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Planting Echinacea

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas.

This flower is well-loved not only for its beauty and its ability to attract butterflies, but also for its medicinal value. Several tribes such as Cheyenne and Sioux, used echinacea as an antiseptic and painkiller. They also used it to treat insect and snake bites.

The most widely known variety, the purple coneflower, grows to about 18 inches tall, and sprouts a clump of flowers about two feet wide.The plant’s flowers are daisy-like, with attractively drooping petals in a wide range of colors.

Plant Echinacea plants in the spring or the fall, in well-drained soil in full to part sun. Echinacea is easy to grow from seed, as well, but requires a cold, moist period—called stratification—in order to germinate. Sow seeds thickly in the fall (after hard-frost in the north and before winter rains elsewhere), covering lightly to discourage birds from eating them. Seeds will germinate in the spring. Most plants will bloom during the second year—one reason it’s advantageous to start with transplants.Echinacea thrives in full to partial sun. Plants need at least four hours of sunlight per day. The plants grow natively along the edges of woodlands, so they will thrive in spots with morning shade and afternoon sun or vice versa. Echinacea will tolerate poor rocky soil, but will not grow in wet, mucky soil. Mulch plants with compost at the time of planting.

Echinacea also is an herb commonly used to make herbal supplements, essential oils, tea, and herbal remedies. The tea is made by infusing the flowers and leaves of the echinacea plant in hot water

There are three main types of echinacea plant used to make tea: Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea pallida and Echinacea angustifolia. Echinacea angustifolia boats large leaves and violet-colored flowers while the pallida variety has flowers that are more pale rose in color. The purpurea variety has reddish purple flowers and is revered in Europe as an immune system booster.

Echinacea is packed with polysaccharides and vitamin C that help promote overall health and well-being. Echinacea tea is an herbal tea and naturally caffeine-free so it can be enjoyed all day long.

Echinacea tea has long been used as a staple in improving the immune system and fending off infections. Echinacea offers antibacterial properties that prevent pathogens from making you sick. Echinacea tea can also soothe a sore throat and minimize aches and pains caused by the common cold and flu.

How to Brew Echinacea Tea

Echinacea tea can be brewed using tea bags or a variety of different plant parts. Echinacea root, leaves, and flowers can all be used to brew this flowery tea. Make sure to always use high quality loose teas or tea bags for the best flavor.

Ingredients:

1 handful fresh echinacea leaves or 1 tablespoon echinacea root or leaves
8-10 oz water
Sweetener such as honey (OPTIONAL)

Instructions:

1. Heat water on the stove or in a tea kettle until it reaches a rapid boil.

2. Place the dried or fresh echinacea in a tea strainer and set in a tea cup. Add the boiling water.

3. Steep the echinacea for 10-15 minutes. The longer the tea steeps, the stronger the floral flavor will become.

4. Add sweeteners or flavor additives such as lemon, honey, and mint. Enjoy!

You can also find the tea already premade ready for your to brew at your local grocery store

Cut Flower Garden

Plant these flowers in your garden to yield endless vases filled with beautiful blooms. You can grow, harvest, and arrange stunning seasonal blooms.

Sunflowers are a great flower to display alone or in small groups in a vase. These plants reach 20-30 inches high, but offer lots of flower power with their gold petals and deep brown “eyes.” The heavily-branching plants produce lots of flowers on long stems that are good for cutting.-Growing sunflowers from seed is super easy, too. Plant seeds after the danger of spring frost has passed and the soil temperature is at least 60 degrees. This will be between March and May, depending on where you live. Plant the seeds no more than an inch deep and about 6 inches apart. ( You can also plant the seeds throughout the summer and enjoy sunflower blooms)

Gladioli grow from corms and form dramatic, tall blooms ideal for displaying in arrangements indoors.Enjoy flowers all summer, plant your Glads every 2 weeks until early July. This will stagger the plantings and flowering times. You can also extend the flower season by growing early, mid and late-season

The sweet pea is a vigorous tendril climber available in hundreds of varieties. It flowers in shades of red, pink, mauve, blue and white and is often scented.Sow sweet pea seeds between October and April. For best results aim for late October/November or late February/March as temperatures and light levels are less than ideal in midwinter. Sweet peas can also be sown directly into the ground in April or May.

