Tag Archive for plant

Bees on Pot?!

February 8, 2020 Comments Off on Bees on Pot?!

Yup. It’s happening. And it’s a good thing. Bees are dying out, but we humans need them to pollinate plants we eat and to nourish animals that become our food. We don’t think of that when we shoo them away or kill them.

There are things we can plant to help bring back the population. And if you’re growing marijuana in your back yard, you may already be doing your part.

This article explains the bees’ vital contribution to humans, what plants we can plant to sustain them, and the place cannabis crops have in helping these little creatures: If you want to save bumble bees, plant these flowers in your yard

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Ice Plant or Not, Ice Cubes are Handy

November 2, 2019 Comments Off on Ice Plant or Not, Ice Cubes are Handy

If you drop an ice cube (or not), stick it into a houseplant.  Because ice cubes melt slowly,  there’s not the usual water overflow into the saucer waiting to evaporate and be wasted.

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[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]

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Harvest Season

September 26, 2019 Comments Off on Harvest Season

Fall is in the air. Well, on the calendar, at least. Reminds me of harvesting pumpkins and other goodies. That’s why today’s Thursday Thought quote seemed appropriate, with its lesson on harvesting.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

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A Pencil that Grow into a Plant

June 8, 2019 Comments Off on A Pencil that Grow into a Plant

Here’s a fun way to dispose of no-longer-usable pencils without disposing of them. Huh? Well, you have to have a certain kind of pencil (Sprout). But check out this video. I hope it “grows” on you as much as it did on me. All I can do is “plant” the idea in your head.

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Depressed? Stressed? High BP? Try This

March 26, 2019 Comments Off on Depressed? Stressed? High BP? Try This

Whoever heard of “horticulture therapy”? Not me. Apparently, it’s a real thing that’s being used in the field of mental health. It seems that plants can help people overcome depression, and gardening helps people both mentally and physically.  It has helped vets, people with addiction, kids, and older adults. According to Gardening becomes healing with horticultural therapy, “Many studies have found that just being in nature — such as taking a walk through a garden, a park, a forest — can improve not only your state of mind but your blood pressure, your heart rate and your stress hormone levels and, over time, can lead to a longer life….But taking care of a plant or a garden with guidance from a therapist goes a step further.”

This is an interesting article, worth a read.

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Add Boxes

June 17, 2017 Comments Off on Add Boxes

Beautify your patio or deck with planter boxes.  Grow your own organic veggies, or flowers to cut and bring in to perk up the house.  This is an easy, fun way to reduce your carbon footprint.

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[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]

 

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Sage Palm & Dogs & Kids

June 11, 2016 Comments Off on Sage Palm & Dogs & Kids

Most places selling Sage Palm, a popular garden plant, don’t affix a warning label, and they tell a customer of any danger only if he or she asks if there’s any danger.

In fact, the whole plant is poisonous, especially the seeds.

In 2010 the ASPCA reported 1400 dog-poisonings due to this plant.

Kids under age 5–those stuff-anything-into-your-mouth years–are often poisoned by it, too.

Before you buy any plant, look for a warning label.  If there isn’t one, look it up or ask someone in the garden department if it’s safe for kids and pets.

 

 

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Are You Unwittingly Committing Bee-acide?

August 24, 2013 Comments Off on Are You Unwittingly Committing Bee-acide?

Your bee-friendly plants may be killing bees.  According to a report from Friends of the Earth and the Pesticide Research Institute, some of those plants (like sunflowers) that you thought were bee-friendly have been treated–before they reach  Lowe’s, Home Depot, and other garden centers–with pesticides that harm bees. The EPA’s new rules ban use of certain pesticides (those that contain  imidacloprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin and thiamethoxam) where bees are present.  But that doesn’t ensure that those lovely plants have not been infused with the stuff before they hit your store.

For more information, read the NBC Science News article “Bee-killing pesticide found in garden store plants: What does it mean?”

When you shop for plants for your garden, read their labels and ask if the plants have been treated with nerve-killing pesticides that harm and kill bees.  If the answer is Yes, or if they don’t know, tell them you’ll shop elsewhere until they can assure you that their plants are not harmful.

 

 

 

 

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