Easy to Follow Hibiscus Growing Tips

The hibiscus is renowned for its beautiful flowers that bloom all summer. This flowering shrub will brighten your landscape when all other flowers have ceased in blooming.

Hibiscus is easy to grow from seed or from a nursery-grown plant. Grow this hardy perennial in full sun with the part sun in the afternoon and it will reach the height of four feet with a similar spread.

Beautiful pink Hibiscus flower image by Pixabay.com

Hibiscus Planting Growing Tips:

Planting Seeds

Start your seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last spring frost. Plant the hibiscus seeds in a seed starter kit. The best way to plant the  seeds  is to use the eraser end of a pencil to form a one-inch deep hole in the center of your moss-filled containers. Set four seeds in the center of the container.

Cover the seeds with soil and water so that the soil is moist but not wet. Set the seed kit by a sunny window.  Watch the seed kit so that the soil does not dry out.  It is best to keep the soil evenly moist and in approximately eight weeks, your dinner plate hibiscus will be eight inches tall and ready for transplanting outdoors.

Transplanting Hibiscus:

Plant the nursery-grown hibiscus in an area that has the full sun with the part sun in the afternoon especially if your summers are very hot.  The part sun will prevent the leaves from getting burned.

A good location would be close to a picture window so you can enjoy this beautiful flowering shrub throughout the blooming season; July - September.

Dig a hole that is the same depth and width as the nursery pot.  Mix compost into the soil along with slow-release fertilizer.  Remove the hibiscus from the pot and set it in the center of the hole.  Backfill the hole and water well.

Tips:

The flower is pink with red-eye.
Grow hibiscus in zone 3-9
Groundhogs will eat the leaves and flowers.

How to Grow Crocus

I grow crocus in my rock garden mixed with early blooming daffodils. I also grow them in my upper garden next to the river rock wall. I planted yellow and white crocus in this section mixed with Vinca Minor ground cover.

The crocus is one of the first flowers to bloom in early spring. The foliage resembles green blades of grass. Look for signs of crocus in February, as this plant will grow even if there is snow on the ground. 

When the snow melts, you will view the green foliage or flowers. Crocus comes in an assortment of colors; yellow, purple, orange, red, pink, and white. Grow spring blooming crocus along your walkway, scattered in a rock garden, in containers, on a sunny slope, or plant an informal naturalized garden on your lawn. The crocus flower will add color and interest to your landscape..

For big beautiful blooms, I would suggest that you purchase high-quality Dutch bulbs.  In my experience, I find these bulbs are large and the flowers are healthy.  Determine if the bulb is healthy by holding it in your hand.  Note if the bulb is firm to the touch then this is an indication that the bulb is healthy. 

Crocus bulbs are easy to grow provided the garden site has full sun to part shade with well-drained soil that has a sandy loam.  Choose your garden site wisely as it is not advisable to cut back the crocus plants that grow in your lawn until the leaves die back naturally.  Thus if tall grass in late spring bothers you then refrain from planting crocus in your lawn and plant in gardens instead.

Plant the crocus bulbs by digging holes to a depth of five inches and one and a half inches wide.  Loosen the soil by removing the clumps.  Amend the soil with compost.  Fertilize the crocus by adding bone meal and blend with the soil at the bottom of the hole. 

Space holes for crocus four inches apart. Place the crocus bulb, and root end down in the center of the hole. Fill the hole with soil and water well.

Care for your crocuses by watering them daily until there is a hard frost. In spring if there are no spring showers and your ground is dry, water the crocuses. Fertilize crocuses in spring when the plants start to emerge.  Deadhead to remove spent blooms.

Warnings:

Squirrels dig up and eat crocus bulbs.  Prevent them from devouring your spring-blooming bulbs by planting the bulbs under the chicken wire.

Introduction image credit: Wikipedia commons

Grow Tradescantia Subaspera Spiderwort

Tradescantia subaspera common name is the spiderwort. This native wildflower grows in shade to part shade in woodland areas. The foliage of the tradescantia is dark green with arching leaves that are long and slender. 

When fully grown this plant is 20 to 26 inches in height with a spread of two feet. The stems grow out of the center of the plant and the bud cluster forms in April followed by flowers in May. This plant will produce blooms through July.

I discovered the spiderwort growing in the woods by my home.  The area was a rocky terrain with clay soil and spiderwort was growing amongst the rocks. 

I picked the flower and a milky substance emerged and the flower became weak and died.  Spiderwort is a woodland wildflower that is meant to be admired. 

The spiderwort produces a small three-petal flower that comes in the colors of white, rose, purple and dark blue. This flower has a long bloom life. 

 Grow the tradescantia along a border, in a shady rock garden, or in a container.   I grow my spiderwort in the shady section of my rock garden and I also grow it with my Hosta plants.

Cut back my spiderwort after the blooms are spent.  Spiderwort goes into hibernation during the heat of summer and I will apply leaf matter, pine needles, or wood chip mulch around the plants to aid in moisture and to protect it from excess weed growth during the summer months.  

