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Bringing Nature indoors

Enjoy a spring preview of flowering branches! Bring flowering tree branches , such as crab apples and forsythia, indoors so you can enjoy spring early. A little warm air and water will “force” the branches into beautiful bloom. Starting in February, gather branches from flowering rhododendron, apple, cherry, or crab apple trees to bring indoors for an early spring look. In March you can continue the soul-lifting spring colors with clipped of magnolias, mountain laurel, lilacs, dogwoods, and bridalwreath trees.

Follow the steps below to create a one of a kind natural spring look for your home or office.

1^st Cut dormant branches, select pencil-thick branch sections about 12-24 inches long. The cut should be used with a sharp knife or pruner making an angled cut at the base.

2^nd Bring the branches indoors, then strip buds, twigs, and leaves from lower sections that will be underwater. Use a knife to pare away an inch or two of bark from the base, smash the woody base with a hammer – this will enhance water absorption for the branches.

3^rd Place branches in a water-filled sink or bathtub and give them a long soak about 30-40 mintues. Wrap branches in wet newspaper, then place them in clean, luke warm water. Move to a cool, dark area; mist branches and change water daily for 3 days.

4^th On the fourth day place branches in a tall water filled vase or pitcher and bring them into a bright indirect sunny location in your home or office. The cooler the space the longer the branches will bloom.

BEST TREES AND SHRUBS FOR FORCING INDOORS

Tree or Shrub	Time to Bloom
Buckeye	5 weeks
Cherry	4 weeks
Cornelian dogwood	2 weeks
Crab apple	4 weeks
Deutzia	3 weeks
Flowering almond	3 weeks
Flowering dogwood	5 weeks
Flowering quince	4 weeks
Forsythia	1 week
Honeysuckle	3 weeks
Horse chestnut	5 weeks
Lilac	4 weeks
Magnolia	3 weeks

SUCCULENTS FOR CATS & DOGS: SAFE OR TOXIC

Love succulents and animals? Good news: The succulents included here are completely harmless to your pets! These types are safe to keep around animals, even if a curious critter ingests them. Please note: toxicity research is an ongoing process and we are committed to keeping this list as up to date as possible. If you are concerned a pet has consumed a toxic plant, contact Animal Poison Control.

Creating a space that’s safe for both your pet and succulents can be easy. Luckily, most succulents are completely harmless to animals. Additionally, most animals instinctively avoid eating succulents. They just don’t smell or taste very appetizing.

Below are our five favorite types that pose absolutely no risk to our furry friends & further down is a list that can cause harm.

ECHEVERIA: is a family of rose-shaped succulents native to the semi-desert regions of Central America. Because of its charming leaves’ structure,

Echeverias are one of the most well-known succulents. There are plenty of types with different gorgeous colors when it comes to Echeverias.

HARDY SEDUM: are trailing varieties are lovely as ground covers and in rock gardens, terraces and hanging baskets.

HAWORTHIA: is a delightful little succulent that makes a very attractive small houseplant. These small, low growing plants form rosettes of fleshy green leaves that are generously covered with white, pearly warts or bands, giving them a distinctive appearance.

SEMPERVIVUM (HENS & CHICKS) They are commonly called houseleeks and grow well indoors and out, in cool or hot temperatures. Hens and chicks plants are so called because of the rosette shape and habit of the plant to produce numerous babies. A rockery or dry, nutrient challenged location is a good place for growing.

SUCCULENTS THAT ARE NOT PET-FRIENDLY

ALOE VERA: The gel of the Aloe is fine to apply on both human and animal skin but should never be ingested. Aloin, one of the toxic chemicals in these plants, is a bitter, yellow liquid. It’s found just beneath the outer skin of the leaves.

Symptoms: Lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, red urine

Sources: ASPCA, UC Davis Veterinary Medicine

EUPHORBIA: known as “Milk Plants” because of the white latex sap in their stems. Unfortunately, this sap can be irritating to skin and toxic if ingested.

Symptoms: Mouth irritation, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea

Sources: ASPCA, Pet Poison Helpline

JADE (CRASSULA): are rubbery plants that are famously hard to kill. Unfortunately, Jade leaves can be irritating to cats and dogs if consumed.

Symptoms: Lethargy, clumsy movements, dry-heaving, vomiting

Source: ASPCA

KALANCHOE: are prolific succulents and a good choice for new plant enthusiasts. They should, however, be out of reach of dogs, cats, and birds. If ingested, Kalanchoe can irritate your pet’s mouth or cause moderate digestive distress. It can take anywhere from 12 hours to five days for symptoms to show.

