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Zone 7 Bushes and Shrubs You’ll find an abundance of riches if you are looking for zone 7 bushes and shrubs. Zone 7 is an area where average winter lows get to between 0 degrees and 10 degrees F. (-18 to -12 C.). This climate pleases both evergreens and deciduous shrubs. When you are choosing shrubs for zone 7, you’ll face a number of preliminary decisions. First is the issue of whether you prefer the year-round texture evergreen shrubs offer or the autumn color some deciduous plants provide....

Best Plants for Attracting Butterflies To create a butterfly garden, you’ll need to select an area in full sun and sheltered from high winds. This area should be designated only for butterflies and should not have birdhouses, baths or feeders in it. However, butterflies do like to bathe themselves and drink from shallow puddles of water, so it helps to add a small shallow butterfly bath and feeder. This can be a small dish or a bowl shaped rock placed on the ground....

What is Cactus Sunscald? So, what is cactus sunscald? Despite the name, cactus sunscald disease is not a result of sun exposure. It is actually a disease caused by the fungus Hendersonia opuntiae. This fungus infects the cladodes, or cactus pads, which are the thickened, flattened, green stems of Opuntia cacti. Cactus sunscald disease first causes discoloration and cracking in a localized area of one cladode, then gradually spreads. This eventually causes the entire cactus to rot....

Bellflowers will bloom heaviest in June and July but can delight you with flowers all the way into October in some areas. Master how to grow campanula bellflowers for long-lasting alpine native flowers that will enliven the landscape in borders and rock gardens. Bellflower Plants Campanula is a group of over 300 annual, biennial and perennial plants that span several sizes and colors. The primary characteristic is the upturned, open cup-shaped flowers in hues of pink and white but primarily lavender or light blue....

Can Snapdragons Survive Winter? The United States Department of Agriculture lists snapdragons as hardy in zones 7 to 11. Everyone else will have to treat them as an annual. Snapdragons in the cooler zones can benefit from some protection from winter’s chill. Snapdragon winter care is a “snap,” but you have to be proactive and apply a little TLC to these babies before freezing temperatures make their appearance. Snapdragons grown in hotter zones perform best when planted in the cool season....

Can You Eat Fava Bean Leaves? Most growers of fava beans probably never even thought about eating the tops of broad bean plants, but it turns out that, yes, broad bean leaves (aka: greens) are, indeed, edible. The wonders of fava beans! Not only does the plant provide nutritious beans and amend the soil with nitrogen, but the fava greens are edible and absolutely delicious too. Eating the Tops of Broad Beans Fava beans are cool-season veggies that are extremely versatile....

Care of Knock Out Roses Knock Out roses are easy to grow, not requiring much care. They are very disease resistant, too, which adds to their appeal. Their bloom cycle is about every five to six weeks. The Knock Out roses are known as “self-cleaning” roses, so there is no real need to deadhead them. Several Knock Out rose bushes blooming along a fence line or at the edge of an island landscaping is a beautiful sight to behold....

Care of Zebra Haworthia Growing zebra Haworthia is a little different from the care of many other succulents. These plants are native to a subtropical climate and exist for long periods with no rainfall. An understory plant, sources advise: “Eastern morning sun only, otherwise shade.” Others say to care for these plants the same way you care for Echeveria. Again, it likely depends on your climate and the plant’s location. If you notice browning on the tips, reduce daily light....

What are Carnivorous Plants? The vast array of forms in the carnivorous plant family is far too numerous to detail entirely in a list of carnivorous plants, and their predatory methods range the limits of imagination. Their reputation as man eaters is entirely false but some carnivorous plants can catch small mammals and amphibians, such as frogs. The smallest of the group are just an inch (2.5 cm.) high and the largest may get 50 feet (15 m....

