Cherry trees belong to the genus Prunus. Sweet cherry cultivars of those wild cherry (Prunus avium) are grown for their fruit. The Japanese have developed many decorative trees because of their blossoms. Many fruiting types of cherry trees have blossoms while cultivars that are decorative have blossoms or white blossoms tinged with pink. Select cultivars…
Flowers on a few plants are either male or female; other flowers are both male and female components. More rarely, flowers alter or pass through sexual periods, switching from 1 sex to the other. Protoandrous flowers begin as male blossoms and change to female. Protogynous flowers begin as females and transform into male. Fruit trees…
Unique plants produce flowers which fry in the heat which the sun gives off in the day. For these flowers, a western exposure may mean certain death. A garden with a Mediterranean exposure — where the sun shines on the ground at the morning and is blocked by structures or trees at the day —…
It’s a natural tendency to want to extend your flower garden to your spaces beneath trees to fill in otherwise bare ground. For the most part, plants that grow below tree canopies must be known to tolerate partial to full shade. Fortunately, there are plenty that take those states provided that you give them routine…
A privacy fence around your property creates defined borders that keep others from entering or looking into your lawn. Planting flowering vines or perennials that need support close to the foundation of this fence is a practical gardening solution that enhances the beauty of the yard. However, there are some variables to consider before you…
A huge tree grows beside a backyard pond, providing shade and a place to rest while watching the water ripple at the end. What this image leaves out is when you are ready to pull out your hair over the maintenance caused by building a pond also near a tree. There’s potential danger and annoyance…
When summer ends, then there’s no reason why you can’t prolong enjoyment of homegrown tomatoes throughout the wintertime. Propagated from cuttings taken out of last season’s plants or opened from seed, determinate or dwarf cherry tomatoes can be grown successfully indoors as long as they’re subjected to as much sunlight as you can. In circumstances…
Lining up your outside trash cans along a bare-soil surface contributes to erosion and uneven ground; trash can wheels gradually dig in the soil to make a ditch that captures water and produces a bad aesthetic. As a solution, you can use inorganic mulch for a ground cover. Typical choices of rubber and gravel mulch…
It is said that the sole difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is just two weeks, but this maxim does not apply to drastic pruning of maple trees (Acer spp.) . “Topping” a tree is much more like decapitation than the cosmetic process, causing severe pruning wounds and destroying the maple’s natural…
Plan for pear perfection this season by accommodating your gardening program to the development cycle of your pear trees. Every year, pear trees, like the rest of the fruit trees, go through a developing cycle. Being in touch with this cycle for a gardener makes it possible to determine the best times to prune, protect…