Greenhouse Mania

Cornflower Gardens of Orange

Having vibrant colors in your garden is a good idea. One of the flowers that you can add is the Cornflower.  The bright gold orange color will brighten up your container garden, greenhouse, window boxes or outdoor garden.  The Orange Cornflower will grow to be about two to three feet high and will spread out about as far as the y grows. 

 

Orange Cornflowers look good in a vase, picked fresh from the gardens, and will last about a week.  You can press the flowers and the colors will last. Creating pictures with the flowers is also a good option.  The Orange Cornflower is a flower that you can dry in a cool dark place and hang the plants upside down so that the petals are open and brilliant looking. 

 

Orange Cornflower s is a hardy and sturdy plant that has leaves that are a bit rough.  The leaves feel if they have little prickles on them but it is a hard type of hair.  The leaves are narrow and think.  There are good numbers of petals on the flowers with about ten to fifteen on each of the flower blooms. 

 

Mixing the Orange Cornflower with flowers that are blue, white, or red are going to make your gardens noticeable and will attract others to your gardens as well.  The Orange Cornflower is a relative of the Black Eyed Susan.  The Orange Cornflower is a perennial plant that will grace your gardens for years to come, as they are more of an annual plant. 

 

There are aw few pests that will bother the Orange Cornflower but not many.  It is easy to grow and maintain. It is a good choice for anyone that is a beginner in the garden experience and you will not have to spend much time working with him or her.

 

The Orange Cornflower will start blooming in the mid summer months and will last until the cold days of fall kick off.  If you want to extend the season, bring in your containers and your flowers will last a few weeks longer.  If you have a garden that is filled with Orange Cornflowers you can divide them up every three years or so and they will spread out even further and fill in the gaps. 

 

Woolly Yarrow

Perennial gardens are a great area of your landscape where you can sit back and enjoy the plants that are growing in your garden and bloom every year.  Perennial gardens will give you a wonderful opportunity to create the garden that you will not have to spend a lot of time in each day.  You will able to enjoy the flowers that you love most often. 

 

The Woolly Yarrow is a hardy plant that will bring on many yellow flowers for the enjoyment of your summer landscape.  They will last through the mid summer heat and in areas of the country, or anywhere that it does not get too hot.  Your Woolly Yarrow will keep blooming and giving you wonderful colors each year. 

 

The plant does not grow to be high.  Some will only grow to be about two to three inches high and the highest they will get is about a foot.  It will depend on if you are growing the Woolly Yarrow in a container or in your landscaped garden, the plant will spread out about five to eight inches wide making it a great flower for window boxes, hanging planters, containers by the deck or patio, in a greenhouse or in your perennial gardens. 

 

This plant also does well in zones three through seven where they will grow well in moist areas of your landscaping. They will not grow in a pool of water.  The Woolly Yarrow does like the partial shade and dies off when the heat gets too high and humidity sets in.  Living in the cooler climates but with a spring like temperatures most of the time the Woolly Yarrow will do well in the garden. 

 

The Woolly Yarrow does not have many problems in growing except for survival in the high temperatures, so it will make a good plant for most of the beginner gardeners who have a shaded or partly shaded landscaping.  If you have a hillside where the soil always seems to be wet at the bottom, this would be a good spot for the plants to grow without having to deal with the hill maintenance that can be a pain. 

 

 

 

Beautiful Maples

A flowering maple may sound like a tree that would be grown in your backyard.  However it is really a plant that will grow inside your home.  In the warmer months, this plant will grow outdoors but in the wintertime, you can bring it inside for a new home.  A flowering maple is a distant relative to the hibiscus plant and you can make the plant bloom all through the year when you keep the environment just right inside the greenhouse. 

 

The plant needs to have five or six hours of sunlight a day and you can get this inside a greenhouse during the shortest days of winter.  The longer summer days are not going to hurt the flowering maple when you have this plant on your deck or porch but the flower will appear to be brighter and more colorful in this time. 

 

The one pest that will bother the Flower Maple is the spider mite and this will cause spots of yellow streaks and even brown leaves.  Washing down the pot with soapy water, and treating the plant with superior oil is going to help get rid of the spider mites.  This will increase the environment humidity that the flowering maple is growing and will keep the spider mites from wanting to be on this plant at all.

 

If you find that your flower is dying and your plant is looking bare, you will want to pinch the new leaves and promote the addition of new flowers.  This can be done at any time of the year, as the flowering maple is a plant that will flower all year round.  The flowering maple does have a few different names like the Parlor Maple, Yellow Maples and the Chinese lantern. 

 

 The Yellow Maple will do well in temperatures that are over fifty degrees and where they will not fall below forty degrees during the nighttime.  Misting the plant and keeping the humidity levels high is what the plants need to keep on growing. 

 

The leaves on the plant are oval in shape and have a light green texture about them.  The leaves on the flowering maple are different sizes and new leaves are always forming on this plant. The leaves will only grow to be about one inch with flowers that range from one inch to one and a half inches wide.  The flowers are different shades of yellow where the petals are going to be a lighter shade to the center of the bloom. 

 

Growing the plant in a larger container, a hanging basket or in the outdoor gardens when you live in a warmer growing zone will bring more flowers to your home all year round.  During the wintertime, pruning off about a fourth of the plant will keep this plant in shape and give you the best results. 

The Dusty Miller

The soft white plants that will bring life to your garden are the Dusty Miller.  The Dusty Miller is used as a border plant and filler but can also be used as a hanging or container plant.  The plant is a silvery white color with an underlying green as well. 

 

The single stem on this plant will produce many off shoots, which will spread out to make the plant even fuller.  There are no leaves on this plant and the stem and the branches of the plant will form thick leafy like material that will make one piece of plant very hard to determine the different from the main parts of the stem and the other areas of the plant. 

