Butterflies - Attracting them to your garden

I don't know of anyone who does not love having butterflies in their garden. Many garden plans are based just on gardening to attract butterflies. Here is some information on which plants will do the job. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~
With the anticipated arrival of spring, we welcome more sunshine, warmer weather, longer days and of course, butterflies. The insects are a welcome sight for many Texas gardeners and landscapers as they plan and often grow their gardens to make them irresistible to butterflies.

“From spring through fall, opportunities abound to make your outdoor area a fun and educational place to enjoy butterflies,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs. “They’ve always been a springtime Texas treat.”

Butterfly gardening requires some knowledge of local butterfly species, flowers that are attractive to nectar-feeding adults and host plants for developing caterpillars.

You can read the entire article here: Attract butterflies this spring

Spring Allergies

Happy Spring! Every gardener looks forward to spring when everything begins to bud and blossom, the trees are beginning to dress in their finest, and the soil smells...earthy. I even love the smell of fresh cut grass.

However, I'm reminded that it is not the case for all gardeners. Some are allergic to various grasses and pollens. It definitely will put a damper on the ability to enjoy gardening to its fullest.

Many do not wish to take medications for allergies for a variety of reason. Well, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has come out with several handy guides that can help you get through the season, both with and without the use of medications.

Wishing you an allergy free season!

Happy Gardening!

Spring Flower Gardening

"Spring is the time when nature and your garden awakes and comes alive after the long winter. That first spring flower or that first green leave is the sign that winter in coming to an end and that a new growing season has arrived.

Spring and Flower gardening is almost synonymous. Spring is the time to interplant perennials, shrubs, roses and plant or transplant your annuals.

It’s time to shape up your soil, loosen the mulch around your plants and prune your early blooming shrubs. Rake and remove leaves and debris from your garden. Without a good planting medium your flower garden will never be at its best."

You'll find the entire article at Gardening and You - Spring Flower Gardening

Growing Kids and Gardens

When my son was young, I'd bring him into the garden with me. Yes, early on I had to watch just what creepy crawly thing went into his mouth (how to you keep a curious child from chasing the wasps anyway?), but it was a great way to spend time together and still get the gardening done.

This article talks about ways to get your child involved in gardening and how you as a parent can get involved with them. Worth the read!

2theadvocate.com | Features | Grow your garden, kids together

Don’t Let Your Garden Get the Better of You This Spring.

March 05, 2006
Don’t Let Your Garden Get the Better of You This Spring.

(PRLEAP.COM) With springtime approaching, thousands of us are now beginning to think about our gardens again for the first time since fall. For some, this is a feeling of joy, but for many unfortunately, it’s one of dread. Gardening after a hard week at work often seems to take second place to a round of golf or a favorite TV show.

However, according to Victor Pryles, a dedicated gardener of 30 years, there is a solution. He proposes a new approach called “Weekend Gardening”, where neither your social life nor your yard needs to suffer. Having honed and fine tuned his skills as a gardener he reckons he can save you the hours of back breaking hard labor that saps the pleasure out of gardening.

With a little planning and the correct choices of flowers, fruits and vegetables it is possible to create a backyard paradise which ultimately takes less time to maintain and costs less to create.

Ironically, it’s in this area that most of us do the opposite and allow our gardens to take over. Through poor design, labor intensive plant choices and the wrong tools we often, unwittingly create a garden monster that consistently becomes harder to manage as each year passes.

It seems that by his own trial and error and learning from the mistakes of others, Victor has come up with a gardening blueprint that does not discriminate in terms of age, ability or budget and yet still produces breath-taking results. Indeed, Kathy Wenger of freeplants.com recommends Victors’ system to anyone who is “gardening-challenged” or simply looking for an easier way to garden.

For more information on Victor Pryles’ unique approach to gardening, please visit http://tinyurl.com/zf672 where you can read a short preview which describes his system in more detail.