Gardening Around the World: The Top Ten Gardens to Visit – Part 2!

Gardening Around the World: The Top Ten Gardens to Visit – Part 2! by Floral and Hardy

Continuing, as promised, from last week’s article which began this title race for, what could be considered, ‘the greatest garden design standing’, we now have for you numbers 6-10 of the premier league of horticulture. As with the first section, our aim has been to maintain the standard of excellence set by the likes of Chateau de Versailles, whilst also providing the most eclectic list possible, based on cultural difference and individuality.

Singapore Botanic Gardens (Singapore)

Probably the most high maintenance project amid our reviews, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, support one of the largest cultured collections of Orchid on the planet. Divided into three sections with each one allocated a different task within a comparatively small area (128 acres), the first of these is known as the ‘Tanglin Core’ and is centred around heritage and entertainment - as epitomised by the presence of many an ancient statue and a seasonal bandstand. The ‘Bukit Timah Core’ specializes in education and recreational activities, however, it is the ‘Centre Core’ that really assumes the jewel in the gardens’ crown. This is where the Orchid beds are situated and continue to house over 60,000 species of the notoriously difficult to cultivate flower.

Sanssouci Park (Germany)

Originally built as a decorative piece to accompany Emperor Frederick the Great of Prussia’s palace in Postdam, Sanssouci Park is considered one of Versailles great rivals in the European horticultural arena. While it cannot compete in terms of size, nor grandeur, Sanssouci’s grounds are no less ornate. After the palace was completed, and its immediate grounds terraced and planted, sights were set on the park which was converted into a baroque flower garden complete with lawns, flowers and hedgerows.

Taj Mahal (India)

Easily the most recognizable site on our list, the Taj Mahal Gardens were a technical miracle of their time, employing the Mughal garden style which was the standard of its locale, there is a central column of water that stretches from the tomb to the plinth, however, the construction is so precise as to reflect the palace across the surface of the water. The aforementioned Mughal style bears some resemblance to its European counter parts with the strict discipline of geometry that it adheres to, particularly where the shapes and dimensions of its numerous flowerbeds are concerned.

Butchart, British Columbia (Canada)

The site of Butchart began its life as a commercial quarry near the turn of the century, however, once the limestone had been exhausted, the owner of Portland Cement’s wife transformed the pit into a huge flower garden with different areas devoted to different disciplines. Today the gardens 22 acres and some 700 varying species attract a cool million visitors per year. However, these figures cannot be attributed solely to the horticulture, but also to the majestic light displays that occur that far north of Kansas.

Sigiriya (Sri Lanka)

Sigiriya could be argued to be the oldest surviving garden on earth, with some historians dating its construction as early as the fifth century A.D., and, as such, has long held the title of a World Heritage Site, with impunity to future development or demolition. Aside from the breath taking scope, rich and lengthy heritage, or the history that one of many tour guides will be happy to impart, Sigiriya also boasts some of the most beautiful sculpture work of the last two thousand years. Gigantic animals paws straddle either side of a majestic stone stairway, each only comprised of three digits a fact that only heightens the mysterious ‘lost world’ quality that your surroundings will evoke.

…And a bonus!

Hanging Gardens (Babylon/Iraq)

Obviously we couldn’t really include this garden on our list as it is no longer possible to visit, however, being the only one to have the title of world wonder, it does deserve at least an honourable mention. Estimated to have been constructed around 590 BC, the gardens were an on-going project of the city-state of Babylon, reported to have employed then futuristic irrigation methods that by modern calculation would have required a minimum of 8000 gallons a day to maintain. King Nebuchadnezzar II was also purported to have used leviathan slabs of stone as the gardens foundation to prevent the water from eroding the ground.

And so ends our list of the Top 10 Gardens to visit, if this piece should impart anything it is this: horticulture is a practice as old as the plants themselves, and such a wide expanse of our history and our relationship to nature should be treated with the same respect as any art form, and sought out just as rigorously.

