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Orchids are fascinating flowers that are fun to nurture but do need some special care. These slow growing plants are best grown indoors and will need to be repotted every other year. In addition to repotting, you will need to provide the plant with enough light, water and fertilization as well as prune it properly to keep it in the best of health.

Repotting

Orchids should be repotted in a pot that is larger then the current, but not too much larger - go just one size up. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can repot into a really huge pot and then not have to worry about it for the next 5 years! Fill the pot about 2/3rds of the way with soil that is formulated for orchids and set the plant with the growing tip in the center and it’s roots spread out in the soil. Fill the pot with the rest of the soil and pack it gently around the plant. Water thoroughly.

Soil

Tropical orchids thrive in organic material. Fir bark and osumda fiber mixed with peat are great for growing orchids. You need soil that has good drainage but will also hold some moisture. You can buy special orchid mix soil to plant your orchids in.

Light

Orchids like light and your plant will do best in a bright sunny window. A south window, where the plant can get indirect light in the morning and afternoon is best. Make sure the window is not drafty. In the winter you must be sure that your plant is getting enough sunlight and you may want to use fluorescent lighting to supplement the natural sunlight. Fluorescent lights work quite well for growing orchids and you can use them in even the darkest corner and have wonderful plants.

Water

All plants need water but many people do not know how to provide it properly. Some water too much leaving standing water in the pot all day and contributing to root rot. Others don’t water the plant for weeks and wonder why it can not survive. The first consideration is to make sure you use a pot with good drainage - either one of those with a hole in the bottom and a saucer or at least put pebbles under the soil. Water the plant thoroughly but not so much that a pool of water is sitting on the soil - water once a week or when you feel the soil has dried out. If your orchid is planted in bark, then it will probably need to be watered every 5 days or so.

You can also moisten your orchid with a spray bottle to give it a more humid environment. Some people like to gently wrap the plant in a floral paper or wax paper cone and spray inside. The cone helps to keep the moistness in. If you do spray your plant, use distilled water as tap and spring water can leave deposits on the leaves.

Temperature

Although orchids are tropical plants, they prefer cool temperatures at night. Most orchids will do best in temps that would be to cold for you in your house. When grown in professional greenhouses, they are kept between 55 and 65 degrees at night. The cool temperatures help to keep the soil more moist.

Fertilizer

Orchids growing in bark or peat and bark mixes do best with a liquid fertilizer that has a 20-20-20 analysis or, better yet, a specialized orchid fertilizer (30-10-10). Try using a water soluble urea free fertilizer for best results. When fertilizing, simply add it in your regular watering schedule following the instructions on the fertilizer package.

Pruning

Pruning is important for orchids to remove dead parts and shape your plant. You can prune your orchids periodically throughout the year, or reserve the pruning for once a year typically in the fall or early winter. When the blooms have died and the stalk is dried up and yellow or brown, use sharp shears to cut it back to an inch from where it comes out of the soil. A new bloom will appear during the next blooming season.

In some cases, you may want to just remove the end of the bloom stalk which may cause it to bloom again. If you do this, you may find a new shoot or baby plant to spring up. If this does happen, you can remove the baby and plant it in a separate pot for an additional orchid plant to enjoy!

Lee Dobbins writes for http://orchids.garden-corner.com where you can learn more about caring for orchids

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Flowering apricot trees offer spectacular flowering blooms earlier than any other flowering tree, sometimes blooming as early as January. This early flowering can result in cold weather damage in some areas of the United States. New outstanding cultivars of flowering apricot trees can be purchased from mail order nursery retailers. Prunus mume flowers, in early spring with flower colors of red, pink, and white, all blooming on the same twigs of the tree. Double flowers of apricot, dark-red cover the limbs of the flowering apricot, Matsubara Red. Pure white flowers appear in early spring on the flowering apricot, Rosemary Clarke, and the pink flowering, weeping apricot, W.B. Clarke, blooms in January. Rose-red flowers appear on the flowering apricot tree, Peggy Clarke, in early spring.

