Mulch Your Spring Bulbs In The Fall For A Beautiful Spring Display
Flower bulbs need a good, long, winters sleep. Like some people we know, if they wake up before they are fully rested, they get kind of cranky, and then they don't bloom well at all.Actually what happens is during a mild winter, the soil stays too warm, and the bulbs begin to come out of dormancy early. They start to grow, and once the tips emerge above the soil line, they are subject to freezing if the temperatures dip back down below freezing. And that's usually what happens. After the bulbs have emerged, they freeze and then don't bloom at all, or if they do it's a very sad display.Another reason this happens is because the bulbs are not planted deep enough.
They may have been deep enough when you planted them, but as the soil goes through the freezing and thawing process, the bulbs can actually work their way up in the ground.One way to keep your flower bulbs sleeping longer, which will protect them from freezing, is to mulch the bed. In the fall just apply a 3-4" layer of well composted mulch. This layer of mulch will do a couple of things. It will maintain a higher moisture content in the soil, which is good, as long as the soil isn't too soggy. Well composted mulch also adds valuable organic matter to the planting bed.
Organic matter makes a great natural fertilizer.A 3-4" layer of mulch also acts as an insulator. It will keep the soil from freezing for a while, which is good because you don't want the bulbs going through a series of short cycles of freezing and thawing. Then when the temperatures drop below freezing and stay there for a while, the soil does eventually freeze. Then the mulch actually works in reverse and keeps the soil from thawing out too early. Keeping it in a frozen state is actually good because the bulbs remain dormant for a longer period of time.When they finally do wake up it is spring time, and hopefully by the time they emerge from the ground the danger of a hard freeze is past and they will not be damaged.
If you can keep them from freezing, they will flower beautifully. The extra organic matter will help to nourish the bulbs when they are done blooming, and the cycle starts all over again.We also plant annual flowers in the same beds with our spring bulbs. By the time the danger of frost is past and it's time to plant the annuals, the top of the bulbs have died back and are ready to be removed. The mulch that is added in the fall also helps to nourish the annual flowers, as well as improve the soil permanently.Anytime you add well composted organic matter to your planting beds, you are bound to realize multiple benefits. The key words here are "well composted".
Fresh material is not good..
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of the popular gardening book "Free Landscape Plants!" as well as the owner and author of the gardening website http://www.freeplants.com Visit the website and sign up for his free gardening newsletter, and learn how to start your own money making backyard nursery on 1/20 acre or less.Christmas Flower Arrangements
You can dress up your home this Christmas with a flower arrangement so spectacular you'll wonder how you did it on your own. Traditional arrangements come in a happy mix of green, red, and white fresh Christmas flowers?poinsettias?and include Christmas cactus, holly with green leaves and red berries, but you can bring about the same effect with silk flowers.
Your silk flower arrangement for Christmas will add an extra touch of beauty to your decorations for the festive season, besides being economical and long lasting. They are also very easy to do and can be done much before the season begins.
To make a beautiful Christmas silk flower arrangement, you will need a container, floral adhesive, and pair of pliers to bend wires, wire cutters, flora tape, foam and tape.
You will need to choose a container for Christmas silk flower arrangement that is neither too wide nor too narrow but certainly lightweight. Make a large...
Flower > Christmas Flower Arrangements
Make a dried flower wall decoration
Fancy a dried flower wall hanging?I used to make those years ago. For this, you need
- a paper bowl or plastic bowl that you can cut easily with a pair of scissors.
- Florist foam
- 2 sheets of very thick cardboard each the size of the frame you want
- Glue that can stick to the foam and the bowl and the cardboard.
- Dried flowers
- Paint
- Very strong thick string or fishing line to hang the wall hanging.
This will be used tohang the final dried flower wall hanging.For the frame, cut out...
Make a dried flower wall decoration
Flower > Make a dried flower wall decoration
Perennials in the Flower Garden
Perennials are the basic flowers of any flower garden. To many people, a flower garden is simply beds of perennials. Each year they die and renew themselves for the next growing season. They can be long-lived and last for many seasons. However, care must be taken for the rapid growers which may smother less vigorous flowers.
Perennials such as the iris and shasta daisies must be divided or transplanted every few years to prevent this from happening. This is a simple process which we will cover in another article.Historically, perennials are among our oldest plants. They have been cultivated for centuries and can bear little to no resemblance to their wild antecedents. In some perennials, the blossoms have become so specialized through centuries of cultivation that they no longer grow 'seeds'. Indeed most perennials reproduce by sending up new plants from the base of the old one which is why the dividing process spoken of earlier must take place at intervals.Another supposed disadvantage...
Perennials in the Flower Garden
Flower > Perennials in the Flower Garden
Flower Arrangements
Flower arrangement is an art that first originated centuries ago and traveled all over the world, taking different forms in different countries is now a part of our lives. Flower arrangements first appeared in Classical Greek and Roman times and went on to be defined as an art in Europe from the 14th ?17th centuries before turning east to America, China, and Japan.
The principles of traditional flower arrangements are balance, harmony, proportion, and color. All flower arrangements, if done in the traditional style, must embody these principles. These designs are inherited from an earlier time and are said to be decorative and appealing to our senses of touch, smell, and color in their form, texture, and fragrance.
If you have a garden that you would like to use for arranging flowers, find a vase you would like to use and support it with a base to stick flowers into. Cut flowers from your garden early in the morning, as the stems contain more water...
Flower > Flower Arrangements
Semi-permanent Eyelash Extensions Now in Denver
Denver, CO (ContentDesk) June 28, 2006 -- A hot, new fashion trend has arrived in Denver: semi-permanent eyelash extensions. Wearers can have long, beautiful, yet natural-looking eyelashes 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without the hassle of mascara. A-list stars all over Hollywood are wearing eyelash extensions, and now Denverites can wear them, too.