Written by Joshua Ellison of Floral & Hardy Gardens, specialists for Garden Design Esher

Article Source: Gardening Around the World: The Top Ten Gardens to Visit – Part 2!

Are You a Senior Interested In Gardening?

Gardening for Seniors by Yardshare.com

Ask gardeners in their golden years why they still garden, and you’ll probably receive a variety of answers.

“I love it, and it keeps me going.”
“It gives me something to get up for each day.”
“My garden is my pride and joy; it’s been with me for many years, and I intend to give it loving and tender care as long as I can.”
“My garden warms my heart. It gives me pleasure and serenity”
“You’re never too old to garden. Gardening has added years to my life.”
Those are just a few remarks you might hear from these active seniors, these dedicated gardeners. But some of them are also quick to add, “I can’t do as much as I used to do. I’ve had to slow down, but I’m not giving up.”

Gardening is a healthy, stimulating physical activity that, with some consideration for ways to lessen the load, to continue gardening with a little less effort than we put forth in our earlier years, can be enjoyed on into our eighties and nineties. Here are a few suggestions and ideas to help you keep enjoying the fun of gardening as a senior gardener.

Benefits of Gardening in our Senior Years
Let’s first look at the benefits of gardening, the reasons why you should keep on, keeping on.

• It is a most enjoyable form of exercise that can increase levels of physical activity and help to keep you mobile and flexible.
• It continues to improve our endurance and strength.
• It can help to prevent diseases like osteoporosis.
• Reduces stress and promotes relaxation.
• Provides a sense of a job well done, an accomplishment.
• Provides a background for enjoying nature and the outdoors.
• Gives nourishment to our souls as well as our stomachs (as in edible gardens).

Customizing Your Garden for Your Senior Years
The garden you tended in the past may prove to be too daunting today. You may want to rethink your garden space and plan for a smaller, more selective garden. How much time do you want to devote to caring for your garden? How much physical exertion can you do without risking the pleasure of gardening? If you’re creating an edible garden, forget about the neighbors and grow only those plants that provide you with food you really like and grow just enough for you. Forget those extra vegetables that will need to be canned or frozen.

Consider gardening in raised beds or containers. A sunlit porch or an open deck makes a great “garden plot,” with rows of deep containers that are easy to weed, water and care for.

Adaptive Tools
There’s a new word in the gardening vocabulary; it’s ergonomics, which is derived from the Greek words ergon (work) and nomos (study of work). Thus, ratchet action pruners, adjustable rakes that offer back relief, garden kneeler seats and lightweight carts can be purchased at garden centers or ordered on the internet. These newly designed tools offer much-needed assistance in performing gardening chores.

Keeping Safe While Gardening
Here are a few suggestions for keeping safe and accident free in the garden:

• Warm up by walking and stretching a bit before beginning to garden.
• Prevent sun exposure by working in the garden early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
• Wear a hat and sunscreen.
• Have water or juice available to quench thirst and stay hydrated.
• Rest often; take small breaks to sit in the shade.
• Use power tools with caution
• Make sure your garden paths are free of obstructions and that they are flat and not slippery.
• Tend to cuts or insect bites immediately.
• Don’t touch your eyes or face after handling garden soil; wash your hands as soon as possible.

Some Final Words of Special Consideration
Some physical, mental and age-related conditions should be considered when older people work in the garden.

• Your skin becomes more fragile as you age, and thinning skin is more susceptible to injury from bumps, bruises, cuts and sunburn.
• Your vision is changing, and the loss of peripheral vision and diminishing eyesight can restrict some activities.
• Your thought process and memory abilities may be affected by the aging process.
• As you age, you are more susceptible to temperature changes. Be careful of dehydration or heat exhaustion.
• Your balance is often not as good as when you were younger, and falls can be more damaging to the aging body.

Don’t let the aging process stop you from gardening. Just be selective in how you garden and how much you garden. Keep enjoying the beauty of the outdoors and the special smells and sights of your garden. After all, retirement is for doing what you love.

