Mother Earth's Garden

Favorite Christmas Plants

linette — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:44:45 +0000

There are a couple plants that come to mind when I think of Christmas. They’re kind of a tradition in our family. Some of the traditions are older, some are newer.

I always think of Christmas greens and think of the evergreens like spruce, pine, and firs. I’m always snipping of branches where no one will notice on my evergreens around Christmas time. I bring in the sprigs and use them to decorate.
Holly is another Christmas favorite. I love to pluck off sprigs of Holly to decorate wreaths and my fireplace mantel.
Mistletoe is another holiday favorite, just don’t get caught standing under it unless you’re feeling romantic.
Poinsettias are my absolute favorite Christmas plant! I have to buy at least one every year, and I usually end up with two or three. I just threw out last years Poinsettia the other day, it survived the summer, but didn’t handle transitioning back into the house well.
Christmas Cactus is another one of my favorite plants this time of year. I haven’t had one for several years, but this time of year I always think about buying a new one.
Lately the Rosemary grown to look like a Christmas tree have been popular. The scent is wonderful for this time of year. I usually look for these at the end of the holiday season on clearance, then I have fresh Rosemary through the winter months for just a few dollars.

What plants remind you of Christmas?

Image sxc.hu

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P. Allen Smith’s Container Gardens Deck

linette — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:33:53 +0000

I got a really cool package in the mail the other day. It was a deck of 50 cards, but it wasn’t like your ordinary deck of cards. The cards I received were P. Allen Smith’s Container Gardens. The deck contains 50 recipes for container gardens you can plant all year round.

I love container gardens, and I love creating gardens for the different seasons. This time of year my attention turns to indoor gardening, which consists mainly of containers in my windowsills.

The Container Gardens Deck shows you some great techniques and ideas for creating potted gardens that will flourish on your porch, tabletop, or windowsill, in your yard, or wherever you want a little color to brighten your living space all year round.

Each card includes a “recipe” for arranging the container gardens: Side A features the name and photo of the arrangement and side B includes the ingredients (the flowers, container, and anything else you’ll need) and recipe (easy-to-follow directions for making your own).

The garden diagrams eliminate any confusion you may have about planning your garden and show you exactly where to place each plant. The seasons are neatly organized in tabs so you can find the perfect container garden all year long.

I’ve been thinking about setting up a winter container garden for my windowsill, my two favorite winter gardens are the White Orchid and Cyclamen and the Pink and Salmon Cyclamen with Ferns. I think I’ll give one of them a try. I’ll be back to let you know how it goes.

I was excited to have the opportunity to sample these cards. I’m glad to add the deck to my personal garden resources.

If you have a gardener on your Christmas list, these cards would make a wonderful stocking stuffer, or gift. You can find them online at the Random House website, or at Amazon.com

Image: Random House

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Adding Winter Color To Your Garden

linette — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:32:03 +0000

I talked the other day about creating winter interest in your garden by not cutting back all your plants at the end of the season. But what plants can add some winter color to your garden? During the winter most of your plants are brown, and lets face it, there’s not much life in your garden. It can be rather depressing to visit all the brown little plant bodies.

Here are a couple trees and shrubs that can add some winter color to your garden.

One of my favorite plants during the winter is holly. I love the cheery little red berries when there’s snow on the ground. They’re such a beautiful contrast. They’re also wonderful for decorating at Christmas if you snip a few branches and bring them indoors.

Evergreen trees like firs, pine, and spruce trees and evergreen shrubs are also great to add a little green when there is none to be found.

Juniper is another favorite, whether you plant the tree, or the ground cover it’s great to add a little color with the foliage and the tiny berries. It’s another favorite of mine to snip off and bring indoors at Christmas.

Image (c) L Gerlach

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My Mother Earth’s Garden 2 Year Anniversary

linette — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:54:48 +0000

Can you believe it? As of November 1st I’ve been blogging at Mother Earth’s Garden for 2 years! I’ve had a great time writing here. I completely forgot about the anniversary over the weekend, and didn’t even remember until today.

I’ve had a great time sharing gardening tips and stories with Mother Earth’s Garden readers over the last couple years, and I thought I’d touch on some of my favorite stories today. Here are a few of the most popular posts posts with readers, and some of my favorite posts to share:

I hope you enjoyed the walk down memory lane, as much as I enjoyed browsing through past Mother Earth’s Garden posts to bring them to you.

Image (c) L Gerlach

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Fall Splashes Of Color

linette — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:25:07 +0000

I went to a retreat this weekend, and one of my favorite parts was a walk in the woods, and down along their gardens. It was interesting to see some of the flowers holding fast to their beautiful colors. Even with the hard freezes we’ve had in our area some of the hardier flowers were still looking fabulous.

Most of these flowers were in a wooded area, so that may help shelter them from the cold and the wind. I was very thankful for their beautiful splashes of color on my stroll, so of course I had to take a few pictures to share. There were several beautiful red roses, I snapped a picture of this one up close.

There were also several mums in reds, yellows, and white. The white looked stunning in their backdrop of leaves.

There were several little ground covers peeking their heads up through the leaves to show a little color.

The area itself was very peaceful with swings and fountains.

