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19.3.13

Gigantic Dahlia Flowers on Plant, Care and Tips for Dahlias


Dahlia flowers, colorful and thousands of variety are every flower lovers dream flower. With small bunches growing in clusters to gigantic single blooms we all love dahlia flowers. They are an important addition to flower decorations in home and add value to the room instantly by their showy and colorful appearance.
Red, yellow, white, orange, pink, magenta to maroon and thousands of hybrid shaded variety , dahlias rule the flower world after rose due to their different vibrant colorful blooms!

Grown from tubers they can be started with sowing seeds after winter ends, and these seeds sprout into tubers underground which later grows into plants. Just like we store bulbs of lillies and gladiolus we also take care to remove the flowered tuber and store then as winter begins. The plants sown from seeds are healthy and best as compared to used tubers. Dahlias add instant color to your garden landscape and they can be grown as centers or corners or borders in your garden. The dahlia flowers with their beautiful variety of colors are fascinating and loved around the globe and frequently used as cut flowers in flower arrangement and bouquets.
Gigantic Dahlia Bud in process of Opening
Flowering Tips and care of Dahlia Plants-  Growing huge gigantic dahlia flowers is a dream for many and the way is not so simple. trimming away extra small shoots and small buds coming from every side of the plant growth is required.
The first point here is dahlia plants grow as small bushes if trimmed or as long flowering stalks which need support. So add wooden sticks before the flowering session begins to avoid damaging the tuber underground.
The flower size here is 8 inches and they grow as small few inches to large gigantic blooms depending upon your plan for growing them.
Huge Dahlia Flower

Shaded Dahlia Gigantic Flower

New Buds on Dahlia Plant
earth worms, snails, slugs love this and take care to protect your dahlia plants from pests. Holes in leaves are usually by bugs and beetles feasting on the fresh dahlia leaves making your plant weak.Till date I have not got a hundred percent successful formula for protecting my dahlias and we have lost a gigantic yellow blooming dahlia last year, along with orange red and ....lets see how this one goes by. Trying over the years and never losing hope, continuing adding gigantic blooming flowering plants, they add instant beauty to your garden.
Main problem faced is by birds and rats who love to feast on new buds and flowers. Each time I learn something new about dahlias.
The right amount of sunlight for Dahlia for best growth, is very important as they need lots of sunlight, as would every gardener say, but very important, not direct sunlight for full day, the blooms will burn out and the plant dries off with full day sunlight. Choosing the right spot for growing dahlias, right spot is important for healthy dahlias , partial sunlight for full day or some hours of day would do.
Watering, another important point and the reason for dying of dahlia plants, dry periods are not good for flowering dahlias and regular watering is required, sometimes twice daily in summer season.
Soil must be a mixture of porous as well as clay for good growth in dahlias. If you want gigantic dahlia  flowers you need to love and care for your dahlia plants, trim the extra buds and growth and focus on single bloom, and they will give you gigantic blooms!
crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!
Cut flowers can be kept in water stored previous night (extra harmful chlorine is removed) and the blooms of dahlia last for a week in water is changed regularly from the flower vase, I sometimes feed the vase water with a pinch of salt and sugar for displaying dahlia flowers. (if you wish to try this tip, try at your own risk).
All the Best!
www.razarts.com

18.3.13

Best Time to Buy New Plants Colorful Flowers Petunias Growing and Flowering Tips

Best time to buy new plants, the most sought after question by plant lovers and new entrants in gardening, when is the best time to buy and plant new plants? As was earlier said over the years people used to buy new plants in rainy season and believed the climate would make almost anything grow.

With researching on best time to buy and growing plants and practical experience I have found spring the best time, the months after winter ends, and new shoots begin to appear from dried plant stubs, a best feeling with new growths from bulbs and rhizomes tubers, and as they grow the time is just right for them to give beautiful colorful flowers by May.
During rains I have experienced that plants, new ones when planted, do not get time to settle down and as  the beginning of rainy season is also a good time as the climate is on cooler side and the plant gets time to grow, but during heavy down pours new plants get over watered, drowned in the new containers and most of the times the heavy rains make the soil soggy in the new container resulting in death of the newly planted plant. In rainy season it is a race of luck, either the newly planted plant starts to grow fast with a growth spurt and roots soon, or it get drowned in the soggy soil and dies. Give it some time to root in the new setting and after this when rains come the plant will grow healthy.

