathic tradition of folk medicine, were thus supposed to be able to cure diseased lungs. Fortunately the plant has more demonstrable virtues. It spreads vigorously by creeping rhizomes, its broad leaves make it very attractive as a ground cover planting and on top of that it bears beautiful clusters of tube shaped flowers in spring, which generally open pink and turn to blue, resulting in both pink and blue flowers in the same cluster.

Pulmonaria angustifolia is low growing under 10 inches and has leaves that are not spotted; popular varieties are Johnson Blue and the white Alba. P. saccharata, called Bethlehm sage, grows as tall as 15 inches. There’re so many gardeners whose like the variety and whose blue flowers and spotted leaves are both large and very showy. If you find you get along well with pulmonarias, there are a number of other, less familiar species worth trying.

Well, if you want to grow Pulmonaria, then you need a truly shade loving plant and will wilt in sun. Even the morning sun that mine gets makes it wilt in hot weather. Soil need not be rich, but it should be full of organic matter to help it to hold moisture. Plants are easily divided in early spring but should be watered well after transplanting. Source: Charismatic Planet