Welcome to Hobby Gardening
Flower Gardening Article
This is a selection made from among articles on Flower Gardening. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for future reading, click here.
Planning Your Flower Garden
from:Gardening is one of the oldest hobbies around and it deserves its place as one of the most loved hobbies around. Gardening mixes relaxation and exercise, allows you to meditate on the beauty of nature and to take part in creating that beauty. And what is more beautiful than a garden full of fragrant colorful flowers?
Indeed, flower gardening is gardening elevated to the infinite power. Not only does flower gardening allow you to reach a peaceful, balanced state of mind, but the stunning displays of flowers can add beauty and value to your property. The varied fragrances of the flowers you plant, ranging from delicate to hardy, will waft through your house and transform your living space.
To begin your flower gardening experience, you'll need to carefully consider the place where you'll want to plant your flowers. You could choose part of your yard or some kind of container to keep outdoors or indoors. If it's your first time flowering gardening, choose something simple like petunias, marigolds, or violets.
Before you actually choose your plants, though, you'll need to analyze the conditions that you can provide your plants with and do some research on the types of plants that will grow well under your conditions. All plants need a healthy medium in which to grow and it's your responsibility to make sure they get that healthy medium if you decide to get into flower gardening.
So what kind of research do you need to do? Well, for one thing, you need to figure out how much space you can give your plants. Some plants don't mind being bunched together, while other plants enjoy their personal space. You need to always keep in mind that plants are living creatures and they will compete with each other for nutrients and resources. You shouldn't plant your flowers at the base of a tree or large bush, as the tree or bush will steal nutrients from your precious plants. You should also plant flowers 3 to 5 feet away from any fence.
You should also figure out how much light falls onto the area where you want to do your flower gardening. Some plants enjoy lots of direct sunlight, while others need lots of shade, while still others fall somewhere in between. A good average amount of sunlight is about 6 hours a day, but you will be able to find plants for all light situations, even if you have a very shady area or an area that receives 12 hours of direct sunlight.
Another consideration is temperature. Because plants are living creatures, each has adapted to its own ecosystem and habitat and you must respect those adaptations when creating your garden. Plants that have been adapted to harsh winters do not do well in warm climates, while tropical plants must be kept protected indoors during cold northern winters.
If you are planting in your yard, you absolutely must research your soil conditions. Though you can buy fertilizer and other soil "amendments" (things that will add to the quality of plant medium), the quality of your soil is of fundamental importance to the proper nutrient requirements and growth of your flowers. It would be a good idea to run a soil test to ascertain the quality of your soil.
Depending on the results of the soil test, you can add amendments to improve on the quality of your soil. You can add peat moss to add water retaining capacity and drainage, as an example. Just remember that there will be a limit to how much you can modify your soil and thus will limit the types of flowers you will be able to plant.
Once you've analyzed all these conditions, you can start planning your flower garden by doing a little more research as to what flowers do well under the conditions that you can offer them. It would be very wrong to do the opposite and try to manipulate the conditions of your intended flower garden to force it to fit the requirements of some gorgeous flower that caught your eye and that you desperately want to have growing in your garden. You will have disastrous results.
Many gardeners, beginner and veteran alike, find it useful to plan out their gardening idea on paper and start a gardening notebook to keep track of the flowers they planted and how well they grew in the particular conditions of a particular spot.
Related Articles for Flower Gardening
Flower-Gardening Online News
Powerful quake kills at least 6 in N. Italy - CBS News
 CTV.ca | Powerful quake kills at least 6 in N. Italy CBS News (AP) SANT'AGOSTINO DI FERRARA, Italy - One of the strongest earthquakes to shake northern Italy rattled the region around Bologna early Sunday, a magnitude-6.0 temblor that killed at least six people, toppled buildings and sent residents running into ... Aftershocks rock Italy earthquake zone At least 7 dead after quake rocks northern Italy 6-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy, at least six dead |
Nato leaders confront flagging Afghan war - Hindustan Times
 Hindustan Times | Nato leaders confront flagging Afghan war Hindustan Times AP Afghan youth play football in the evening in the city of Herat. AFP/Aref Karimi It was what President Barack Obama called a "war of necessity," a conflict thrust upon America by the 9/11 attacks. As Nato's mission winds down in Afghanistan nearly 11 ... Afghan attack kills two NATO soldiers, two children NATO says 2 service members killed 2 NATO Service Members Killed in Afghanistan |
NATO won't pay $5000 per truck to Pakistan: Panetta - New York Daily News
 CTV.ca | NATO won't pay $5000 per truck to Pakistan: Panetta New York Daily News Washington, May 20 — US Defence Secretary leon Panetta has ruled out paying Pakistan $5000 for each truck carrying supplies via its territory for NATO troops in Afghanistan. In an interview to the los Angeles Times before his arrival in Chicago where a ... NATO protesters gather for Chicago rally Nato summit to discuss withdrawal from Afghanistan World leaders set to tackle Afghanistan's future |
Chinese human rights activist Chen arrives in US - CNN
 Telegraph.co.uk | Chinese human rights activist Chen arrives in US CNN Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng arrived Saturday evening in the United States, bringing an end to a diplomatic firestorm that erupted after he escaped from house arrest and took to YouTube to complain about abuse he said his family ... Chen Guangcheng arrives in New York Chinese activist renews call to fight injustice Chinese activist who fled house arrest heads to US |