America in Bloom

Is your downtown center in need of some beautification? America in Bloom provides assistance to towns hoping to get citizens involved in the beautification process. Click here to request their New Community Action Kit to get started and be included in their 2012 American in Bloom Contest.,

2011's winner was Coshocton, Ohio. Enjoy this video as they share what they did to beautify their community and lift their citizen's spirits.

3 Reasons to Create a Wildlife Habitat

After we built our house and my focus shifted to creating a garden, I decided immediately that my plant choices would focus on attracting as much wildlife…bees, birds, butterflies… to it as possible. I’m even agreeable to having some of the pesky critters…snakes, possums, racoons…drift through from time to time.

It’s very simple to create a wildlife habitat. There are four key requirements for success: food, water, cover and shelter to raise their young. Learn more about creating and certifying your wildlife habitat at the National Wildlife Federation.

And, oh yea, the 3 reasons to create a wildlife habitat in your garden:

#1 – You help support your local wildlife, especially in winter.

#2 – It’s good for the environment.

#3- They provide endless hours of entertainment and great photo shots.

Every spring I seem to stuff more native and butterfly-attracting plants into my gardenbeds, and add a few more berry producing trees. Yesterday, as I strolled through the garden I was entertained by 3 redheaded woodpeckers, 2 pileated woodpeckers, a pair of stunning cardinals, sparrows, and a few wayward butterflies that were enjoying the sunny day.

Central Florida Gardener

Gardening in Florida is very different from gardening in other parts of the country. The same is true for gardening within the state. A gardener is south Florida can plant tropicals without worrying about cold weather, while gardeners in the central and northern portion of the state must deal with an occassional freeze in winter.

The Central Florida Gardener blog was created as a resource for both experienced gardeners, as well as those new to gardening in the state. Visitors to the blog will find a list of Florida-Friendly websites with information geared to successful gardening in the sunshine state.

A cold-hardy list of 154 plants created by gardeners across Central Florida is available, as is an extensive list of 98 Florida garden blogs. In addition, reviews of Florida garden books, interviews with authors and the latest happenings in Florida can all be found on this blog.

Central Pennsylvania Gardening Resource

George Weigel, Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist and garden designer, is a great resource for gardeners located in the central Pennsylvania area. George is well known in the Harrisburg area for his Over the Garden Fence columns that appear in the Patriot News daily newspaper.

He is a wealth of information, and when I chatted online with him recently he agreed to share some information we may not know about him (you‘ll find more on his Web site).

Q – What person or event brought you to gardening?
A – My mom and dad always had a garden, but when I got my first house, I grew my very own first tomato plant. It got the biggest, tastiest fruits…and they were all free for the taking. It seemed like a scam that was too good to be true.

Q – What was the first plant you grew?
A – I started with that single tomato plant, then moved onto all sorts of vegetables and finally graduated into ornamentals and, really anything with chlorophyll.

Q – How long have you been gardening in central PA?
A – More than 30 years.

Q – Describe your gardening style?
A – I’m not militaristically “organic,” but I try to work with Mother Nature as much as possible. I especially believe in being kind to the soil and spending time getting superior plants in the right spots. That seems to head off most trouble (except for the dang groundhogs), is actually less work in the long run and makes gardening more fun (which should be a main attribute of gardening in the first place).

Three of his articles – South-central Pennsylvania Native Plants, Guy Gardening and State of our Landscape Address have been included in our Pennsylvania regional gardening directory…many more can be found on his site.

If you live in central Pennsylvania…and even if you don’t…Take a few minutes to visit George’s Web site for timely tips, plant profiles, articles, his favorites and much more.