I’ve been on the search for the perfect cherry tree to plant in my front yard.  It had to be able to withstand Oklahoma weather (extreme heat and extreme cold) and it had to be able to handle the clay soil we have here.  My search lead me to Home Depot, where the fruit trees are on sale.  I saw the Yoshino Cherry and it was love at first sight.

Yoshino Cherry

The Yoshino Flowering Cherry Tree is widely used as an ornamental tree; valued for its abundance of soft, white flowers in spring.

Its Oriental branching pattern displays a pure white cloud of delicate flowers that make your landscape look like springtime on parade…

Chose this tree to –

• Border driveways
• Accent small areas in your lawn.
• Highlight outdoor living areas

These trees line the streets of Washington, DC, and along with its cousin, the Kwanzan Cherry, are the stars of the city’s Cherry Blossom Festival. Held each spring, this festival displays thousands of blooming cherry trees along the city’s walkways.

When you plant this tree, you get the same effect at your home!

Plant in a row to give you a line of breathtakingly stunning white flowers. This tree is regarded by many horticulturalist as the best flowering tree you can find.

Did you know?

– The Yoshino is a native of Japan,
– Was introduced to America in 1902.
– There is a Japanese legend that each spring a fairy maiden hovers low in the warm sky, wakening the sleeping Cherry Trees to life with her delicate breath.

info from Fast Growing Trees

Acalypha wilkesiana

Under ideal, frostfree conditions copperleaf grows as a spreading evergreen shrub with upright branches that tend to originate near the base. It can get up to 10 ft tall with a similar spread. The leaves are alternate, elliptic to oval, serrate, 5-8 in. long and multi-colored. The flowers are small and inconspicuous, hanging in 4-8 inch catkinlike racemes usually hidden in the foliage.

This remarkable plant has foliage that is more colorful than many flowers! Other names for Acalypha wilkesiana include A. amentacea and A. tricolor.

Here’s some pictures I took while exploring my garden.

By Jennifer Matlack
From Reader’s Digest

When parenting two teens sends stress levels soaring, Janet Jemmott, 44, of Kent Cliffs, New York, makes a beeline for her vegetable garden. “Checking on the size of my cucumbers, picking a ripe tomato, even turning my compost relieves tension and can head off a migraine,” she says. Research shows that toiling in the soil offers the following health benefits:

Grow Bones. In a 2002 study of 3,310 women, University of Arkansas scientists found that strenuous yard work (pushing a lawn mower, pulling weeds) had the same beneficial effect on bone density as weight training did. High bone density is key in preventing osteoporosis.

Prune Heart Risk. In 2000, researchers in Denmark reported that moderate exercise such as gardening decreased the risk of heart disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Aim for at least 30 minutes a day.

Nourish the Mind. Exercising mind and body has been proved to reduce dementia risk. Gardening does both. It’s an excellent mental workout that requires planning and foresight and encourages learning, says neuropsychologist Paul Nussbaum.

Weed Out Diabetes. A 2002 Dutch study found that male gardeners were more likely to have lower blood sugar levels. And a University of Alabama study of 505 men and women with type 2 diabetes found that active people, including those who gardened regularly, reduced or eliminated their need for medication.

Clip Calories. A 150-pound person burns 162 calories pruning, digging or weeding for 30 minutes. Kids benefit too. A 2003 study showed that noncompetitive activities like gardening lure children away from a sedentary lifestyle. And they learn about biology and nutrition, says researcher C. Lawrence Kien. A recent Texas A&M study found kids who gardened 30 minutes a week were more likely to eat vegetables.

Description

Capsicum annuum ‘Super Chile’Height:
24-36 in. (60-90 cm)Spacing:
18-24 in. (45-60 cm)

Sun Exposure:
Full Sun

Heat (Pungency):
Hot (5,000 to 30,000 Scoville Units)

Fruit Shape:
Tapered

Fruit Size:
Small (under 2″ in length)
Fruit Color:
Green changing to red

Seed Type:
Open-pollinated

Usage:
Fresh (salsa, salads)
Drying
Pickling

Other details:
Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater
Suitable for growing in containers

Soil pH requirements:
5.6 to 6.0 (acidic)
6.1 to 6.5 (mildly acidic)
6.6 to 7.5 (neutral)

Propagation Methods:
From seed; sow indoors before last frost

Seed Collecting:
Unblemished fruit must be significantly overripe before harvesting seed; clean and dry seeds
Days to Maturity:
Late (more than 80 days)

Order some here for .75

Made from 100% recycled materials this Recycled Watering Can measures 18″ x 7″ x 15″.

