If my last post piqued your interest in giving bamboo as gifts, or having someone give you bamboo to bring luck, health, wealth and happiness into your home, here are tips for caring for your bamboo plant.

Light: Avoid too much sunlight. Lucky bamboo grows naturally under the canopy of wet tropical rain forests, so it needs very little sunlight to thrive. In general, the more indirect the light, the better. If you see browning on the tips of the leaves, the plant’s location may be in too much sunlight.

Water: Keep your bamboo plant moist at all times. The plant prefers a few inches of fresh, filtered water, especially when planted in a vase filled with small rocks. If you notice yellowing of your leaves, your natural tap water supply might have too much chlorine or salt. You may need to buy fresh spring water for this plant and others in your home. You can grow bamboo in soil, provided you keep the soil quite moist.

Feeding: Most bamboo will grow well in simple water, but since water doesn’t contain the nutrients that bamboo enjoys in its natural environment, ask our staff which plant foods work best with bamboo plants.

Avoiding pests: Bamboo is a plant inside your home, and pests might see it as the perfect home. So talk with our staff about your potential needs for organic pest treatments to remedy your bamboo’s unwelcome visitors.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Don’t let this snowy New Jersey weather destroy your outdoor container plants.

Container Plants

Your outdoor container plants do not enjoy the same kind of protection during the winter months that ground-living plants do. Plants situated in ground beds have roots located far below the ground’s surface where temperatures remain much more constant than the above-ground dramatic temperature swings that container plants must endure. So it becomes an important task for the health and survival of your winter container plants and other dormant outdoor container plants to insulate those planters, or switch them to more protective outdoor garden containers or garden urns.

Simply put, the larger the garden container, the more soil present within it to insulate roots, and the more space available to pile on organic mulch as an effective temperature protectant. So you may wish to re-pot your existing garden plants to larger pots or ceramic garden décor urns, bowls, or other planters. At the same time, you may refresh the planter’s soil by adding a mix of additional potting soil, peat and other organic planting supplies to give the soil additional nutrients.

Which types of containers provide the best insulation for plants? Look for wood planters, which provide enough insulation from temperature surges, and look also at impermeable materials such as metals and concrete. Even thicker plastics provide good insulation against the winter cold. But be sure to move your outdoor plant containers off of porch surfaces that can get ice-coated and conduct colder temperatures into and through more permeable planters such as those made from ceramic. In harsh winter cold, some ceramic planters can crack or shatter, exposing your plant’s roots to the elements.

For any outdoor container, provide a healthy layer of insulation on top, in the form of added mulch, and organic tree trunk wraps may also add an extra layer of protection for younger trees and more delicate plantings.

Of course, smaller and lighter outdoor container plants may be moved into your garage for a bit of extra protection from harsh winds, ice, snow and plunging winter temperatures that our New Jersey region has been experiencing lately. It may not be 70-degrees in the garage, but your plants will thank you for giving them a break from the elements.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Your snow-covered property can help you envision a new plan for your spring garden layout. If you stand at a distance from your front, back or side gardens, you’ll see where the snow blankets your evergreen trees and azalea trees, and you’ll also clearly see the ‘blank spots’ in all of your garden landscaping designs. Ideally, your landscaping will look impressive all year round, not just in spring and summer when the brightest organic flowers and fullest trees are in bloom. So looking now at what you can plant in the spring and summer to be full and beautiful next winter puts a positive spin on all of this record-breaking New Jersey snowfall. That blanket of snow points out where you could use some evergreen plantings.

The green foliage of evergreens looks especially attractive in a white-blanketed landscape, and their ranges of colors and subtle variegations provide attractive detail to your garden design year-round. In warmer months, when those evergreens and sturdy winter plants are revealed, their beauty is shown in the streaks of color and the textures of their leaves and needles.

Some evergreens deliver flowers and berries in several seasons, adding a pop of color your landscape year-round as well.

Here are some evergreens to consider for your gardens’ blank spaces and balance of design:

Blue spruce trees – They grow to be both a strong focal point, a guard against wind, and may also be decorated with winter holiday lights.

Wintergreen plants — These provide a range of colors and textures in your garden beds, with red and purple groundcover often spotted with red berries and broadleaves, and many of our local Morris County home gardeners pick this organic wintergreen to brew teas.

