-Instead of gravel in the garden or patio..love this idea!
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Gardening
Grow potatoes in a laundry basket
– Yields 8-10 lbs of potatoes per basket!
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Other Garden-Inspired Gift Ideas
Candles: Decorate candles with ferns, leaves, or flower petals. Melt some paraffin over a pan of water on low heat, watching carefully so it doesn’t overheat. Use dabs of the melted wax to attach the leaves and petals to the candle, and then gently paint the wax over the entire surface of the plant […]
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Primula (Primrose)
I always thought primroses were difficult to grow, but I’ve found them to be super easy as long as you provide shade and moist soil. There are 425 species of primula. They come in every color of the rainbow and range in size from little 3-inch dwarfs to 4-foot giants. The photo at right […]
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Press Flowers, Herbs and Ferns
Place fresh plant material between two sheets of paper, and then place something heavy over the paper — a few big gardening books, perhaps. Choose relatively flat plant material, such as leaves and ferns, as well as flowers that aren’t too bulky — pansies, for example. Once they’re pressed flat, you can use them […]
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Drying Herbs
You can use dried herbs to create all sorts of “giftable” items, including culinary herb mixes, herb teas and potpourri. Dry herbs the same way you dry flowers — gather the stems into small bunches with rubber bands, and hang them upside down in a warm, dry, dark place. Cover them with a paper […]
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Drying Flowers
A bouquet of dried flowers in a pretty vase is an easy gift. You can also use dried flowers adorn a grape vine wreath base. My favorite flowers to dry are tall ageratum, amaranth, celosia, hydrangea, lavender, ornamental oregano, salvia, strawflower and yarrow. These flowers have strong stems and dry quickly. Just strip off […]
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Alchemilla (Lady’s mantle)
When water falls on this plant’s pleated leaves, it beads up into dazzling little jewels. The flowers, which appear in early June, are yellow-green and make a fabulous filler for bouquets of almost any color. A very long-lived and trouble-free plant. The standard-size plant is Alchemilla mollis. For small spaces, look for Alchemilla erythropoda, […]
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Euphorbia (Spurge)
The beautiful, burgundy-leaved Euphorbia dulcis does self sow, but the seedlings can be easily removed (and given to appreciative visitors). I also like Euphorbia polychroma (shown at right), which is a dome of chrome yellow in late spring. In zones 5 and warmer, try Euphorbia polychroma ‘Bonfire’, which has three seasons of color. There’s […]
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Hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass)
Unlike most grasses, this one grows best and looks best in partial shade. It’s short (12-15”) and clump-forming, and the narrow leaves have a cascading habit. Depending on the variety, its foliage is golden green, lime green or variegated. Some turn red, orange or purple in the fall.
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