Tulips burst with a variety of gorgeous colors making them ideal for a vibrant indoor arrangement.Tulip bulbs should be planted in the fall. The soil needs to have cooled off from the summer growing season before you plant, which could mean September in cold climates (zones 3 to 5), October in transitional climates (zones 6 to 7), and November or December in warm climates (zones 8 to 9).

Zinnias come in a wide variety of colors with large, profuse blooms and are truly an easy to grow annual flower.Plant zinnias in spring after all danger of frost has passed, around the same time you’d plant tomatoes. Zinnias are easy to grow directly-seeded into the garden. For sooner blooms, start seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before your last frost date.

Black-eyed Susans are perfect for naturalistic prairie style planting schemes and provide beautiful, vivid color in bouquets. Plant black-eyed Susans in either the spring or early fall. As long as they have a chance to establish roots before the weather gets either extremely hot or extremely cold, they’ll be fine.

Asters always provide brilliant color, but for a show year after year, grow perennial species.Plant asters anytime during the growing season. In the South, spring and fall are best to allow the plant to get established before severe hot or cold weather. In the North, plant anytime up to early fall. This will allow the roots to get established before winter.

Growing these beautiful flowers above can create a beautiful flower garden & beautiful bouquets.

Velvet leaf philodendron

Velvet leaf philodendron, also known as sweetheart plant, is native to Mexico, Brazil and the West Indies where it thrives deep in the rainforest.Velvet-textured heart-shaped leaves that grow bigger as the plant matures. Mature plants can produce green-white flowers.

Plant care tips:

Light and position in the home

Place your sweetheart in bright but indirect light or semi-shade. The more light it receives the more vigorously it will grow and this plant can climb or trail as much as 4 metres! So hang it from a ceiling, trail from a high shelf or provide climbing support. You can even create a living jungle screen by positioning several together.Grow philodendrons indoors in indirect light, as direct sunlight can cause burning on the leaves.

Watering and humidity

Hailing from the rainforest your plant will thrive best in similar conditions of humidity and warmth. Keep the soil moist in the spring and summer and water when the topsoil feels dry in the winter. Mist the leaves every few days or grow in a saucer of stones and water. Use wipes or a clean damp cloth to keep the leaves free of dirt and dust.

Did you know?

If you pinch out the growing tips your plant will branch out and become bushier. If you have any plant care tips please leave in the comment…

From Garden to Pizza

Get kids and loved one interested in gardening by creating a pizza garden!Creating an Italian masterpiece is as simple as running out to the yard to pick fresh toppings for your pizza from a productive, pie-shaped bed.

What to Plant in Your Pizza Garden

Oregano. A pizza essential, oregano is a beautiful perennial herb that’s easy to grow in the home garden. …
Tomatoes. Tomatoes are an excellent choice for nearly all small gardens because they’re extremely productive. …
Jalapeño Peppers. …
Banana Peppers. …
Mushrooms. …
Basil. …
Thyme.

Materials Needed

a sunny spot in the yard with well-drained soil
edging for “pizza” outline (metal, plastic or wood)
seedlings of your favorite toppings: tomato, bell pepper, chives (or onions), rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley
compost
water

Choose a site that offers full sun. Decide how many of each kind of plant you want to grow, based on their spacing requirements (below), and outline a circular bed that will give each enough room. The bed created here is 8 feet in diameter.

Check the tag that comes with each transplant for specific guidelines. Here’s a rough idea for how much space to allow for each plant:

Tomato: at least 2 feet; for larger varieties, 2-1/2 feet

Bell pepper: 12 to 15 inches

Onions: 4 to 5 inches apart

Basil, rosemary: 15 to 18 inches

Thyme, oregano: 10 to 12 inches

Remove weeds and dig in plenty of organic matter like finished compost. If your soil is very dense or hard clay, consider using a raised bed and fill it with a combination of bagged garden soil and compost.

A flexible metal or plastic edging works well for the outer edge. Wood pieces do fine to define the “slices” of the pizza

Start planting

Give the tomato plants the most room. Here, we let them each have the entire “slice.” Place up to three of the other plants in the rest of the sections.Plant the transplants at the same depth as they were in their containers, and firm the soil around the roots. Top-dress each plant with a handful or two of compost.