YardShare is an online community for homeowners, professionals and amateurs alike to find creative landscaping ideas including front yard landscaping ideas and DIY tips. You can also find creative ideas with landscaping pictures for landscape design, garden design and yard projects. We encourage people to share their gardening and landscaping creations with a virtual community of likeminded people.

Article Source: Gardening for Seniors

Simple Ways You Can Have a Wonderful Garden Area

Simple Ways You Can Have a Wonderful Garden Area by Cedric Loiselle

Having a beautiful garden is something that every homeowner dreams of. A well arranged and landscaped garden can definitely add to the aesthetic appeal of a residence. Not only that, the garden area is generally considered as a place to relax, spend quality time with friends and family, and to simply enjoy the beauty of nature. With all that said, it makes a lot of sense for you to find ways you can create an attractive and heavenly garden area. Below are some tips you can use if you are to start designing your own garden.

Design Tips

- Plan the kinds and sizes of plants you are to place in your garden. Ideally, you would want a plant that is tall enough to become the focal point of the garden. Around this plant, you can then put some medium height ones and then a couple of trailing plants on the edge. This way, your garden will not look disorganized and will have a sense of harmony in it.

- Take note of the bloom times of your plants. Make sure that you will include different summer, spring and fall bloomers in the mix. Be creative also and try to mix different colors of blooms into your garden.

- Consider having a natural stone garden pond. One of the classic garden design ideas is the creation of ponds, waterfalls, steppers, and wall stones. There are many types and colors of stones you can choose from for your garden. Your choice will depend on the size you want and the atmosphere you want to create.

Maintenance Tips

- To deter weeds and conserve water, you should mulch the garden. Of course, there will be weeds appearing in it, but they will surely be much easier to pull and get rid of if your garden soil is mulched properly.

- Remove dying and dead blooms every once in a while. Keep in mind that whatever flowering plants you have, they perform best when they are free from dying and dead blooms. Deadheading them really helps them produce more blooms. And of course, your garden will look much better and well cared for if you do this regularly.

- See to it that there are drainage holes in your planters. If you are using containers or pots, make sure they have holes to prevent the soil from retaining water for a long time. It is also important for your garden area to have an appropriate drainage system. You can use natural stones also as pavements or drainage path just to be sure too much water doesn’t stay in the plant bed for too long.

If you happen to be a beginner in planting or gardening, it would seem really complicated to get started with designing your garden. While there are many things you should take into account in undertaking this project, you may also get a lot of help from the internet. All you need to do is visit a couple of gardening sites to access valuable information from the experts.

For more information about natural stone and natural stones visit our website msistone.com.

Article Source: Simple Ways You Can Have a Wonderful Garden Area

Getting Your Garden Ready

Getting your garden ready for spring by Paul Ellison

The tail end of winter is the perfect time to prepare your garden for spring. Getting a head start on time consuming chores, such as weeding, preparing soil for planting and propagating new plants, improves the success of your spring and summer garden. Dealing with weeds as soon as they appear, preparing soil for planting and propagating seeds indoors before planting outside, ensures your garden will be well prepared for a beautiful and bountiful spring and summer.

Dealing with weeds

Technically, a weed is just a plant which is growing where it is not wanted! Generally weeds are hardy plants, once they are settled, getting rid of them can be a challenge. Weeds are usually classified as annual or perennial; annual weeds grow from seed each year and complete their life cycle in one season, sometimes flowering and spreading seed when they are less than an inch high . Keep a vigilant check on new growth within your garden, carefully dig out weed seedlings as soon as possible to prevent damage to emerging flower or vegetable seedlings. Perennial weeds can last for several seasons and are likely to have extensive root systems , potentially covering huge areas beneath your lawn and sending shoots up across your garden.

Getting rid of annual weeds is theoretically straightforward, as they do not have widespread root systems, they can generally be pulled or cautiously dug out of the ground. The difficulty with annual weeds is that they can go to seed very early; if you notice that an annual weed is flowering, it’s likely that seed has already been spread . The seeds of annual weeds can lay dormant beneath the soil for many years, growing once the soil is disturbed, thereby exposing the seeds to light and water . This is why these weeds are likely to spring up in recently prepared flower beds or vegetable patches.

