The first time I saw the watering bulbs on tv, I was smitten.  I fell head over heels in love with everything about them - they were pretty AND they watered plants in a timely manner.  I’m not too bad with plants.  In fact I have one that is about 30 years old that I’ve managed to keep alive with regular water and an occasional dose of plant food.

Sadly my husband has been resistent in buying me one.  It’s one of those things I’d never buy myself, so I keep hinting around.  To no avail.  I think I’m going to have to turn up the heat, though, because a friend of mine just told me how wonderful her watering bulbs are.   PLUS, the Gardening Resources web site even suggests them kind of,

All indoor plants will need water and a watering device is essential. There is the simple watering can to something even more elaborate depending on what you need. You can choose from the expensive glass bulbs to stick into the soil of the house plants to something simple like adding a plastic water bottle to a stake inside the pot or container.

Hellooo husband.  I want them!!

When I learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki while in high school - and note that I was a military brat - we were taught that it was a hard decision for President Truman, but led to the Allied victory over Japan and the end of World War II.  I was grateful that the war ended, of course, but it still saddens me to think of the horrors experienced by the men, women and children who were directly impacted by the A-Bomb.

So when I read about the Tree Project today, it brings a sense of closure to that terrible time.  Here’s what the blog site says about the project,

The trees that still live from the time of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima are called, Hibaku trees (A-bombed trees).

In the winter of 2008, from a tree Dr. Riki Horiguchi in Hiroshima, I received seeds of Round Leaf Holly, Persimmon, Chinaberry, Firmiana simplex, Japanese Hackberry, Jujube trees that are the second or third generation of Hibaku Trees.

Hiroshi Sunairi has been giving seeds from the trees to people throughout the world so they can grow their own trees.  This month the trees will be on display at the Horticulture Society of New York, with the opening reception scheduled this evening from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Bravo to Hiroshi Sunairi for the undertaking!  Photo of the Parasol Tree given to Mr. Yuso Takesawa.  The tree has now been planted in Fukuromachi Kouen (park) in the center of Hiroshima.  Where desolution was once predominant, life lives on.

It is possible to plant trees during the winter months, and the people at BBC Breathing Places, the Horticulture Trade Association, and Guinness World Records are teaming up to prove it on Saturday, December 5, 2009 between 11:00am - 12:00noon.  In that one hour period, they hope to plant 653,143 trees for an event called Tree O’Clock.

HTA Promotions Manager Jennifer Thwaites commented “This helps demonstrate that you can still plant during the winter period. Trees provide many solutions in garden design, as well as the structure for other planting. They also provide habitats and a food source for birds and wildlife.”

What a wonderful way to promote both gardening and a green environment!  Find more information about Tree O’Clock here.

I love the bright red of the poinsettias that we see this time of year.  For years I ordered them as a school fundraiser, but as my daughters got older and left elementary school, I couldn’t bring myself to buy them from the grocery store, though the prices are decent.

Plus, they started taking over my house.  I just couldn’t bear the idea of throwing the plant out after Christmas - the green leaves stayed pretty throughout the year.  I finally sucked it up, put on my big girl britches, and got rid of them.  And it broke my heart seeing the green plants out by the trash can in the cold weather.

According to our Ron - writing over at PopFi - the poinsettia is the most popular plant in America.

The poinsettia is actually the most popular potted plant in the States, with over 85 percent of its sales coming in the holiday season.  This notoriously difficult to farm plant was made popular by Paul Ecke in the 1950’s, and the Paul Ecke farms produce half the world’s supply of poinsettias from a proprietary technique kept secret by the family until the 90’s.

Come to find out, you CAN replant them.  Next time I won’t have to be so heartless…

Hanna at This Garden Is Illegal tried a new method of growing tomatoes. She grew them up strings. How’d it work out for her? Let’s see:

Does it say enough that I will be building the stringing frames over all of my beds next year?

I really can not say enough about them. The method worked great and
I can see all sorts of possibilities that start with the tomatoes and
run right through peas and beans and right smack dab into squash and
cucumbers. I have never had such large plants.

