Choose Ground Covers as a Lawn Alternative

Planting a lawn is sometimes too easy an answer for filling an empty spot in your yard and garden. That carpet of green grass in your yard, as wonderful as it looks, uses up valuable resources such as water and fertilizer. To keep your lawn looking its best, you also invest a lot of your time and physical labor — oh, and don't forget the expense. You do have alternatives and can have good reasons to use them.

Face it. Dry climates, such as the desert Southwest, and the amount of water a large lawn needs make having a lawn out of the question for some people. You may have a garden situation where other, more usable or low-maintenance alternatives are a better choice.

Ground covers are usually low growing, often spreading plants that form a uniform layer of foliage when planted close together. Ground covers range from very low-growing plants that are just a few inches high to more shrubby types that are several feet high.

The pros and cons of ground covers
Ground covers provide an even carpet of green (or other color) foliage that, from a landscape sense, has a similar overall impact of a lawn. The effect isn't as formal and refined, but you still see a carpet of foliage. The downside of most ground covers is, of course, that you can't walk or play on them like a lawn. In addition, ground covers don't provide the quick solution that a lawn does. (Most ground covers take several years to fill in.) However, the upsides of ground covers are impressive:

Ground covers need less water than lawns. Once established, many ground covers get by on very little water and can withstand periods of drought. Install drip irrigation, which really maximizes water efficiency, and you're on a water-saving roll.
Ground covers offer diverse beauty. You don't see just flat and green; ground covers come in a variety of foliage textures and colors and with colorful flowers, berries, and fall foliage color.
Ground covers are ideal for sloping ground. Forget about growing (and mowing!) lawns on steep hillsides or slopes. The water washes away and gets wasted before it can soak into the soil. Mowing lawns on slopes can be dangerous. You can use ground covers, on the other hand, to stabilize soil on slopes. You can use drip irrigation, which applies water very slowly without runoff. You don't need to mow ground covers.
Ground covers need less care. Ahh, a life with no mowing and less fertilizing. If you use mulches or plant through landscape fabrics (clothlike material that smothers weeds), you don't even have to weed. Ground covers are sounding better all the time, right?
Ground covers are perfect for small spaces. Ideal areas for ground covers include narrow, curbside areas that are impossible to water properly, and other small spots that are a pain to mow.
Ground covers can make your lawn look bigger. If a smaller lawn is what you're after, you can still have the big, expansive look by planting ground covers around the outside of it. You get a small play surface and the formality of a lawn — say, right around the front door — without all the commitment of time and resources. Very trendy!
Ground covers can grow in shade. Many ground covers, including Japanese spurge, English ivy, and dwarf periwinkle, grow better in heavy shade than most lawn grasses.
Like most plants, ground covers have their own requirements for sun, shade, soil, water, and so on, so you need to do some research before you make a final selection.

Low-growing ground covers
Many of these ground huggers can withstand light foot traffic. In other words, you can walk on them periodically, and they're ideal for planting around stepping stones or in the narrow planting strip between the sidewalk and street. All the following plants are evergreen, meaning they have leaves all year. (Deciduous plants lose their leaves in the fall.)

Wooly yarrow (Achillea tomentosa): This tough, hardy ground cover reaches to about 6 to 9 inches high and can take foot traffic. In the summer, yellow flowers complement the ferny, gray-green foliage. The leaves are also aromatic, a fragrant bonus when you walk on it (that is, if you like the smell).
Carpet bugle (Ajuga reptans): Carpet bugle grows 2 to 6 inches high with handsome, deep green or purplish leaves. This hardy plant sports blue flowers that grow on spikes in spring and early summer.
Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile): This plant's fine-textured, aromatic foliage reaches about 6 inches high. Chamomile has yellow flowers (herbal tea is made from the dried flowers) and can withstand light traffic. The ground cover is hardy to about 0 degrees F.
English ivy (Hedera helix): This widely adapted, sprawling foliage plant sometimes has variegated leaves. Generally, this hardy plant grows 12 to 18 inches high and can climb.
Aaron's Beard, St. John's Wort (Hypericum calycinum): Sunny yellow flowers highlight this hardy plant, which grows 12 inches high.
Iceplant (Lampranthus):This large group of low-growing succulents has bright flowers. Most of these drought-tolerant plants are not very hardy and are best adapted to mild-winter climates.
Mondo grass or lily turf (Liriope or Ophiopogon): Grassy leaves and summer flowers identify these two similar, hardy plants. They also thrive in shade.
Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis): This attractive foliage plant is ideal for shady, moist situations. Japanese spurge grows to about 10 inches high and is hardy.
Spring cinquefoil (Potentilla tabernaemontana): Spring cinquefoil has neatly lobed leaves and yellow flowers and grows 3 to 6 inches high. This hardy plant can withstand foot traffic.
Creeping thyme (Thymus praecox): A spreading herb with aromatic foliage and white to pink flowers, this plant grows 3 to 6 inches high. Creeping thyme is hardy and can withstand traffic.
Dwarf periwinkle (Vinca minor): This ground cover displays dark green leaves and violet blue flowers. Growing 6 to 12 inches high, dwarf periwinkles thrive in shade and are hardy.
Shrubby ground covers
Shrubby ground covers include plants that are shrubbier and usually taller than the ones described in the preceding section. Unless otherwise mentioned, all are very hardy.

Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi): This hardy evergreen shrub grows to about 12 inches high and sports small white flowers and red berries. Kinnikinnick is also drought-resistant.
Barberries (Berberis): Barberries are available in many low-growing varieties, some with purplish-green leaves. The plant is deciduous with bright red fall color and red berries. It's also pretty thorny, good for planting under windows to deter burglars.
Cotoneasters (Cotoneaster): This large group of deciduous and evergreen plants includes many excellent ground covers. Cotoneasters boast white flowers and red berries. Some deciduous ones have beautiful fall color.
Winterberry (Euonymus fortunei): Winterberries are very hardy evergreen plants that come in many fine ground cover forms. Some have very attractive, colored foliage.
Junipers (Juniperus): These excellent, hardy plants have needlelike foliage. The tough and versatile juniper comes in evergreen's many heights and some interesting foliage colors.
Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides): The sprawling, vining evergreen plant has shiny foliage and fragrant flowers. This plant does best in mild-winter climates. Star jasmine is hardy to only 10 degrees F.

Adding Wireless Security to Your Home

Wouldn't you like to know what goes on at home while you're away? Lucky for you, a wireless home monitoring system can tell you. Basically, it lets you monitor your home from afar through the use of a wireless camera and sensors. For example, the Motorola Home Monitoring and Control System performs these feats:

Sends real-time notifications when there's trouble.
Sends photos, videos, and text alerts so you can view them remotely, from a Web browser or a cell phone.
Stores video so you can watch it anytime from your computer.
Archives things like temperature changes.
Motorola is careful to call this a home monitoring and control system, rather than a home security system. In its warranty information — in bold, capital letters — Motorola says, "This product is intended only for use to facilitate home monitoring and control and is not intended to be a substitute for a home security system." You've been warned!

Digging through the goodies
It all starts with Motorola's Easy Start Kit, which has a suggested list price of $300. It includes a USB gateway/controller that connects your computer with the wireless components, a wireless camera, and power adapters for both.

You can purchase other components separately:

Additional wireless cameras. Hey, why not have one in every room of the house? Plus the garage? And maybe the shed?
Wired cameras. You can have up to three.
Wireless door/window sensor. This alerts the system when a door or window opens.
Wireless temperature sensor. This lets you monitor for temperatures that rise or fall rapidly, indicating problems like fires or freezing temperatures. The sensor is especially handy if the home you monitor is a vacation residence.
Wireless water sensor. A good way to monitor basements, this sensor tells you when it detects — can you guess? — water.
The sensors work 60 to 80 feet from the gateway (the device that attaches to your computer), so it's best to place the gateway (and its PC) in a central location. The sensors can transmit through walls, ceilings, and floors, but the range is limited. The gateway and sensors transmit and receive on the 418-MHz frequency.

The example system featured in this article includes these things:

USB gateway
One wireless camera
One wireless door/window sensor
One wireless temperature sensor
One wireless water sensor
The system can handle up to eight sensors. There's enough capacity left to add sensors to many of your doors and windows. You may want to use some of that capacity for additional temperature and water sensors, however. It also can handle up to three wired cameras and up to six wireless cameras.

The system has a remote service that costs about $20 per month. It lets you monitor and control your system from afar, using a Web browser.

You can download the latest drivers and other software for Motorola's system here.

Setting yourself up for security success
Before you can begin using your new security system, you need to set up the hardware, install the software, and configure the system.

Setting up the hardware
Setting up everything is easy. Get the hardware ready to go:

1. Remove the Easy Start Kit and sensors from the packaging.

2. Some assembly required: Attach an antenna to each sensor.

3. Insert batteries in each sensor.

Battery life is 1 year with normal usage.

4. Install the sensors in the appropriate locations.

Please see the instruction manual for each sensor. You can have up to eight sensors.

Software installation is a lengthy but fairly simple process. After installing the software and hardware, it's time to configure your home monitor software.

Check frequently for software updates. If you don't update, you may not be able to use the Shell HomeGenie remote Web features.


Setting alerts
Events can also be called alerts. An event is triggered when a certain event happens. For instance, when the temperature probe registers a temperature above a certain threshold, the software can send you an e-mail or text message. You also can tell the camera to take an image that goes into the archive and which can be sent to you as an e-mail attachment.

Here's how you set an event:

1. In the Home Monitor software, click the Event Setup menu button.

The Event Setup screen appears.