The broad root systems of perennial weeds can make them a challenging pest. As the roots are so extensive, simply pulling the weed out of the ground or attempting to dig it out is not guaranteed to solve the problem. Any root remaining beneath the ground can continue to grow, further spreading the weed across your garden. Perennial weeds can be eradicated in a number of ways, but a combination of methods is likely to yield the best results:

Weed killer
If you don’t mind using chemicals on your garden, a good quality weed killer can be very effective at eradicating perennials with stubborn roots.

Hand weeding
Thorough hand weeding can work on young or less established plants, remember that every part of the root needs to be removed to prevent re-growth.

Light deprivation
Perennial weeds rely on light to thrive , so depriving the weed of light will eventually kill the plant. To do this, remove the leaves and cut away the top growth, then cover the remainder of the plant with opaque plastic or old carpet, fixed down at the corners to block out all light. Every few weeks remove new growth from beneath the shield and re-cover. This can be a lengthy process, but should eventually starve the roots, killing the weed.


Preparing the soil

Once your garden has been thoroughly weeded, you can get to work on improving the soil quality. This ensures that the soil is balanced nutritionally and that the texture is favourable for encouraging plant growth.

Turn over the soil, breaking up large clods of dirt and returning them to the bed, repeat this process across the entire area you are preparing to sow. Combine the soil with lots of organic matter, such as garden compost or well-rotted manure; this adds texture to the soil as well as nutrition. Top this with a scattering of fertiliser just before planting.

As spring begins check for new growth, remove weeds as soon as they appear and sprinkle mulch around emerging shoots to help retain warmth and add nutrition.

Sowing the seeds

Planting seeds in your garden early in spring when the weather is changeable enough to warrant a returning frost can be a risky strategy. Many gardeners choose to propagate seeds indoors, transplanting the seedlings to their gardens once the weather has improved and the plant is less vulnerable to the elements. Plants which require very specific conditions to germinate are always best started in a greenhouse or controlled environment, so that you can closely monitor and ensure that conditions are conducive to propagation. If you don’t have a greenhouse, seed planting trays with a plastic cover are useful for retaining warmth and maintaining a moist environment.

Always follow the sowing instructions on the seed packet, which will advise on planting depth and spacing. Some seeds need access to light to germinate, so will respond best sitting near to the surface of the soil, others will need to be buried deeper to achieve the best results.

Remember that the seeds are delicate, at this stage they are gently sitting within the soil. The seeds will need to be evenly watered, water applied directly from a hose pipe or from the spout of a watering can is likely to dislodge the seeds, so use a rose fitting on a watering can to disperse water evenly across the bed. Be careful to keep the soil moist without over watering.

If you are sowing seeds directly to your garden, it’s easy to forget where they have been planted. Mark rows of seeds or keep a garden diary of seed variety and the date of planting; this will help you to keep track of the growth and development of individual varieties. Keeping a note of where different varieties have been planted will also prevent you from mistaking plant seedlings for weeds! Equip yourself with knowledge of the appearance of the seedling plants to avoid confusing new plant growth for weeds. Keep hold of seed packets which have diagrams of the seedling, or research the initial appearance of each variety online and keep a folder of images to reference.

If seedlings have been propagated indoors, they will not be accustomed to the harsh outdoor conditions they are destined for. It is a good idea to gradually introduce seedlings to outdoor weather conditions, move the pots to a sheltered area outdoors to gradually expose the plants to greater levels of sunlight, temperature change and wind for a couple of hours each day. Return the plants to their indoor home when the temperature drops overnight. Repeat this process for a few days before transplanting the plants from their containers to the prepared garden beds. Remember that as small plants, the seedlings will remain vulnerable once transplanted; keep track of the weather forecast and only transplant seedlings to your outdoor plot after the last frost.

