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Having a garden can be loads of fun but it will also require you to buy appropriate garden furniture, so that you and your guests can enjoy your garden fully. However picking the right garden furniture is not a small task, as it requires you to take into account the style of your home as well as the nature of your garden. In addition, you will have to worry about the external conditions and their effects on your garden furniture.

When it comes to buying garden furniture you are faced with many choices. You can buy seats, sofas, hammocks and tables that are manufactured for your garden. They can be made out of normal wood, teak wood, aluminum, wrought iron and even plastic. If you are looking for a heavy look or a Victorian look in your garden, then you can definitely choose wrought iron or teakwood furniture for your garden. If you are looking for something lighter, then you can choose plastic or aluminum garden furniture which are cheaper compared to Teak or Wrought Iron. If you are looking for something different, you can even buy wicker garden furniture. However what ever your choice may be, you can be assured of joyful memories in your garden that will last you a lifetime.

How popular is the cattleya orchid plants? Are they grown by hobbyists or not? How big is the flower? Why are they not popular?

Before we get into the answers for these and other questions let’s look at a bit of history of the cattleya. It is fascinating! Cattleya orchids have been named since the early 19th century.

William Cattley was credited with starting some hybrids from orchids sent to him as packing. The earliest named cattleya was the Cattleya labiata. Since then there has been a mystique about them. From the hobbyist perspective they are probably the most popular plant
.
The cattleya orchid plants have one of the largest flowers, 5 inches across. They are harder to grow as most of them flower only once per year. And the flowers last only about 2 - 3 weeks.

Although the hobbyists are the ones particularly taken with cattleya plants now. They are becoming popular with non-hobbyist because of the size of the flower. These large flowers are exquisite and unique for corsages.

For the cattleya orchid plants to become a main-stay of orchids several things are happening today. The new hybrids are lasting longer and they are blooming more than once per year.

It has been shown that the orchids now can be bred for more frequent blooming. This is important for the non-hobbyist who doesn’t want the plant to be just leaves for 49 weeks a year.

Cattleya orchids also will show the flower for more than 2-3 weeks and some of the hybrids have been shown to have flowers for up to 5 -6 weeks.

Blooming more than once per year is important and actually has sponned another sub-industry. Some of the nurseries across the country will “board” your cattleya between blooming seasons.

Currently the orchid registry in England has not added many hybrids. Over the last 100+ years the numbers have been essentially stagnant. This means these orchid plants have been primarily in the hands of hobbyists and not the general public.

Cattleya must be easier for folks to grow because most of us do not enjoy the benefits of a greenhouse.

Indeed, cattleya orchid plants growers have been making some good progress in the frequency of cattleya blooming frequency and increasing the length of time that the flowers stay in bloom. I feel it will be over the next 2 - 5 years you will see the popularity of these beautiful plants increase.

Did you enjoy this article? If you did sign up for more in our monthly newsletter. You will recieve free “All About Orchids” e-book and a 10% discount on an orchid plant.

A Water Garden Feature without doubt is the cherry on the cake giving the ultimate finish to enhance the beauty of a garden or patio - but unfortunately some gardeners are put off because of the work involved with the installation and maintenance of having a water feature. Cost can also hamper the decision of adding a water garden in your courtyard etc.

Expense may not be an issue if you decide on doing the work your self. If you have a good manual at your side when you take on the task then that is the first step in the right direction - follow the instructions accordingly and all should be okay. By chance if you are not DIY minded then you need not worry because Water Garden Features come in all different shapes and sizes thus cutting costs to meet your budget - where you can have an expert fit the fixture.

Small water garden features not only will save on the pennies but will save on the labour also when it comes to the cleaning. And with what you save you can buy different garden novelties.
Combining a fish pond with a water garden has to be carefully planned if plants like the lotus and lily are used; you need to have access to these. Your water garden needs to be approx 16 to 18 inches deep. This is good depth for plants to flourish. Young plants are not dependant on deep water.
How you ornate your water garden feature is entirely up to you but we do not want is to over do it, to much can spoil the appearance.