2. Choose a sensor device from the pull-down menu.

3. Chose an event.

The event is different for each sensor.

4. Choose Action Device.

This is usually one of the cameras.

5. Choose between Actions: Capture Video or Capture Image

6. Select from the Notify with E-mail menu if you want an e-mail notification.

You must create an e-mail or text message profile before you can use those options. Click Edit E-Mail Profiles or Edit Text Profiles. Enter your e-mail address.

7. Edit your SMTP (outgoing e-mail) information:

Select Edit SMTP Info. Enter your outgoing e-mail address. (It often begins with smtp.) Enter your e-mail address. If your SMTP server requires authentication (ask your ISP), enter your account name and password.

8. Select from the Notify with Text Message menu if you want a text message sent to your mobile phone.

9. Select Update.

That's it! You just created an event. You now can create one or more events for each of your sensors.

The software floods you with e-mails if you pick a frequently occurring event, such as when the camera detects motion. After a short rest period each time, the event continues triggering indefinitely as long as the camera senses motion. Keep this in mind as you create events.

Making Compost - Black Gold for Your Organic Garden

The best and most refined of organic matters is compost, which is organic matter and/or manures that have decomposed until they resemble loamy soil. Thoroughly decomposed compost contains lots of humus — the beneficial, soil-improving material your plants need. Whether the original source was grass clippings, sawdust, animal manure, or vegetable scraps from your kitchen, all organic matter eventually becomes compost.

Making your own compost is probably the simplest way to ensure high quality compost and save some money. It's really not as complicated as you may think: The many commercial composting bins and containers on the market make it a mess-free and hassle-free process.

A well-constructed compost pile — built with the proper dimensions and maintained correctly — heats up fast; decomposes uniformly and quickly; kills many diseases, insects, and weed seeds; doesn't smell; and is easy to turn and maintain. Conversely, a pile just thrown together rarely heats up and, therefore, takes longer to decompose. This type of cold composting doesn't kill any diseases, insects, or weed seeds; may smell bad; and definitely looks messy.

Containing your compost pile makes it look neater, helps you maintain the correct moisture, and prevents animals from getting into it. You can build your own, as shown in Figure 1, or buy a commercial home composting unit. The advantages of a commercial composter include the availability of a wide range of attractive sizes and shapes and ease of use. Choose from box-shaped plastic and wooden bins and barrels or elevated and easy-to-turn tumblers, as shown in Figure 2. Store-bought bins are costly, however, and produce only small quantities of compost at a time, especially compared to a homemade bin that's built from scrap lumber or wire.





Figure 1: Build a simple wooden bin to hold your compost pile.




Figure 2: Commercial composters help you make compost yourself.

Here's what you need to know to build a good compost pile:

1. Choose a shady location, out of the way, but still within view so that you don't forget about the pile.

The soil under it should be well drained.

2. Make a bin.

Create a wire cylinder that's 3- to 4-feet in diameter or build a three-sided box (similar to the one in Figure 1), that's 4 to 5-feet high and wide.

3. Add brown materials.

Add a 6-inch layer of "brown" organic matter — such as hay, straw, old leaves, and sawdust — to the bottom of the container.

4. Add green materials.

Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of "green" organic matter, such as green grass clippings, manure, table scraps, or even high-nitrogen fertilizer, such as cottonseed meal, on top of the brown layer.

5. Repeat these layers, watering each one as you go, until the pile is 4 to 5-feet tall and fills the bin.

A smaller pile won't heat up well and a larger pile can be difficult to manage.

6. Within two days, mix the layers together thoroughly.

Particle size should be varied, smaller particles hasten decomposition.

7. Cover the pile with a tarp to keep rain away and preserve moisture.

If the pile gets too soggy or too dry, it won't heat up.

Not all organic matter is good for the compost pile. Following is a look at what to add to a pile, what not to add, and in what ratios to add it:


What to add to the pile or composter: What you put in the compost pile is up to you — just remember that it needs to be from an organic material. Here's a short list of possibilities:
• Hay, straw, pine needles

• Leaves

• Kitchen scraps (egg shells, old bread, vegetable and fruit scraps)

• Animal manure, except for dog, cat, pig, or human

• Old vegetables, flowers, or trimmings from trees and shrubs

• Sawdust

• Wood chips

• Weeds

• Shredded black and white newspaper. (In the past, color printing used heavy metals in the ink. Most color printing now uses soy-based inks, but it's better to avoid them in the garden altogether to be on the safe side.)

What not to add: Some items don't belong in your compost pile. While hot compost piles can kill off many diseases, weed seeds, and insects, it's not a sure thing, and some of these unpleasant guests may survive to invade your garden again. Certain materials can also invite unwanted wildlife to the pile or spread human diseases. Avoid adding the following to your compost bin:
• Kitchen scraps like meats, oils, fish, dairy products, and bones. They attract unwanted animals, such as rats and raccoons, to the pile.

• Weeds that have gone to seed or that spread by their roots, such as quackgrass

• Diseased or insect-infested vegetable or flower plants

• Herbicide-treated grass clippings or weeds

• Dog, cat, or pig feces.

Let's talk ratios: In composting corners, you often hear about the C/N ratio or carbon to nitrogen ratio. Basically, all organic matter can be divided into carbon-rich (brown stuff) and nitrogen-rich (green stuff) materials. Using the right mixture of brown to green stuff when building a compost pile encourages the pile to heat up and decompose efficiently. Although nearly any combination of organic materials eventually decomposes, for the fastest and most efficient compost pile in town, strike the correct balance (C/N ratio) between the two types of material — usually 25 to 1 (that is, 25 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen).


Table 1 shows which common compost materials are high in carbon and which materials are high in nitrogen. Notice that the softer materials, such as fresh grass clippings, tend to be higher in nitrogen than hard materials, such as sawdust. Mix these together to form a pile with an average C/N ratio of 25-to-1 to 30-to-1, and you'll be well on your way to beautiful compost. Use the following ratios as guidelines. Actual ratios vary depending on the sources of the materials and other factors. And speaking of sources — be sure that your compost materials haven't been contaminated with pesticides or other chemicals.
Table 1: Carbon/Nitrogen Ratios of Various Materials

Material and C/N Ratio

Table scraps, 15:1

Grass clippings, 19:1

Old manure, 20:1

Fresh alfalfa hay, 12:1

Fruit waste, 25:1

Corn stalks, 60:1

Old leaves, 80:1

Straw, 80:1

Paper, 170:1

Sawdust, 500:1

Wood, 700:1


Quick and easy compost recipes
To make the most compost in the shortest amount of time, try some of these proven recipes. For each recipe, mix the ingredients thoroughly and follow the directions in the next section, "Keeping your pile happy." Depending on weather and compost ingredients, you should have finished compost within one to two months.

Recipe #1: Four parts kitchen scraps from fruits and vegetables, 2 parts chicken or cow manure, 1 part shredded newspaper (black ink only), and 1 part shredded dry leaves.
Recipe #2: Two parts kitchen scraps, 1 part chicken manure, and 1 part shredded leaves.
Recipe #3: Two parts grass clippings, 1 part chicken manure, and 1 part shredded leaves.
Keeping your pile happy
A hot pile is a happy pile. If you follow the method of just throwing everything together, the pile will rarely heat up. If you follow the method of building the pile carefully with a balanced C/N ratio, the pile will start to cook within a week. Now you need to keep it cooking. Here's the procedure:

1. Keep the pile moist by periodically watering it.

Dig into the pile about 1 foot to see if it's moist. If not, water the pile thoroughly, but not so that it's soggy. The pile needs air, too, and adding too much water removes air spaces. If you built the pile with moist ingredients, such as kitchen scraps, it won't need watering at first.

2. Turn the pile when it cools down.

Using a garden fork, remove the outside layers and put them aside. Remove the inside layers into another pile and then switch. Place the outside layers in the center of the new pile and the inside layers along the outside of the new pile.

3. Let it cook again.

How hot it gets and how long it cooks depends on the ratio of C/N materials in the pile and whether you have the correct moisture levels.

4. When it's cool, turn it again.

You should have finished compost after two to three turnings. The finished product should be cool, crumbly, dark colored, and earthy smelling.

Sometimes, a compost pile never heats up, smells bad, or contains pieces of undecomposed materials. Chances are that one of the following conditions occurred:

The pile was too wet or dry.
You added too many carbon materials and not enough nitrogen materials.
The pieces of material were too big or packed together. Shred leaves, branches, and pieces of wood to decompose more quickly.
The pile was too small.

Creating Paper Bag Luminarias for Holiday Decorating

Traditionally, luminarias are made of votive candles set in paper bags weighted with sand and placed in rows along walkways, driveways, and even rooftops. You can use them in new ways, however, to light paths, a mantel, or a staircase. Because they're so simple to make, you can use them as projects for children. Light up your nights for the holidays by making some luminarias for your home and customizing them for a specific holiday.

You can decorate, punch, or cut designs from lunch-size paper bags to make holiday luminarias quickly and easily. Use bags in holiday colors (you can find them at party supply stores) to give your luminarias a holiday look. For instant decorating — no embellishments required — use the preprinted themed bags that are often used for holding goodies.

Place one to two inches of sand in the bottom of each paper bag. Nestle a tealight or votive candle into the center of the sand. When you're ready to use your luminaria, just light the wick of the tealight or candle.

Stamping, stenciling, or drawing designs
You can customize plain bags by stamping, stenciling, or drawing designs on them with craft paint or markers. Stencil stars for the Fourth of July, or stamp shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day. A simple drawing of a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween or a stenciled Star of David for a dusk celebration can provide a beautiful way to welcome guests and make any occasion special.