English-ivy – An evergreen that retains its color year-round, and that some people include in their gardens because it’s a plant that legend says symbolizes ‘marital happiness.’

Boxwoods — One of the more popular evergreens, boxwoods create an attractive garden border.

The Farm’s knowledgeable staff can advise you on pairing the right evergreens with your property’s layout, so bring photos of your home and gardens and be prepared to share each section’s exposure to light and drainage information, so that The Farm’s experts can guide you to the right variety of evergreens and winter-hardy plantings to enhance your garden design right away, and look spectacular next winter as well.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

One of the most exciting garden gifts you could give anyone in our wonderfully-wooded Morris County area — or in the mountainous areas or shoretowns of New Jersey — is a pretty birdfeeder. We love ours, a singular bronze feeder that hangs from a sturdy branch of our front yard willow tree, right in front of our picture window. At this very moment, I’m looking outside as a duo of cardinals flit from peg to peg on it, getting a hearty winter’s meal of birdseed specially formulated to attract more cardinals to our yard. And it works. We have seen far more of those gorgeous, vibrant-red male cardinals and their lovely ladies since we picked up Cardinal-favorite birdseed.

When my sister gave us a birdfeeder as a bridal shower gift, we had no idea we were going to fall in love with birdwatching, and now that we’re passionate spotters of scarlet tanagers, juncos, finches, and sparrows, among so many others, we’ve joined the more than 50 million Americans who say that birdwatching is a top hobby of theirs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

So with our birdfeeder in place, consistently and reliably re-filled with The Farm’s varieties of the crunchy goodies our local birds love so much, we keep a bird identification guidebook – organized by bird color – right by our picture window. And every so often, one of us will jump up, flip through the book and call out the name of the bird with all the excitement of a child on Christmas, delighted by a surprise gift.

It’s a wonderful part of our world…

If you don’t have a birdfeeder, you’re missing the show! So pick up a pretty one for yourself, as well as a birdfeeder for anyone with a special event coming up. When you give a birdfeeder as a gift, you give the recipient endless hours of excitement, discovery, a new appreciation of how beautiful our own neighborhoods are, and kids develop a passion for birdwatching, too.

This is a post by Sharon Naylor

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

Your gorgeous garden statuaries and garden planters don’t have to suffer outside in the cold and wind, nor do they have to hide in your garage during the winter months. Bring those pretty garden accents like stone planters and urns inside to add a new and natural look to your indoor décor.

Which home garden accents can come inside? Everything from stone and ceramic pedestal planters to planting boxes, small stone décor such as stone butterflies and birds, birdbaths (cleaned well, of course), fountains and more.

Here are the top ways to get double the life from your garden accents, creating attractive and functional new décor pieces for your home:

Set cast stone urns by your front entryway to hold indoor fresh garden plants

• Set small cast stone urns on your bathroom vanity table to hold fresh flowers.

• Fill small cast stone urns with smooth and shiny river stones and place next to the bathroom sink.

• Set a cast stone urn filled with either garden plants, fresh flowers or river stones on your kitchen countertop or kitchen island as an attractive, natural focal point.
• Set cast stone urns or pedestal planters on either side of your fireplace.

• Set elongated planter boxes next to your fireplace to hold logs and kindling.

• If you have an enclosed porch, decorate that space with multiple garden accents such as planters and urns filled with greenery or river stones.

• A small, stone birdbath can hold not water, but no-fuss décor items such as a display of stones, moss, and decorative branches.

• Birdbath garden accents can be used as an indoor water garden, with fresh green plants ‘living’ there.

• A fountain moved into the corner of a living room and surrounded by potted garden plants creates a Zen atmosphere for those long winter months.
A statue moved into the corner of a living room or den, surrounded by potted plants, creates a conservatory look that’s used in many of the finest New Jersey restaurants and banquet halls and is a new trend – our customers consider garden statuary for both its outdoor and indoor accenting.

• Small stone planters make excellent table centerpieces, especially when filled with fruits such as shiny green apples or cheery lemons.

Explore the garden accents here at The Farm in Chatham, New Jersey to bring outdoor garden décor into your home and to talk with our garden and design experts about unique and creative placement of our most unique home and garden accents.

