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Garden Ideas to Bloom Your Space

 Garden Ideas to Make Your Space Bloom Dreaming of a balcony overflowing with vibrant flowers and lush greenery, but are stuck with only window views for now? We’ve all been there! Don’t worry, this isn’t another article telling you to rip up your floorboards and plant a garden indoors (though, crazy props if you’ve got a green thumb for that!). Here, we present a visual feast of 59 inspiring balcony garden ideas. Get ready to browse through a treasure trove of container ideas, space-saving tricks, and beautiful plant combinations that will inspire you to turn your balcony into a thriving haven. Let these images spark your creativity, and transform your little corner of the city into a green haven! 1. Impressionist Escape Imagine the sunlight streaming onto your apartment balcony, illuminating a vibrant display of flowers. This photo shows a beautiful scene filled with colorful flowers, comfortable seating, and lush greenery. 2. Sunny Sanctuary Bathe in the summer sun ...

Garden Plants Lighten Up with These Crisp White and Green Selections

Crisp White and Green Selections That Thrive in the Heat 1. The Rule of Three "Instead of a boxwood or other shrub, you can use containers to anchor a space or garden bed," says landscape designer Carmen Johnston of Bespoke Garden Plans in Thomaston, Georgia. What's the trick to making it work? When choosing your containers, choose three that are the same shape and material — one small, one medium, and one large. She chose 'Cora Cascade Polka Dot' vinca as the base for all the containers. In the second container, she brought in 'White Delight' caladiums and 'Lemon Twist' plectranthus for height. In the largest container, she filled the same plants with 'Kimberly Queen' ferns, 'Peppermint' strap-leaf caladiums, and creeping jennies for warm, summery color. These are low-maintenance choices because, as Johnston says, “they can handle intense heat and full sun.” 2. Garden Type “We don’t need to add flowers to create a beau...

9 Easy design ideas for a small garden

 Small Garden Design Ideas In a small garden, following a few key principles when planning and planting can help your garden look bigger and feel less cluttered.Whether you have a small garden or a small patio, there are plenty of ways to enhance your space. Taking the time to choose a color scheme, choosing and repeating plants that bloom throughout the month, or using design tricks like adding focal points can make a big impact. For limited budgets, consider using gravel instead of a walkway or lawn. This gives plants more space in a small space. Install simple lights yourself or, if you prefer a small vegetable garden, sow lettuce in containers or grow fast-growing plants like spring radishes and short, fast-growing carrot varieties like 'Nantes 2.' 1. Get the Landscaping-Planting Ratio Right When planning your landscape garden, get the balance of planting and landscaping right to make your small garden look great. Garden designs for small gardens should aim for...

Plant a goldfinch garden with their favorite plants

With the right plants, your backyard can become a goldfish sanctuary. Here are the garden plants and flowers that goldfish love the most. Goldfinches are primarily seed-eating birds that regularly visit bird feeders for niger (thistle) and sunflower seeds. However, you can also attract these birds by planting favorite plants in your yard. As a bonus, you can watch the goldfish show off their acrobatic skills as they fly through the garden, land on flowers and dance. Here are the plants you need for your goldfinch garden. 1. Sunflower Sunflowers are one of the best plants to attract goldfish because sunflower seeds are one of their favorite foods! A wonderful thing to do for wildlife is to put spent flower heads back in place. This is especially true for sunflowers and other flowers in the daisy family. These flowers produce abundant seeds that attract finches, buntings, native sparrows and others, serving as natural bird feeders while the seeds last. 2. Purple Coneflowers ...

5 Best Tomato Cages of 2024

Top Tomato Cages  If you want to harvest large quantities of tomatoes , investing in a good tomato cage (or half a dozen or so) is a necessary first step. Although you don't need a cage to grow tomatoes, they help keep the plants healthy and increase your chances of a bountiful harvest. Plus, they hold your plants so they don't take over your entire gardening. "One of the best reasons to cage your tomatoes is because they keep the fruit off the ground and prevent disease and pests," says Gary Spoonmore, co-creator of ParkSeed's From Seed to Spoon app. "A cage can provide the necessary support and prevent plants from breaking or being knocked over." 1. Happy Trees Heavy Duty Tomato Cages Our top overall pick is the Happy Trees Large Heavy Duty Tomato Cage. This heavy-duty cage is extra sturdy and works well for all tomato varieties, including large tomato plants and heavy crops of fruit. It's made in the USA from thick-gauge galvanized st...

7 of the most beautiful flowering shrubs for hedges

Flowering shrubs for hedges Cover your yard with flowering hedges instead of fences to add color, texture and fragrance to your backyard space. Check out these top picks for flowering shrubs that you can use to create fast-growing privacy hedges. 1. Azalea Grown for their showy spring flowers, azaleas (Rhododendron spp.) light up the landscape with their trumpet-shaped blooms in a wide range of colors. Some, like the encore azalea (pictured here), bloom on new wood throughout summer and fall. Most azaleas are deciduous and have smaller leaves than true rhododendrons. 2. Beautyberry Although American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) bears small pinkish-white flowers along its stem in late summer, the fruit that follows is what makes this shrub so spectacular. This native plant's flowers develop into bright purple berries in the fall. In zone 6, beautyberry may die back in winter, but will sprout from the base in spring. 3. Beautybush True to its name, beauty bush (Col...

The South Seattle Edible Landscape

 Seattle Edible Landscape   The South Seattle Edible Residence is home to an aspiring chef who sought to redesign his entire property to reflect and support his passion for food. Raised bed annual gardens, beehives, perennial plantings and mushroom habitats have transformed the yard into an edible, functional outdoor living space. Perennial garden beds and extensive production of herbs, berries, vegetables, medicinal crops and pollinated flowers. Fruit trees, patios, stone walkways, trellises and covered seating areas provide structure to the garden and create comfortable spaces for year-round entertaining. The front yard has dozens of perennial edible plants. Beautifully combined, the various patterns and colors provide year-round interest and create a welcoming entrance to the home. The shady sides of the property are cultivated by Pacific Northwest natives and focus on edibles such as sal, evergreen huckleberry and wild ginger. The backyard serves as the primar...

Drought-tolerant vegetables for the water-conscious gardening

 Drought-tolerant vegetables Whether you live in a dry climate or are looking for ways to reduce your water use, these drought-tolerant vegetables are a great addition to your garden. We all know that vegetables need water to grow, but what happens when you water your garden can get complicated. You may live in a dry climate where drought is common. Or you can use well water and be careful to use a sprinkler or irrigation system regularly. Whatever your reason, choosing drought-tolerant vegetables is a great strategy when planting a water-sensitive garden. Is soil type a factor in drought conditions? A soil's ability to retain moisture depends on what the soil is made of. Some basic soil components are sand, clay, silt and silt. Your soil may contain a mixture of these types or be highly concentrated in one type. The particle size of clay, sand, silt, and silt indicates how much moisture the soil retains. For example, clay has a smaller particle size, which gives it a ...