Having a beautiful garden doesn’t have to be a chore. You want to enjoy the beauty of the landscape year-round, but you don’t want to spend all your time on upkeep. If that sounds like you, here are 7 simple things you can do to assure you have a wonderful landscape without a lot of back-breaking labor:

1. Grow what you like. If you enjoy the beauty and scent of roses, grow roses. If lilies are your thing, grow lilies. The point here is that if you stick to plants and shrubs that bring you joy, your much less likely to look at gardening as a time-consuming task. That’s exactly what you don’t want.

2. Know your yard. You need to be aware of the lay of the land. Certain areas of your yard may not have sufficient drainage. Certain areas may not have sufficiently fertile soil. Plants that depend on either of these conditions that are placed elsewhere are in trouble. Vegetation that is placed incorrectly throughout the yard simply will not grow.

Annuals

February plantings of larkspur, sweet peas, stock, cornflower and poppies will give good results. Throughout most of this region pansy plants can be transplanted during February and will give color until mid-June. As soon as they are established, mulch with two inches of well-rotted compost or feed with a balanced fertilizer and mulch with a material to prevent undue drying out.

Spring Bulbs

These happy harbingers of spring begin popping through the soil and some of the early ones may flower during the latter part of the month. Keep the soil where these are developing clear of debris, especially winter mulches that have not decayed, and apply lightly a fungicide to prevent disease damage.

Light feeding with liquid food and heavy watering will increase the length of stem and quality of bloom.

Lawns

Top-dressings of lawns or any similar garden planning tasks may be started in the lower part of this region and continued throughout the region next month. This top-dressing design is to correct uneven areas and washes that may have occurred during the winter. Mow the grass short in order to work the soil or compost well into the stolons of the grass.

If you are looking to spruce up your backyard with new patio furniture, a patio set is a great way to go. A matching set of furniture will ensure that you have a great looking destination place in your backyard.

Patio sets usually consist of one table and a set of matching chairs. The actual number of chairs can vary depending on the size of the table but 4 to 6 seating arrangements are the most common. Make sure you match the size of the table to the space in your garden or your own specific needs. Patio sets are generally built for outdoor use so the majority will be made from metal materials or wood. Some patio sets are complimented with cushions to provide extra comfort, something that is recommended for hard outdoor furniture.

One of the big advantages of starting with a set of patio furniture is that you won’t have to go through the trouble of bringing separate pieces together to make a well coordinated set. You can go through the process of hand matching individual pieces on your own, but it will certainly take more time and likely cost more money in the long run. There is a large variety of choices so finding a set that you like shouldn’t be too big of a challenge. There are even online retailers that can sell and ship even the largest table right to your home.

It may not be warm and sunny in your part of the country, but it’s officially spring which means it’s time to start thinking about all the things you want to do the outside of your home. By starting early you can actually take advantage of some early sales, get a better idea of what you want to do and even finish your projects early enough to enjoy the summer months!

Spring is the perfect time of the year to start a lot of outside projects that involve planting things because the frequent rain and mild weather help seeds and starter plants get a good start on the season. During these months before summer you don’t have to worry about the heat of the summer so it’s more pleasant to work outside and get things done in advance. Here are some great outside projects you can start right now:

Inspect and Clean Gutters: The gutters of your house probably took a beating through the winter months. Ice and water and all sorts of debris from late fall can do quite a number on gutters and if you haven’t replaced them in a while. You might may want to check them over for cracks or weak points. A leaky gutter could sending water against your home and that can cause wood to rot around your roof line.

List for Vines and groundcovers for the Cold NORTHERN STATES

BEARBERRY”One of the best ground covers for dry, difficult situations, this low plant, which is known scientifically as Arctostaphylos Uvaursi is ideal for steep slopes. It grows in sun or partial shade and prefers a dry sandy soil somewhat on the acid side. Its broad leaves are a good green the year round.

COMMON PERIWINKLE - Large areas can be beautifully carpeted with this plant known as Vinca minor. Use it under trees and in other shady locations in any ordinary soil. It grows 6 to 8 inches high and has light blue flowers in early spring. In this cold region it may winter burn if not covered by deep snow.

