Japanese Gardening

Things to keep in mind for a beautiful garden
Main principles on the garden's design
Bring the Japanese feeling into your garden with these basic steps. First of all, embrace the ideal of nature. That means, keep things in your garden as natural as possible, avoiding to include things that could disrupt this natural appearance.

For example, don't include square ponds in your design as square ponds are nowhere to be found in nature. Also, a waterfall would be something closer to what exists in nature if we compare it to a fountain. So you also have to consider the Japanese concept of sumi or balance. Because one of Japanese gardening design main purposes is to recreate large landscapes even in the smallest place. Be careful when choosing the elements for your garden, because you don't want to end up filling your ten by ten courtyard with huge rocks.
As a miniaturized landscape, the rocks in the garden would represent mountains and the ponds would represent lakes. A space filled with sand would represent an ocean. By that we assume that garden masters were looking to achieve a minimalistic approach, best represented by the phrase "less is more".

Exotic Plant

The process of reproduction outside a plant's normal habitat is often inhibited enough to prevent spreading. Once established in their adopted territory a rare plant may prove hardy to grow in that territory. The most important aspect of growing plants outside their territory is to know what particular needs the plant might crave in the new location, to provide those for it.

For instance plants that manufacture their food from water and air, have become adapted to utilise varying degrees of light, plants which normally grow in full sun may not be able to survive in much less than the maximum sun exposure.

Other plants which to protect themselves from their harsh environment grow partly hidden beneath the ground, such as lithops actually have translucent windows in their visible parts, the leaf tips, which allow light to penetrate their internal chlorophyll-bearing cells.

Exotic plants can't be expected to behave typically under rare conditions, the local competition for light, water and soil may prove severe for them to bypass successfully. The nature of the local competition which awaits an exotic plant is a powerful factor in determining the success or failure of the introduction of the rare plant into the new location.

Indoor Plants For Home Or Office

Types of indoor plants for home or office settings.
There are thousands of indoor plants that one can use for indoor decoration. I'll mention the most common and the easiest to care for.
Pothos or (Epipremnum aureum) Very Easy care plants. They will do great indoors. They are famous for being used on hanging baskets and can take bright indirect sunlight the more light and the frequent the watering the faster it grows. They can also tolerant low light which makes them ideal for dark areas. You can let them dry out before watering again. They do like well drained soil. It is best if they are fertilized at least 3 times per year. There are two other varieties that have more foliage color. The marbled queen has quite a bit of light yellow and white on its leaves. The Golden variety is mostly green with some golden streaks through it leaves.

Peace Lilly - or (Spathiphyllum) This easy care plant likes low light and is perfect for that dark corner. It produces a white leaf like bloom that can shoot straight up. It does grow to about 4ft tall and 4ft wide. The only difficult part of this plant is that it does like lots of water and should be watered daily throughout the summer months. It can be placed in indirect sunlight or in a very dark room. The white bloom is very colorful and start from the middle of the plant and is actually a leaf. Fertilize at least 4-6 times per year.
Rubber Plant - or (Ficus elastica) -This plant likes low indirect sunlight. Leaves are thick and waxy kind of...like rubber! Very easy care good looking indoor plant. It does like regular watering almost daily during the hot summer months. Very attractive indoor houseplant and should be trimmed once it reaches 6ft. in height. This type of plant can grow very large but you can dwarf its size by keeping it in a smaller container. This type of plant should be used in office settings.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds are another highly nutritious seed food that we Americans supply generously to our parrots and our chickens, yet neglect to utilize in raising the standards of our under-par human diets. Our health authorities have been passing up a highly palatable, first-rate source of high-grade protein, B-vitamins and urgently needed trace minerals by failing to acquaint the public with sunflower seeds. This is a serious oversight in a country where our health becomes worse as our civilization grows older-and where our past-forty populace is growing old prematurely because of poor diet.

Back in the days of the czars, every Russian soldier out in the campaign field was given what was called his daily 'iron ration'-a two-pound bag of sunflower seeds. Because the army away from its supply bases was sometimes forced to live exclusively on these seeds, the officers furnished their men with this tasty, lightweight food knowing that it gave them all the nourishment needed to keep them in good condition. (Besides the protein, vitamins and other minerals, two pounds of sunflower seeds contain about 21 milligrams of iron. The average grown man requires at least 12 milligrams of iron each day for optimum health, while the average woman needs a minimum of 15 milligrams. From these figures it's easy to understand that the Russian soldier in those days must have been a red-blooded fellow.)

Buying Plants at Your Nursery

When you set out to shop at your plant nursery, the same question pops up every time: 'How do I choose the right plants for my garden?' The best way is to find a nursery which has knowledgeable, helpful staff, whether it is in person at your local nursery, or via email or phone at your online nursery or mail order nursery.

The staff at the plant nursery should have time to answer all your questions, and should know the situation a certain plant will grow well in. Always try and give the nursery staff a good idea of where you would like to put the plant, the type of soil the plant is to grow in, and your climate. Your climate is mainly important when you shop at your online nursery, as online nurseries usually post plants around Australia, and may not be in your local area.

2 Amazing Plant and Flower Facts

1. Rafflesia Arnoldi-The world's largest and rarest flower is from the jungles of Southeast Asia. The rafflesia arnoldi can reach a diameter of up to three feet and weigh as much as fifteen pounds. This heavy flower is pollinated by beetles and flies. It has no roots, leaves or stems and the disembodied blossom grows only as a parasite on the vines of another plant.The large single flower has no chlorophyll. The huge fleshy, fungus like petals are reddish-brown spotted with white. Very little is known about the rafflesia arnoldi because it is difficult to travel deep into the dense rainforest. It has been impossible to duplicate its environment in which it lives therefore it has been unattainable to grow it in confinement. When the flower is ready for reproduction it gives off a potent stench of decay to attract its insect pollinators. The flowers can be smelled long before they are seen. This rare flower is near extinction because of the destruction of its habitat, the rainforest.
2. Water Lilies- The royal, or giant, water lily is one of the wonders of the plant world. On the Amazon River, their buds begin to open in the morning and by mid-afternoon are fully opened, staying open all night. Among all the blossoms, only one flower opens at a time. The huge leaves of the water lily can reach up to six feet across and are strong enough to support the weight of a child. Water lilies are probably the oldest group of flowering plants. The earliest known fossilized pollen originated from one of these plants about 140 million years ago.

Making the World Greener

We all need green. It lifts our souls and speaks to our beings. Beautiful plants bring us a breath of fresh air and an oasis from the concrete city we live in. a hidden garden, a single rose plant, a dracaena growing tall and proud. A rough cactus growing straight and tall, a bamboo palm looking tropical calling us to travel. Houseplants, yard plants or just a pot of flowers for the table, remind us that we are part of nature, part of the earth and it calls to us.

I get up early in the morning and even though I don't have a a lot of space, I grow pot after pot of everything imaginable. I have tomatoes in pots, cucumbers, herbs, flowers pots with a profusion of blooming color, I have shrubs shaped and interesting. My patio is my oasis and I start my day among the growing, living things. I often read for a minute as I eat breakfast outside with my flowers and plants. I love our city, I love the hustle and energy this city offers, I love the buildings, the taxis, that early morning bakeries, I love the night life and the pride New York owns. But sometimes after a long week at the office, the concrete gets to me and I long for green, I long for streams, flowers, trees and beauty that only nature can provide. I can't always get to the park as often as I would like but the next best thing is my little patio of pots and a tiny water feature. I love the sound of running water, even in miniature. The world may be going on helter skelter around me, but I can escape for a minute among my ferns and flowers.