For a simple way to make a luminaria with a complex design, use a computer to print clip art in black ink on plain copy paper. Trim the copy to fit just inside one side of the plain brown bag, and then glue or tape it into place. When you light the luminaria, the black lines of the design show up on the outside of the bag. With this little trick, you can quickly make luminarias that look as if you spent lots of artistic energy on them.

Try to find designs that look like silhouettes or are completely black: They show up better when the luminaria is illuminated.


Perforating designs
When you perforate outlines of designs in your paper bag luminaria, bright pinpricks of light shine through the paper. Perforating outlines of designs in paper is easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Place several layers of folded newspaper on a cutting board.

2. Tape your paper bag, with the bottom flap unfolded, to the newspaper with pieces of masking tape or removable tape.

3. Take a thumbtack and prick evenly spaced holes along the outline of the design, making sure you prick through both layers of the bag.

Cutting out designs
Cutting small designs out of the paper bag will allow a little more light to shine through your luminaria. But remember, when you cut more paper from the bag, you also allow more wind in, making the candle flame more likely to go out.

When cutting out designs, use shapes that are 1 to 1-1/2 inches in size. Anything larger will weaken the structure of the bag, making it more likely to sag.

1. Place several layers of folded newspaper on a cutting board. Tape your paper bag, with the bottom flap unfolded, to the newspaper with masking tape or removable tape.

2. Draw or trace the outline of the design on the bag.

3. Cut out shapes with a craft knife.

If you want to use cookie cutters for patterns or larger motifs, you can use two bags (with one serving as a liner) to give the cut bag strength. This layered effect is very pretty when you use a contrasting colored bag for the inner liner.

When burning candles, always follow the manufacturer's instructions for safe and proper use. For more about candles and a close look at candle safety tips, head over to the National Candle Association.

Creating a Low-Maintenance Feng Shui Garden

You can achieve a beautiful Feng Shui garden even if you don't have a lot of time to devote to gardening. Keeping a garden low maintenance is easy if you plan carefully and keep up with chores so they don't get out of hand (turning a one-hour chore into a ten-hour chore). For instance, you can pull small weeds from your front flowerbed once a week or you can skip it and end up spending an entire weekend in July hacking through a jungle sized weed patch where you can barely see your plants.

As you plan your garden, determine how much maintenance each type of plant needs. For example, a tree may require pruning, leaf cleanup, and mulching. A garden shed could need annual painting or a deck may need annual sealing. Factor these time demands into your garden planning.


A large lawn obviously takes a lot of time to mow, edge, and trim; so if you can limit the amount of lawn (and keep it in a regular shape, like a square or rectangle), you spend less time mowing.

Choosing carefree plants
If you plant only those plants that thrive in your environment, you have fewer gardening chores to keep up with. Remember these tips for easier caretaking:

After a native plant has been established in your garden (a year or two), you don't need to water it. (Or at least, not very often.) So choose drought-tolerant native plants and dump the garden hose.
Substitute groundcover for grass, particularly in those areas where you have difficulty getting grass to grow.
Eliminate plants that are susceptible to pests and diseases in your area. Check with your local extension agency.
Even though annuals are replaced, um, annually, choose those that work best in your area to reduce maintenance.
Shrubs can be low maintenance if you choose healthy, native plants.
Choose plants that produce less litter. Crab apple trees create crab apples, and someone has to pick them up (or, if that someone is a kid, throw them at passersby). Pinecones may make festive centerpieces, but again, someone has to collect them. Choose trees with small leaves (less raking) and avoid fruit trees to reduce maintenance time.
Selecting simple garden structures
Keep your garden structures low maintenance, too. This reduces the amount of time you spend repairing, painting, and replacing objects in your garden. Here's how:

Don't paint or stain garden structures. Naturally weathered wood looks good and doesn't require much upkeep.
One pair of gardeners bought a certain house largely because of the huge deck in back, on which they envisioned hosting lots of parties. Well, they got to host their parties, but they didn't love it so much when they realized the original homeowners had painted the deck and now they had to re-paint it every year or it looked terrible!
Choose dark-colored wrought-iron furniture for low-maintenance tables and chairs.
Install a self-contained fountain or birdbath rather than a pond. Ponds require much more maintenance and are more difficult to install.
Growing a garden with minimal effort
If you've chosen suitable plants and have reduced maintenance time on sheds, furniture, and other garden structures, you're well on your way to keeping gardening demands to a minimum.

Now, place the right plants in the right places, and you reduce maintenance needs even further! For example

Create beds of plants. Don't mow and trim around four different beds if you can mow and trim around one (albeit a big one).
Group like plants together. Plants that need like amounts of water, for example, can be placed together to reduce maintenance time.
Place plants where they grow best. So plant sun lovers in full sun and shade lovers in shade.
Avoid unnecessary pruning by knowing how big a specific plant grows and planting it where it has room to reach its full potential. Tomorrow comes sooner than you think. Consider the case of the gardener who planted a pin oak as a sapling when he first purchased his house. His wife said, "You're planting that too close to the house, aren't you?" and he said, "It'll be 25 years before we have to worry about that." Well, before he knew it, he was chopping down that pin oak because it was dropping branches on the roof. Remember, conscious and deliberate placement and planning are important in Feng Shui. A Feng Shui garden isn't meant to be enjoyed for just one season but for many years to come.


Keep more delicate plants in containers. That way, you can simply bring them indoors instead of having to create elaborate protective measures for delicate plants in the ground.
Prioritize maintenance jobs. Make sure that the most important jobs — the ones most beneficial to your plants — get done. The others can wait.

Creating a Low-Maintenance Feng Shui Garden

You can achieve a beautiful Feng Shui garden even if you don't have a lot of time to devote to gardening. Keeping a garden low maintenance is easy if you plan carefully and keep up with chores so they don't get out of hand (turning a one-hour chore into a ten-hour chore). For instance, you can pull small weeds from your front flowerbed once a week or you can skip it and end up spending an entire weekend in July hacking through a jungle sized weed patch where you can barely see your plants.

As you plan your garden, determine how much maintenance each type of plant needs. For example, a tree may require pruning, leaf cleanup, and mulching. A garden shed could need annual painting or a deck may need annual sealing. Factor these time demands into your garden planning.


A large lawn obviously takes a lot of time to mow, edge, and trim; so if you can limit the amount of lawn (and keep it in a regular shape, like a square or rectangle), you spend less time mowing.

Choosing carefree plants
If you plant only those plants that thrive in your environment, you have fewer gardening chores to keep up with. Remember these tips for easier caretaking:

After a native plant has been established in your garden (a year or two), you don't need to water it. (Or at least, not very often.) So choose drought-tolerant native plants and dump the garden hose.
Substitute groundcover for grass, particularly in those areas where you have difficulty getting grass to grow.
Eliminate plants that are susceptible to pests and diseases in your area. Check with your local extension agency.
Even though annuals are replaced, um, annually, choose those that work best in your area to reduce maintenance.
Shrubs can be low maintenance if you choose healthy, native plants.
Choose plants that produce less litter. Crab apple trees create crab apples, and someone has to pick them up (or, if that someone is a kid, throw them at passersby). Pinecones may make festive centerpieces, but again, someone has to collect them. Choose trees with small leaves (less raking) and avoid fruit trees to reduce maintenance time.
Selecting simple garden structures
Keep your garden structures low maintenance, too. This reduces the amount of time you spend repairing, painting, and replacing objects in your garden. Here's how:

Don't paint or stain garden structures. Naturally weathered wood looks good and doesn't require much upkeep.
One pair of gardeners bought a certain house largely because of the huge deck in back, on which they envisioned hosting lots of parties. Well, they got to host their parties, but they didn't love it so much when they realized the original homeowners had painted the deck and now they had to re-paint it every year or it looked terrible!
Choose dark-colored wrought-iron furniture for low-maintenance tables and chairs.
Install a self-contained fountain or birdbath rather than a pond. Ponds require much more maintenance and are more difficult to install.
Growing a garden with minimal effort
If you've chosen suitable plants and have reduced maintenance time on sheds, furniture, and other garden structures, you're well on your way to keeping gardening demands to a minimum.

Now, place the right plants in the right places, and you reduce maintenance needs even further! For example

Create beds of plants. Don't mow and trim around four different beds if you can mow and trim around one (albeit a big one).
Group like plants together. Plants that need like amounts of water, for example, can be placed together to reduce maintenance time.
Place plants where they grow best. So plant sun lovers in full sun and shade lovers in shade.
Avoid unnecessary pruning by knowing how big a specific plant grows and planting it where it has room to reach its full potential. Tomorrow comes sooner than you think. Consider the case of the gardener who planted a pin oak as a sapling when he first purchased his house. His wife said, "You're planting that too close to the house, aren't you?" and he said, "It'll be 25 years before we have to worry about that." Well, before he knew it, he was chopping down that pin oak because it was dropping branches on the roof. Remember, conscious and deliberate placement and planning are important in Feng Shui. A Feng Shui garden isn't meant to be enjoyed for just one season but for many years to come.


Keep more delicate plants in containers. That way, you can simply bring them indoors instead of having to create elaborate protective measures for delicate plants in the ground.
Prioritize maintenance jobs. Make sure that the most important jobs — the ones most beneficial to your plants — get done. The others can wait.

