A Flower Garden for Your Home

Picture a constant supply of beautiful cut flowers for your home, or fresh cut flowers for friends, and special occasions. Beautiful flowers at your disposal are possible by planting a well-stocked flower garden. To begin your flower garden, select a sunny area, as a flower garden usually requires 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight each day. The selected area should be easily accessible for watering, in case your climate encounters long dry spell. Another factor for your flower garden is easy access for cutting your flowers, such as a raised flowerbed. The raised flowerbed is then accessible from all sides.

Fall Bulb Planting

In order to have a constant supply of flowers available, consider when each flower blooms. For instance, plant Daffodils and Tulip bulbs in the fall for the earliest spring flower. A couple of other early spring flowers to consider for fall planting are: Giant flowering onion, grows 3-4 feet tall, with large purple flowers, and blooms early spring to mid-summer, and Crocus’s bloom in early spring, though there are varieties that bloom through autumn.

Spring Planting

Gladiolus bulbs can be planted in early spring for beautiful blooms from early summer through the first frost. You can plant your gladiolus bulbs as early as two weeks before the last frost. Continue to plant the gladiolus bulbs every two weeks and you will have cut flowers until the first frost.

Annuals such as snapdragons, cosmos, zinnias, etc., are also planted in early spring after the last frost. Consider the length of time it takes your annual to bloom and plant accordingly so that you will have a flower bouquet right through fall. With a little bit of planning and a little bit of work, your home can have beautiful cut flowers all summer long. Good Luck!

Butterfly House in the Flower Garden

A search for butterfly houses will yield two different types. There is the type of butterfly house that contains butterflies and their nectar plants. These type of butterfly houses are actually structures created for the specific reason of providing a safe and enclosed space in which to study the butterflies. As part of your children’s, or your own, education, you may wish to raise some butterflies from caterpillar in a small butterfly house. You may also wish to create your own butterfly house of this type in your own flower garden. Don’t forget the small puddles as water sources for the butterflies, too. The second type of butterfly house is actually a hibernation box. The front of the box has half inch slots through which the butterflies can enter the house. This allows the butterflies a good gripping surface. Place the box near some host plants for the type of butterflies in your area. The top of the butterfly house may be opened so you may observe the hibernating butterflies and record the numbers and types of your hibernating guests.