Cathryn Chaney
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Garden Guides uses a knowledgeable team of editors, writers, and experts to create all our content. We dive deep into the ever-evolving conversations surrounding gardening and landscaping, striving to deliver the most current and helpful tips, strengthened by expert insight and tutorials from our talented team.
As we cover many fields of expertise, we make it a priority to ensure every beat remains fresh and comprehensive. Additional information on our editorial process available here.
Stories By Cathryn Chaney
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Types Of Leaf Cactus
Types of Leaf Cactus. When you think of a cactus, you might picture a tall columnar form such as the saguaro. Alternatively, you might call to mind globular species like the barrel cactus or pincushion cactus or jointed species like cholla or prickly pears. The term "leaf cactus" refers to a range of less prototypical cacti that give the appearance of having leaves. Leaf cacti originate in warm, humid regions, and many grow epiphytically among the branches of trees.
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How To Plant And Grow Ice Plant (Lampranthus)
How to Plant and Grow Ice Plant (Lampranthus)
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How To Harvest Sugar Cane
How to Harvest Sugar Cane. If you're looking for a tall, fast-growing windbreak or screen that gives you a delicious treat, consider sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum). This large grass grows in warm winter climates of U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 11. Sugar cane gives the world 75 percent of its sugar, and it's still a crop in the southern U.S. To get started, lay pieces of cane horizontally in furrows in late summer or fall. They'll sprout the next spring and grow all summer.
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The Orange Bug On Butterfly Weed
The Orange Bug on Butterfly Weed. Butterfly weed, which has the scientific name Asclepias tuberosa, is a common and very visible plant in eastern North America. Vivid orange flowers appear in clusters during summer at the tips of stems, offering a banquet of abundant nectar to butterflies, hence the common name. In addition to attracting adult butterflies, the plant's foliage also attracts a variety of bugs, including the larvae of monarch and queen butterflies. Another frequent insect visitor to butterfly weed is the milkweed bug.
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Can Hibiscus Grow In Southern California Winters?
Can Hibiscus Grow in Southern California Winters?. For brilliant colors and large, showy flowers, hibiscus is hard to beat. Blossoms can be 5 inches wide or larger, and although they typically last only about a day, numerous buds produced over a long season give ample bloom. Two basic types of hibiscus exist, tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), a shrub hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11, and perennial or hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus spp.), perennial plants hardy to USDA zones 5 through 10, with some variation according to species.
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Nut Trees That Grow In Florida Zones 9-10
Nut Trees That Grow in Florida Zones 9-10. Except for the Panhandle area and the southern tip of the peninsula, most of Florida falls in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 9. The southernmost 1/4 of the peninsula is Zone 10. Florida gardeners in USDA zone 9 can grow suitable varieties of nuts such as pecan and walnut. Floridians in USDA zone 10 can try more exotic fare like macadamia nuts.
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How Long Will It Take For A Cactus Wound To Heal?
How Long Will it Take for a Cactus Wound to Heal?. At times cactus plants receive wounds, either from acts of nature like hailstorms, accidents with string trimmers, gnawing animals, or from routine care such as transplanting or taking cuttings. To best help your cactus survive and heal, you need to know cactus first aid. Factors that determine how fast the wound will heal depends on how wide and deep the wound is and where it is located. The main goal is to prevent infection until the cactus forms a scab.
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Caterpillars That Eat Evergreen Bushes
Caterpillars That Eat Evergreen Bushes. Tough, pungent-smelling evergreen foliage is usually free of pests, but some caterpillars are adapted to feed on the needles or scales of evergreen shrubs such as juniper (Juniperus spp.) and arborvitae (Thuja spp.). The caterpillars are mostly larvae of different kinds of moths. A caterpillar-like larva belongs to a wasp relative called a sawfly. Caterpillars are easiest to control if you find them while they are still small.
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Ideas For Indoor Atrium Plants
Ideas for Indoor Atrium Plants. Designed as a way to integrate plants inside a building, an atrium is an open space lit by a skylight. It echoes the open-air atria that served as the hearts of ancient Greek and Roman homes. Determine which plants are suitable for your atrium by studying its pattern of light as the days and seasons pass, seeing where areas of sunlight and shade occur. Then situate permanent, evergreen plantings in the light conditions appropriate for them.
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How To Prevent Birds From Eating Young Plants
How to Prevent Birds From Eating Young Plants
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Edible Wild Plants In Kansas
Edible Wild Plants in Kansas. Once primarily prairie lands of short and tall grasses with some woodlands near rivers, Kansas is now mostly cropland and rangeland. The topography contains mostly plains and hills broken by streams and rivers. Summers are warm and winters cold with moderate snowfall. Kansas receives from 45 to 20 inches average annual rainfall and contains U.S. Department of Agriculture cold hardiness zones 5b through 7a. Vegetation consists mostly of agricultural plants, but woodlands, fallow fields, ditches, vacant lots and remnant native grasslands still harbor wild edible plants.
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Plants Native To The New Jersey Shore
Plants Native to the New Jersey Shore. The eastern and southern edges of New Jersey are coastline. Tempered by the water mass of the Atlantic Ocean, New Jersey's coastal zone is warmer than inland areas during fall and early winter and cooler than them in spring. The eastern shores fall mostly within U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 7a, with the southern shores in USDA zone 7b. New Jersey's shoreline plant communities include marshes, sand dunes, the beach heather and shrub thicket communities, and dune woodland. Various grasses, sedges, shrubs, vines, wildflowers and trees grow in these areas, many suitable for planting in a landscaped yard.
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How To Water To Prevent Frost Damage
How to Water to Prevent Frost Damage. Every so often, your area may experience a cold snap with lower-than-normal temperatures that put less cold-hardy plants or tender new growth at risk from freezing or below-freezing temperatures. Several strategies help minimize damage, among them applying a thick layer of mulch, covering plants or using a heat source. Applying water, either to the soil or the plants themselves, is another tool to help plants survive the cold.
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