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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 ...

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...

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...

 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 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 ...