So that was one of the highlights of my weekend, how did your weekend go?

Fall Flower images (c) L Gerlach

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An Easy Fall Apple Crisp Recipe

linette — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:00:57 +0000

My dad gave me a big bag of apples a couple weeks ago. I’m almost to the bottom of the bag, but I still have enough for a few more snacks and a dessert or two.

One of my favorite fall desserts is apple crisp. I have an easy way to make a fall apple crisp that’s loaded with flavor. I cheat just a little and use cinnamon oatmeal (like Quaker’s Cinnamon Roll oatmeal) for the topping. I still add a little exta oatmeal, but the cinnamon flavored oatmeal, yum!

Here’s my super quick and easy recipe for a yummy fall apple crisp.

Apple Crisp

6 medium apples peeled and chopped
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
3 packets of cinnamon instant oatmeal (like Quaker Cinnamon Roll)
1/4 cup canola oil

Preheat your oven to 325`F.
Mix the peeled and chopped apples with the cinnamon and the maple syrup and pour them into a 9×9 baking dish sprayed with no stick cooking spray.
Mix the oatmeal and the canola oil together, and spread it in a thin layer on top of the apple mixture.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 325`F.
Enjoy!

Image (c) L Gerlach

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Put Your Houseplants On a Schedule

linette — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:20 +0000

Many people tell me they have a hard time keeping houseplants alive. I love houseplants, so I usually have several in my house. One of my favorite tricks to keeping my houseplants alive is to keep them on a regular schedule for watering, and attention.

I water (or at least check) my houseplants once a week. My watering day is Tuesday, but you can make it any day of the week that works for you. When you’re first starting out write it on your calendar, or in your planner, until you can get it in your weekly schedule. I have certain things I do certain days of the week, so it’s easy for me to remember.

I water my plants well, enough to soak the soil, but not to have them standing in water. I usually check them first, if the soil isn’t dry I pass them by. While I’m watering I also check the leaves for any signs of pests or problems.

My plants do great with this plan all winter long. During the heat of summer I usually give them an extra check toward the end of the week. Sometimes the summer heat can suck out the extra moisture.

Image (c) L Gerlach

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My Winter (Indoor) Garden

linette — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:10:39 +0000

My winter garden is not so much a garden as it is a series of containers in sunny windows. I love to garden, so just because it turns cold outside doesn’t mean I’m ready to give up on growing. During the late fall and winter I still have several gardening activities going on inside.

Here are a few of the things I do during the winter to help me make it through until spring.

I love to force a few bulbs every year for mid winter blooms.
I usually get at least one poinsettia during the Christmas season, I usually purchase a couple and put them in our deep windowsills (we live in an old brick house, so our walls and sills are three bricks thick), so they can add cheer through the winter.
I usually bring in some of my outdoor annuals so they can continue blooming through the winter, some of my favorites are impatiens, geraniums, and begonias.
Of course I have several houseplants that are inside keeping me cheery all year round.
In the next couple weeks I’m going to put together a winter indoor herb garden, so I can clip fresh herbs all winter long.
In January and February I start little seedlings for my summer garden. I love it when the little seedlings start popping their heads out of the soil.

What do you do during the long winter to satisfy your need to garden.

Image(c) L Gerlach

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My Favorite Bulbs To Force In Winter

linette — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:01:58 +0000

This time of year I always like to force a few bulbs so I’ll have some beautiful splashes of summer in the middle of winter. Some of my favorite bulbs to force?

Amaryllis is probably my absolute favorite, but you need to stake it and tie it up when it gets ready to bloom. Sometimes the blooms are too heavy for the stem and they fall over if you don’t.
Paper Whites ( Narcissus) are another favorite of mine, but they do have a definite odor to them, and it’s not my favorite scent. Don’t put them in a high traffic area. I put mine in my laundry room, it has lots of windows to the outdoors. The way my house is set up there’s also 2 doors and a large window going from the laundry room to the house (don’t ask it’s an old house), so I can enjoy them through the glass from outside, or in the house.
Hyacinths are so cheery and colorful with their tiny little blooms. I have them planted in my garden, but I haven’t tried forcing them. I think I might give them a try this winter.
Daffodils can remind you that spring is coming if you plant them in a container on a sunny window sill.

There is nothing that will help you beat the winter blues quicker than cheery blooms looking out at the snow in January.

Image (c) L Gerlach

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The Colors Of Fall In My Garden

linette — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:05:45 +0000

We’ve had two hard freezes in my garden already this fall, so there’s not much left growing there. That doesn’t mean I don’t have some beautiful fall colors and textures going on.

The flowering kale and cabbage was very pretty all summer long, but after the freezes they’re stunning. I love the rich purple colors that the cold weather has brought out.

I have several grasses, with some gorgeous seed heads floating on top of my garden. Some of them are going to make their way into fall floral arrangements and centerpieces over the next few weeks, but I’ve got to leave some for some winter interest in my garden.

Ok, so this maple tree isn’t exactly in my garden, but the trees around here have fabulous, vibrant fall leaves this year. From bright oranges, to reds, to yellows, they’re really showing off this fall. This maple tree was just begging me to take its photo.

What’s adding color to your fall garden?

Images (c) L Gerlach

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