Curing Chi-Flow Problems in Your Feng Shui Garden

The free and easy movement of chi (life energy) through the garden is essential to good Feng Shui. Without it, your garden doesn't produce as abundantly, and your own energy is negatively affected.

Unfortunately, even with your best intentions, sometimes chi movement isn't as good as it could be. Although you can prevent many chi problems with good planning, some of them come along unexpectedly and need to be fixed, or cured. Fortunately, most Feng Shui cures are pretty simple and straightforward. You don't have to take a lot of time, money, or energy to place them.

If you suspect you have chi flow problems, you're probably right. Your instincts are usually on target, so listen to them. To spot potential chi flow problems, imagine chi as a river flowing and meandering through your garden:


Certain places in your garden block the free and easy flow of chi, making them trouble spots. Examples of such places are clumps of trees and undergrowth or solid fences and gates.
Other places can cause the chi to collect and stagnate (think of an algae-covered pond). Empty corners of the garden often cause this problem.
Too much flat, empty space in your garden can cause the chi to move through too quickly, making it difficult for the chi to do its work of bringing positive energy and abundance into your life.
If you have any of these problems, here are some quick cures.

Clearing the clutter
The number one cure for chi movement problems is clearing the clutter. That means getting rid of debris, raking up leaves, composting grass clippings and other organic matter, cutting down undergrowth and overgrowth, and otherwise caring for and maintaining your garden. Make sure that you

Pick up the trash that gets blown into your yard (pay a kid to do this if you must).
If you have pets, dispose of their yard waste regularly. (If you can encourage them to use only one spot in the yard, so much the better.)
Keep the grass mowed and the weeds pulled (pay a kid . . .).
Do annual maintenance on your plants: deadhead blossoms (pinch off dead flowers), pull up annuals, and dig up bulbs, if necessary.
Get rid of dead and dying plants. If they're diseased, discard them. Otherwise, compost them.
Keeping the garden clutter-free and well maintained helps the chi movement. It also helps you enjoy your garden more. Nothing gives you a headache faster than seeing dead leaves piled up under all the trees.

Coloring your garden
A powerful way to enhance the chi and to bring balance to your garden is through the use of color. You can use color to enhance the yin (passive) or the yang (active) energy in your garden. Yin energy slows chi down, so if fast-moving chi is your problem, you want to concentrate on this type of energy. Yang energy, on the other hand, speeds up the chi, so if impeded or stagnant chi is your problem, focus on yang energy.

Bright colors are more yang, while darker colors and earth tones are more yin. Pastels can be yin or yang depending on their brightness.


Because plants and flowers come in practically any color you can think of, you're not limited except by your imagination.

If you want to bring one of the Five Elements into your garden (or into any part of it), use the color associated with that element. For example, the Metal element is associated with white and pastel colors; the Wood element is associated with green. Although all plants symbolize the Wood element, you can use their blossoms and coloring to symbolize other elements, too.

The Life Sectors of the Bagua also have colors associated with them. So if you want to raise the chi in a particular Life Sector, plant a flower or place a decorative object of that color in that sector. For example, dark blue in the Career sector enhances that sector; pink in the Relationships sector is good for your love life.

Inviting living energy into your garden
Nothing raises the chi in your environment quite like the energy created by living plants and animals. Attracting living energy into your garden is very Feng Shui. For example, making the garden an enjoyable place for your children to play in raises the chi. Letting your pets run around outside also raises the chi.

You can plant your garden especially to attract birds, insects, and other wildlife. Butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to certain types of plants. By placing these plants in your garden, you invite good living energy into your garden.

Water, water, everywhere
Water is a cure-all for chi problems. Adding a water feature, especially one with running water, raises the chi in your garden. A water feature doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. A simple fountain works wonders. A more sophisticated waterfall with a pond also imports good energy into the garden, if you're up to the tasks of installing and maintaining it. (Hint: A murky pond filled with dead leaves does not enhance your chi.)


Running water symbolizes wealth and abundance flowing towards you (make sure the water actually flows toward your home and not away from it.). Running water also makes a pleasant, soothing sound that can enhance the chi in your environment.

Putting goldfish into your fountain or pond boosts the chi even more.

Using your nose
Fragrances and scents raise the chi in the environment and serve as a terrific pick-me-up. And the garden is the perfect place to find some of these fragrances and scents. An aromatherapy-herbal garden may be just the thing to keep chi moving in your garden. Or, plant a few plants just for their fragrance. Place them where you're able to smell them — near your favorite bench or next to the kitchen door.

If you want to perk up the chi (and yourself), try:

Citrus orange
Basil
Cardamom
Jasmine
If you want to relax the chi (and yourself), try:

Lavender
Rosemary
Marjoram
Pine
Moving around
Movement in the garden is good. Like living energy, movement or moving energy enhances the chi in your garden, and keeps it from getting still and stagnant.

Movement cures are inanimate objects that move (if they were animate objects, they've be called living energy). Examples include pinwheels, flags, banners, whirligigs, and running water. Some objects and shapes also seem to be moving and these can increase the feeling of movement in your garden. Think circular shapes, curves, and objects made from natural materials.

Sounding off
Bringing sound into the garden raises the chi, as long as the sound isn't irritating and annoying. You don't have to install an expensive outdoor waterproof stereo system to get some sound going (although you can).

Try these other ideas:

Running water makes a soothing sound.
Wind chimes make beautiful music.
Birds invited into your garden can sing lovely songs.

Using Curtains and Draperies in Your Home Decor

Curtains and draperies are chameleons. They work hard at blocking light and sound, heat and cold. They're also extraordinarily decorative and add enormous personality to a room.

What's the difference between curtains and draperies — and does it even matter? Traditionally, windows were treated to three types of curtains: a sash curtain (to filter light), a draw curtain (to block out light), and an over-drapery (which was purely decorative and is now just called a drapery). In very formal rooms (with sufficiently high ceilings), all of this was topped with a cornice or valance (to hide the hardware). This traditional treatment carries on today in period or very formal or dressy rooms.

The modern tendency is to think of curtains as sash curtains (often unlined and in a variety of lengths), and draperies (never drapes) as those that draw, completely closing off the window.

Another modern move is to drape and swag fabric loosely over a decorative rod or pole, in a nod to conventional valances and swags. Often, swags serve no function, but earn their keep by looking dramatic (see Figure 1).





Figure 1: A Contemporary-style swagged window treatment adds to the air of elegant formality.
Options
Don't waste time getting hung up on the terminology. Consider the tremendous number of window treatment options you may choose from:

Hang just curtains of lace, cotton, nylon, silk, or some other sheer fabric.
Place a curtain over a blind.
Hang a curtain beneath a chintz, silk, velvet, linen, or other draw drapery.
Hang draw draperies over blinds or some other shade.
Hang draw draperies alone on a decorative pole.
Top curtains with short, purely decorative over-draperies known as swags and jabots.
Top a blind or shade with swags, which drape over just the top of the window and long or short jabots, which hang on the sides of windows.
Top any or all of these window treatments with a cornice or valance.
You can see that the variations are practically endless, especially when you combine these elements with more contemporary window blinds and shades that look like accordion-pleated curtains.

If you're designing your own window treatments, don't hesitate to do up Country-casual fabrics in a fancy, three-curtain and valance window treatment in a formal Country room. The surprise works magic. And, just to be fair, don't be shy about using a lustrous silk fabric for simple tie-back curtains. This look is especially terrific when the silk is in a pink-and-white gingham check.


Lengths
How long should curtains or draperies be? Generally, the longer the curtain or drapery, the more dignified, dressy, and formal the look. Shorter lengths always imply a casual, relaxed, and informal mood. The decision is up to you. Take a look at Figure 2 and then read the following guidelines to find the style that's right for you.





Figure 2: Dressy or casual, curtain lengths add to the mood of any room.
In formal or dressy rooms, curtains should just touch the floor.
A romantic room deserves elegant, extra-long curtains that pool or puddle on the floor.
Curtains to the sill, or to the bottom of the window trim (called the apron), look great and are practical in a kitchen.
Never hang curtains of any length near a stove!

Dens or family rooms gain dignity from draw draperies or curtains that reach to the floor.
Curtains that stop short of the floor, ending at the top of floor moldings, look awkward. If curtains are hung too high, simply lower them (if possible) to solve the problem.
Not all windows are beautiful. Fortunately, draperies can help hide flaws. Here are some ways to make windows more wonderful:

Window too short? Attaching rods just below the ceiling molding and hanging long, to-the-floor curtains make the window look longer and more elegant.
Window awkwardly long? Add a deep cornice or valance above draperies with a bold horizontal pattern. Create further distraction by adding a horizontal line in the form of a strongly contrasting louvered shutter.
Window too narrow? Extend curtain rods beyond the window and hang draperies so that they barely cover the frame, leaving as much glass exposed as possible, all of which makes a narrow window seem wider.
Window too wide? A huge window wall can overpower a room. Break up the space by hanging several panels across the window. They can hang straight, or be tied back in pairs. If draperies must be drawn for privacy, let the panels hang straight and rig drawstrings so that the panels close as though they are separate pairs of draperies.
Creating special effects
If you want privacy but you don't want to cover up your windows, consider the following alternatives to traditional window treatments:

Install stained glass. Stained glass provides a sense of privacy, hides ugly views, and gives you something beautiful to look at.
Consider etched or frosted glass. This provides a degree of privacy but lets in lots of light.
Think about using glass block. The Contemporary alternative to stained, etched, or frosted glass, glass block hides unsightly views and filters light beautifully, while providing a bit of privacy.
If privacy is not a problem and all your window needs to do is let the sunshine in, simply hang a grapevine wreath or silk flower garland above it.


