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Digger Bee Information: Facts on Bees in the Ground Female adult digger bees live underground, where they build a nest about 6 inches (15 cm.) deep. Within the nest, they prepare a chamber with plenty of pollen and nectar to sustain the larvae. Male digger bees don’t help with this project. Instead, their job is to tunnel to the surface of the soil before the females emerge in spring. They spend their time flying around, waiting to create the next generation of digger bees....

Bleeding Heart Symptoms of Disease Powdery mildew – If your bleeding-heart plant is covered with powdery patches of black, gray, white, or pink “dust,” it is probably infected by powdery mildew. Left untreated, the patches will grow, causing deformed buds and curled, stunted leaves that eventually drop from the plant. Powdery mildew is unsightly, but it usually isn’t deadly for healthy plants. Leaf spot – The first sign your bleeding heart is infected with fungal leaf spot is generally small brown or black spots on the leaves....

How is Dracaena Propagated? Plant propagation is the process by which gardeners are able to create new plants. While starting new dracaena plants from seed is a possibility, many years are often required to establish seedlings. In some cases, plants grown from seed will not be the same as the parent plant. Luckily, many plants can be propagated another way. By taking cuttings, or other small pieces of the parent plant, growers are able to root and grow an exact clone of the parent plant....

Is My Black Walnut Dead? If you ask yourself whether your beautiful tree is now a dead black walnut, there must be something wrong with the tree. While it may be difficult to determine exactly what is wrong, it shouldn’t be too difficult to tell if the tree is actually dead or not. How to tell if a black walnut is dead? The easiest way to determine this is to wait until spring and see what happens....

Vitamin-E Rich Veggies Can Help The U.S. Department of Agriculture agrees that most adult Americans don’t get enough of several important nutrients, including vitamin E. Children and adults over age 51 are particularly at risk of not getting enough of this essential nutrient. If you think you are among those that may be deficient in vitamin E, it’s always possible to supplement your diet with vitamin pills. However, according to Scientific American, the body doesn’t absorb synthetic forms of vitamin E as efficiently as vitamin E in its natural form....

About Echinacea Plants The genus Echinacea includes a number of species, four of which are common in and native to North America. These include purple coneflower, one of the most commonly used Echinacea plants in home gardens and flower beds. Coneflower varieties are so popular in home gardens because they are easy to grow and because they provide striking flowers in beds. The daisy-like blooms attract pollinators and sit on top of tall stems, growing up to 5 feet (1....

Popular Herbs for English Gardens Although you can adjust and incorporate herbs you use most frequently, there are a few traditional English herb plants that are must haves when growing English herb gardens. Sweet basil is an annual that grows to about 18 inches (45 cm.) and thrives in full sun. Borage attracts bees to pollinate all the herbs and annuals. This annual also enjoys full sun, is hardy and grows to about 2 feet (60 cm....

What Hibiscus Fertilizer to Use The best hibiscus tree fertilizers can be either slow release or water soluble. With either, you will want to fertilize your hibiscus with a balanced fertilizer. This will be a fertilizer that has all the same numbers. So, for example, a 20-20-20 or 10-10-10 fertilizer would be balanced fertilizer. If you will be using a water soluble fertilizer, use it at half strength to avoid over fertilizing the hibiscus tree....

Check out the following tips for fertilizing outdoor container plants. How to Feed Potted Plants Here are some common types of container garden fertilizer and how to use them: Water-soluble fertilizer: Feeding container garden plants with a water-soluble fertilizer is easy and convenient. Just mix the fertilizer in a watering can according to label directions and use it in place of watering. As a general rule, water-soluble fertilizer, which is quickly absorbed by plants, is applied every two to three weeks....

About Firebush Watering As a general rule, water firebush at least once every week until the plant has been in your garden for a full year. If you live in an extremely hot climate, firebush water requirements may be higher during the intense heat of summer, especially for shrubs planted in full sunlight. Watering a firebush after the first year? Firebush watering requirements decrease substantially after the first year, but regular irrigation is still a must for a healthy plant....