Water Gardens that host too many plants and shrubs can lose the effect of what you want to inject from the whole project and that is beauty. Shelving is best kept to a minimum if the feature is small - plants can be elevated on to rocks. Shelving is a good idea - it keeps the fish happy providing them with cover from the rays of the hot sun.

Nature comes to the fore from your Water Garden Feature with uninvited guests - what you have to remember water will always attract aquatic life and also children so be careful. Frogs toads and newts will enjoy your water garden feature just as much as you, if not more - so be prepared. There will be the upkeep of the pond/waterfall you have installed - the work involved with the maintenance will not be heavy work if you keep on top.

Installing a water garden feature is not a complicated mission unless you make it one by not having the right tools for the job. Be sure to obtain a good book with details on how to erect and to find the best place to locate the feature. Also do some research on what flowers and plants are suitable? How to clean and maintain a water garden are all important issues you need to know about and last but not least find out what you have to do to meet with the fishes needs and requirements if there is to be any marine life in your pond or pool.

Safety Tip - When next at the garden store purchase your self some netting or mesh so that the Water Garden Feature can be covered in your absence. This is a safety measure for when - CHILDREN ARE AROUND AND YOU ARE NOT.

Behind the scenes on gardening can be found at
Water Gardens

Information on garden birds
Feathered Friends

A couple friends of ours, Conrad and Carol, are in the process of getting district approval for the construction of their straw bale home. Bedtime stories of little pigs seem to have created skewed views of straw houses as frail little things that topple over when the wind picks up.

Due to a lack of education and enough disinterest to not pick up a book and learn something, city hall here in Salmon Arm is fighting every step of the way. Luckily, Conrad and Carol are armed with an open-minded engineer and a lot of determination.

Straw is an agricultural waste product, much like the soy wax in soy candles. Every year, enough straw is burned in the US to have built 5 million 2,000 square foot homes. Burning straw produces five times as much carbon monoxide as all the hydro power plants in the US. Finding new uses for renewable resources is the key to sustaining our earth.

Straw bale walls, made by stacking bales and covering them with adobe, are generally 2 feet thick and can decrease heating and cooling costs by up to 75%. This also cuts down on emissions. These super-thick walls are very soundproof and very fire resistant.

Burning a straw bale house can be viewed like burning a phonebook - one page or one straw burns quite easily, but a closed book, or bales stacked tightly together will not provide enough oxygen. Cover those bales with adobe and they are very resilient, passing every test with flying colours.

Wood frame homes have hollow walls and go up in flames in no time. These hollow walls also provide a safe haven for bugs and mice, but straw bale is too solid and any holes are completely sealed with adobe plaster.

The walls of a straw bale house actually breath. You have to paint them with a special water-based paint otherwise they will stop breathing and rot inside the plaster from moisture buildup. This air exchange is great if you have allergies - you already have a built in purifier.

If you would like a home that’s a little more creative than square, straw bale can be curved all over the place. If a window is no longer desired in it’s current position, pack the opening full of little straw/adobe loaves called cobs and smooth over with adobe. Then you can break out the chainsaw and cut a new window.

With all these benefits, it’s no wonder straw bale is catching on. If only it were studied a little more closely by the powers that be…

Keep an eye out, we’ll be documenting Conrad and Carol’s trials and triumphs with their own straw bale home.

Ivy Mills has been researching chemical sensitivity and natural alternatives for over five years and has brought her knowledge to the marketplace in her company, Valhalla Essences. Her personal experiences have fed a passion to help others with the same problem. Ivy welcomes others to share their stories and experiences on her blog, Peaceful Power.

A Botanists conduct various studies on plant biology. This may include studying an individual plant or an entire ecology. In essence, botany is the investigative science of plant biology.

A typical Botanist may be involved in multiple tasks including academics, teaching and researching - field and laboratory studies.

Specific fields that may interrelate with botanical studies includes horticulture, forestry and other unrelated fields such as pharmacology and agronomy.

Horticulture (plant cultivation) and forestry (the art of cultivating a forest or growing timber) can be incorporated into botanical studies. Pharmacology (study of drugs, it’s uses and effects) and agronomy (soil and plant sciences to land management and crop production) are unrelated fields that may require botanical knowledge.

