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Is Perennial Peanut Really A Good Alternative To Turf Grass?
My wife and I recently discovered perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata). Or, rather, we just learned more about this awesome alternative to turf grass. It’s a versatile groundcover with ovalish leaves and distinctive school bus yellow flowers that we’ve seen for years in roadway medians, along parking lot curbs, and peeking through polyculture lawns in our…
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Are Viburnums Good Privacy Shrubs?
Many people have asked me: “Are viburnums good privacy shrubs?“ I think people ask me because my wife and I have been planting viburnums around our property lines for years. It’s something I learned when I was a kid and grew up in a duplex community situated adjacent to a busy office park. The apartment…
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8 Of The Fastest Growing Plants For Privacy Screens
I’ve been looking for the fastest growing plants for privacy screens in our yard. And let me tell you, we need some fast growing shrubs to help make our yard more private. Especially considering that when we bought our home it had virtually no shrubs and only a four-foot-tall chain-link fence surrounding the entire yard.…
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Product Review: AgriTech Mail-In Soil Test Kits
My wife and I decided to try out one of the mail-in soil test kits we’ve seen advertised online. We really weren’t sure what the soil chemistry in our yard was like anyway and decided it was high time to get a fix on this. But we didn’t know if doing a DIY soil test…
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Polyculture Lawn Benefits: How Earth-Friendly Turf Helps You
Learning about polyculture lawn benefits led my wife and me to let Mother Nature do her thing in our yard. It may sound crazy to let native herbs, wildflowers, and many varieties of grass dominate our yard. But that’s exactly what we did. And our yard has never looked so healthy! Letting our grass become…
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Want To Grow Maple Trees In Florida? Here’s How!
There are many reasons to grow maple trees in Florida. It’s a place where maples (Acer) can be found growing in the wild of Mother Nature and among the manicured landscapes of suburbia. Several kinds of maples are native to Florida, giving backyard gardeners like me and perhaps you, too, many options. Native Florida maples…
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Right Plant Right Place In Your Landscape
Right plant, right place is a landscape principle I’ve known about for decades. I thank Rodale’s All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener for first introducing me to this concept in the early 1990s when I was a young, adolescent gardener. There’s a small section in this book that includes…
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Planting A Tree: Tips On How To Plant Trees Correctly
Planting a tree the right way isn’t necessarily hard, but it does take some know how to do it correctly. If you plant a tree, its entire future largely depends on what you did — or didn’t do — when planting it in your landscape. Just doing a few simple things can help ensure your…
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Best Trees To Plant For Fall Colors In Florida
Looking for the best trees to plant for fall colors in Florida? The Sunshine State really does see some autumn colors. I’m not talking about the vivid fall color like you’ll see in New England or along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But in central and northern regions of the state especially, you can plant many…
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How To Grow A Native Plant Garden In Your Yard
The native plant garden at a park near my home inspired my wife and me to turn some of our yard into a native landscape. What’s amazing about growing a native garden is that it really isn’t that hard. And it’s incredibly low maintenance once it’s established. And one of the coolest things about native…
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Why Turning Your Yard Into A Garden Is A Good Idea
Have you been thinking about turning your yard into a garden? My wife and I have done a bit of this. It’s actually a more popular concept than you may think! Reducing your lawn area by turning your grassy spaces into gardens may take some (a lot of) sweat. But the benefits of doing this…
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Sleep Creep Leap: The Science Behind An Old Garden Adage
The 1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, and 3rd year they leap. Do you have any idea what I’m talking about? I’m talking about plants. Specifically, I’m quoting an old gardening adage that goes: “the first year plants sleep, the second year they creep, the third year the leap.” Learning Some Garden Wisdom…
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I Visit Botanical Gardens For Landscaping Ideas — Here’s Why!
My wife and I love to visit botanical gardens! And not just because they’re serene, pretty places to spend the morning or afternoon… We also love gleaning ideas from these places on how we’d like to enhance our own yard. Granted, some of the incredible things we see when visiting botanical gardens around the country…
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How Do You Weed The Yard By Hand?
Many folks seem surprised when I tell them I weed the yard by hand. I guess they assume I spray. Or that I’m using some kind of weed killer service because that’s how they keep weeds tamped back in their yards. This isn’t to say I only pull weeds by hand. Sometimes I’ll make a…
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Should You Mow High Or Low In The Summer?
Wondering if you need to mow high or low in the summer? Many folks wrestle with trying to figure out how high to cut their lawn grass. And frankly it’s not always easy to figure out, especially if you have more than one kind of turf in your lawn as my wife and I do.…
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What’s The Best Height For Cutting Grass?
How high should you cut your grass? That’s what I wanted to know, too. I’ve been trying to figure out what is the best height for cutting grass. After some experimentation and much trial and error I have figured out the ideal height to mow my lawn. Some of the difficulty in determining the right…
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Planting Jasmine? 5 Tips For Growing Beautiful Jasmine Plants
I love planting jasmine shrubs and vines… I’ve loved their blissfully fragrant smell forever. But I didn’t know what plant produced that special scent until some words from a popular Seals & Croft tune made me look it up. “Summer breeze, makes me feel fine / Blowing through the jasmine in my mind.” Those of…
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Push Reel Mowers Advantages & Disadvantages
Push reel mowers weren’t too common in the 1990s when I was looking for lawn-mowing options. I was a teenager and — yes — wanted to mow the yard surrounding our half of the rented duplex we had called home for years. I was lucky enough that our landlord allowed me to convert a portion…
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Planting Trees & Shrubs? Here Are 3 Things You MUST Do First
I love planting trees and shrubs in my yard. I especially love foundation plantings – they help soften hard lines between a home and the surrounding landscape and give any house an inviting look. Homes without foundation plantings or at least one anchor tree in the yard just look incomplete to me. But you can’t…
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Norfolk Island Pines: Should You Grow Them In Your Yard?
If you don’t know what Norfolk Island pines are by name, I bet you know what these plants look like. They’re commonly sold around November or December as miniature living Christmas trees. They look a bit like fuzzy little pine or fir trees, and they’re terrific cheery additions to the home during the holiday season.…