Cultivating curiosity and confidence
Bee balm is a popular perennial plant with beautiful summer blooms that attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. However knowing when to cut back bee balm can not only increase flowering, it also keeps the plants more compact and can reduce the occurrence of powdery mildew. In this article I’ll detail how and when to cut back the bee balm plants in your garden.
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With more extreme weather events and fluctuations in temperature from season to season, knowing how to cover plants for frost has become increasingly important. What’s more, if you don’t know exactly when and how to cover plants for frost you can end up losing favorite specimens or missing out on that extra harvest. In this article, I’ll run down which plants need covering, and I’ll discuss some of the materials and methods best-suited for the task, including fabric, plastic, and mulches. That way, the next time you hear light frost or hard freezes are on the way, you and your plants will be ready.
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As you watch your garden transition out of its summer showiness into the rich hues of autumn, it’s time to think about overwintering geraniums. You don’t have to lose your ornamental favorites to the first frost! It’s actually easy to save geraniums from a compost bin fate, so you can enjoy their annual flowers next year (and the year after and so on).
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Because peppers are grown in many parts of the world as annuals, you may not realize they’re actual tropical perennials and it’s possible to learn how to overwinter pepper plants. The process of overwintering involves bringing a plant indoors during the cold months—when they would typically die in the garden—and reintroducing it to the outdoors for the next growing season. How to overwinter pepper plants isn’t as hard to learn as you might think. In this article you’ll learn four ways gardeners find success overwintering peppers.
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Learning how to make your own cucumber beetle trap can save you a lot of trouble and prevent the need for pesticides. In this article, I’ll share the easy DIY cucumber beetle trap I’ve been using for years. It doesn’t cost much to make using only simple household materials and only takes a few moments of your time to set up.
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I first discovered fabric raised beds in Quebec City. I was there for a garden writers’ conference a few years ago new, and they seemed to be everywhere I went: in front of the parliament buildings featuring a lush ornamental mix of vegetables, herbs, and flowers; lined up in rows on the roof of a shelter; and supporting a gorgeous living willow pergola at a botanical garden.
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