Monthly Archives: February 2010

Gardening Advice

Bringing A Yard To Life With Landscape Gardening

Leave a comment

For centuries, one of the most popular things to do around one’s home was to create a garden. Gardens were filled with flowers, plants, or food, and they provided enjoyment and sustenance for the homeowner.


The tradition of gardening continues to this day as gardens of all types and shapes can be found around nearly every home. Some gardens are small and might even fit on a windowsill. Others are much larger and can occupy a significant portion of the property.


Some gardens are obviously more than a haphazard collection of plants and flowers, they are planned, organized, beautiful, and often thematic; and those gardens are the product of landscape gardening.


Landscape gardening has origins that go back centuries and to different continents. English gardens of the 18th century had many elements that are associated with modern landscape gardening.


English gardens (or landscape gardens as they were known in England) often revolved around a pond, and would have small bridges and pavilions that were used as vantage points.


In the Far East, Japanese and Chinese gardens were prevalent, and remain popular to this day. Eastern gardens typically had stone features, and like English gardens they often feature water, bridges, and a pavilion.


However, landscape gardening is not limited to those styles, and the evolution of the craft has taken many turns through the decades. Modern gardens may incorporate the features of their ancestors, but they can have a personality of their own as well.


Landscape gardening not only embraces elements of gardens past, but also demonstrates many aspects of architecture as well. Attention to color, line, scale, and texture all must come together to create an aesthetically pleasing garden.


Good color schemes typically match similar colors to other similar colors, such as warm reds to warm yellows, and cool blues to cool greens. Warm colors tend to excite the senses and attract attention, while cooler colors are likely to have a relaxing effect (perfect for a mediation garden!).


Another classic element of architecture that gardening requires is attention to the line. The line of a design relates to the way a viewers eye follows the groupings of plants and border areas.


Smooth flowing lines or abrupt straight lines can impart a different feel and elicit a different response from those who are viewing the garden. Texture and form are closely related to the concept of the line.


Form relates to the prevalent shapes in your garden, such as triangular conifers or rounded bushes, and texture is predicated by the way various plants work together to create a look, whether that look is soft, course, or something in between.


Once you have established your selection of plants and flowers, and your textures and forms, you can compliment those items with a hardscape that is fitting with your tastes.


Fences, walls, stonework, fountains, statues, and gazebos, they are all hardscape items that are integral to landscape and they will help provide your theme and focal points. Install those items first and then fill around them to create a wonderful garden.


Landscape gardening remains popular not only because of its beauty but its function as well. Not only can a garden provide solitude and harmony to your home, it can help augment the best parts of your property such as a great view or wandering creek.


A landscape garden can also be used to block out undesirable views, or to cover parts of your property that are not as appealing. Ultimately the direction you go with landscape gardening is entirely up to you.


By adhering to the classic lements of landscape architecture, and finding a theme and texture that compliments your home, your foray into landscape gardening is sure to provide you with enjoyment, relaxation, and added value to your home.

Still looking for the perfect landscape? Try visiting http://www.landscapediscussion.com, a website that specializes in providing landscape advice, tips and resources including information on landscape gardening.

Gardening Advice

Garden Gift Baskets for the Avid Gardener

Leave a comment

If you have a friend or relative that is an avid gardener, there is no more thoughtful gift than a garden gift basket for a holiday, birthday or anniversary present. At first, you may seem overwhelmed when shopping in your garden center or on the internet. There are a few things to consider when trying to find just the right “flavor” for your garden gift basket to give to the people who love to play in the dirt, so t speak.

First you must determine how much you want to spend for the garden gift basket. After you have the dollar amount, walk through the aisles of the garden center to see what items are available. Of course, you could also do an internet search to see what the most popular tools and gadgets are selling. You will be surprised at the range of goods that are available from the inexpensive to the extravagant. Keep in mind that you will want to get quality products that will last so your friend or relative will have years of enjoyment.

If your gardener is a novice you may want to start with the basics, a pruner, a watering can, gardening gloves, or special nozzles for the hose. There are many garden centers that have gift baskets already made up. It could include some gardening tools and seeds revolving around a specific theme like, vegetables or roses or herbs. If you choose to go with the herb theme and want to do it on your own, include some tasty herb seed packets, some small, pretty pots and a journal where notes can be kept.

If you have a gardener with a well used garden rake and tool belt, you can pretty much surmise that they have all of the state-of-the-art tools and have been collecting gardening equipment for years. Here, a simple but thoughtful gift would be a work apron that has be monogrammed or personalized with a funny garden saying. A well seasoned gardener will appreciate the thought you have put into the gift.

To really get the best gift for your gardener you should know the level of their expertise and if they have a theme. For example there are gardeners that only grow roses while there are others that specialize in herb gardening, knowing this will help you pick out the perfect gift. For instance a scarecrow would look dumb in a rose garden whereas a hummingbird feeder is way out of place in a vegetable patch. And be careful with the “cutesy” garden decorations, some people love garden gnomes or stone gargoyles whereas someone with an award winning exotic tropical garden wouldn’t think of having one.

If after you have gone through all these options, level of expertise and if they have a theme or not and you still don’t know what to buy, the answer is simple. Purchase them a gift certificate from your local garden center. Every gardener needs supplies through the year and your gift will help to offset the expense of their garden.

If after considering the gardener’s experience level and theme of their garden you remain stumped, a gardening gift certificate allowing them to select their own gift is a surefire way to please and inspire them as their garden grows through the years.

With a little inspiration you can find the perfect gift basket for your avid gardener. Don’t forget to put a pretty bow on the basket! Here is a natural pesticide that you may want to print on a card and include in the gift basket:

In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

Every gardener likes to keep the garden as chemical free as they can.

 

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.