What is a Casaba Melon? Like other melons, casaba belongs to the species known as Cucumis melo. There are varietal subdivisions of C. melo, and casaba and honeydew both belong to the winter melon group. Casaba melons are neither smooth like honeydew, nor netted like cantaloupe. The skin is rough and deeply ridged. There are several varieties of casaba, but a common one grown and seen in supermarkets in the U....

Growing Celery as Herb Plants Once it gets going, leaf celery is easy to grow. Unlike celery grown for its stalks, it doesn’t need to be blanched or planted in trenches. Leaf celery prefers partial sun and requires quite a lot of moisture — plant it in a wet area and water regularly. It grows very well in containers and small spaces, reaching a maximum height of 8-12 inches (20-30 cm....

Cold frames are simple structures that will keep semi-hardy plants safe in cool weather. There are kits available for purchase, but it is fairly easy to knock together a cheap DIY cold frame. A wood frame is the most common and may be constructed out of a free pallet or scrap wood. The unit may also be positioned over a raised bed created out of landscape pavers, brick, or other handy material....

Cherry tree crown galls are generally soft, not hard, and cause deformity or rot in the trees. Crown galls also appear on some 600 other species of trees. Read on to learn more about crown fall on cherry trees and what to do about it. What is Cherry Tree Gall? Galls are rounded, rough lumps of modified woody tissue. They appear on a tree trunk or tree roots in response to irritation by bacteria, fungi or insects....

We are glad to report that this is absolutely false. Not only can you put citrus peelings in a compost pile, they are good for your compost too. Composting Citrus Peels Citrus peelings have gotten a bad rap in composting due in part to the fact that it can take a long time for the peels to break down. You can speed up how fast citrus in compost breaks down by cutting up the peels into small pieces....

Ramblers are the most vigorous climbing rose varieties. Their long canes can grow as much as 20 feet (6 m.) in one year, and the flowers appear on clusters. Trailing climbers are smaller but still capable of covering a trellis or arch, and they usually feature abundant flowers. For almost every color and flower characteristic that you can find in other roses, you can find the same among roses that climb....

About Cold Tolerant Ferns Ferns are beloved shade plants for many gardeners. Unlike most garden plants, ferns do not produce flowers. They are a truly ancient type of plant that has been around for hundreds of millions of years, reproducing through spores rather than seeds. In the garden, ferns work well in shady areas where you may struggle to grow other plants. They provide interesting, feathery foliage that gives a tropical feel no matter what your local climate is....

Colorado Spruce Info Colorado blue spruce is a Native American tree that originated on stream banks and crags of the western United States. This sturdy tree is grown in farmlands, pastures and large landscapes as a windbreak and doubles as a nesting site for birds. Dwarf species are attractive in home landscapes where they look great in shrub borders, as backdrops for borders and as specimen trees. Short, sharp needles that are square in shape and very stiff and sharp attach to the tree singly rather than in bunches, like pine needles....

Finding Community Garden Volunteers In order to start a public garden space, you need to know how to organize volunteers. Volunteers in community gardens should work to their skill and physical levels, but there is something almost anyone can do. Planning is crucial to recruiting and organizing volunteers efficiently. If you have no plan, work will go slowly, volunteers may get frustrated and quit, and resources will not get used effectively....

Companion Plants for Juniper Tall and tree like or short groundcover? Juniper varieties come in all shapes and sizes. Some are tall enough that they work well for privacy hedges, while others are perfect for foundation planting or covering that slope. For example, Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) presents as a pyramidal tree up to 50 feet (15 m.) tall. It can be a specimen tree in the backyard or part of a very tall windbreak....

Kitchen Composting Info It may seem odd at first to save old food and trimmings on your kitchen counter. Traditionally we called that garbage, but new efforts to educate the public have now trained us in waste reduction and reuse of organic items. Composting kitchen waste can be as simple as burying the food scraps in the dirt or using a 3-stage composting bin or tumbler. The end results are nutrient-rich soil additives that increase porosity and help hold important moisture in the soil....