Eglantine Rose: “I Wound To Heal”

Originated from Europe, Africa and Western Asia, Eglantine rose is under the Rosaceae family with beautiful five-petaled pink to white flowers, an apple-like fragrance of foliage and its glossy orange to red hips. With its fragrant foliage, it has been a favorite garden rose back then.  This ancient rose dated back as far as 1551 has been mentioned in many English literary works. In fact, even Shakespeare mentioned this lovely rose in one of his works.

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.”

–Shakespeare, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream“

General Facts:

Scientific Name: Rosa arabica Crep. , Rosa eglanteria L., Rosa rubiginosa L.

Common Name: briar rose, eglantine, mosqueta rose, sweet briar, sweet briar rose, sweet brier, sweet brier rose, wild rose

Plant type: Shrub

Height: 6 to 10 feet

Spread: 6 to 10 feet

Bloom time: Late spring to summer

Light: Full sun

Water: Medium, deeply and regularly

Fertiliser: Does not require a lot of fertilising but spread mulch retain moisture

Soil: moist but well-drained,

Propagation: Hardwood cuttings and seeds

Landscape Uses: Hedges

Special Features: Flowers,Fragrant, Showy Fruit, Attractive to birds and butterflies ,Easy to Grow, Disease resistance and thorny, persist well in winter

How To Make Your Own Miniature Garden

Bring out your creative side and live out your fantasies through miniature gardening. Miniature gardening surely captures the child in you by its beautiful landscape and the fantasy it creates by looking at it. It can also be a beautiful indoor garden that your visitors will surely envy.

Looking at these mini gardens, I just can’t help but begin to imagine on making one of my own. It is like creating an imaginary world that you could hold in your hand. Miniature gardening can also be a project that you could enjoy with your kids. I bet your girl is so excited creating her miniature garden of her dreams.

Steps on Making Your Own Miniature Garden

Creating your own miniature garden is not as hard as you think it is. In fact, all it takes is your creativity, imagination and resourcefulness. Creativity and imagination is needed in designing your miniature garden. On the other hand, your resourcefulness is need in looking for materials needed in your garden.

Step 1: Decide on your Theme

It can be a fairy garden, rustic garden, prayer garden, or your dream your choices are endless. By selecting the theme, you will have a vision of what your garden will look like. This will serve as your guide on what materials needed in your garden as well as the size of your container needed for the design. Planning will surely make your garden more arrange and less cluttered.

Turns Out, Maintaining a Garden is a Great Workout

Don’t have time to go to gym for your workout? Then why not do gardening. You will be glad that you favorite hobby turns out to be a great workout for you. Posted in Columbia Daily Tribune written by Caroline Dohack is an article about how gardening can be a great workout.

Did you know that a half hour of walking at moderate pace can burn 100 calories? Well guess how many calories you can burn on general gardening. It 170 calories. Amazing isn’t it? Imagine if you do that everyday. Then you burn all those calories while enjoying your garden. Not only that you are doing you hobby, you also make yourself fit. Be sure to watch your back and stretch to prevent injury, muscle strain and fatigue in the garden.

So garden enthusiast, grab your tools and let’s garden. Read the full article of Caroline here.

How To Make Your Own Hanging Flower Basket

We just can’t get enough of gardening. From plots to the walls, to the windows and now in the air. Gardening requires creativity and gardeners are just creative individuals. So why not have some hanging flower baskets. I fell in love with flower baskets few years back. Like in window garden, they added colors in the house and very attractive sight to see as well. So are you ready to turn your dull space into something colorful and eye-catching? Then grab your materials and let’s start to hang them.

Steps on Starting your Hanging Flower Basket

Step 1: Choose your basket

In choosing your basket, there are lots of designs and sizes to choose from in the garden stores. Among these, there are basically classified into two –wire basket and solid basket.

Daffodils: “For New Beginnings”

Daffodils, a perennial flowering plant, is one of the most loved by among the bulb because of their lovely blooms. Belonging to the genus Narcissus, daffodils have at least 50 species and around 13, 00 hybrid varieties. Also known to its distinct flowers, all daffodils have a “trumpet” and a ring of petals surrounding it.

Native from Mediterranean regions, daffodils has captured all the hearts of gardeners worldwide that it has become one of the gardener’s favorite flowering bulb. Daffodils often have yellow to white, orange, pink and lime green blooms.

General Facts:

Scientific Name: Narcissus species

Common Name: Daffodil, Jonquil, Narcissus, Paperwhite and the ‘Poet’s Hower’.

Types: Trumpet, Large-Cupped, Small Cupped, Double, Cyclamineus, Poeticus

Plant time: Autumn

Bloom time: Winter and Spring

Light: Full sun to partial shade

Water: Water only when ground starts to dry from lack of normal rainfall.

Fertiliser: Does not require a lot of fertilising although you can sprinkle potassium sulphate when planting

Soil: around neutral pH soil (7.0) but not really needed ; well-drained and rich in organic matter

Propagation: Division, Seed

Landscape Uses: Containers,Beds & Borders

Special Features: Flowers,Fragrant,Cut Flowers,Drought Tolerant,Deer Resistant,Easy to Grow

One Dozen Garden Trends

Each year we witnessed the changes of gardening trends and every we patiently waited for the trends forecast by the experts. Aside from year forecast, garden shows offers us a peek on the incoming trends in gardening. San Francisco Flower and Garden Show takes us into the other world as we look on the creations of each gardeners. On the article of Deb Wandell of SFGate.com, she shares Laramie Trevino’s a dozen of garden design trends.

On the list, it includes bold colors and outdoor lighting the gave a dramatic effect in your garden at night. Pond-less water features and small space living features takes a spot in the list too. Pond-less water features are low maintenance and children friendly while small space living features are perfect for urban gardeners like balcony gardens, patio and container gardening.

Miniatures and taffy gravel, take a scene on the show too. Fairy garden is a well love garden trends featuring succulents and figurines in the a shallow pots. taffy gravel on the hands, creates an attractive and good drainage. Modular furnishings are well loved trend too. Wall, dividers, and overhead shading takes a spot too for gardeners just love privacy. Bent grass and urban farming is in trend as well. Sculpture and vintage trend is surely a hit too.

So watch our for these trend this coming year or better yet, make your own trend. Gardening is an art after all. Read the full article of Deb here.

Camellia: “My Destiny Is In Your Hands”

We all just love the their beautiful blooms of pink, white, orange, yellow, red and lavender. Native in Asia, camellias are large flowering shrub that belong to the tea family of Theaceae which have about 80 to 280 species. They are just lovely all year round with or without their blooms for their glossy green leaves are attractive as well. So let’s get to know more about camellias!

General Facts:

Scientific Name: Camellia

Common Name: Camellia

Common Types: Sasanqua, Japonica, Reticulata and Sinensis

Light: Part Sun,Shade

Fertilizer: Commercial acid plant fertilizer; liquid manure

Soil: Acidic soil with pH 6 to 6.5, well-drained and rich in organic matter soil

Propagation: Stem cuttings, air layering, or grafting

Landscape Uses: Containers, Beds and Borders, Privacy

Special Features: Flowers, Attractive Foliage, Winter Interest, Cut Flowers

Growing Camellia

• They are shade-loving plant to protect them from the direct sun light and strong winds.

• Like azalea, camellias are acid-loving shrubs so use fertilizer to balance the pH of the soil to their preference.

• Prune them right after flowering, or during summer and fall.

• Put several inches of mulch to keep the moisture and temperature constant. Just make sure not to put mulch near the trunk of the plant

• Water them regularly to keep the drainage good.