Lawn and garden season is once again rapidly approaching us. Ah, the great outdoors where once again our children will frolic on our lawns, there will be croquet games and badminton, and lush green lawns to manicure. But it all comes with a down side. Studies have shown that Americans apply approximately 70 MILLION pounds of pesticides to their landscapes, lawns and gardens each year!
A native plant of North America, Golden ragwort is an easily grown garden plant with large clusters of yellow flowers that brighten shady areas of the spring garden. This species is very widely distributed in the eastern North America in USDA hardiness zones 3 – 9. Habitats include wet deciduous woods, meadows, banks of rivers, streams and lakes, slopes of rocky ravines, and roadsides.
If you’re like me, and I’m quite sure you are, then your thoughts are drifting in the direction of this year’s vegetable garden and flower beds, and with Spring just around the corner this is the time to order and start your seeds. It also gives you time to consider last season’s successes and setbacks. Planning is key in developing organic systems.
Cynoglossum virginianum, also known as the wild comfrey, is a plant native to North America. It is also sometimes called the blue houndstongue. The drooping, tubular, pink flowers of Common Comfrey are a familiar sight to many gardeners. Sometimes considered a 'weed', this hairy plant can be used as an organic fertilizer and a form of slug control.
Each year, somewhere around 25–30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States, mostly from a selection of about 16 species of tree that we commonly know as a “Christmas Tree.” Decorated with lights and ornaments, they serve as beautiful backdrops for family photos, and serve as a resting place under which we put gifts for our loved ones...
One of the most popular trees decorated at Christmas time is the Eastern Pine. The Eastern White Pine is the state tree of Maine and Michigan. The tree is called the “peace tree” because it symbolizes the great peace that years ago united the warring tribes of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca into one.
The Blossoming Health and Academic Benefits of School Gardens - When in the garden, children who normally would not speak or raise their hand are now engaging in a lesson without being prompted. And the effects seem to last after they leave the garden. The students are scoring better on standardized tests and are just more excited in general about school.