Supplies Needed to make you own self contained bubbler fountain:
(you should be able to find all these items at your local big box hardware store or on Amazon)
Submersible pump
clear vinyl tubing (whatever size goes with your pump)
1 small and one large waterproof pot w/ no drainage holes. (Plastic or the fake stone-looking pots)
something for the small pot to sit on (upside down pot, brick or a cinder block)
drill and bit
Several medium sized rocks
bag of pea gravel or small decorative river rock
clear waterproof silicone caulk/sealant
electrical supplies needed to splice the electrical cord
How to Make a Bubble Fountain in a Pot
It wasn’t easy putting instructions together since I didn’t get step by step photos of the project as it was happening, but the process is really simple. I’m certain you can get the idea of what to do from the diagram below.
Instructions for the DIY Bubble Fountain:
Step 1: Cutting and splicing the electrical cord
Step 2: Assembling the pots
Step 3: Making it pretty
Step 4: Go to Jamie’s web site for the exact instructions:
Knowing how to use color in the landscape is one of the most fundamental aspects of good garden design. Color sets the mood, dictates style, and lends cohesiveness. Using color properly can mean the difference between a show-worthy garden or a chaotic mess. By understanding the basics of color theory and how to use color in the garden, you can be well on the way to creating your own beautiful outdoor space.
COLOR THEORY BASICS
Color theory is the study of how colors work together and affect perception. It involves the color wheel, which shows the relationships between colors, and the concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Warm colors like red and yellow bring energy, while cool colors like blue and green create a sense of calm. Neutral colors like white and gray can be used as transitions or stand-alone schemes. Value and intensity also play a role, with lighter and darker shades creating contrast.
Understanding color theory helps in creating visually appealing compositions by utilizing color relationships and variations.
There are even color wheels made specifically for gardeners.
Photo by: picoStudio / Shutterstock.
INDIVIDUAL COLORS
Individual colors have their own symbolic meanings. Here is an insight to each color:
White is the most versatile in the landscape, cools us down on hot summer days, and sparkles in the dark October evenings.
Purple is the most requested flower color, associated with originality, uniqueness, and royalty. It’s also known to calm the mind.
Blue is restful and calm, the color of tranquility, and aids our concentration and intuition.
Red is the color of excitement, power, and luck, and projects an air of confidence.
Yellow helps us to feel cheerful and optimistic, enhances our mental processes and clarity of mind.
Orange is the hottest, most flamboyant color in the spectrum, shown to excite emotions and even increase appetite.
Green is the most restful color to our eyes, balances and alleviates anxiety, and is a neutral color in the landscape.
CHOOSING A COLOR SCHEME
Garden color schemes are influenced by many factors including climate, culture, regional style, and personal taste. Colors are used to celebrate the seasons, such as red, green, and white for winter, pastel hues for spring, warmer colors for summer. Traditional fall hues including orange, brown, yellow, and burgundy mimic the colors of the harvest and changing leaves.
When choosing a garden color palette, consider these factors:
Set the mood: Do you want your garden to feel calming or exciting? Use subdued color combinations of blue, lavender, and white for a quiet meditation space or energizing hot colors of red, orange, and yellow for social areas where you entertain guests.
Consider your surroundings: When choosing colors, take cues from the existing features on your property such as your house color, pathways, walls, furniture, and fencing. Is your yard surrounded by verdant woodlands, or is it a small urban lot or apartment balcony? How do you use your outdoor space? Select colors that will complement the setting.
Cold vs. hot: Cool colors are associated with the cooler season of spring and can also be used to refresh a shady oasis in the heat of summer. Hotter colors are less prone to washing out in the harsh summer sun. Use attention-grabbing colors such as red and orange judiciously, as a focal point or occasional splashes of color so as not to overwhelm the overall design.
Keep it simple: Choose no more than two or three main colors or a monochromatic color scheme. Using too many different colors can make the design feel cluttered or lacking cohesion. Other colors can be used sparingly for pops of contrast and to enhance the main colors.
Change it up: Color schemes can be varied for different parts of the yard such as garden rooms, beds, borders, containers, side yards, water gardens, and vegetable plots. To lend continuity, choose one color such as blue as the main color and vary the other colors around it from one area to another.
Create repetition: Use the same colors to pull your eye through the landscape and unify the design. Repeat those colors in garden beds, furnishings, hardscape, and structures.
Light: Observe how colors are affected by light during different seasons and times of the day. Use brighter colors such as gold, yellow, chartreuse, white, and silver to brighten up shady areas.
Include your favorite colors: Though this might seem obvious, using your favorite colors in your landscape will make you want to spend more time in your outdoor space.