Mimosa flowering trees, Albizia julibrissin ‘Rosea’, was introduced into the United States from the Orient, and was commonly known as the ‘Silk Tree’. The feather red or pink blooms cover the mimosa branches in summer, and the fragile graceful leaves are fern-like, and they flutter in air when wafted by the slightest breeze. The Mimosa tree can be grown in almost any type of soil and is cold hardy from zones 6 - 10.

Flowering Peach trees, Prunus persica, were very commonly seen and grown in the early United States, but a gardener faces a difficult task to find a large flowering peach tree to buy at a nursery. Pink flowering peach trees, Prunus persica ‘Pink’, cultivars can be purchased to bloom either early or late; White flowering peach, Prunus persica ‘White’, can also be purchased in an early or late blooming cultivar; Prunus persica ‘White Icicle’, Peppermint flowering peach trees produce variegated flowers randomly colored petals of red, pink, and white. The Helen Borchers flowering cherry, Prunus persica ‘Helen Borchers’ is a recent outstanding blooming.

Redbud flowering trees, Cercis canadensis, are also known as the Eastern Redbud tree and were first collected to plant at the home of John Bartram, the famous early American botanist of the 1700’s. In early spring the leafless twigs are completely covered with red-pink flowers, qualifying this redbud tree as a favorite, native American flowering tree to plant and grow in the garden landscape.

The flowering honeylocust tree, Gledisia triacanthus inermis, is one of the most beautiful of all early spring blooming trees. Gardeners find it difficult to locate and buy honeylocust trees from a nursery. The fragrant white flowers appear along with the airy fern-like leaves that flutter as a bright green backdrop to the glowing, pure-white flowers that attract a host of bird species to nest in the dense honeylocust branches.

The Wisteria, Wisteria sinensis, is usually thought of as being a vine, but the vine habit can be overcome, if it is staked after grafting and trained to grow as a wisteria tree. Wisteria sinensis ‘Cooke’s Purple’, grows into a fragrant, purple stream of pea-like flowers, trailing long and followed by green, glistening leaves that are cold hardy from zone 5 - 9. A grape-like cluster of purple flowers emit a fragrance of grapes with pure white blooms in the cultivar; Wisteria tree, Wisteria sinensis ‘Texas White’, is an excellent white-flowering Wisteria tree.

A number of less pursued flowering trees are: Japanese Snowball Tree, Viburnum plicatum, that flowers in summer and again in the fall if abundant water is applied. The grapefruit size, greenish-white flower clusters are stunning and dramatic, as they bloom before the leaves appear. The Jerusalem tree, Parkinsomia aculeata, is also called the ‘Jew Tree’; by tradition was rumored to be the tree that was used to prepare the ‘crown of thorns’ that was placed on the head of the crucified, Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. The fern-like leaves provide a background of green to view the golden yellow flowers that begin blooming in summer and then reappear several times until frost. Paulownia, Blue Princess or Empress Tree, produces spectacular clusters of purple-blue flowers, sometimes growing three feet in length. This fast growing tree is best known for being planted as a commercial timber tree investment by former President, Jimmy Carter. Red Tips, Photinia fraseri, is best known in the spring growing bright red tips and waxy leaves, however, red tip is very fast growing, and in late spring, following the tips of leaves reddening, giant clusters of fragrant white flowers cover the tree. Scarlet locust trees, Sesbania grandifloria, is a native tree to the United States, growing vigorously in wetlands and producing brilliant scarlet blooms in the spring. The flowers completely cover the twigs of the tree with a backdrop of bright-green, fern-like leaves, delicately fluttering in the slightest breeze. Very few trees offer recurring flowers of such brilliant colors like Scarlet locust trees, Sesbania grandiflora.