How to Trim Flowers Pinching back plants is often confused with deadheading. While deadheading refers to the removal of spent flower blooms, pinching should occur before the plant has had a chance to flower. The process of pinching plants is relatively simple. Learning how to trim flowers begins with locating the soft growth tip of each plant. Next, gardeners gently remove the stem just above a set of leaves or nodes....

Spring Plant Trends Last year, with public gardens closed to visitors and even backyard beds off limits to admiring neighbors, comfort was the name of the game, with most gardeners retiring their plants’ work clothes in favor of softer, more flexible fabrics. We saw even the most elegant of rose bushes embracing the joy of a good pair of yoga pants. But this year, with things opening up again, plants are taking full advantage of the chance to show off....

Care of a Gardenia Bush In order to get a gardenia to bloom, there are four things to remember about proper gardenia care. These are: Humidity Sunlight Temperature Fertilizer Humidity – Care of a gardenia bush means providing lots of humidity. If your gardenia is in a container, setting the container on a dish filled with pebbles and water will help to increase the surrounding humidity. Whether your gardenia bush is planted in the ground or in a container, daily misting with a spray bottle will increase the humidity around the plant....

Growing Geranium Attar of Rose Attar of rose geraniums (Pelargonium capitatum ‘Attar of Roses’) and other scented geraniums were initially introduced to Europe by way of South Africa. The plants grew in popularity in the United States and became trendy by the 1800s, but as fancy Victorian styles fell out of fashion, so did ruffly attar of rose geraniums. Today, attar of rose-scented geraniums have regained a following among gardeners who appreciate them for their attractive foliage and sweet scent....

Goldfish Hanging Plant Info Because of its very specific needs, the goldfish hanging plant has a well-deserved reputation as a fussy plant rife with problems. With goldfish houseplants, attention to detail is the key to success. As with so many of our windowsill guests, goldfish plant care begins with understanding where and how they grow in their natural state. Goldfish plants belong to the genus Columnea. They are epiphytes, a type of plant that grows upon other plants, usually a tree....

Iris Companion Plants Companion planting is the practice of combining plants that benefit each other. Sometimes companion plants help each other resist diseases and pests. Some companion plants benefit the taste and scent of each other. Other plant companions simply benefit each other aesthetically. While irises won’t affect the flavor or pest resistance of their companions, they do fit beautifully into almost every garden. Iris tubers take up very little room in the garden and don’t compete with many plants for space or nutrients....

Centerpiece Easter Plants When you are trying to decide on Easter centerpiece flowers, you can either go with fresh flowers or potted plants. Fresh flowers for the Easter table can include anything currently in bloom, from lilacs to bulb plants like tulips or daffodils. Roses are also an Easter classic. All you need to do is arrange the freshly cut flowers in a special vase or another vessel. Experts recommend cutting them in the morning for best results....

Planting Catnip Catnip can be planted in your garden either from seed or from plants. If you’re growing catnip from seed, you’ll need to properly prepare the seeds. Catnip seeds are tough and need to be stratified or slightly damaged before they will sprout. This can be done by first placing the seeds in the freezer overnight and then placing the seeds in a bowl of water for 24 hours. This process will damage the seed coat and will make it much easier for the catnip seeds to sprout....

Dianthus Plant The dianthus plant is also called Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) and has a fragrance with cinnamon or clove notes. The plants are small and usually between 6 and 18 inches (15-46 cm.) tall. Dianthus flowers are most often in pink, salmon, red and white hues. The foliage is slender and sparsely spread on thick stems. Dianthus had a short blooming season until 1971, when a breeder learned how to grow forms that did not set seed and, therefore, have a prolonged bloom period....

What is a Posy? Also called nosegays or tussie-mussies, posies are small bouquets of flowers that have been popular since medieval times. In the Victorian era, posies were created with very specific flowers that, according to the Victorian language of flowers, had special meanings and were given to people to convey messages. For example, if a man wanted to tell a woman that he loved her, he might give her a simple bouquet, or posy, of roses, chrysanthemums, and red or pink carnations....