Hydrangea Arborescens

If you like hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens is a good choice because it needs less water than macrophylla or quercifolia


Growing Hydrangeas in Containers

Website dedicated to Hydrangea

Life Cycle of Green Onion

Life cycle of the green onions:

• Fresh green onion from grocery store =>
  
• scallion = bunching onion = shallot (in Australia) = spring onion (in Britain) = Chinese onion = stone leek = cibol
  
• Notes: These are onions that have small bulbs and long green stalks. They're usually eaten raw, but you can also grill or sauté them. Some people also use the term green onions to refer to onion tops, shallot tops and young leeks.

• Eat the top green stalks and plant the bottom bulbs.
• It will continue to grow taller green stalks with beautiful white blooms.
• You can harvest the green onion stalks for several meals
• When it gets to the end of season, it will dry out - harvest the bulb to cook.
• Need more green onions? Use those bulbs for the next generation... or restart the whole cycle...
  

Chive Flowers

Chive flowers - get ready for next generation

Non-Toxic Bug Fighting Tools

Fire ants - knocking out a fire ant mound early in the year with boiling water.

Cinnamon oil - environmentally friendly pesticide that can kill mosquito larvae, repel mosquitoes and prevent their bites.

Fighting flea: Slice about six lemons, and pour boiling water over them. Let the water stand overnight, then strain the liquid into a spray bottle, spray to repel and kill fleas. Check the pet every few days to make sure all fleas are killed and eggs have not hatched.

Wash: 10 drops of tea tree oil and 1 tablespoon of aloe vera to an 8-ounce bottle.

Rinse: 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with 1 pint of water.

Natural powder mixtures to repel bugs - ingredients contain garlic as well as alfalfa, wormwood, yellowdock and pennyroyal.

Cedar oil and quartz crystal will close the pores of all insects and let them suffocate and die.

Combination of Pennyroyal, eucalyptus and citronella oils can also prevent fleas and ticks from landing.

Natural Ways to Repel Mosquitoes in the Garden

Natural Ways to Repel Mosquitoes & Other Insects (2)



Toxic-Free Fact Sheets

Toxic-Free Insect repellent

Insect repellent DEET is toxic to brain cells

Cantaloupe

Big mama and a small baby

Atlantic Ocean View

The trees and plants that manage to survive the hurricane and salt water
How many baby crabs can you find?Enjoy the seabirds and a nice catch from the Atlantic ocean :)

Wild flowers on the Atlantic Ocean shore

Happy Labor Day!

Container Garden in Bloom

Butter Squash

The yellow squash is completely gone, this week we have a new butter squash with unique shape. It is the second generation growing off the seeds from grocery store fresh produce, a good way to recycle.

Happy Gardening & Blogging!

Easy Care Houseplant - Snake Plant (Sansevieria) - Clean Indoor Air

I never realized I have 2 pots of Snake Plant (Sansevieria Trifasciata) at home until Stephanie asked me a week ago. It is also known as Tiger's Tail,とらのお, espada-de-são-jorge, I don't know why most people call it Mother-in-law's Tongue :P
It is one of my indoor collections, I bought it 2 years ago because it is care-free, only requires low light and water once a month or every two months. Yes, it tolerates neglect! If it gets too much sunlight, it will fade the foliage to a yellowish green. My mom said it can produce lots of oxygen, and most people put it in the house or office. I think it can help to clean indoor air, but I'm not sure about its healing properties. There is an article mentions using snake plant leaf extract as an antivenin agent. I call it energy-free "nature's air purifier" for our home.

Mature plant height 4'
HOUSEPLANTS HELP CLEAN INDOOR AIR

Top Houseplants for Improving Indoor Air Quality

List of air-filtering soil and plants

Spanish Lavender

Everlasting Spanish lavender - continue to bloom for almost 3 months, still going...

Multi-colored tomatoes

These tomatoes almost dead, lesson learned...
Q: Why?
A: Too much fertilizer

Broccoli

Eating broccoli can reduce risks of heart disease, cancer. It protects against lung disease, build the immune system, and good for pregnant women because it contains folic acid. Vitamin C in broccoli can prevent polyarthritis. It is also good to help with rheumatoid arthritis. Its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory factors are great for asthma patients.
After reading all the good stuff................Here is the bad news, what is wrong with my broccoli?
Pop quiz of the day:)

1. Clubroot
   
2. Downy Mildew
3. Aphids
4. Cabbage Root Fly
5. Caterpillars
6. Cabbage worms, Cabbage loopers
7. Cutworms
8. Root Maggots
9. Flea Beetle
10. Aphids
11. Slugs and Snails
12. Damping Off
13. Bacterial soft rot

Hints:
Diseases of Broccoli
Broccoli - Diseases, Pests and Problems