 

The Dusty Miller will produce tall and yellowish colored flowers in the fall months.  This is how the seeds from the plant will move out.  The flowers do not last very long but they will remind you of an onion that is turning to seed as the flowers sit high above the plant on a thin stem.

 

There are very few problems that a gardener will go through in growing the Dusty Miller. You can grow them from seed or you can buy the plant from many different home-growing centers in the spring months. 

 

In some areas, the Dusty Miller will only do well one growing season because the temperatures are too cold during the winter months and the plant will not survive the winter.  For the majority of the growing zones, the Dusty Miller will be easy to bring freshness to your gardens with the new white and silvery colors each year.  They will fill the areas of your gardens so that you have a full and beautiful look. 

 

Each plant will grow from six inches to two feet high and this will depend on your growing season and the majority of each plant.  Each plant will spread out about one half wide as it does high.  This is a plant that will do well in the partially shaded areas to the fuller sun gardens in your yard.  A soil that is draining well and that does not hold the moisture too long is the soil that will do best for the Dusty Miller and be just what they need to keep growing all summer long. 

 

If you are going to grow the Dusty Millers in the greenhouse by seed, you should start your seeds about ten weeks before you are going to get ready for planting outdoors.  About ten weeks before the last frost is ready to happen. 

Plant knowledge

The best advice to growing healthy plants and flowers is to know your plants and flowers and what to expect. This way, you’ll be able to recognize when something is wrong and rest easy when everything is going smoothly. Basically, you’ll need to spend a lot of time watching your plants and flowers. You probably think you observe your plants enough already but I mean really, really look at your plants. Check the texture and shine of the green in the leaves. Are they extra shiny today? This could mean bugs. Are the leaves a tint of yellow that maybe wasn’t there yesterday? That could indicate lack of water or too much sun. Check the underside of the leaves as well as the soil and the stems. Check the nooks and crannies, places you may not normally look. Get the big picture and take everything into account. Problems don’t just happen; there is always a reason for it. Make it a point to check the workings of your greenhouse on a regular basis. If you’re a list making person such as myself, consider designing a check list to complete daily, weekly and monthly.

Vegetable gardens in the greenhouse

I really don’t have a big vegetable garden in my greenhouse, but I do have a few types of vegetables that really grow well. The first plant that I would like to mention is the tomato. Tomatoes seem to grow so well in the greenhouse, and they can be bigger than you would ever imagine. The second type of plant that I feel works well in the greenhouse is the green pepper. I have many different varities of the pepper, and I feel that all types work well in the greenhouse situation. They grow as well as tomatoes do. I would also like to mention that onions grow few well. These are the three types of vegetables that everyone needs to grow in their greenhouse. It can be a really nice to have for those last minute dinners, but also for experience as young gardeners.

Views of gardening

I really do think that gardening tends to change people. You will find that there are some people who have never stopped to smell the roses, but a garden is not just a garden to the owner, but it is a whole new way of life. Each and every time that I make a garden I find that there are more personal benefits. I love vegetable gardens, because it gives you a sense of pride. I love flower gardens because it makes the world beautiful. There are just so many ways that you can use the garden to make yourself better. I feel that my gardens are what keep my body active, but my mind and spirit too. Gardening is something that can be almost spiritual, because it can allow you to be successful when you don’t particularly feel successful.

Herbal gardening

You will find that herbal gardening has a lot of benefits. You will want to consider that not only will it help you to save yourself money, but you’ll also find that it will affect your family in many beneficial ways. Not only will your food taste better, but also you will be eating a lot better. You’ll need to keep your herbal garden neat and well kept because you’ll find it very beneficial to have healthy and vibrant herbs. You’ll find that using fresh, healthy herbs you’ll be able to increase the appearance of your home through warm and comforting scents. Keep in mind that also you’ll be able to use fresh herbs in flower arrangements and other craft projects. You’ll need to keep in mind that herbal gardening can be very beneficial to you in many different ways.

Planting a hummingbird garden

At first, I wasn’t sure about planting a hummingbird garden. In fact, I’ve never really seen a hummingbird around town, that is, until I planted a hummingbird garden. I think that even if you don’t get a lot of hummingbirds in your area, it will attract them. I know have a few hummingbirds that come to yard for some sweet nectar. I thought that it was really easy to put a hummingbird garden together; however, I purchased my plants in a group specially formatted for a hummingbird garden. I have to say that there are some bell shaped flowers; however, they are very bright. You’ll really enjoy having this type of garden because you’ll be able to see just how amazing these birds are up close and personal.

Sunlight and your greenhouse

With summer coming up around the corner, it’s important to be knowledgeable or what do expect within your greenhouse as well as how to keep it a comfortable environment for your flowers and plants. Contrary to what many may think, solar greenhouses receive poor light penetration during summer months. Even though the days are longer and brighter during the summer, most solar greenhouses have deep southern angles. Therefore, sun penetrates best into the panels when it’s coming in at a perpendicular or right angle. It’s not all bad however because the lack of penetration into the panels will keep the heat down on those super hot days.

 

If you solar set-up has little or no glazing, you probably will be low on sunlight. Flowers as well as vegetables and herbs grow best in bright lighting so if they’re not getting enough light, you’ll need to move them into the light or you’ll begin to noticed them stretching toward the light or growing at a slow pace. To avoid these issues you may want to think about putting in a few skylights in the roof or your greenhouse. You can try painting the interiors of your greenhouse white to reflect sun or even spend a pretty penny on grow lights. Or if you’d rather, you can just grow shade-loving plants during summer months. 

 

If you have a freestanding or non-solar greenhouse with glass or polycarbonates on four sides, then you won’t have to worry about the lack of light. Instead, you’ll have the opposite problem – coping with too much light.