Wow. This is something I definitely want to try now. There’s more at Hanna’s place, including a video tutorial of how to do it yourself. Go check it out for yourself.

One of our most bought produce items is potatoes. Potatoes are so versatile, and can be cooked in so many ways, they are a kitchen staple in my house.

I never thought I could grow potatoes in my garden because my ground soil is so poor, I have to grow plants in containers. Imagine my surprise this morning when I opened my feed reader and found this post about how you can grow potatoes in tire stacks.

Homegrown Revolution has lots of good advice about growing potatoes, including what not to do. Go on over and check it out!

I’m on a "Top 5" kick today, I don’t know why. I already posted a list of 5 non-power tools you absolutely need over at Shakhammer and now a list of 5 houseplants you cannot kill. This post comes to you courtesy of my dad, who was laughing at my absolute inability to keep houseplants alive. I am a notorious houseplant murderer, but Dad tells me even I can keep these 5 plants alive. We shall see, I’m going to buy some this weekend. Without further ado, my dad’s list of 5 houseplants even I can keep alive:

Spider Plant (chlorophytum comosum)- This was the first one my dad suggested. When I reminded him of the spider plant I kept for him while he was moving, he informed me he was able to nurse it back to heath when he got it back from me. They do well even in lower-light conditions and don’t mind being potbound. In fact, they like being potbound, according to my dad. This is a good thing, since one of my plant-murdering ways is to not realize they are potbound and let them suffer in a too-small pot.

Mother-In-Law’s Tongue (Sansevieria)- Also known as snake plant, but I like the name mother-in-law’s tongue, since it looks just like my mother-in-law’s tongue. Well, if her tongue was 24 inches long and was green. This one also likes to be potbound, and according to my dad, this is one of the hardest plants to kill ever. He doesn’t even have one because he says eventually, you get tired of looking at them, and there’s no challenge whatsoever in this plant. Of course, with me, it might be a major challenge. This will be the first plant I look for this weekend.

Corn Plant (Dracaena Fragrans)- According to my dad, he once had this in his office and forgot about it for over 2 months. It lived anyway. Now, I would normally take this with a grain of salt, because I think plants like to stay alive just to be close to my dad, when they would have keeled over weeks ago if it had been me. However, I had a corn plant that I managed to keep alive for over 2 years, through drought (me forgetting to water it) and major disaster (the cats deciding the corn plant must die and kicking the pot and all its contents over). Interestingly, I don’t remember what happened to that plant. I believe I took it outside to see the rain and it died. So don’t take your corn plant outside, whatever you do.

Philodendron (multiple varieties)- That’s what I just killed, a philodendron. My dad absolutely loves the philodendron and he told me where I went wrong with it. Apparently philodendrons need a medium light situation, instead of a low-light situation. I just had my philodendron hanging out on my kitchen counter. Apparently this was a mistake. So make sure your philodendron has enough light.

Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderana)- Nothing could be easier to keep alive than lucky bamboo. It’s not actually bamboo at all, but comes from the dracaena, like the corn plant. You just keep it in water, like a cut flower, but it will last for years and will grow beautifully. [Photo credit: Richard- on Flickr]

What’s a garden without some gardening stakes? Uncommon Goods brings us some gardening stakes with pizazz! Instead of your normal "Tomatoes", "Celery", etc.; you can have gardening stakes that say things like "I love it when you talk dirt to me" and "flower power". Your stakes will be the envy of the neighborhood!

Planting has gone green!  These Soft Bowls are totally renewable, recyclable, and compostable. They are designed as an alternative to energy intensive, decorative, ceramic vessels and require about one tenth the energy needed to make them. They provide function and beauty but very little energy goes in to their production making them some of the last millinery products produced today.

They are made from 100% molded wool and each individual bowl is handmade. The Beehive, Wobowl and Swoop are the three different types of bowls that make practical storage containers, plant cozies, or just plain great decor.

Designed to minimize environmental impact these Soft Bowls come in Bright Yellow, Red and Charcoal.