This is a guest post by Lance Williams

Planning the landscaping around your home so that it looks beautiful even during the dull months of winter is a challenge, but being able to look out the window at artistically placed walks, walls, groundcovers, and shapes all year ‘round is a visual treat of which no gardener should deprive himself. Whether your area gets significant winter snow cover or lies within a sub-tropical or tropical zone, making smart choices in plants and hard landscaping can mean the difference between dull and dreary or lush and elegant.

The trick, for those whose gardens either languish into browns and grays when they are not covered by a thin coating of snow or are blanketed with snow for most of the months between October and April, is to think in forms. Most garden plants are pretty much done and gone, so the plants you choose will be those that keep their shape, color, or both during the winter months and are hardy enough to withstand freezing temperatures. When these are integrated with cement, stone, or tough wooden statuary, walls, benches, bird baths, plant containers, and other ornamental garden jewelry, your garden suddenly becomes much more interesting. For instance, hardy ornamental grasses and tightly shaped evergreens provide form under snow. Small walls that border curving walkways add geometrical interest next to the more free-flowing shapes of the plants, and statuary and benches can be added either individually or in groups to vary the height and keep the eye traveling from one side of the view to the other.

Trees and shrubs that bear brightly colored berries late into fall and throughout winter provide bright splashes of color in a winter garden. Colors become even more noticeable at this time of year, pleasing the eye immediately when seen against a background of dull neutrals. Holly, dogwood, Nandina, and Pyracantha are all examples of this type of plant, with beautiful red or orange berries reminding you of the coming of spring’s glory.

For gardens that never or very rarely get snow, options are a lot more varied. Landscapers for luxury homes in Palm Beach, Florida, can plan gardens that maintain vibrant color year-round. The ubiquitous green swatch of lawn has been replaced with thoughtfully planned walks, outdoor rooms, hardscaping, and groundcover that continually opens itself to new vistas.

Wherever you live, in whatever type of climate, planning a garden that looks beautiful in the winter as well as in other seasons can be rewarding and spiritually uplifting every time you gaze out the window.

This is a post by Sharon Naylor

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

To mark your success with your New Year’s Resolutions, reward yourself for each milestone – each five pounds lost, each week without an unhealthy habit – with the prize of new garden supplies. Buying a fresh garden plant or a pack of flower seeds to reward yourself for your dedication and efforts creates an all-positive momentum that’s far better than choosing a reward of, say, brownies or a fattening latte.

When you know that you’re just a pound away from a fragrant new herb garden, your reward for ten pounds lost, the excitement of your reward can inspire you to skip that dessert temptation and put in an extra effort at the gym.

Here in Morris County, our customers love their gardens, and they miss working on them during the winter months. Bringing garden supplies into their New Year’s Resolution reward plans allows them to get back in the gardening mindset, dream of their springtime plantings, sketch out designs for their dream vegetable garden or tomato plant row…and they begin right now, in the depths of winter, to prepare for their dream gardens of the near future.

Here are some garden supply items that we recommend for your New Year’s Resolution rewards list:

• Organic vegetable seeds

• Herb garden planters

• Container herb garden

• Tomato garden supplies, such as stakes and planters

• Terra cotta pots for planting strawberries

• Organic herb seeds

• Herbal plants

• Gardening gloves

• Gardening shoes

• Gardening kneeling pads

• Bamboo plants

• Perennial seeds

• And additional garden supplies

Save the big prize, such as a raised vegetable garden or a garden pond or a palate of stones for a rock garden, for when you reach your ultimate goal, and you’ll further motivate yourself in your efforts…and when spring arrives, your healthier and happier self will be well on your way to the garden of your dreams.

Experienced gardeners know that vegetable or flower gardening begins in the cold months of winter, not with new growth in spring. Planning a garden takes work that beginners often do not realize. However, with a little organization and some creativity, this becomes a winter tradition that is as anticipated as Christmas to a child.

We all hate doing our autumn gardening chores, but you know they need to be done. Your list may include things like:

• Sharpening blades on clippers, shears, and lawnmower blades.

• Cleaning and servicing your mower, edger, and tiller and other large equipment.

• Washing dirt and grass from hand tools and putting them in their place in your garage or shed. Don’t forget to put away the garden hose.

