Posts tagged cool garden things
If You Don’t Have This For Your Garden, You Are Not Cool!
Jul 12th
“He had a choice – he could vanish from Earth into Nirvana and become absorbed by the universe, or he could stay to teach others how to achieve enlightenment. He was doubtful that his insight and state of consciousness could be taught, but in the end he decided to stay and teach.”
– The story of the Buddha
Let the meditating animals statue series bring a little Nirvana to your home or garden. These eight unique animal statues come in styles to suit any animal lover’s dream.
Each piece has a Chinese character etched into its back relating to the respective animal. Take for example the meditating cat with its Independence etching. Telling a cat what to do is not really a productive process: Felines pretty much do what they want. The meditating squirrel is imbued with the etching for cleverness, appropriate seeing as they always manage to get into the birdfeeder no matter what you do to stop them!
Finally a squirrel that won’t wreak havoc on your yard, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Have a pond, but feel as though it’s missing something? The meditating frog will be right at home at the edge of the water, surrounded by lily pads and cattails.
Every statue is available in four colors (antique, classic, old stone, and Sedona) so they can complement any existing garden décor or match your mantelpiece. Trends in statues come and go, but these wonderful stone pieces are no plastic flamingoes.
The meditating animals are high quality art pieces that will stand the test of time, socially and physically. Trust us; we know a great deal about cool garden things!
Choose your favorite and before you know it you’ll be starting a collection of these totally cool garden things. Meditating animals are avaliable and shipping now from coolgardenthings.com
No Poison Garden Pest Control
Feb 9th
Stop-look-and listen-and plan ahead for pests in the garden. Winter is a good time to think about this because you have time to do some research and plan your strategy. With some garden research you can avoid using harsh “bad for everything” pesticides.
Being unprepared with your pest contol plan can lead to the unhealthy use of speedy chemical fixes. Take some time now to think about how you want to handle your pest management this summer so you don’t have to worry about it when you should be relaxing in your garden.
No garden wants to have slugs in it. Slugs are icky and sticky and make ugly ragged holes in all your hostas and other plants. Yuck. Before you break out the most deadly of slug pellets which will also kill all the snakes, toads and little bird feedingcreatures you can try some other things. Turn some pots over in your garden, let the slugs crawl in during the day, pick them out and kill them before they crawl back into your garden at night. Throw bundles of newspaper in your garden and then pick them up during the day and throw them away. Slugs crawl in but don’t crawl out of soda cans filled with a slurry of beer, water and yeast. Supposedly you can put coffee grinds around the base of plants to help keep slugs at bay. Alternative slug control methods are better for your garden than toxic pellets you buy at the store.
Japanese beetle, black vine weevil, fleas and cucumber beetles are some more unwelcome guests in your plants. Japanese beetles love to feast on yellow flowers…when choosing colors for your garden, keep this in mind. Blame Black Vine Weevil Beetle for jagged leaf cuts on your rhodos, and Cucumber Beetles make polka dots on your daisies.
You may prefer to apply toxic pesticides to kill these beetles and slugs, or you may prefer earth smart choices such as beneficial nematodes. Nematodes are microscopic worms that you can mix with water and pour or spray on your landscape. Spray or pour nematodes around your garden in the evening or on a cloudy day as sunlight will cause them to parish. Beneficial nematodes will go after pesky grubs and eat them from the inside out. They pose no harm to your family but are an effective weapon against grubs.Apply the beneficial nematodes in fall and spring. They seem perhaps more expensive initially but pay themselves off in one or two years because you no longer need expensive chemicals. Use beneficial nematodes on your lawnscape for the control of grub problems. Nematodes are healthy medicine for your garden.
Aphids will suck the life right out of your roses. Blast them with a strong stream of water a couple of times. You can spray them with a spray bottle filled with soapy water and vegetable oil. Try predatory lady bugs and praying mantis but they are iffy workers and don’t always show up when you need them the most.
Mosquitos are an unwelcome guest in the garden! Citronella is a natural oil that repels mosquitos in the garden. Firepotsfilled withcitronella fuel gelare a key defense against these invasive and unwelcome garden pests!
If you plan ahead you can put these safe pest control applications to work for you in your garden and feel good knowing you are not poisoning the planet’s already overstressed ecosystems. While these measures may not kill every pest in your landscape you can rest with the knowledge that you are doing your best to create a balanced environment. You help the planet and all the good creatures on it when you choose alternative pest management. Stop and think before you apply pesticides to your garden.
Hey Your Boxwoods Called – You Got More Mulch?
Dec 8th
Boxwood’s are a great contribution to a formal garden landscape. Use your imagination because these bushes can be crafted into any shape. They are fabulous in the northern cold climates keeping green and lively year round. Boxwood’s do require a certain amount of care and maintenance. If you follow my simple steps, you’ll most likely be able to keep your boxwoods in perfect condition throughout each season:
1. Stear clear of irregular mixing of your boxwood bushes. If you have an existing boxwood hedge it is entirely possible that you will have trouble finding the exact match to what is already there. In that case look for something that has a similar leaf. Boxes come in many different colors of green-so definitely look at what you have and what the nursery has and make some choices based on what will look good together. Alternatively you’ll wind up with assortment of rapid growth and slow growth boxes with some being a lime green and others being darker green giving you a undesirable end result!
2. When building a new hedge or landscape, do some research to find a good boxwood for your region. You will be better off if you can get a nice boxwood that is healthy, hearty and vivacious. For example, Korean Boxwood is a variety that grows quickly,and is disease resistant in northern climates.
3. The third thing to discuss here is getting about a half of a cup (per plant) of nice acidic (organic please) fertilizer that has peat, compost, dehydrated manuer and some of that special evergreen food and get it all around the bases of your boxwoods. You are going to want to maintain good root coverage, so make note to replace good dirt.
4. Just because the boxwood is mostly obvious when it comes to pruning dosen’t mean that a tips aren’t necessary. Always be sure to let new spring growth harden off before you have your boxes first hair cut of the year and never prune them late in the fall. Simply put, in don’t want to have all dead and brown patches in the spring, just don’t do your pruning in the fall. People love to see beautiful bright green boxwoods in the winter and will really frown down on the dead brown. Better they be a little shaggy than dead looking.
5. Boxwood’s have a shallow root system and because of that they can dry out quickly. So always remember to mulch your boxwood’s. Doing so guards the root system and maintains a moisture retention. On the other hand, you could wind up killing your box’s by rotting out the bark if you over do it with the mulch. Everything considered, discipline and moderation are even necessary when in the garden.
6.Be on the look out for fungal diseases on your boxes. Generally quite strong and capable, even boxwoods have been know to ocassionaly be overrun by plant illness. If you think that what you have is more than winter damage you will need to research boxwood’s and disease. Majority of the shrub diseases that are common can be fixed using sprays. Don’t go throwing a bunch of toxins around before you have throughly analyzed the issues. When all else seems hopeless, simply replace the shrub that is having problems right away. One plant is inexpensive to replace, an entire hedge gets really expensive.
Good luck and enjoy the lush evergreen of your boxes in your formal or not so formal landscape-they are always a great shrub choice for any garden.
To find a wide seleciton of home and garden decor to accent your landscapes, be sure to check out Cool Garden Things with their decorative recycled glass hummingbird feeders and ceramic gel fuel firepots.