Large Dahlia Flower on Plant
 Spring is welcomed in our garden by colorful flowering plants, and ask any gardener, the happiness of new additions to the family, and they are at a loss of words! After the winter season after losing a few aged plants that had lived their life and since some seasonal plants need replanting after winter there is always the need to add a few new vibrant colored ones to give the instant boost of positive energy to the garden.
Colourful petunias for Spring Season
 Colorful petunias are a welcome addition to very garden and home, and since they are available in so many vibrant shades and colors and are very cheap in cost Petunias are big flowers and adding them will bring instant boost to any place of your garden or window sill. Reds, Oranges, pinks and maroons, and whites , off whites, yellow and even shaded variety look beautiful.  They cost here about 15 to 20 Rs per plant and you can bargain if you wish to purchase plants in large numbers.
Growing Petunia Flowers in garden
Care of Petunia Plants and flowering Tips- petunia plants grow best in hanging baskets with porous and well draining soil.Since each plant grows to full while spreading stems from around the main plant there are flowers on tips. The plants when grown in round wide mouthed containers look very pretty, and it is best to grow these petunia plants in large numbers to get the strong colorful effect.
After the flowers have dried they fall off and when you need to encourage profuse growth snip off the flowering tail of each stem. This will encourage new stems to grow from the single stem and make the petunia plant spread from sides quickly.
Petunias are seasonal plants and every year we have to plant new ones as they grow till rainy season. They cannot tolerate heavy down pour and even though this makes us buy these colorful plants every year the blooms are really worth the effort.
Beware of pets and birds, our main problem, pigeons, they love flowers of petunias and these are nipped in even the bud stage sometimes making the plant fearful and scared to grow, and with too much breaking and nipping the plant may also stop growing any new shoots.
Growing new petunia plants is done by seeds and also cuttings of the parent plant. But this process is difficult as the seeds are very tiny n size, and it is more easy to buy new plants right from the nursery and enjoy the blooms in the spring season.
Bulbs of amaryllis, lilly and gladiolus have got healthy shoots , waiting for a colorful blooming show soon!




 

4.3.13

Poinsettia/ Euphorbia pulcherrima Flowering Plants Tips and Care And Poinsettia Symbolism

 Botanical name Euphorbia pulcherrima , also known by other names, "Christmas flower", "lobster flower" and "mexican flame leaf" ,  poinsettias grow in many colors. Peach, red, white, yellowish off white, golden cream, and as we notice the bright color display during winter months, the poinsetta plants require indirect or morning sunlight and needs protection from direct sunlight to keep the blooms longer.  .
Tiny greenish flowers of Peach color Poinsettia
Growing poinsettias in containers , especially in cold countries people bring them to bloom during festival season of Christmas. Poinsettia flowers in red are an important part in every christmas decorations. The most beautiful showy color is red and here in India we get a small plant of poinsetta beginning from price of 250 Rs. to the larger plants pricing from Rs 500 to 1,000. Cream and off white or a lemony yellow is another beautiful color and the peach one also has a good display.
The Poinsetta plants need hardy soil to bear the weight of the plants with heavy flowers. These are actually colored leaves and in fact the flowers are in the centre , tiny greenish or yellowish in color.
Poinsettia flowers have been symbolized as flowers of purity and peace by Mexican Asians. In America December 12 is celebrated as National Poinsettia Day here. Poinsettias have been named after the former US ambassador to mexico who introduced poinsettia flowers in US, Dr Joel R Poinsett.
Care and Tips for Flowering Poinsettias- The plant can grow from few inches to few feet high. and almost look like trees. In containers we can control the growth by trimming the top shoots after flowering session is over.
In ground the trees grow like wild and flowers may not be visible from the ground level. The most important part here is to protect the plant from drying out and regular watering during flowering season is must.They grow very tall and it becomes difficult to trim, once grown tall, and also not easy as all the main show is on the top.
After trimming give the poinsettia plants time, they will need long time to re bloom as the leaves will come out from trimmed cuttings and they sure do not look so good at such times.Keeping the poinsettia at few feet is best if you wish to see the lovely colorful display standing. Drying out is the main problem faced with poinsettia plants, here,  and the whole plant dries off, while transplanting it is advisable to choose a thick stem which has tiny branches, and plant it in firm soil.water regularly every day till new leaves come out.
 just enjoying cool summer evening
Meanwhile someone just enjoying the cool watered greenery in our society garden,  as the summers are in, and with hot winds blowing during afternoons there sure is need for some cool refreshing breeze, fragrant breeze, with the first new blooms of the season, on mogra plants, tiny buds , hope to get more soon!.
All the Best!
Rizwana Mundewadi's Healing Art

