PlantsGalore.Com

Hardscapes in the Garden

An easy definition of hardscape is anything in the garden that is not currently alive. Paths, decks, arbors, statuary, pots, containers, gates, fences and outdoor buildings all fall into this category. These features add to the overall theme and impact of the garden. Some people emphasize the hardscape more than the plant material which is just fine too.

There are a few basic rules or guidelines that will help make your use of hardscape much more pleasing. One of these is that the materials you use should agree with your overall landscape plan. If you have a formal garden, try to use formal hardscape elements. One way to define formal is that it exhibits more human influence than natural influence. Items that have a high level of "finish" such as enamel paints or polished granite or other stone would be considered formal. Finials with fancy curly details and paths with very straight, hard edged lines would also fit into this category.

Informal gardens should feature hardscape elements that are "closer to the land." Earth tone colors fit best in this type of environment. Stone products with a low level of finish and rounded edges fall into this category. The closer the element is to its natural origins, the more informal it tends to be in the landscape.

More later...

A little business...

Want an affordable website for your garden club or plant related group, public garden, arboreta or conservatory or garden business?  PlantsGalore.Com may have one just right for you. We specialize in low cost, easy to use websites for all kinds of horticulturally related organizations. We can make a site for you for as little as $50.00 per year. Advanced options include posting your newsletters and brochures for workshops or programs open to the public. Save on ever increasing. printing and posting charges. Interested? Click here to take a look at what we have available and see some sample websites.

Cold Weather and Landscape Plants

   Brrrrrrr! Here in the upper Midwest, it is bone chilling cold! Fortunately, we humans can move indoors as we please but those poor plants are stuck outside. Fortunately for them, they have been able to adapt to the cold over the past few million years.

Perhaps the basic adaptation to the cold weather has been for deciduous trees to drop their leaves in the fall. In response to shorter day lengths, plants produce a hormone called abscisic acid which helps them to form an abscission layer at the bottom of the petiole or leaf stem. That effectively closes off the connection and allows the leaf to drop off without any loss of sap from the tree. Pretty sharp since the leaves are tender and would never survive the cold of the winter.

Way back in your last biology class, you probably learned that one thing that distinguishes plant cells from animal cells is that plants have rigid cell walls while in the animal, the walls are more flexible. Thus, if the contents of a plant cell freeze and expand enough, the cell wall will burst and that is it for that cell. If enough cells burst, the tissue and the related organ i.e. roots, stems, leaves, flowers, will die.

To counteract this, many trees and other woody plants have developed a way to allow their cells to dry out a little in the autumn. By reducing the amount of water in the cell, they also increase the concentration of salts and other chemicals in the cell. Just like adding a teaspoon of salt to a glass of water, this results in a lower freezing point. It is the same as adding anti-freeze to your car radiator. Neat little trick.

More later.

A little business...

Want an affordable website for your garden club or plant related group, public garden, arboreta or conservatory or garden business?  PlantsGalore.Com may have one just right for you. We specialize in low cost, easy to use websites for all kinds of horticulturally related organizations. We can make a site for you for as little as $50.00 per year. Advanced options include posting your newsletters and brochures for workshops or programs open to the public. Save on ever increasing. printing and posting charges. Interested? Click here to take a look at what we have available and see some sample websites.

Hello to the Blogosphere and to all Gardeners and Plant People

Hello,

I am brand new to the blogging world but not new to the plant world. I have been working with homeowners and plants people for a long time. I also enjoy working on websites and databases so I have decided to branch out into the cybergarden too.

My website is PlantsGalore.Com which I have been adding information to for about a decade. Every time I look at it, I see something I would like to change in the content or in the design and...well, it becomes a never ending project...just like a garden.

Horticulture and gardening is both my vocation and avocation. I love shade gardening and have had as many as 400 or so cultivars of hosta in my landscape over the years. Ponds are another area of high interest for me.

I have traveled extensively around Europe, Canada and the United States and have visited many, many fine gardens. I have documented most of these visits at Gardens of the World from PlantsGalore.Com.

As I have wandered around the Web, I have noticed that a lot of smaller garden groups and plant societies and some public gardens and arboreta do not yet have their own websites. This is a shame since the Web is a wonderful way to communicate with your members or visitors. I want to help these types of groups get an easy and affordable entre to the Web by offering affordable, low priced websites for garden clubs, plant societies, small public gardens and arboreta, local garden stores, etc. If you might be interested, check us out.

More later,

Mr PGC