Instant window treatments
Need a window treatment quickly? Try some of the following ideas:

Napkin topper: Fold colorful dinner-size napkins in half on the diagonal and drape them, pointed side down, over a fat, stained or painted, wooden pole. (Use enough napkins to cover the width of the pole.) This is a great technique for a kitchen or breakfast nook.
Faux balloon: Drape a rectangular tablecloth (folded in half lengthwise) over a fat, decorated pole. Six or more inches from one side of the pole, drape a long folded length of ribbon across the pole with loose ends hanging below the cloth. Gather the ribbon ends and pull them up until the cloth begins to swag, and then tie the ribbon into a bow. Repeat on the opposite side. The result looks like a balloon shade.
Lodge-look draperies: Add grommets to one end of a wool plaid blanket. Then run lengths of grosgrain ribbon (long enough to finish in a bow) through the grommets and tie them to a wooden pole or tree branch.
Paper café curtains: Fold butcher's paper (which looks like a paper bag) into accordion pleats, punch holes through the pleats (on one end only), and push a curtain rod through, gathering it gracefully as you create a cafécurtain. (You need a length of paper two to three times the width of your window.)

Gardening with Feng Shui Principles

Feng Shui, which is a Chinese design philosophy, means literally wind and water. In traditional Chinese beliefs, wind and water are the source of all life energy. This life energy, called chi, brings abundance and blessings into your environment and your life. So when you're designing according to the principles of Feng Shui, you're really encouraging the chi to flow into and throughout your space (not to mention your life).

The modern approach to Feng Shui used in this article is called Black Hat sect, and it combines traditional Feng Shui beliefs with Western approaches. While Eastern concepts, such as intuition, play a primary role, Western concepts, such as practicality, aren't overlooked.


Before you can get started on Feng Shui gardening, you need to understand a few basic principles about the philosophy behind Feng Shui. By following some guidelines, you can plan a garden that not only feels friendly and welcoming, but that actually brings abundance into your life.

Grooving with chi and other Feng Shui principles
Feng Shui, the art of perfect placement, is about allowing life energy (chi) to move through your environment to bring harmony and balance. This good energy brings good stuff into your life.

To find perfect placement and encourage good chi flow, you need to use various Feng Shui principles, which are discussed in the following subsections.

Raising the chi
The main goal in Feng Shui gardening is to raise the level of chi in the garden and make sure that it moves smoothly and freely throughout the space. In other words, you have to get rid of barriers to chi, and you need to use Feng Shui fixes (called cures) to raise the chi in areas where it may get trapped and stagnate.


You can also use cures to solve the problems that arise when chi moves too quickly through your garden. Chi moving too quickly doesn't do you (or your garden) any good, and can actually help create an unpleasant environment that's agitated instead of relaxed.

Applying the Bagua
The Bagua is your Feng Shui placement map and symbolizes how your environment is connected to your life. The Bagua, which is shaped like an octagon, has nine Life Sectors that correspond with aspects of your own life as shown in Figure 1.

The nine Life Sectors of the Bagua are

Career
Knowledge
Family
Wealth
Fame
Relationships
Children
Helpful People
T'ai Chi (overall health and well-being)



Figure 1: The Bagua is your garden's roadmap.

These nine Life Sectors have a physical location in your garden and a symbolic location in your life. All the Life Sectors should be present in your garden. If your garden is oddly shaped, one of the sectors may be "missing," which means that the corresponding area in your life will have problems. So if your oddly shaped garden is missing the Wealth sector, or what would be your Wealth sector is actually in the neighbor's backyard, you may find yourself losing money or just having "bad luck" — things don't go your way.

According to Feng Shui principles, enhancing the chi in a Life Sector in your garden increases abundance in that area of your life. So if you need a little more love in your life, make sure the Relationships sector gets the attention it needs.

Incorporating the Five Elements
The Five Elements (those qualities that make up everything in the world — Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire) must all be present and in balance in a Feng Shui garden. The universe is made up of these elements working together, and you want to reflect that in your garden. The elements work together to create a harmonious, welcoming space. How the elements work together is called the nourishing cycle of the elements.

You have to careful that you put the right elements together because the elements can sometimes cancel each other out. This aspect is called the controlling cycle of the elements. For example, too much Water element can "put out" the Fire element, which leads to unbalance in the garden.


Balancing yin and yang energy
Yin-yang is the idea that life energy can have a passive and an active side. Yin-yang is based on a concept of the universe as containing complementary opposites — qualities that seem to be in contrast to each other but that actually work together. For example, soft and hard or light and dark are qualities that complement each other.

You need to keep passive and active energy (yin/yang) in balance, so that your garden doesn't make people frantic or put them to sleep.

Knowing the benefits of Feng Shui
Feng Shui isn't mystical mumbo-jumbo, but you still may not believe in it. However, the beauty of Feng Shui is that you can apply it and benefit from it, even if you're a bit skeptical.

For instance, if you're not sure raising the chi in your environment can mean a corresponding improvement in your life, at least you'll agree that keeping the clutter down makes your garden more attractive. And paying attention to aesthetics, function, and design as you plan your garden makes your space more appealing and welcoming.

Designing an Herb Garden

An herb garden is its own theme, but you can specialize by choosing only herbs from the Bible, herbs for teas, or herbs for dyes. Or you can tuck herbs into other specialized gardens. Use the designs presented here as inspiration for your own garden, and feel free to mix and match, enlarge or shrink, or change the shape of the beds:


A beginner's garden: Start your garden with a raised bed of basil, campanula, catmint, chives, cilantro, dianthus, dill, lavender, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme. The sage will eventually get too big; transplant it and use the space for more parsley. If the dianthus rebels against your hot summers, experiment with licorice plant. Build this garden at least knee-high with landscape timbers. If you place a board atop one edge, you can sit and admire your lavender. Located just outside the kitchen door, this garden gives you quick access when tarragon chicken is on the menu.
A garden for bees and butterflies: If you enjoy watching butterflies float and bees industriously wallow in pollen, consider planting a garden of their favorite herbs: boneset, borage, buddleia, catnip, chamomile, coneflower, dill, hyssop, lavender, monarda, oregano, and parsley. The flowers of nearly every herb attract bees, so ruthlessly lop off flower buds before they open if you react severely to stings. If you collect herbs on an overcast day, the bees will be more laid back. Many of the plants that attract butterflies also supply food for their larvae. (As with second marriages, attracting butterflies is a case of "love me, love my children.")
Some male butterflies congregate in mud puddles because, during mating season, they need the sodium and other minerals that leach from the soil. Here, poorly draining soil, otherwise cursed by gardeners, is ideal. (You'll need to make mud with the garden hose on days that it doesn't rain.) Set out a shallow dish of water for butterflies that don't patronize mud baths.

A Shakespearean conceit: Conceit can mean an elaborate metaphor, or a fanciful idea, the likes of which herb gardeners are quite fond. To create a relaxing place for reading or meditation, choose plants that flower in restful shades of blue and pink, such as bay, chamomile, dianthus, honeysuckle, hyssop, lavender, myrtle, orris, rose, and rosemary. (Bay and rosemary aren't cold hardy in most of the country, so grow them in containers and bring them inside during the winter.) Shakespeare's plays and poems are full of more plants than anyone could cram into a single garden, so the list of substitutions is limited only to the time you have to spend perusing the "The Greatest Works Of." A formal design is less distracting than an informal garden's random patterns.
A culinary garden: If you love to cook, grow your herbs where you can snatch a handful easily in all kinds of weather. Consider including basil, caraway, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, garlic, mint, nasturtiums, onions, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and winter savory.
A patio garden: Herbs are heavily scented, but most of them don't release their delectable You can mow some newer, dwarf varieties lower fragrances into the air by themselves. They must be crushed or at least brushed against, so plant them where you can finger them or even dance on them. Consider including dame's rocket, fennel, honeysuckle, jasmine, juniper, lamb's ear, lavender, rosemary, soapwort, sweet Cicely, sweet woodruff, thyme, and valerian. Plant fennel and soapwort in containers because both species are invasive in a friendly climate.


A knot garden: Knot gardens were basically intended to show off the wealth (or leisure time) of their owners. Even if you have space and time to spare, you may want to put your garden to a more productive purpose. These gardens are lovely to look at, however, and a relatively simple knot design (as shown in Figure 1) allows you an ample variety of herbs useful for medicine and tea. The traditional knot in the center, based on an equilateral triangle, is a triquetra (also known as a shamrock design).


Figure 1: Achieving this knot design is easier than it looks.

Consider how much you plan to harvest any of these herbs before you plant, since some sections are bigger than others. (If you harvest too much of a knot, you'll "untie" it!) You want the herbs to knit together quickly, so plant them — annuals in particular — close together. You can make your plants appear to grow under and over each other by pruning one plant on the underside of its growth and pulling the long top growth over the adjacent plant. Keep the whole design to 5 feet across or less if you want to have any hope of reaching plants near the center without treading on the bed.
A mixed garden: Mixing herbs with vegetables or flowers isn't a radical technique. English cottage gardeners were doing it centuries ago. Consider mixing lovage, borage, and savories with bush beans and onions; southernwood, mint, and chives with eggplant, cabbage, carrots, and radishes; monarda with tomatoes and potatoes; and, basil, tansy, tarragon, and calendula with tomatoes squash, peppers, and asparagus.