The exception to the planting-depth rule: Plant tomatoes a little deeper than they were in the pot, or better yet, if the main stem is still very flexible, bend it gently, lay the root ball on its side in the hole and also bury a bit of its stem, letting the stem curve upward till the rest of the plant is pointing straight up. Burying part of the stem in this way—sometimes called trenching—causes the plant to produce more roots and makes for a more vigorous plant.

Water the plants and check back frequently to make sure that the plants receive adequate moisture. Tomatoes need more water than the other plants, followed by basil and peppers; rosemary and thyme will need less water. To reduce the chance of foliar diseases, water the base of tomato plants and avoid getting water on the leaves, especially if you’re watering in the evening.

Growing a pizza garden is a great way to get children outdoors and motivated to plant and eat vegetables & have fun with planting & growing!

DIY Macramé Craft & Project Ideas

Have you fallen in love with those Pinterest pictures of elaborate wall hangings and boho chic macrame hanging planters? Luckily for you, macrame is a skill accessible to everyone and anyone!

What is Macrame?

It’s the art of knotting string or chord into decorative or useful items. There are lots of different knots to learn that will give you a different look and feel!Like any skill, macrame takes time, patience and of course practice! Once you get the hang of things you’ll be knotting up all sorts of cool and crazy pieces of art!

However, everyone has to start somewhere and so below are a couple easy projects.

Making your first DIY macramé plant hanger is a project that may seem daunting at first, but once you’ve learned the basics, it’s actually quite easy! Today, we’ll show you how to make a macramé plant hanger using basic knots and patterns.

Here are the three types of basic knots we’ll be using in the tutorial:

Square knot
Half square knot or spiral knot
Loop knot

Materials:

8 pieces of 15 foot long cotton cord (3.1mm thick)
2” brass ring
2 pieces of 5 foot rope

Macrame Hanger Tutorial you can watch the video here as well.

How to create a macramé plant hanger:

Gather all 8 pieces of cord, fold in half and loop through the ring.
Using your 5 foot long piece of string, tie a loop knot right below the ring.
Take four strands and tie a square knot. Repeat 6 times.
Repeat this pattern with the next group of 4 cords, and repeat for the remaining cords.
Leave a 2 ½ inch gap and tie a half square knot.
Repeat until you’ve created a 5 inch spiral.
Repeat this pattern for the remaining knot groups.
Leave a 6 inch gap and create a crossover square knot using the 2 right cords from your first group and the 2 left cords from the adjacent group.
Repeat for the remaining knot groups.
Leave 6 inch gap and create another crossover square knot by alternating the cords from the previous step.
Leave a 3 ½ inch gap and tie a loop knot.
Trim off excess cord to create a tassel finish.

Ornaments with macrame yarn

Supplies needed to make macrame ornaments

macrame yarn
scissors
wooden rings
comb
fabric stiffener (optional)

Start by cutting your yarn. I used 5 pieces of macrame yarn cut at 20 inches long and one small 6-inch piece for a short piece to hang the macrame ornament.

Fold the 6-inch piece in half, knot it at the ends and loop it over a wooden ring with a Lark’s Head knot as pictured below.
Then grab your 5 pieces of macrame yarn and put one to the side for later. Fold 4 pieces in half and also loop the on the wooden ring with Lark’s Head knots.
Grab your 5th piece of macrame yarn and lip the yarn from the wooden ring around the 5th piece with horizontal Half Hitch knots as pictured. Usually, when making macrame you don’t add a new piece of yarn but use the outside string on each side. For this one, I wanted extra string though which is why I added an extra piece.
Continue the Half Hitch knots to the other side of the little macrame hanging.
Then all you have to do is unravel the yarn, comb everything, and trim the ends evenly. This is where you could use the fabric stiffener to stiffen the fringe but this time I didn’t do that.

https://cuckoo4design.com/how-to-make-christmas-ornaments-with-macrame-yarn/?jwsource=cl ( video to help with each step)

If you don’t have time to start a new project and still would love to have a little macramé item, you can find macramé keychains now available at www.printhousedesign.com