• Replacing worn out tools or equipment during off-season sales.

• Pruning dead branches throughout the yard to prevent ice or snow build-up from pulling them down and causing damage.

Now the fun begins. To plan for your spring garden, you must get your seed catalogs from your favorite garden supply store. I always draw a scaled version of my garden to make sure that I take advantage of all my gardening space without over-ordering seeds and plants. This helps me to plan which plants I’d like in which locations in my garden or yard.

Take the time to research native plants, which often require little care and help foster local wildlife. It is also a good idea to study composting and perhaps start your own compost bin or worm farm. These are fun to do and a great learning experience for children. Determine where in the yard you would like to place your compost bin and perhaps locate plans to build one during the cooler months.

To help conserve water, consider getting a rain barrel. My sister put hers under a runoff spout from her roof to gather more water for her garden. You may also choose to move your garden to an area that is lower than the rest of your yard. Rain from other areas of your yard will seep into the soil of this lower area, making the most of each rainy day.

Throughout the year, you should keep a gardening journal and refer to it during winter gardening planning. This always helps me to remember which plants thrived and which ones died so that next year’s garden will be even more successful.

http://www.iwantmarylandsbest.com/

A favorite amongst perennial flowers are the Butterfly bush. What is a Butterfly bush you may wonder? Butterfly bushes are known as the buddleia davidii and are also considered a shrub. Shrub, bush, or flower; you want to treat Butterfly bushes as an herbaceous perennial rather than a shrub.

Perennial favorites

Butterfly bushes grow quickly and bloom in mid-summer. It’s best to plant these plants in spring or fall. The Butterfly bushes flowers will bloom in summer. Butterfly bushes can grow to 6′ to 10′ in height and spread to spread of 4′ to 15′.in width. The Butterfly bush is best used as hedges, accents, beds & borders. They need plenty of sun and their soil needs to be well-drained and fertile. These wonderful beauties are perfect for the Northeast; their hard zone is from 5 to 9.

Butterfly bushes can handle the warmer elements even though they prefer a moist environment. They do just fine in a drought and will survive in some tougher climates. In warmer climates it’s best to cut back at least once a year after this plant finishes blooming to encourage another bloom.

The Butterfly bush has a special honey-scented fragrance that calls to butterflies. Butterfly bushes are great for butterfly gardens and deer tend to avoid so these are great for the countryside. These wondrous plants also attract bees and hummingbirds, planting Butterfly bushes will make for wildlife like scenery.

Butterfly bushes not only look beautiful in our flower gardens but have other uses. The blooms can be purple, pink, white, or red, and usually have an orange center. This plant looks beautiful in a vase and lasts a week as a cut flower. Cut when half the flowers on the stem are open and before they fade. No matter what you do with this beautiful perennial it is sure to shine in your garden.

Another favorite of the perennial family is Peonies. Many people confuse Peonies for a rose or a carnation. These beauties can grow to a hundred flowers or more and can grow to 10 inches. They grow in singles, as semi-doubles, or as doubles and are 6 to 8 inches wide. You will find these in crimson, scarlet, various shades of pink, to pure white. There can come in a new hybrid in yellow or purple flowers.

Peonies are very easy to grow and can tolerate long periods without rain once matured. Peonies are disease resistant; however, ants are attracted to peonies because of the nectar they produce. On a better note, ants on peonies neither harm nor help these flowers. Peonies are heavy feeders and require a lot of attention. Peonies can become large, beautiful and fragrant flowers producing in mid-to late spring. It is important you’re patient with Peonies, most the time they won’t bloom until the second year around like many other perennials it takes time to establish them in your garden.

Peonies can be finicky even with the ease of maintenance it comes to taking care of them. They’re heavy feeders and their soil should be well-drained. If Peonies have too much moisture it can lead to a fungus problem. These flowers can tolerate dry environments; however, in drier climates they may not produce or store food. Peonies like to stay put; moving them around can cause them to die. It is important you plant Peonies in the right place the first time.

As discussed, Peonies can take a long time to produce their beautiful and fragrant flowers. The time it takes to produce these beautiful flowers is well worth the time it takes. Be patient and enjoy these wondrous beauties once they bloom.