2.3.13

Step by Step How to Grow Bonsai Plants at Home

Gardening ceases to surprise me, give something new each day, every moment, ,  the popping of seeds from the pod, a very wonderful experience this morning with pea pods, the dried pods burst in my hands popping black seeds around!a warmth on my palms and the sound of popping breaking the silence , great feeling, nature's way to multiply its resources.The blue bell climber pods, having lovely bell shaped blue flowers.
Bonsai plants is a term that has become know from a special way of growing plants in small trays or containers. Aged plants and big trees of fruits also can be grown using this technique in small containers, and they look great with the size of big fruits growing on small sized trees. Miniature trees growing in small containers.
Bonsai actually means Bon , tray and Sai to grow, it is a technique to grow big trees in small containers or trays. A specialized science of growing many gardeners attend special classes for learning Bonsai techniques. Associated with Chinese way of growing plants now Bonsai has become a household name and the plants grown in this manner not only require very less space but also give great tasty fruits.Tools used in making Bonsai plants are also different somewhat than our regular gardening tools. As we need specialized tools , smaller and sharper ones, than the usual ones, for delicately clipping small trees in containers.
In feng shui bonsai plants have been looked upon with not so much favor as the plant grown in small size indicates stunted growth of a person in his personal and professional life. My take, as long a sit gives fruit size does not matter, and in fact now with space crunch we see so many large fruit gardens, with small sized mango and apple trees in small orchards.so more fruits in less space, and the advantage here is you can focus on the quality of fruits in small sized trees and get best quality. Even coconut trees, palm trees and many other trees have been seen growing the bonsai way.
Our orange plant grown in small container gives tasty fruits and now the first flowers have begun coming out on the orange tree. So also the mogra plant has the first new buds of this season.
Adenium Thick Stem Bonsai Plant

Adenium Bonsai Plant

Fruits on tree
A very good example of Bonsai tree are the Adenium plants growing with lovely flowers. the more aged the plant the more thick the stem and the roots look quiet like a aged tree.
Cycas Palm Growing in Bonsai Form
Bonsai Tress in Plant Competition

Beautiful Aged Adenium bonsai Plant


Bonsai plant Adenium Good luck Plant

Orange fruit Tree growing in small container
How to grow Bonsai plants at home-Bonsai growing is not so simple but when followed correctly the plants grow well. As we know plants need sunlight and soil along with feeding to grow and flower and fruit. In bonsai first you select a tray made of ceramic which has a few inches thick bottom.
1) Ready made bonsai growing trays are available in market. Select the plants you wish to grow , are they ornamental plants or fruits one or flowering plants.
2) Soil layers will depend upon the trees you select for your bonsai.For beginning I would suggest making a rock garden with gravel and soil and also adding few different sized rocks to hold the soil together and also improve its landscape beauty. Ornamental plants look best and also grow without much care in form of bonsai.
3) You may also select different coloured plants, different leaves and different flowering plants and make a combination in your bonsai tray. Take care to avoid cloggy soil and gravel in the right size is very very important for an impressive presentation of your bonsai.Too much pebbles will not allow the plants to root and too much fine soil will make it cloggy and thus prevent growth of your bonsai.
4) Trick in growing bonsai plants is that the size of the plant or tree is kept to few inches only and even huge oak, banyan and fruit trees are grown in small trays bonsai containers.
5) Select a thick tree branch of any tree you wish to grow, there must be new leaves appearing on the stem and the stem must have at least three to four branches sprouting from the main stem.
6) The base needs to be spiked a bit to allow root formation soon.
7) Add some fertilizer along with the soil while planting. Avoid too much fertilizer, dilute it well,  as the base of your bonsai tray is small and thus add proportionately according to the size of the container.
care needs to be taken to protect your bonsai from direct sunlight and wind.
8) Regularly measure and water your bonsai plant, and allow measured timing of indirect sunlight till the plant is firmly rooted in the tray.
Select easy growing ornamental show plants first that require less care and when you master the skill then progress to fruit trees. While trimming use special clipping tools for bonsai plants as the process needs care to avoid extra trimming. Look for the extra shoots coming out from all directions and trim your  bonsai plant in shape of a tree.
Pests also sometimes attack plants so grouping bonsai plants take care to select plants having same requirements or similar requirements of water and sunlight.As it becomes difficult to water one plant and leave the other dry in the single bonsai tray.
While growing bonsai do take care of the trees special requirements for care and protection as it is understood that the tree will be grown in small base and the root system does not have enough space for going deep, so the delicate plants need to be protected from small children and pets.Sometimes it is very easy to uproot the bonsai plants so place the bonsai plants in safe place where everyone enjoys the beauty but also do not allow them to touch, as the first response for any bonsai tree is that people cannot resist the temptation to touch them!
The best part in bonsai growing is that you can have a whole garden on a single tray and this can be placed on your window sill, your tea table or even at the main entrance of your main door inside.  Those who have grown bonsai trees swear of the beauty of these lovely plant trees. You may also go a step further and include a small water feature here with the bonsai garden or a water fountain along with pump for the natural landscape feel in your rock themed bonsai garden.
a wonderful feeling when you see new leaves coming out of your bonsai tree, meaning your plant has rooted and settled in new environment, experience it to enjoy! another level of happiness when you enjoy the tasty fruits from your bonsai plants.


Check out my ebooks for more information on Gardening
1)Terrace Gardening Tips for Newbie Gardeners


2) Magical Gardens


3)How To Begin Container Terrace Gardening At 60 [Kindle Edition]

4) Heavenly Roses


 5) Image Personality Makeover with Feng Shui Tips for Attracting Prosperity [Kindle Edition]
Thank You,
All the Best! 
Please visit my website,
Rizwana Mundewadi's Healing Art
 

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