The first week of September, I will remove the mulch and fertilize the spiderwort.  It will then re-bloom in the fall.

The long-lived spiderwort wildflower will add color and interest to your yard and garden. Here are other photos of the spiderwort that grows in my yard and gardens.

 

View this video to learn more about the native wildflower spiderwort:

Repelling Mosquitoes From Yard

Repel mosquito from your yard naturally with plants, and other natural pest controls is safer for your family and the enviroment. 

Take a chemical free approach to preventing mosquito bites by making some minor changes to your yard and gardens.  Grow plants that are plentiful in essential oils.  Choose the plants; citrosa, geranium, lemon grass, catnip, eucalyptus, lemon thyme, lemon basil, lavender, peppermint and bee balm and repel mosquitoes naturally.

Grow these plants in hanging pots, free standing containers and in gardens.  It is best to plant in sunny location that is close to your outdoor living space and children’s play areas.  For best results plant several gardens throughout out your yard and you will form a beneficial mosquito barrier. This will allow you to protect your family and your outdoor pets from mosquito bites.

Another method for repelling mosquitoes from your yard is to attract wildlife that forage flying insects.   Install a bat box 30 feet from your home.  Attract bats to your yard and naturally get rid of mosquitoes.  One bat will eat 600 mosquitoes in one hour.  I installed a flood light for my back gardens and the bats foraged off all of the insects that populate around the light. 

The bat is an excellent way to control mosquito populations however I recommend the bat box for large yard, acreages only.  It is recommended that you keep your pets and family indoors after dusk.

This year I am installing a purple martin birdhouses, so I can attract many birds to my yard.  You see the primary food source for this bird is flying insects such as mosquitoes.  

One bird will eat 1000 flying insects and mosquitoes in a day.  I think that buying a birdhouse for multiple purple martin birds is a natural and cost effective way to control mosquito populations.

Bull Frog SPF#30 Mosquito Coast Sunblock/Insect Spray 6 oz.

If you are out in the yard and garden during the day spray your exposed skin with Bull Frog Mosquito Coast.   

This mosquito repellent is a sunscreen with an insect repellent. This DEET free formula may be applied to children and adults.  Apply the spray to your skin, for face application, spray on your hand and then apply.  Bull Frog will repel mosquito, chiggers and ticks for 8 hours.  

I use to wear the bug bands but found that the Bull Frog is a better repellent plus it has a SPF of 30 which protects my skin from harmful sun rays.

Ornamental Grass Garden Ideas

Grow ornamental grasses and you will enjoy a worry and maintenance-free garden from summer through early spring. Plant grasses in a group setting, as a hedge, or as an accent plant, the ornamental grass garden will add interest to your landscape. 

 Design your grass garden site by selecting grasses that will complement each other. For a small yard choose medium size grasses such as Karley Rose mixed with smaller grasses such as Prairie Dropseed. For large yards, choose tall and full grasses such as reed, zebra, reed grass, fountain grass, or giant reed grass.

Design your garden by staggering the height of the grasses. Plant the largest grass in the back, plant one medium on the right side and the other medium on the left side. Frame the grass garden with the smaller grasses by planting them in the front. 

Raccoon Removal Tips for Yards

Young raccoon in my back garden

Raccoon removal is easier than you think. If you reside close to a park, or a wooded area, you may have raccoon's visiting your home, throughout the night. 

A raccoon is a smart and mischievous animal. They will climb up a tree, jump onto your roof and check out your chimney.  Raccoon's will look into your windows and if windows are open, they may remove the screen and come inside. 

Raccoons are generally afraid of people, but that does not mean they will overlook an invitation to sneak into your attic, basement or walk into your garage, home or enter your home through the pet door.

My home resides directly next to a 25-acre wildlife refuge. The woods has an overabundance of wildlife, there is a creek, fruit and nut trees, assorted berries and small caves. The setting is perfect for a wide variety of wild animals. 

There are many birds, coyote, fox, beavers, skunks, groundhogs, deer, wild turkey, bobcat and outgoing and very social raccoons. In early spring, the baby kits come to my yard to play with my dogs toys, to bathe in our pond and to steal my dog’s food bowl. 

At first, I thought it was the cutest thing, but then one night I viewed a family reunion of raccoons. They were up the trees, in the fountain, removing my plants from the garden containers and sitting at the picnic table. 

 I had a problem and needed to take drastic measures to remove the raccoons from my yard and garden.

The first thing that I did was remove all of the outdoor cat and dog's food bowls.  When the raccoons came to visit me during the night they did not find any food so they raided my bird feeder.  

Then the raccoons trampled and dug up my plants and they ended their food frenzy with a look-see in my trash cans.  Obviously this was a raccoon temper tantrum. 

Removing Raccoons from Yard

 I removed the bird feeder and locked it in the garage for overnight keeping, turned off my water fountain and locked the lids on my trashcans.  I also removed my dogs water bowl.

