Potted Bulbs for the Holidays

November 17th, 2007 by Jenny Watts

Potted Bulbs for the Holidays

You can enjoy a bit of springtime in the middle of winter by forcing bulbs to bloom indoors. Blooming flowers in the middle of winter are always a welcome sight. They make lovely gifts for friends and relatives alike. If you would like to grow some flowering bulbs for the holidays, it’s time to get started with that project now.

Starting in October or November, there are only two types of bulbs that you can have blooming by Christmas: Amaryllis and Paperwhite narcissus. Other bulbs, like crocus and hyacinths can be started now but will not bloom until February.

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Walnuts for Beauty and Health

November 10th, 2007 by Jenny Watts

Walnuts for Beauty and Health

Nut trees are an important part of American culture. Grown since colonial times, nut trees are truly a multi-purpose crop, providing shade, beauty, edible nuts, building materials and wildlife habitats.

The black walnut is native to North America. Its brown-black, diamond-patterned bark is especially beautiful. Normally growing 50 to 75 feet tall, black walnut occasionally reaches more than 100 feet.

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Fall Color from Trees

October 29th, 2007 by Jenny Watts

Enjoy the beauty of fall with colorful trees

The cold nights of fall bring beautiful colors to the leaves of deciduous trees. Liquidambars, maples, Chinese pistache, Raywood ash, European white birch, dogwoods and flowering pear trees brighten the landscape with their colorful leaves. Now is a good time to choose trees that have fall color, and fall is an excellent time to plant trees of any type.

When choosing a tree, it is important to decide just how large a tree you want. Width is easy to measure and for height, figure that a building is about 10 feet tall per story, plus attic height. So a one-story house may be 15 to 20 feet tall, and a two-story house 25 to 30 feet tall. Most trees are at least 30 feet tall and some grow to 60 feet or more, providing good shade over the roof for summer cooling.

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