Break the rules: Though the color wheel is a good starting point for using color in the garden, there are no hard and fast rules. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
And the Easiest Way to Calculate How Much Mulch Your Garden Needs
Adding a layer of mulch to your planting beds is the best thing you can do for your garden this year. Sure, you’ll get hot and weary long before you’re done with the chore. But mulch offers a huge payoff: beautiful beds, fewer weeds, and healthier plants. Here’s everything you need to know before pulling out all of those gardening tools and rolling up those sleeves (and putting on your garden shoes and gardening gloves!) and getting started.
From “How much mulch do I need?” to “What is mulch, anyway?”, we broke down everything you need to know about this soil covering. So, before you roll up your sleeves and get going with your gardening, consult our mulch calculator and other essential tips.
What Is Mulch and What Does It Do?
Mulch—material made up of bark, leaves, or compost and used to cover soil—isn’t only about making your yard look neat and attractive. “One of its big benefits is that it helps conserve moisture in the soil by acting as a barrier to evaporation,” says John Esslinger, horticulture educator at Penn State Extension. “It also reduces the number of weeds and improves organic matter in soil, making your beds more productive over time.”
So, where should you mulch? Everywhere! Beds of annual or perennial plants, flowering shrubs, veggie gardens, and even containers benefit from mulch, which keeps the roots of new plantings moist as they’re getting established. And mulch protects tree trunks from string trimmers or mowers; just don’t mound it up directly against the trunk into a “mulch volcano.” That invites moisture and decay. “The organisms that break down mulch start working on the bark, too,” says Esslinger.
How Much Mulch Do I Need?
A 2″ depth of organic mulch is ideal to retain moisture and keep down weeds, says Esslinger. But don’t go overboard: This is one time when more is not necessarily better. Plant roots need air to survive, and too deep a layer can suffocate roots and cause water to shed off the top of mulch instead of filtering through and soaking into the soil below.
The maximum depth you should apply depends on the type: Finely textured mulch, like shredded hardwood, shouldn’t be more than 3″ deep. Coarse textures, such as pine bark nuggets, allow more air movement so you can go up to 4″ deep.
First, figure out the square footage of your bed. Multiply width by length for square or rectangular beds—or for round beds, multiply the radius (distance from the middle to the edge of the bed) by itself, and then multiple that total by 3.14.
Keep in mind that mulch is sold by the cubic yard. One cubic yard of the material covers a 324-square-foot area an inch deep. So, to determine your total, multiply your square footage by the depth in inches desired, then divide by 324.
Here’s your formula: Square footage x desired depth / 324 = cubic yards needed.
Here is another way:
Work out the size of the garden bed you want to cover and multiply this by the depth you need.
Say your garden bed is about 3metres wide by 3metres long, then you multiply 3×3 and know you have 9 square metres to cover.
Next comes the depth. If you want mulch that is, say, 10cm (or 0.1metres) deep then you multiply the size of the garden bed by 0.1m.
For your 3×3 bed, that means 3x3x0.1 = 0.9metres, which is just under a cubic meter.
Another way to picture a square meter is to remember it is about 10 good-sized wheelbarrows full.
Organic mulch means any type of natural substance that decomposes over time such as bark, wood chips, or pine needles. Straw is ideal for vegetable gardens. Replace mulch as needed, which is usually annually for fine or shredded types or every two to three years for coarser types like bark chips. Color is a personal preference.
Not all mulch is created equally. Avoid getting mulch from places such as your municipality’s transfer station, where yard waste is ground up and offered free to residents. For starters, you have no idea what’s in there. It may contain wood chips that are detrimental to other plants (for example, walnut trees contain a natural chemical that can inhibit growth). It also may include weed seeds and grass clippings that have been treated with herbicides. Stick with bagged or bulk product purchased from home improvement stores or nurseries.
With expert advice and care tips from a couple of plant pros, we’ve ID’d 15 pretty plants that will thrive in even the least plant-friendly spaces.
Pro Pick: Ajuga
Best for: Shady Backyards
If your backyard doesn’t get much sun throughout the day, it can be tough to find attractive plants that will thrive in the shadows. To find the best shade-loving plants around, we asked Justin Hancock, a horticulturist at Costa Farms, for the company’s top picks. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Costa Farms supplies houseplants and garden plants to retailers and garden centers across the country, so the team is well-versed in selecting plants that will survive in real backyards.
ajuga. “This weed-smothering groundcover is a great pick if you’re looking to add color and decrease maintenance in shaded areas of your backyard. It offers adorable spikes of blue-purple flowers in spring, then a mat of dense foliage the rest of the gardening season,” Hancock says. To up the visual interest, look for variegated selections, such as “Burgundy Glow,” which has shades of pink and silver in its leaves. Plus, ajuga comes back every year, so you can plant it once and enjoy it for years to come.