Raccoon drinking out of dog water bowl

I then installed a scarecrow motion activated water sprinkler.  Whenever the raccoon crossed the path of the sprinkler a burst of water was emitted and the raccoon got stung with water.  It was enough to scare the raccoon and teach then that they were not welcome. 

Trapping Raccoons

If you find that trapping is your only option for removing a raccoon.  Then contact your local animal control and ask them to drop off a live animal trap.  The animal control officer will set up the trap and bait it with cat food.  When I trap raccoons I use peanut butter.

Raccoons are very easy to trap as they love food.   When the trap door closes the raccoon will be frightened so I usually go out and throw beach towel over the trap because it is comforting to the animal.   

Live Animal Two-Door Raccoon Cage Trap

Contact animal control and tell them that you do not want the raccoon euthanized that you prefer that they relocate the animal to another area.  

If there is no animal control in your area then buy a medium sized 2 door live animal trap and bait it with cat food. Set the trap up in an area that is away from human traffic. 

I have trapped many raccoons for clients and have released the raccoons in wooded area that is away from neighborhood homes.   

The two door trap is easy to use, the animal walks into the trap and doors close.  I have never had a problem with releasing a raccoon.  When I open the front gate by pulling it straight up the raccoon usually bolts from the trap and runs into the woods.

Optional add straw or newspaper to the floor of the trap as it makes the trap more inviting.

Tips:

Many people think that trapping a raccoon will put an end to their raccoon problem.  Trapping is a solution for one raccoon however if you do not eliminate the attraction to your yard then you will not remove the raccoons.  

It is better to clean-up your yard by removing food and water source and make your yard unattractive to the raccoon with the scarecrow motion activated sprinkler.  Raccoons do not like the sting of water that is emitted from scarecrow. 

 

Get Rid of Groundhogs Permanently

Getting rid of groundhogs can be achieved quickly and easily. I discovered a few methods that are effective in permanently removing groundhogs without harming them.

Groundhogs that choose your yard to be their forage area will eat your vegetation or they may burrow under your deck or house.  

Last summer two groundhogs decided to spend the summer foraging in my yard. They also burrowed and weakened my retaining wall.

 

My home resides on a ridge and a ten-foot retaining wall keeps my yard intact and homes secure.


The retaining wall burrow had many living spaces that took up to fifty feet, with many entrances and separate living spaces for the offspring and other family members.

While the groundhog may be cute and the babies adorable, they can cause major structural damage from their vast tunneling system and devour your prized flower and vegetable gardens in under a week.

*****

Tips for Getting Rid of Groundhogs

1. Install a dog house and get an outdoor dog.  Groundhogs are terrified of dogs.  
2. Cover groundhog burrow holes in your yard with a cement cap. 
3. Buy a Scarecrow motion-activated sprinkler.  This pest control product is easy to install and it gets the job done.  Groundhogs are afraid of water and should the rodent come 1000 feet of the scarecrow the sprinkler will emit a powerful burst of water that hits the groundhog and gets them wet.  They are terrified and run back to the forest.  What I like about this product is that it is a humane way to train groundhogs to stay out of your yard.  It does not take much if the groundhog is uncomfortable it will move to another location.

More tips for Getting Rid of Groundhogs

1. Purchase a live animal trap or clean a used trap with dawn dish soap.  I clean the trap by rinsing it with soapy dawn dish soap and then I rinse it well with the garden hose.  I set the trap out in the sun to dry.  When the trap is dry I put on latex gloves before I handle it.  If the groundhog smells the human scent it will not enter the trap. 
2. Get the trap ready by laying a newspaper on the bottom of the trap. Fold the newspaper in half so that it fits inside the trap. Bait the trap with a red juicy apple.  I cut the apple in half so that the scent of the apple will lure the groundhog to the trap and encourage the rodent to enter the back of the trap.
3. Set the trap up against the side of your home, shed, or garage, or conceal it under shrubs or bushes. Cover the trap with a twin-sized blanket but do not cover the entrance. On the day that I plan to trap the groundhog, I will stay close to the trap, I never leave traps unattended. 
4. Once the groundhog is trapped I will cover the entire trap with the blanket. I find that the blanket that covers the trap comforts the groundhog and they are not as terrified. Put on thick protective gloves and handle the trap carefully, never pick it up from the sides, only carry the trap with the handles.
5. Relocate the groundhogs to a wooded area that is across the water.  Water will prevent the groundhog from coming back to my yard. I think that trapping is a permanent method to remove groundhogs from your yard and garden. 

Use caution when opening the trap door as the groundhog may show aggression.  In my experience, the groundhog did not want to leave the trap and I needed to coax him out with apples.  I did not rush the groundhog to leave the trap, I waited patiently until he exited on his own.

The above groundhog images I took.  The introduction is a groundhog that was born in May 2011.  The groundhog on the step is approximate 28 months old, the size is quite smaller than a fully grown groundhog. Both groundhogs have been trapped and relocated.

Note:
The motion-activated Scarecrow sprinkler is something every gardener needs for pest control.  It works great for deer, stray cats, raccoons, and groundhogs.