Get it here.

And hope you had a happy Earth Day!

Whilst touring Disney’s Land pavilion at EPCOT, I took the “Behind the Seeds” tour of the greenhouses. One of the more impressive of the plants being grown was this single tomato “tree” with tens of thousands of tomatoes growing on it. The guide did tell us that this particular plant came from seeds attained from China. And she told us the record at Disney was 36,000 tomatoes from one tree – but that was not the world record. That was held by a grower in China.

These are grown with hydroponics, using a substrate for root growth, but being constantly fed mineral nutrient solutions, rather than depend on soil. The guide gave each of us on the tour a tomato to taste. They tasted like, well, like tomatoes.

The greatest advantage to growing hydroponically is not quality, or even space saving, it’s the increased rate of growth that makes it worthwhile. The tomatoes harvested here in the greenhouses get used at the restaurants throughout Disney World.

Source 

Viagra (sildenafil citrate) is good not only for treating male impotence. Israeli and Australian researchers have discovered that small concentrations of the drug dissolved in a vase of water can also double the shelf life of cut flowers, making them stand up straight for as long as a week beyond their natural life span.

They have already tested Viagra on strawberries, legumes, roses, carnations, broccoli, and other perishables. In this latest research they found that 1 mg of the drug (compared with 50 mg in one pill taken by impotent men) in a solution was enough to prevent two vases of cut flowers from wilting for as much as a week longer than might be expected.
Read the rest of this entry »

Stuck for what to do with that expired credit card? Sure you are…you were thinking of just cutting it up and discarding in the trash weren’t you?

Well…no longer, gardener. Instructables.com has come up with a cute way to turn your credit cards (or any other plastic card) into an ornamentally green fridge magnet.

You choose what you wish to plant. It could be herbs for the kitchen, a series of small bonsai or just fun stuff with the kids. This is a great project and can lighten up that dull fridge with a bit of gardening ingenuity.

The Matchstick Garden Set will have you planting like Johnny Appleseed in no time. Disguised as a book of matches, the tip of each match are seeds mixed and ready to grow. Choose from an assortment of wildflowers or herbs. Also makes a great gift for the gardener in your life.

Buy It Here

Let your green thumb go all black and cold with Graveyard Gothic Garden. All the boos and ghouls will scream in delight as a variety of creepy plants take root in this miniaturized land of the macabre. You’ll coax Black Dragon Coleus, Aloe, Moon Flower, and others to thrive in the shadow of death …mwaaaaah ha ha ha!!

Get The Kit Here

These amazing plants sprout in just weeks and grow to more than 8 ft. tall in less than a year.

Get It Here

Space-Age Tomato Plant Grows in Your Home or apartment to an amazing 6-8 feet tall. Bears up to 25 pounds! No soil needed -just water the nutrient mix and add natural or artificial light. Space-Age Bell Pepper can grow to 20″ tall, flourishing with green leaves, white flowers and large fruit.

They’re relatively cheap HERE.

I recently got into gardening when my therapist suggested that I get a hobby. I love it so much that I’m now planning gardens and since the Ice Storm of 2007 caused alot of damage to the landscape and our house, I get to plan a few gardens around our house.

Here’s a pic of the front yard after the damage.

My daddy says that we’re gonna start with a “clean slate”…. on some HGTV shit. So step #1 was to clear as much of the old landscape as possible. We had the tree stomp removed and cleared all the other plants. Here are some pictures I took a few days ago.

I also ordered a small flowering tree called a Lavender Twist Redbud. My daddy saw it as being my tree. It only grows about 6-8″, the bark twists and zigzags and it blooms lavender (my fav color). It should look like this when it gets older.

Funky lil tree ain’t it!?!

But here’s a picture of it now.

I put it in the middle of the garden and it’s already 2″ high. I also put monkey grass about a foot away from the edge of the garden. LOVE LOVE LOVE monkey grass.

For the back of the garden I decided to go with poppies. I should be making more changes soon so I can be ready for Spring.

Happy Gardening!
Get the look:

“Lavender Twist” Redbud from SoonerPlantFarm

(I had a very pleasurable experience ordering from them and they’re located here in Oklahoma)

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Liriope Muscari “Variegated’ from SoonerPlantFarm

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Order some poppies for just .99 + shipping and handling from any of these stores.

Water Sun – Sunset Mixed Poppies

ValueSeed – Pink Poppies