Sweetbay Magnolia, Magnolia virginiana, produces bold-white, lemon scented blooms, appearing much like a miniature Southern Magnolia flower, Magnolia grandiflora. The waxy, Sweetbay magnolia blooms appear, beginning in the fall. This evergreen magnolia tree has fragrant bark and leaves that can be substituted for the herb, bay leaves. Sweetbay magnolia trees turn dramatic colors of red, yellow, and orange during the fall, but fall intermittently followed by waxy-green new leaves. Even though the Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, is classified as an evergreen shade tree, it is famous for the gorgeous fragrant flowers of huge proportions, one foot wide, that bloom in early summer. Renowned Artists of paints and cameras have admired the glorious Magnolia blossom and chose to pose them to compose masterpiece works that would be celebrated in Museums of the World. Many hybridizers have chosen to genetically create Japanese Magnolias of many sizes and colors; white, red, pink, purple and red. Some mail order nurseries offer sites to buy outstanding hybrids like: Alexander Magnolia, Brooklyn Girls magnolia trees, Butterfly magnolia, Little Gem magnolia tree, Leonard Messel magnolia shrub, Randy Magnolia Bush, Southern Select magnolia tree, Star White magnolia, Sunsation magnolia, Wada’s Memory magnolia tree, and Yellow Lantern Magnolia trees.

Gordonia flowering tree, Gordonia lasianthus, is also known as the loblolly bay tree, that is closely related to and similar to the “Lost Gordonia”, that had almost become extinct, except for the fortunate rescue by famous botanist and explorer, William Bartram, who in 1773 wrote in his book, Travels, page 465, a memorable description. The flowering tree was named by him after his good friend, Benjamin Franklin, Franklinia altamaha, “I had the opportunity of observing the new flowering shrub, resembling the Gordonia, in perfect bloom, as well as bearing ripe fruit. It is a flowering tree of the first order, for beauty and fragrance of blossoms…the flowers are very large, expand themselves perfectly, and are of snow white colour, and ornamental with a crown of tassel of gold coloured refulgent staminae…” We never saw it grow in any other place, nor have I ever seen it growing wild, in all my travels from Pennsylvania…to the Mississippi.” Cassia trees, are covered completely in in the fall with golden yellow flowers in late fall growing to 12 feet tall. Cassia trees are cold hardy in zones 8 - 10, and the beautiful fern-like leaves almost escape notice when the Cassia tree is in full bloom. The Chaste Tree, Vitex agnus-castus, is covered with flowers in summer and fall with fragrant flowers in colors of blue or white being available to buy. The gray-green leaves of the Chaste trees are very fragrant, and the trees are cold hardy in Zones 6 - 10.

Learn more about various plants, or purchase ones mentioned in this article by visiting the author’s website: www.tytyga.com

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A water garden is the area of your landscape that will provide you with relaxing sounds of the water, while adding to the overall details of your landscape. The water garden is a project that you must ‘plan’ for continued success. If you are lucky enough to have the room in your lawn for a water garden, you are already one step ahead of many gardeners! Let’s talk a little about how to plan for your water garden.
A few important factors about placement of a water garden that often are forgotten are:

Do you have children in the neighborhood? If you have or live near children, you will want to keep your water garden in an area that will be close to your home. You will want to be able to see what is ‘going on’ by the water. Children are curious and they love water! Being able to see your water garden will save you worry later after the creation of your water garden even if the children are in the yard.

Do you have a natural spring in your lawn area? When planning a waterfall in the water garden, the use of a natural spring or water source is going to make the continued success of your water garden much easier. A water garden is possible with a waterfall even if you do not have a natural spring or water source, but it is a little more ‘work’ to create that special effect. You can find more information about this in another article on this site.

The lay of your land is important. While we will discuss this in other articles as well, planning your water garden around the lay of your land is important. If you are lucky enough to have a flat lawn, you can plan your water garden in various areas. The landscape that includes hills and slopes are a little tricky but using the slope in your lawn, you can create the water garden that takes care of that little ‘wet patch’ at the bottom of the yard!

Most water gardens are an addition or extension of the natural landscape. To encourage and invite your guests to the water garden for picnics, for chats, and for just sitting in pleasure: Plan the water garden so it’s visible from the walkway to your home. The water garden that your visitors and guests see while entering your home adds value to your home and to your conversation!

In planning your water garden, use a sheet of paper to write down what you want to gain from your water garden. Start your list by using personal reasons, value reasoning, enhancing, or changing the overall look of your landscape. Alternately, you may simply want a place for solitude. These are the desires you’ll write on your list. From this list, you can better plan ‘where’ your water garden will suit you and your ideas.

Gordon Goh is author of the free, informative website Simply Flower Garden offering quality useful tips for flower garden lovers.

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