Pro Pick: Caladium
Best for: Shady Backyards
“Bring a touch of the tropics to your shaded backyard with the big, beautiful leaves of caladium,” Hancock recommends. This plant’s arrowhead-shaped leaves are readily found in shades of red, pink, and white, so you can coordinate this pick with the other plants in your garden. Costa Farm’s favorite hue? “The white varieties are particularly fun in shade because they seem to glow, especially at dusk,” Hancock says. You can treat caladium as an annual and leave it in the ground throughout the year, or you can dig it up and store it in a cool place for the winter.
Pro Pick: Persian Shield
Best for: Shady Backyards
If you’re searching for a failproof plant that can thrive in the north or the south, in sun or in shade, in a garden bed or in a container garden, then the Persian shield is for you. This colorful, leafy plant is more than just durable, it’s also a true standout in the garden. “We adore this tropical plant’s metallic-purple foliage—it definitely makes a statement on its own or paired with other plants,” Hancock says. Treat this tropical plant as an annual, or if you’re adventurous, Hancock recommends bringing it indoors in the winter and keeping it in a bright spot.
Here are some amazing facts about my favorite bird, the hummingbird. Due to arrive in my backyard in mid to late May.
Ruby-throated hummingbird
1. If you think the same hummingbirds come to your feeders and flowers every year, you might be right! Banding research shows they are likely to return to the area where they hatched.
Rufous hummingbird
3. Rufous hummingbirds migrate farther than any other North American species. They travel 4,000 miles from Mexico to Alaska every spring.
Anna’s hummingbird
4. The average nest is about the size of a half-dollar coin. The eggs inside the tiny structure look like mini white JELLYBEANS.
Mind the gap! Amateur Gardening reveals five reliable pick-me-ups to bridge the gaps in your August garden, taking you from high summer into autumn…
Fill that flowerless hole in the border with something that’s going to keep the colour coming right through to autumn. You should be able to pick these plants up from garden centres, or see individual suppliers listed.
1. CAPE DAISIES
Sunlight is vital to the performance of osteospermum. They’ll survive most winters as long as you can ensure they’re grown in gritty, free-draining soil. These low growers are best at the front of borders.
Recommended varieties: ‘Buttermilk’, ‘Hopleys’, ‘Falling Stars’.
2.RUDBECKIA
Black-eyed Susan doesn’t do much until late summer, so either add individual plants to borders or plant in containers that can be moved into key positions at the right time. Plants tolerate some shade and hate drying out. Divide perennials in late autumn or spring.
Recommended varieties: ‘Indian Summer’ (annual), ‘Herbstonne’ (perennial) ‘Goldsturm’ (perennial)
3.DAHLIAS
Leave in their pots and plunge into the border, planting singly or in threes. Tall plants may need support from carefully placed bamboo canes. Deadhead regularly. Lift plants before the frosts strike, storing the tubers somewhere dark and dry for the winter.
Recommended varieties: ‘Blackberry Ripple’, ‘Bishop of Llandaff’, ‘Jescot Julie’, ‘Marston Velvet’
4.NANDINA
The heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) is really quite special. The species has the most attractive leaves, but bear in mind that it’ll reach 5ft (1.5m) after 10 years. Nandina prefers a sheltered spot in full sun and may need some protection in hard winters.
5.CANNAS
Like dahlias, cannas need to be lifted before the first frosts, or the fleshy stems stand no chance of surviving. However, cannas are best treated as annuals as their performance wanes after the first year. They need rich, moist soil – water well during dry spells.
Recommended: ‘Alaska’ (white), ‘Brilliant’ (red), ‘Lenape’ red spots on yellow, ‘Lucifer’ (yellow-edged red)
The beauty of yellow flowers is that there are so many different shades, ranging from the more mellow to the downright vibrant. While the color is often a bit softer and more inviting than, say. orange or red, it still manages to pack a bold punch. Read on for our top picks for the prettiest plants (perennial or annual!) with yellow flowers to add to your garden this season.
Dahlia
Dahlias come in a host of different colors, and while they don’t love long, hot summers, they do like full sun and well draining soil in more moderate climates.
Hollyhock
These full-sun lovers can grow up to 7 feet tall—so they’re great for to plant along a fence. Not only will they add a splash of color to your garden, they also have a lovely scent, which will attract bees and butterflies!
Daffodil
Cheerful and trumpet-like, the daffodil signals spring’s arrival.