Symptoms: Oral irritation, drooling, vomiting, diarrhea

Source: ASPCA

Use Caution with All These Varieties:

Adenium

Agave

Albuca

Aloe

Cactus

Cotyledon

Crassula (Jade)

Euphorbia

Kalanchoe

Ledebouria

Pachypodium

Sansevieria

The Gardenocity Shop

We are excited to announce not only changing our Etsy Shop name at the beginning of the year, but we also have expanded our Shop to a new website! We have extended our love for gardening to open a beautiful shop that shows cases botanical garden theme home décor and more! This shop has beautiful items from organic baskets to concreate planters. We also have shopping accessories ( cute canvas totes to help with the trip to the farmers market or your local grocery store.) We also are growing our love for plants, where you can purchase succulents in The Gardenocity Shop and air plants in our Printhouse1 Shop on Etsy. Our customers can now shop at two stores one on Etsy as Printhousedesign1 still focusing on 3D printed planters and gardening essentials to our new store on our website.

Follow the link to visit the shop and each month we will be adding new décor and offering planting tips too!

www.thegardenocityshop.com

Planting moonflowers

If your back yard is used for entertaining and lacking a little beauty, then adding moonflowers can be the perfect touch! The appealing fragrance of moonflowers in the garden come from large white or purple blooms on a climbing vine offering an amazing evening. Moonflower plants (Ipomoea alba) are perennial vines in sub-tropical areas, but gardeners with cold winters can successfully grow moonflower plants as annuals. Moonflower plants are related to the sweet potato vine and the morning glory, with flowers that open in the late afternoon into the night. These large, heart-shaped leaves further enhance the attractive moonflower vine.

How to Grow a Moonflower Vine

These do not need much ground space, as they readily climb upward. Provide a trellis or other support for the vigorous vines. Growing moonflowers can reach up to 20 feet (6 m.), happily weaving around anything within their reach. You can pinch back growing moonflowers at the top of the vine, as a part of your care for moonflowers, to force flowering downward. Moonflower vines can grow in large containers or you can plant them in the ground. More moonflowers can be started from root division of existing plants or from seeds. You can find these flowering seeds at our shop. Printhousedesign.com Sow Moonflower seeds early in the season after all danger of frost. Cover seeds with 1/4″ soil. They can also be started indoors 3-4 weeks before the last frost to get a jump start on the season.

Care for Moonflowers

Water small plants regularly and provide additional water as moonflower vines grow. Moonflower plants like full to partial sun during the daylight hours. You will like the fact that Moonflower thrive in poor, dry soils. That makes them useful in areas where many other popular plants just won’t grow. It also makes them easy to grow with little care or attention. Just plant them, and away they grow!

Add mulch around the plants for appearance and to keep weeds down. Fertilizer can be applied, but is usually not needed. Moonflowers are susceptible to frost. They may survive the first light frost with only a little damage.

Why do moonflowers bloom at night?

They do this because night-flying insects mostly pollinate them. … One such insect is the hawk moth. The flowers are sensitive to small changes in light so that they are open when these insects are out in the evening.

****** WARNING*******

Every part of a moon vine is poisonous to dogs, cats and animals including the seeds, blooms, leaves and stems. … It can cause your pet to stagger, or move as though he is drunk. Tropane alkaloids contained in the plant causing all of this symptoms.IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE that these plants should be kept away from small pets and children as all parts of the plant are toxic. The presence of tropane alkaloids in large and wildly variable quantities can cause a multitude of effects including but not limited to, severe anxiety, tachycardia, blurred vision, and nausea.

Rebranding Our Etsy Shop

This year, 2021, we wanted to start out by rebranding our Etsy shop & social media accounts. The switch has occurred and now Flymeawaycreations on Etsy is now known as Printhousedesign1. Our previous name was great, but created back in 2011 and really didn’t focus on what we are creating and selling today. We felt that we needed to take a step into a new direction by creating a name that one day could be a little store front. Printhousedesign.com is now listed and goes directly to our Etsy shop, where you can find 3D printed planters & home office supplies and newer items that have been laser engraved. Rebranding, is not hard, but it does take time and definitely lots of social posts and reminders to your customers that your name is changing. We started thinking about the switch in December and now it is February, I wanted to do it slow to make sure we checked off all the right places that we wanted our name to be new. As for our Blog, we have decided to keep it as Flymeawaycreations.blog and later in the year we will be switching it over. Our social media sites; such as: Tiktok, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook have all been switched over to Printhousedesign1. We are growing more each day on Etsy and on our social media, with the help of new followers, customers, and our dedicated customers/followers sharing our brand. Thank you!

Find us & follow our journey!

http://www.instagram.com/printhousedesign1

https://www.facebook.com/printhousedesign1

@printhousedesign78

Printhousedesign.com