CREEPING ]UNIPER - This needled evergreen makes a fine ground cover to one foot high in sunny locations. It will grow in any soil but prefers one of a rocky nature. It is listed as Juniperus horizontalis and its variety Douglasi is especially interesting for its blue cast.

When buying a rose bush, you may have sometimes thought that the price was pretty high. But suppose YOU were producing them. What would you want for a plant that had gone through these various stages of development and growth?

So join me for some armchair day dreaming. Let’s indulge in some flights of fancy; just suppose that YOU decide to become a rose grower.

You will find rose bushes produced over a wide area: Arizona, California, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas, to name some of the leading areas in alphabetical order.

While operations will vary some, here is about what you could expect if you followed your day dreams and became a rose grower.

You will first need substantial acreage of some desirable ground. Deep sandy loam would do, and just in case nature forgets you, it is desirable to have some way of irrigating your crop if necessary.

It is almost time for spring chores and at the top of your list should be planting a tree or two.

Planting a tree is a great way to show your commitment to the environment, but even more than that, trees bring good cheer and classy looks to any home landscape.

Here are 3 great trees you may consider planting in your landscape or yard.

River Birch

The river birch is very popular as a specimen plant in landscapes from Georgia to Wisconsin. It can live in the hottest temperatures and the coldest, as long as it gets plenty of water. The river birch will suck up gallons of water and grow taller and taller, making is a great choice for placement in areas that do not tend to drain well. If you have an area of your lawn that collects rain water and does not drain, then plant a river birch in the middle of it!

River birch trees do get some insect damage during the summer. Japanese beetles love to munch on them, as well as leaf minor. If you do plant a river birch, be prepared to have it treated for insects a couple times during the summer. You should also fertilize them each spring to keep them growing and photosynthesizing properly.

Woman is a domesticated animal. She gets a certain pleasure from caring and providing for her home, whether this be alone or shared, a bed-sitting room or a mansion.

They are made to contain a number of separate plastic pots and so are ideal for this purpose. As these herbs grow very quickly in winter because of the warmth of the house, they should be placed in a position where they will get as much light as possible and they should never be allowed to dry out. Keep cutting them and they will respond with new shoots. If you use more than the plant can supply it is a simple matter to dig another plant from the garden and pot this up so you are never without something fresh in this line. In fact it is a good plan to have several plants potted ready so that they may be brought indoors in succession.

Using Levington seed compost, fill to within an inch or so of the top an ordinary flower pot, a seed pan or box and level the surface.

Plants for our homes are so numerous, so easy to obtain and so inexpensive that only the keen indoor gardener takes the time and trouble to raise his own plants. Yet like children, they are so much nicer, so much more interesting and worthwhile if they are your own, of your own raising. Again, a considerable number of our indoor plants actually produce young plants by themselves, without any help from us, and surely we ought to take advantage of this particular assistance!

There are several ways we can grow our own plants and each method will be discussed separately. We can grow many of our plants from seed in exactly the same way that we grow plants for the garden.

Seeds for popular plants such as primulas, cinerarias, impatiens and cacti can be obtained from almost any seedsman anywhere, but seed for some of the more exotic or unusual plants must be obtained either from a specialist or from a firm such as Thompson & Morgan of Ipswich, which probably has the widest ranging seed list of any organization in the world.

A grape vine trellis enables people can grow grapes in their backyards with only a small amount of space just as well as vineyards can on a few hundred acres of property. Vines are not strong enough to support themselves and therefore need a trellis for support. The way a grape vine trellis looks depends upon the person who is growing the grapevine. It can be very decorative or it can strictly be functional.

People can grow grapes in their backyards with only a small amount of space just as well as vineyards can on a few hundred acres of property. Vines are not strong enough to support themselves and therefore need a trellis for support. The way a grape vine trellis looks depends upon the person who is growing the grapevine. It can be very decorative or it can strictly be functional.

Although grapevines can be grown in a yard, they are a fairly large plant. You will need a space of about eight feet by eight feet for one vine. Important: A grape vine trellis should be constructed before the vine is planted into the ground.