Graham Thomas Rose
With its sweet scent and buttery hue, the Graham Thomas Rose is one of the most widely grown yellow roses.
You may have heard that you should wait to plant outside in spring until your region is free of frost. Here’s when you can expect that to happen so you can be ready to get gardening ASAP.
It seems that when the minutes of daylight start to increase in winter, so does the yearning to get outside in the garden again. But don’t let a couple of warm days in early spring fool you into setting out your homegrown seedlings or new plant babies from the garden center too soon; a cold snap could wither them overnight. That’s why you’ll often come across the advice to wait until after your last frost date to add any new plants to your yard. So when is that, exactly? The short answer is: It depends. But you can get a pretty good idea of when it will be based on when that date has occurred in past years in your region. Plus, you can plant certain vegetables and flowers outside even before the last frost. Here’s what you need to know about your last frost-free date so you can avoid any frozen plants.
Average Frost Dates
A “frost” date really means when temperatures fall to 32°F or lower, which is cold enough to damage leaves or kill tender plants. The “growing season” is essentially the time between when the last freeze happens in spring and the first-time temps get to freezing later in the year, known as the first fall frost date. Those events don’t happen on the exact same days each year, of course, but you can get a pretty good idea of the time frame based on the average dates they have occurred in the past.
Courtesy of NOAA
To figure out when you’ll likely see the last of ice this winter, take a glance at the map above. It’s compiled from 30 years of weather data collected by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. For example, if you live in southern Illinois, you’ll probably be able to plant outside during the first part of April, but if you’re farther north in Illinois, you should wait till the second half of the month to be safe. You can also get the map information personalized for your Zip code through the National Gardening Association’s online database.
With these guidelines, you’ll have a window for planting outside. However, spring weather can often shift quickly, so make your local weather forecasters your BFFs. They’ll warn you about any sudden temperature drops coming your way. If that happens, make sure to bring in any tender plants in containers, or you can cover newly planted veggies or annuals with an old cotton sheet until the weather warms again.
What You Can Plant Outside Before the Last Frost Date
While you’re impatiently waiting to get your tomato seedlings in the ground, go ahead and start growing cool-season vegetables and flowers. These unsung heroes of the garden are cold-hardy crops you can grow as the temperatures are still chilly in spring. You can plant them again in late summer for fall color and harvests.
As long as your soil has thawed out enough to dig in, you can sow most cool-season vegetables right in the garden rather than starting them indoors first. These include all those leafy greens you know you should eat, like Swiss chard, kale, spinach, and pak choi. Radishes also grow quickly in spring and can tolerate frost well. Certain annual flowers like pansies and snapdragons that often appear at garden centers very early in the spring also can take some freezing temperatures and keep on blooming.
Bare-root trees (especially fruit trees hardy in your area) can be planted before your last frost date, too. Because they haven’t started to actively grow new leaves yet, they won’t be harmed by a little below-freezing weather.
Are you excited to start gardening this spring? We can’t wait! With more time spent at home, we’re looking forward to stepping up our gardening game by working on some new projects. Whether you’re brand new to the gardening world or have been a pro for years, we’ve got you covered with gardening ideas that will make your beds bloom.
Verbena
Photo by L. Alfonse Getty Images
Known for its stress relieving essential oils, verbena is a beautiful hanging plant that comes in over 250 different varieties. This butterfly-attracting plant demands lots of sun (8-10 hours per day) and a well-draining soil. Zones: 5-11
Lobelia
Photo by Getty Images
Lobelia comes in incredibly intense blue colors, which are a bit of a rarity in the plant world. You can also grow them in cooler climates and in the shade. Zones: 6-9
Hanging Fuchsia
Know that fuchsias don’t bode well in hot climates, but many consider them the best hanging plants for summer and hummingbirds. They do wonderfully along the coast or in cool areas. Zones: 8-10
I’ve never been a rose fan, but I have to admit that Knock Out® series roses are practically perfect plants. The blooms of these shrubs, which are 2 to 4 feet tall and wide, keep coming from midspring until well into fall. In Zones 6 and warmer, they can bloom well into December, which means they contribute to the garden nearly nine months of the year. Knock Out® roses require no pruning to rebloom and are disease and pest resistant, so their value is assured. The new stems and leaves are purple, especially on the red-flowered cultivar ‘Radrazz’.
Name: Knock Out® series roses (Rosa Knock Out®) Zones: 5 to 9 Conditions: Full sun to light shade; well-drained soil Seasonal bonus: The shrub keeps on blooming often throughout fall and into winter.
Article by Lynden Miller Fine Gardening
Rosa Knock Out® Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Lauren Byrne
