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Top 5 Winter Indoor Plants: Caring for Orchids and Other Plants
Do you miss having blooming plants around your house during the cold, winter months? Here are some winter indoor plants that will brighten up your home and are great Christmas gifts for family or friends who may have a green thumb. Amaryllis The Amaryllis produces huge, colorful flowers that will last a long time. They are sold as a bulb and often come in decorative pots. It does take some effort to get them to start, but if you follow the directions that come with the plant, you should see some spectacular results. There are numerous flower colors available and they are relatively inexpensive. It takes about 10 to 12 weeks for the flower to bloom if the bulb is completely dormant, so don’t expect flowers at Christmas. With the proper after care, you can keep an amaryllis bul
Winter Lawn Care: Winterizing Your Lawn Mower and Other Equipment
The weather has been getting colder which means it’s time to come to terms with the fact that winter is right around the corner. Hopefully, you have cleaned up your gardens, removed any dead plants, and have things wrapped up for the winter in your yards. Have you considered a few other winter lawn care tasks that should be completed before winter fully sets in, such as winterizing your lawn mower and other gas-powered equipment or cleaning off you
Ladybugs in the House? They Might Actually Be Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles
Even though it is cold outside, you may see an insect or two flying around your house, especially around lamp bulbs. When they finally land, you notice that they look just like a ladybug. But before you start thinking you have ladybugs in the house, know that what you are probably seeing is the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle looking for a warm spot to escape the cold weather. These beetles were introduced into the South to
How to Properly Remove Christmas Lights on Trees
Properly removing the Christmas lights from trees and shrubs when the holiday season is over is important for your plants’ health. If you’re not being careful, it’s possible to damage those plants. I have seen too many people pull on the strings of lights while standing on the ground instead of using a ladder or reversing the process that was followed when the lights were hung. Unless you are careful, the tender branches can easily snap, as they
Spring-Green Gives Back to Residents of Historic Smoketown, in Louisville, KY
For the third year in a row, I was fortunate to participate in a service project that is part of the annual Green Industry Conference in Louisville, KY. The Professional Landcare Network, or PLANET, organizes this event called PLANET Gives Back. On Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014, I joined 74 other lawn and landscape professionals from across the US to help beautify the grounds around three different buildings in an histor
How to Get Rid of Wild Violets and Ground Ivy
Wild violets and ground ivy can be considered some of the most difficult-to-control weeds in a lawn. They can drive homeowners crazy with their efforts to rid their lawns of these weeds with little or no success. The key to getting rid of ground ivy and wild violets is knowing the best time to apply control products.
Winter Weed Control on Warm-Season Grasses
With the colder weather hitting the states lately, we don’t need to be worrying about weeds, right? Wrong! Areas with warm season grasses, like Alabama, can still have a weed problem even when the turf goes dormant. Except for parts of Florida, most warm season grasses enter into a dormant state during the winter. They will turn brown and not green-up until next spring through early summer. Even though the grass turns brown, there are still weeds that continue growing throughout the winter dormant period. These broadleaf weeds are basically classified into annuals and perennials. They can also
Overseeding in the Fall: Tips on Watering and Raking
The following question came in on Spring-Green’s YouTube page; one of our viewers was concerned about how to best rake leaves after overseeding in the fall. To give your new seedlings the best chance possible, follow the tips below. “Hi Spring-Green! I just aerated and overseeded my lawn 1 week ago with
Starting Over with Your Lawn: Reseeding and Resodding Tips
One of our readers was wondering how to start fresh with his lawn and landscape, so he turned to Harold Enger, our in-house expert. Read the question and answer below to get tips on reseeding or resodding for your new lawn. “Hello Harold! I saw your video on YouTube! I bought a home recently and the lawn has Bermuda grass in patches and weeds everywhere else. I liked your idea on starting over, and I was wondering what the best process is to do so? What kind of Roun
Planting Bulbs in the Fall: Autumn Bulb Planting Tips
Of all the jobs to do in the fall, the one that I like the best, but hate to do is planting spring-flowering bulbs . It is not the actual job of planting, but I have a tendency to purchase too many bulbs and then I have to find places to plant them and then do the actual planting. Planting 100 small crocus bulbs may not seem like a big task, but it is if you follow the recommenda