For more information please visit Floral and Hardy, garden design London

Article Source: Getting your garden ready for spring

Top Ten Gardens to Visit- Part 2

Gardening Around the World: The Top Ten Gardens to Visit – Part 2! by Floral and Hardy

Continuing, as promised, from last week’s article which began this title race for, what could be considered, ‘the greatest garden design standing’, we now have for you numbers 6-10 of the premier league of horticulture. As with the first section, our aim has been to maintain the standard of excellence set by the likes of Chateau de Versailles, whilst also providing the most eclectic list possible, based on cultural difference and individuality.

Singapore Botanic Gardens (Singapore)

Probably the most high maintenance project amid our reviews, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, support one of the largest cultured collections of Orchid on the planet. Divided into three sections with each one allocated a different task within a comparatively small area (128 acres), the first of these is known as the ‘Tanglin Core’ and is centred around heritage and entertainment - as epitomised by the presence of many an ancient statue and a seasonal bandstand. The ‘Bukit Timah Core’ specializes in education and recreational activities, however, it is the ‘Centre Core’ that really assumes the jewel in the gardens’ crown. This is where the Orchid beds are situated and continue to house over 60,000 species of the notoriously difficult to cultivate flower.

Sanssouci Park (Germany)

Originally built as a decorative piece to accompany Emperor Frederick the Great of Prussia’s palace in Postdam, Sanssouci Park is considered one of Versailles great rivals in the European horticultural arena. While it cannot compete in terms of size, nor grandeur, Sanssouci’s grounds are no less ornate. After the palace was completed, and its immediate grounds terraced and planted, sights were set on the park which was converted into a baroque flower garden complete with lawns, flowers and hedgerows.

Taj Mahal (India)

Easily the most recognizable site on our list, the Taj Mahal Gardens were a technical miracle of their time, employing the Mughal garden style which was the standard of its locale, there is a central column of water that stretches from the tomb to the plinth, however, the construction is so precise as to reflect the palace across the surface of the water. The aforementioned Mughal style bears some resemblance to its European counter parts with the strict discipline of geometry that it adheres to, particularly where the shapes and dimensions of its numerous flowerbeds are concerned.

Butchart, British Columbia (Canada)

The site of Butchart began its life as a commercial quarry near the turn of the century, however, once the limestone had been exhausted, the owner of Portland Cement’s wife transformed the pit into a huge flower garden with different areas devoted to different disciplines. Today the gardens 22 acres and some 700 varying species attract a cool million visitors per year. However, these figures cannot be attributed solely to the horticulture, but also to the majestic light displays that occur that far north of Kansas.

Sigiriya (Sri Lanka)

Sigiriya could be argued to be the oldest surviving garden on earth, with some historians dating its construction as early as the fifth century A.D., and, as such, has long held the title of a World Heritage Site, with impunity to future development or demolition. Aside from the breath taking scope, rich and lengthy heritage, or the history that one of many tour guides will be happy to impart, Sigiriya also boasts some of the most beautiful sculpture work of the last two thousand years. Gigantic animals paws straddle either side of a majestic stone stairway, each only comprised of three digits a fact that only heightens the mysterious ‘lost world’ quality that your surroundings will evoke.

…And a bonus!

Hanging Gardens (Babylon/Iraq)

Obviously we couldn’t really include this garden on our list as it is no longer possible to visit, however, being the only one to have the title of world wonder, it does deserve at least an honourable mention. Estimated to have been constructed around 590 BC, the gardens were an on-going project of the city-state of Babylon, reported to have employed then futuristic irrigation methods that by modern calculation would have required a minimum of 8000 gallons a day to maintain. King Nebuchadnezzar II was also purported to have used leviathan slabs of stone as the gardens foundation to prevent the water from eroding the ground.

And so ends our list of the Top 10 Gardens to visit, if this piece should impart anything it is this: horticulture is a practice as old as the plants themselves, and such a wide expanse of our history and our relationship to nature should be treated with the same respect as any art form, and sought out just as rigorously.

Written by Joshua Ellison of Floral & Hardy Gardens, specialists for Garden Design Esher

Article Source: Gardening Around the World: The Top Ten Gardens to Visit – Part 2!