Looking at Beneficial Insects in the Organic Garden

Insects that prey on or parasitize insect pests (the bad guys) are called beneficial insects. Whether you know it or not, you rely on these allies to help keep the general insect population from from tipping too far toward the destructive side. If you familiarize yourself with these good guys, you can encourage their presence in the garden and avoid killing these innocent bystanders just because they happen to be the insects you spy on your favorite dahlias. You can also buy many of these beneficial insects from mail-order catalogs to increase your local populations.

The average square yard of garden contains over a thousand insects. For the most part, that's a good thing. Some pollinate plants, some help break down organic matter, and some prey on other more damaging pests. Most of the insects in your gardens help — not hurt — your plants. Only a small fraction cause much damage.


Here's a sampling of beneficial insects to encourage in your organic garden:

Beneficial nematodes: If you're looking for one predator that's worth inviting over for dinner (its dinner, that is), seek no further than beneficial nematodes. These tiny, worm-like creatures live in the soil and are effective against the scourge of many gardens — Japanese beetles. The nematodes prey on the grubs, the larval stage of the beetle, as well as on armyworms, cutworms, onion maggots, raspberry cane borers, and sod webworms. The nematodes (available by mail order) should be mixed with water and applied to your lawn and garden soil. Beneficial nematodes are most effective in moist soil and at soil temperatures between 60 degrees and 90 degrees. They can be killed by exposure to the sun, so they're best applied in early evening or on cloudy or rainy days when the soil temperature is at least 55 degrees.
Big-eyed bug: These fast-moving, 1/8- to 1/4-inch bugs have tiny black spots on their heads and the middle part of their bodies, as shown in Figure 1. They resemble the pesky tarnished plant bugs, which are a favorite food of the big-eyes. They also dine on aphids, leafhoppers, spider mites, and some small caterpillars. Because these bugs aren't commercially available, look for them on nearby weeds, such as goldenrod or pigweed, and relocate them to your garden.



Figure 1: Big-eyed bugs eat many pests, including tarnished plant bugs, aphids, and leafhoppers.

Braconid wasps: Several species of braconid wasps, shown in Figure 2, parasitize pest insects. Both the slender adults and tiny, cream-colored grubs feed on a range of pests, including aphids, cabbageworms, codling moths, and corn borers. Purchase these 1/10- to 1/2-inch wasps from suppliers and plant some parsley-family flowers to help keep them around. Adults require carbohydrate food, such as the honeydew secreted by aphids, tree sap ooze, or flower nectar.



Figure 2: Braconid wasps and their larvae prey on caterpillars and aphids.

Centipedes: Indoors and out, multi-legged centipedes feed on many insect pests. Most species don't bother humans (unless you count the screech with which they are frequently greeted), and while some southwestern species do inflict a temporarily painful bite, none is dangerous. You can't do much to encourage their presence, but if you can leave them alone to do their job, you'll have fewer insects around.
Ground beetles: Many beetle species live in or on the soil where both their larval and adult stages capture and eat harmful insects. They vary in color — black, green, bronze — and in size. While most live close to the ground, feeding on aphids, caterpillars, fruit flies, mites, and slugs, the 1-inch-long caterpillar hunter climbs trees to feed on gypsy moths and other tree-dwelling caterpillars. Because these beetles aren't available commercially, the best thing you can do to encourage their presence is avoid using herbicides and insecticides and learn to distinguish them from other unwanted insects. Ground beetles bear an unfortunate likeness to cockroaches, but the latter have longer antennae and a different overall shape. Most of the helpful ground beetles are large, dark, and fast moving. The often have nasty-looking mandibles and eyes on or near the fronts of their heads.
Hover flies: These insects get their name from the adults' habit of hovering around flowers. The adults, resembling yellow jackets, are important pollinators, while the brownish or greenish caterpillar-like larvae have an appetite for aphids, beetles, caterpillars, sawflies, and thrips. If you grow an abundance of flowers, you're likely to see hover flies.
Ichneumonid wasps: Ichneumonid wasps, introduced into the United States to control the European corn borer during the 1930s, are a valuable ally in controlling many caterpillars and other destructive larvae. The dark-colored adult wasps (see Figure 3) vary in size from less than 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches, and they have long antennae and long egg-laying appendages — called ovipositors — that are easily mistaken for stingers. The adults need a steady source of nectar-bearing flowers to survive.



Figure 3: Ichneumonid wasps look threatening, but spell danger only for caterpillars and grubs.

Lacewings: The delicate, green or brown bodies and transparent wings of these 1/2- to 3/4-inch insects, shown in Figure 8-4, are easily recognized in the garden. Adults live on nectar, while the spindle-shaped, alligator-like, yellowish or brownish larvae feed on a wide variety of soft-bodied pests, such as aphids, scale, thrips, caterpillars, and spider mites. The distinctive, pale green oval eggs each sit at the end of its own long, thin stalk on the undersides of leaves. You can purchase lacewings as eggs, larvae, and adults. To keep the welcome mat out for the adults, allow some weeds to flower nearby.



Figure 4: Lacewings look delicate, but have voracious appetites for soft-bodied insects.

Lady beetles: You may be surprised to learn that not all lady beetles (also called ladybugs) are beneficial — the damaging Mexican bean beetle is a type of lady beetle! The convergent lady beetle, however, is what most people think of when they praise lady beetles' appetite for aphids. (This species is distinguished from her pest cousin by two converging white lines on its thorax — the segment between the head and the abdomen. The number of spots varies widely.) Both adults and larvae prey on soft-bodied pests, including mealybugs and spider mites. The convergent lady beetle larvae look like small black, segmented pillbugs with rows of knobby or hairy projections and four orange spots on their backs. Although lady beetles are commonly purchased and released into the garden, they often do like the song says and "Fly away home." You can help keep them around by setting out another food source, such as an artificial yeast/sugar or honeydew mixture, which is commercially available from lady beetle suppliers.
Predatory mites: Similar in appearance to pest mites, such as the two-spotted spider mite, predatory mites are tiny (smaller than 1/25-inch) and quick. They feed primarily on thrips and pest mites and are widely used to control these insects in commercial orchards and vineyards. They are available to home gardeners.
Soldier beetles: The favorite diet of both adults and larvae of these common beetles consists of aphids, caterpillars, corn rootworms, cucumber beetles, and grasshopper eggs. The adults, shown in Figure 5, are slender, flattened, 1/3- to 1/2-inch long. The larvae have the same shape and are covered with hairs. They spend much of their life cycle in the soil, so they will be more prevalent in areas where the soil is undisturbed.


Figure 5: Soldier beetles live in the soil where they eat caterpillars and damaging larvae.

Spiders: All spiders are predators, ridding the garden of many common pests. You can provide good habitat for spiders by mulching with hay and straw, which has been found to reduce insect damage by 70 percent due solely to the numbers of resident spiders.
Tachinid flies: These large flies feed on tent caterpillars, armyworms, corn borers, cutworms, stinkbugs, and other pests. The adult fly is about the size of a housefly and may hover above squash plants in search of prey. It has a bright orange abdomen, black head and thorax, and a fringe of short black hairs on the hind legs. Coriander, coyote brush, evergreen euonymus, fennel, goldenrod, and white sweet clover attract these flies to your yard.
Trichogramma wasps: Tiny as a pencil point, these parasitic wasps inject their eggs inside the eggs of more than 200 species of moths, such as cabbageworms, codling moths, corn earworms, and cutworms. Their developing larvae consume the host. Buy these wasps commercially and release them during their hosts' peak egg-laying times. Suppliers can give you more specific directions on release times.
Yellow jackets: It's hard to think of these annoying insects as beneficial, but they do help rid your garden of flies, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and many larvae by taking them home to their young. Yellow jackets are fond of white sweet clover and ivy, so expect to see them near your house if you have either nearby.
Avoid using broad-spectrum insecticides, which kill a wide range of insects, including beneficials. Even some organic insecticides, such as pyrethrin and rotenone, are toxic to beneficials. Often, beneficials are even more susceptible to the insecticide than pests because, as predators and parasites, they must move quickly over leaf surfaces and thus they come into contact with insecticides more readily. Many insecticides are also toxic to bees. If you must use a chemical as a last resort, spray only in the evening when bees have returned to the hive.

Grooming Your Flower Garden

keep your flowers looking good. Other chores — such as getting the flower bed ready for winter — are seasonal. If you've ever had the burden of caring for a lawn, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that flowers require much less attention than grass. Flower-garden maintenance can almost always wait until you have time for it.

Collecting the tools you need
Following is a list of the basic tools you need to work in your garden:

Buckets: Buy several.
Hand trowel: A hand trowel looks like a very small shovel. It's the tool you use the most in gardening, so buy a good one. A high-quality hand trowel costs as much as a shovel, but don't skimp. You use it to transplant small flowers and bulbs, to enlarge holes you've dug with a shovel, and to weed. You may want to buy two sizes — one with a wide blade for digging and one with a narrow blade for weeding. If you only buy one, get the wider size.
Pruning shears: Try out shears before you buy them to get a comfortable fit. When you hold the handles open in your hand, they shouldn't extend past the reach of your fingertips. Good pruning shears are very expensive, but they stay sharp longer than a cheap pair and have parts that are replaceable if they wear out.
Scissors: A pair of lightweight, aluminum household scissors are really slick for cutting foliage and lightweight stems (much larger handfuls than you can manage with pruning shears) and for all-around snipping.
Shovel or spade: You need a shovel or spade for digging holes and for mixing amendments into the soil.
Stiff-tined rake: A stiff-tined rake is helpful for smoothing out the surface of the soil and for spreading mulch. Use it with the tines up for spreading fine materials, tines down for coarse materials.
Wheelbarrow or garden cart: A wheelbarrow or garden cart is a real time- and back-saver. Buy one that you can handle easily.
Buying the right tools
Always buy the best quality tools that you can afford; they last a lifetime if you take care of them. (Always quit gardening for the day while you still have enough energy and daylight to clean your tools and put them away.) Cheap tools break too readily to be a true bargain. Don't order tools through the mail without first trying them out. One size doesn't fit all. You actually need to heft a tool to see whether you can use it comfortably. A bad fit guarantees backaches and blisters. After you know which tools suit your grip, go ahead and order them from a catalog, especially if you can save some money by doing so.

