Sunflowers are among the most colorful and cheerful plants for gardens. They are quick to grow, attractive to pollinators, and downright beautiful. If you’re wondering when to plant sunflowers for the greatest chance of success, you’ve come to the right place. This article introduces three different planting times for sunflowers and discusses the pros and cons of each method. You’ll also find step-by-step instructions for getting the job done.
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Rain garden benefits and tips: Plan a garden to divert, capture, and filter rainwater
Gardeners can face many challenges on their property—poor soil conditions, steep slopes, invasive plants, roots that produce juglone, insect and four-legged pest issues, among others. A rain garden addresses the challenge posed by heavy rainstorms, especially if they consistently leave a wet area on your property. The garden can also absorb the water from your rain barrel overflow and downspouts, and filter water before it reaches the sewer system. Not only is a rain garden a practical solution for a gardener, it also helps the environment at large.
Lacinato kale: Learn how to grow this delicious heirloom kale
Lacinato kale is my favorite type of kale to grow. The plants form beautiful rosettes of blue-green leaves that are perfect for the vegetable or flower garden. The leaves are thinner and more tender than other types of kale making this an excellent choice for both raw and cooked dishes. Plus, it’s quick and easy to grow with a baby crop ready to harvest a month from seeding and mature leaves just four weeks later. Keep reading to learn how to grow a bumper crop of lacinato kale.
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Growing romaine lettuce: A guide from seed to harvest
While there are many different types of lettuce to grow in the garden or in a patio pot, romaine is among my favorites. Yes, I love a good buttercrunch lettuce, but nothing beats the thick, crisp leaves of a head of romaine. Their texture holds a creamy salad dressing like no other leafy green out there. Have you ever tried to put Caesar dressing on bibb lettuce? The results are limp and soggy. Thankfully, growing romaine lettuce is easy, and I recommend every gardener grow a few heads each season.
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Growing sweet alyssum from seed: Add this bloom-filled annual to raised beds, gardens, and pots
Growing sweet alyssum from seed is a lot cheaper than purchasing flats of seedlings each year—it’s one of those plants where you don’t really buy just one! I love the versatility of this hardy annual—lobularia maritima—a member of the cabbage family that is the perfect filler and spiller for container arrangements. Mature plants produce a profusion of delicate blooms that cascade over the side of a pot. In the garden, it can be planted as a beautiful annual groundcover or edging plant. Sweet alyssum plants grow so densely they also help keep the weeds down.
Fern propagation techniques using spores or mother plants
With hundreds of species to choose from, ferns make a lovely addition to your plant collection. Whether you’re growing warm-climate ferns indoors as houseplants or cold-hardy perennial ferns in a shady corner of the garden outdoors, ferns have so much to offer. Learning how to propagate ferns from spores or mother plants means you’ll always have plenty to share with friends and family. The following excerpt from The Complete Book of Ferns by Mobee Weinstein explains fern propagation techniques and is used with permission from the book’s publisher, Cool Springs Press/The Quarto Group.
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