Small tools have a way of getting lost in the nooks and crannies of a flower bed. To make your tools easy to locate, paint a band of bright color or wrap a strip of colored tape on the part of the handle that you don't hold. Some tools have a hole at one end so that you can hang them on a nail; tie a piece of brightly colored yarn through the hole to make your tool stand out against the garden's neutral backdrop. In this case, garish is good.


Renting the really big puppies
Large, gasoline-powered machines are a real help with large projects, but they're expensive to buy and take up a great deal of storage space. Renting or borrowing these machines when you need them is more practical. Usually, these machines are rented out by the hour or the day. Unless you have a hitch on your vehicle and a small trailer, expect to pay a delivery charge as well. Rental costs vary but are usually about the same as a moderately priced dinner. The two most useful large machines are power tillers and chipper-shredders.

Developing a maintenance routine
A 100- to 200-square-foot (9- to 18-square-meter) flower garden shouldn't take more than a few minutes a week of tending, with a couple of hours of major cleanup several times a year. This section covers some of the housekeeping aspects of gardening.

Deadheading
Flowers in a vase eventually start to wither and die, and so do flowers in the garden as they age. Removing these crumpled corpses (called deadheading) serves several purposes:

Deadheading improves the look of the garden.
Most dead flowers form seeds. Some plants replace flowers with really attractive seedheads. But others scatter their seeds all over the garden, much like a dandelion does. You often wind up with dozens of baby flowers that you have to pull out to avoid ending up with a hundred daisies in one square foot of garden soil. Cutting off flowers before they form seeds prevents this maintenance headache.
Many perennials stop blooming after they form seeds. Removing the fading flowers before they can complete the process encourages the plant to continue blooming.
To deadhead, simply cut the dead flower off — using scissors for lightweight stems or pruning shears for heavy and thick ones. Cut the stem below the flower at the first leaves or flower bud you come to.

Disbudding
If you like your flowers really big, you may want to indulge in the practice of disbudding. Before the buds start to open, remove all but one or two flower buds on each stem. The plant then directs all its energy to the remaining buds, resulting in large flowers. Gardeners commonly disbud dahlias, chrysanthemums, peonies, and carnations.


Nipping and tucking with scissors and shears
Here are more things you can do with your pruning shears and scissors:

Pinch: To keep perennials denser and shorter, you may want to pinch or shear them a couple of times early in the season. This process is called pinching because you can actually pinch off the top of each stem between your thumb and forefinger — but using scissors or pruning shears is quicker and easier.
Snip: Snip (or pinch) off the top few inches (8 cm or so) of the plant when it grows to a foot tall (30 cm) in spring and again in the middle of summer. Every stem you cut grows several new stems. The result is stocky sprays of more, but smaller, flowers. Chrysanthemums and asters are two perennials that are routinely pinched. Otherwise, they tend to get floppy.
Shear: For a quicker alternative to pinching, use scissors or pruning shears to cut the top 6 inches (15 cm) off your plants a couple of times before midsummer.
Cut back hard: When the directions for a plant tell you to cut it back hard, that means reduce the height of the plant by approximately one-third to one-half, using either scissors or pruning shears. Sometimes, hard pruning is recommended solely to improve the plant's appearance, but it may also be necessary to renew a plant's vigor.

What's the Solar Potential of Your New Solar-Home Site?

When you build a solar house, there's more to the story than just sun exposure. Solar takes into account water power, wind power, breezes, landscaping, thermal mass, and so on. Before you start planning a solar home, do some research by starting a log book. For each location you're considering, record facts, figures, and your observations for each of the following aspects:

Know your solar exposures. What latitude are you in? What is the sun's path over the course of a year at that latitude? For each site, stand in the middle of the lot and plot the sun's course on a graph. You may have to do some guesswork about what the situation will be from a rooftop that hasn't been built yet. Different spots on a lot will have different solar exposures with different shading issues.
It goes without saying that you don't want to cut trees down. Look for deciduous trees and try to envision your house with those trees on the southern exposure, but not shading solar collectors on the roof. You can plant trees, but it will take a long time before they can rival natural, healthy, indigenous trees.
Analyze prevailing winds. tabmarkNatural breezes are absolutely free and can make a major difference in the comfort of a home. Look for locations where hills magnify breezes in the summer. In the winter, you want natural brush and landscaping to block the cold winds from the north.
To thoroughly gauge the winds, you need to visit a potential location at different times of the year and in different weather patterns. Be patient in order to be thorough.
Determine the water rights and drainage. Do you need a well? Wells have their advantages and disadvantages. You won't have a water bill, but you'll need expensive equipment. You can install a solar-powered well with a storage reservoir, and your water will be free forevermore. But wells can dry up, and the water can be of questionable quality.
You also need to determine the property's natural drainage. Some locations simply won't work for a home unless you radically alter the property's contour, which goes against the green mantra. How much water will your property require? Are you going to landscape? How will that affect drainage?
Look into other factors. If you can, camp out for a day or two on a prospective lot. At the very least, visit at midnight, in the morning, and in the afternoon. Visit at different times of the year, if that's an option. What sounds do you hear? Who is moving around and when?
And don't forget to determine what may happen in the future. Are you going to have a shopping mall next door five years hence? How about a freeway? Or an airport? To find out about these kinds of things, ask your realtor and at your county building department.

Alternatives to Central Air Conditioning for Green Homes

A green home can be built to never need a central air conditioning system. If you must get one, however, purchase an Energy Star-rated unit, with a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) of 12 or higher. Also, look for units with a fan-only option and a replaceable filter. For your green home, consider the following options to central air conditioning — you'll save money and energy.


Air conditioners for individual window units. Air conditioners that fit into individual window units cost less than central air to operate, and they cool only the areas you need. Be sure to properly size the unit for the room; people tend to buy the biggest air conditioner they can find, wasting money and energy. Place the unit in a window away from direct sunlight, or plant a tree outside to shade that window.
Ductless units. A more attractive and less noisy option than window units, ductless air conditioners use a simple outdoor condenser unit to run power and refrigerant to small, wall-mounted fans. Instead of filling a window, the ductless unit can go anywhere on the wall. Because the refrigeration takes place outside, ductless units are much quieter than a central or window unit system. Expect to pay double the cost of a simple window unit for a ductless unit.
Ice energy. Ice energy is an innovative and cost-effective system for cooling a building. A large box in your yard produces a block of ice at night, when the temperature is cool and electricity costs are lower. During the day, a fan blows air over the ice, creating air conditioning. By time-shifting most of the energy use to night, an ice energy system can save you hundreds off your utility bills. Commercial units have been around for some time, and smaller residential units are now available.
Ceiling fans. When it's warm, most people really just need some air movement to feel comfortable. Air conditioners blow cold air, taking a long time to cool the entire home. A ceiling fan offers the same level of comfort, but costs must less to operate. It circulates the air, generating a feeling of comfort and carrying cooling breezes through the home. Save the air conditioner for the really hot days, and use the ceiling fan instead.
Whole-house fans. A whole-house fan is installed in the ceiling of the top floor of your home. When it's switched on, the fan sucks air into the attic, drawing in cool air from the outside. In order to work effectively, open the windows of the rooms you want to cool, and close the doors of unused rooms. Highly effective and much less expensive than central air conditioning, a whole house fan can keep you cool through the summer.


Solar attic fans. If your home has an attic space, install a solar-powered attic fan. These inexpensive fans turn on automatically when it gets too hot, siphoning the hot air out of the attic. Use of an attic fan will lower the temperature of the attic, reducing the strain on your air conditioner and saving you money.

Home Maintenance: Preparing to Paint

You've bought your paint, you've got new brushes and rollers, you've spread out the drop cloths, and you've opened up the stepladder. You're ready to paint. Whoa! Stop right there, Mr. or Ms. Inabighurry. You've forgotten the most important thing: surface preparation. The real secret to a beautiful, long-lasting paint job is making the walls and ceiling really clean and perfectly smooth.

The following tasks don't take that much time to do, but can make the difference between a long-lasting paint job and one that you have to redo way before you're ready:


Prepare the room. Remove lamps, irreplaceable knick-knacks, and as much furniture as you can and then push whatever is left to the middle of the room. Remove anything attached to the walls, including pictures, window treatments, and switch and outlet plates. Loosen ceiling light fixtures and wrap them in plastic trash bags. Take off all the window and door hardware. Finally, cover every inch of everything—floor, furniture, and radiators—with canvas or heavy-plastic drop cloths.


Clean the surface. You can wipe away fingerprints, crayon, pen marks, dirt, and dust from walls, trim, and doors with spray cleaner and a damp cloth.


If your house is relatively new, make a bucket of soapy water and wipe the walls and ceiling with a damp sponge. If your house is older, you need something that cuts through the accumulated crud: a synthetic trisodium phosphate (TSP) solution.


If you have mildew on the bathroom wall, you need to kill it and cover the remaining stain with a stain sealer primer made to hide stains.


Prepare the surface. Fill nail holes, cracks, and other imperfections with patching compound. Scrape any loose or flaking paint on windows, sills, and woodwork. Sand patches and any bare areas on windows, sills, and woodwork. Lightly sand or use a deglosser to knock down the shine on glossy trim. Lightly sand walls if they are uneven, brushmarked, or bumpy. Fill gaps between the trim and the walls (especially along the baseboards and door trim) with caulk.


Clean again. Vacuum the room to remove sanding dust and paint flakes (don't forget to do the windowsills and trim). Then wipe down everything with a tack rag or barely damp cloth.


Prime. Prime any bare wood, all patches, and any still-visible marks or stains.


Mask the windows. Use wax paper, or a layer of thin plastic taped to the windows to prevent paint splatters on the glass.

Taking Care of Your Wallpaper

If your wallpaper is looking dingy, and it's the washable kind, sponge it down with a solution of mild soap and cold water. Wipe with clean water and then wipe dry.

Time is not kind to wallpaper: The edges peel up, the adhesive gets tired, bubbles develop, and the wear and tear of normal life starts to take a visible toll. But that doesn't mean you have to rip it down. If it's still looking good, you can fix these problems.

Fixing torn edges in your wallpaper
Got an edge that's coming unglued, a seam that's sticking up, or a clean tear? Here's how to fix it:

1. Moisten the damaged area with warm water and lift the softened wallpaper (carefully!) away from the wall.

2. Apply a thin coating of lap-and-seam adhesive (available at any wallpaper store).

3. Press the wallpaper back in place—match it up exactly!

4. Roll the edge with a seam roller.

5. Sponge off any adhesive that squishes out with a barely damp sponge.

Fixing rips in your wallpaper
Got a stain or a big, ugly rip in your beautiful wallpaper? If you can find a matching leftover scrap, you can fix it this way:

1. Cut a square or rectangular replacement piece that is a little bit larger than the damaged area, making sure to match the pattern exactly.

2. Attach the patch to the wall with masking tape.

3. Cut through both the patch and the wallpaper using a utility knife and a metal straightedge.

Don't make straight cuts.

4. Remove the patch from the wall and put it somewhere safe.

5. Use hot water-soaked rag to dampen the area to be patched, and scrape it out (and all remaining adhesive) with a putty knife.

6. Clean the patch area with a damp sponge and let dry.

7. Apply a thin coating of adhesive to the back of the dampened patch.

8. Position the patch so the pattern matches, then carefully smooth it down with a clean damp cloth or a seam roller.

9. Sponge off any adhesive that squishes out.

Planning Your Bird Watching Field Trip

A field trip is defined as going afield — that is, beyond your immediate home surroundings or backyard. For many beginning bird watchers, their first organized field trip is with a bird club. This field trip can be an educational experience as you observe how other bird watchers act in the field, how they spot and identify birds, and where they go to find birds.

In the more traditional sense, a bird-watching field trip is going to a particularly good birding area for several hours or several days. Some folks decided to go see some birds in Montana, which was a long drive from their Pennsylvania home. They liked it so much that they stayed. Now that's the field trip of a lifetime!

Load the car with food, coats, boots, and other gear, more food, cold drinks of all types, the optics, a field guide or two, and yourselves, if you can fit. Then head off to see what you can see. Oftentimes you come back after a long day of bird watching exhausted, sunburned, and happy.



Sometimes your luck just runs out and you get to a birding spot that has no birds! This happens a lot in the heat of a midsummer's day, or in the dead of winter. Here's a suggestion for keeping yourself interested on a birdless summer day. If it's sunny, look for butterflies. If it's the middle of winter, go find a warm, greasy-spoon diner and get a cup of hot chocolate. You can count the days until spring.

If you have common sense, you can plan a field trip just fine. Here's a quick checklist to help you:


Plan where you want to go.


Plot your route and determine your schedule (early wake-up and departure to get there for prime dawn birding, and so on).


Gather binoculars, spotting scope, field guide, and bird checklist (if you use one).


Check the weather and plan the clothing and outerwear you'll need. Then take one extra layer.


Make sure that you have the right footwear (boots, rubber boots, extra socks).


Pack or wear a hat with a visor.


Add food, glorious food. Take some even if you plan to eat in restaurants or at quickie-marts.


Get stuff to drink. You'll be thirsty more often than not.


Take money. You may need cash for an emergency (especially coins for a phone call).


Include other gear for comfort or necessity. Depending on the weather, the gear can include sunscreen, lip balm, sunglasses, binocular rain guard, emergency survival kit, and other stuff.


Tell someone where you're going. You can't be too safe.


Get a magnetic key-holder, put an extra set of keys in it, and affix it under the front bumper of your vehicle. When traveling, always pocket the keys before you slam the doors; the aggravation you save may be your own.

Planting a Window Box Container Garden

Window boxes need no introduction. Picture the classic eye-catcher: a narrow box painted perfectly to match the house trim, abundantly spilling forth ivy geraniums, pansies, and petunias. You can come across plenty of these old-fashioned favorites embellishing gingerbread houses or jazzing up everything from a ranch-style home to a city flat.

Window boxes, of course, are just containers attached to the house. They're easy to plant. Here are some key points to keep in mind to help you choose, plant, and care for a window box:

Select a style that matches your house. Treated softwood or hardwood boxes are easy to paint or stain to blend in beautifully with their surroundings. Plastic, metal, terra-cotta, or concrete boxes can work too, but are harder work with.
Pay attention to size. A window box looks best if its length is within a couple of inches of the size of the window, although slight differences — long or short — won't hurt. Plants need room to grow and soil that doesn't dry out too fast — boxes should be at least 8 inches wide to provide room for top growth and 8 inches deep for the roots.
Make your own box if your window is oddly sized. Use 1-inch boards and simple joinery with waterproof glue and galvanized or brass screws to secure the pieces. Drill several drain holes along the bottom.
Go for a sunny exposure to please the most plants. This, though, increases your watering chores. Remember that some window boxes are protected from rains, so you need to check regularly for dryness. Don't worry if there's shade. Many excellent shade plants thrive in partial or full shade.
Position the box below the window by a few inches. If you happen to have a window that opens outward, you have to lower the box. Use steel brackets every 18 inches or so and fasten them into the siding or masonry with the proper screws. Rest the box on the supports and screw the bottom to the brackets. Always mount the box before you plant.

Planting and caring for your window box
You have three options for planting your window box:

Plant directly in the container.
Drop in potted plants and fill around them with moss, bark, or another lightweight material.
Put plants in a plastic or metal liner that fits inside the box. With this method, you can rotate liners and add fresh plants when current plantings pass their prime.
Basically, you plant the same way you do in any container. Cover the drain holes, fill with soil mixture, and firm soil around plants, leaving at least 1 inch at the top for watering. Use routine good care on the window box, starting with regular watering, feeding with a liquid fertilizer, and grooming to remove faded flowers and leaves.

Picking the (plant) winners
Choosing a container and a location is a fine start for window box gardening, but picking the right plants really makes the difference in your growing success. Generally, select a mixture of trailers, compact upright plants that grow tall enough to be seen without blocking the window, filler plants, and bulbs.


For a dramatic display, choose plants that contrast with the background — bright plants against light siding or wood, pale flowers against dark brick walls. Here's a brief rundown of the top 12 plants — both annuals and permanent ones — for window box culture. But remember that this list is intended only to get you started; your plant choices are many and varied for dynamic window boxes.

Annuals
Sweet alyssum: Stalwart, reliable, fragrant trailer in white, cream, pink, and purple. Alyssum is exceptionally easy to grow and fills in beautifully, often reseeding itself.
Lobelia: Sound familiar? Yes, we often call on this little annual with clouds of cascading color in white, sky blue, dark blue, rose, lavender, and cobalt. Simply great in window boxes.
Pansies: Perfect in any box, pansies offer prolific color in many hues and quickly fill gaps between permanent plants or other annuals, offering long-lasting color.
Petunias: Choose these when you want a stunning summer box that shines in the sun. Try cascading varieties, as well as multifloras, for an abundance of blooms in a wide range of colors.
Impatiens: The plant for shade, and awesome in window boxes — especially valuable for continuous color in a range of hues. Use low-growing, dwarf varieties. New Guinea hybrids also offer excellent foliage.
Dianthus: You get the bonus of fragrance with the gift of color. Plants are well behaved. If all goes well, a breeze blows, sending sweet scents through your open windows.
Permanent plants
Ivy geranium: Yep. The selfsame winner in hanging baskets, this one also works really well in window boxes, gracing us with wonderful trailing stems covered with bright flowers. In cold climates, grow it as an annual.
Geraniums: Bedding geraniums are the classic window box plant — grown for clusters of brilliant flowers in colors ranging from white to crimson to apple blossom pink. Plants are easy to grow. Consider geraniums an annual in cold climates.
Dwarf bulbs: Forgive us for lumping so many bulbs together, but the miniature nature of many flowering bulbs — daffodils, crocus, grape hyacinth, cyclamen — makes them ideal players in the window box.
Ground ivy: Impressive long stems spill from your window box in shimmering green or variegated tones. Ground ivy can survive through winter in milder climates.
English ivy: Hardy, versatile, attractive, and useful for any box where you want trailing plants, ivy handles in sun or shade. For extra color, choose varieties with cream or yellow accents on the leaves.
Miniature roses: You have dozens to choose from, and each one can be trusted to perform elegantly and effectively in combinations with annuals or other permanent plants. Some varieties also offer fragrance.