Various aspects of botany have direct importance to human advancement and welfare. Fields such as horticulture and forestry are closely interrelated to basic botanical studies. Pharmacology and agronomy, however, are not as closely related, but still rely on basic botanical knowledge.

Botany, as a science, was first conducted in the 4th century BC by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus. His treatises on the morphology, classification and reproduction of plants were extremely influential on the discipline until the 17th century. Modern botany was developed around the 16th century, in part by the invention of the microscope in 1590.

The Greeks believed that plants obtain their nourishment from the soil only, however, during the 17th century, Belgian Scientist Jan Baptista Van Helmont demonstrated that soil is not the main contributor of plant weight. English chemist Joseph Priestly demonstrated that growing plants “restored” oxygen lost in the atmosphere (18th century). Jan Ingenhousz, a Dutch physiologist extended this discovery by proving that light is required for plants to produce oxygen. These and other discoveries formed the basis for modern “plant physiology;” a branch of botany concerning basic plant functions.

Botany do not need fossil records for historical information regarding classification and evolution. There’s a limited collection of paleobotany (the study of plant fossil) fossil records unlike other fields such as zoology (the study of animals) where the fossil archive is much more extensive.

HydroponicSearch.com is the net’s only agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture search engine and educational community. For more articles and resources, visit us at http://www.hydroponicsearch.com

Hardwood Floor Installation guide.

Installing a hardwood floor makes it secure.
There are various methods to install a hardwood floor ranging from floating, staple down, and nail down to glue down.

First place to get the installation instructions is provided in the users manual provided by the manufacturer you purchased the hardwood floor from.
Read the manual carefully and make the best plan.

Floating is the easiest method for floor installation.

The first step in installing a hardwood floor is laying out an accurate reference line.

There are a number of tools you can use to simplify the process.

Pneumatic Floor Stapler (rented)
Air Compressor
Power Miter Saw
Pneumatic Finish Nailer
Drill and Bits
Table Saw (or Circular Saw)
Basic Carpentry Tools

These tools are sure to simplify the entire process of hardwood floor installation process.
Some resources for your hardwood floor installation ease.

www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/installfin.html
www.hammerzone.com/archives/

flooring/hardwood/wh_oak1/stapled.htm

www.nofma.org/installation.htm

doityourself.com/woodfloors/index.shtml

home.howstuffworks.com/hardwood-floor6.htm

Make sure you check these resources and hardwood floor installation is a cake-walk.
Also make sure you learn all about the hardwood floor cleaning tips.Installing is only half the job done,you have to constantly clean the floor and kepp it scratch free.Use the tips I gave in the other article to learn more about how to make your hardwood floor dazzle.

Visit our site www.deluxehardwoodfloors.com to learn all about hardwood floors.From where to buy ,how to install and how to keep it clean.

About the Author

Visit our site www.deluxehardwoodfloors.com for more information

A few years ago I made the decision to create a wild flower garden within my existing garden. I had been working to develop a more earth friendly approach to my garden, trying different options for fertilizing and pest and weed control. The next logical step for me was to establish a wild flower or natural style garden.

I was new to this and thought that this particular section of my yard would require little work. After all, if these flowers grow wild without any human help then I had found the ultimate “no maintenance” garden…right. Wrong. As I researched, I learned that I had to design my wild flower garden to take account of soil type, light and moisture.

However, I also found that if you are prepared to learn from nature, it becomes a delightful journey with guaranteed success, after all, mother nature has been growing flowers and trees since time began.

If you are considering a natural wild flower garden, remember for success you need to work with your local environment and choose plants that will thrive in those conditions. Again, learn from nature, check out local forests, meadows and parks. What kind of wild flowers grow there and just as important, exactly where are they growing, under trees, out in full sun, between rocks or at the edge of a pond.

Your garden can be anything you want, a full wild flower garden or a garden within your existing garden, it can have a simple mulch path with a small bench for sitting, or elaborate brick walks and walls, water feature and lighting. The amount of work involved is determined by size and layout.

You can start your garden from wild flower seed or plants but whichever you choose, for a successful garden you need to plan and prepare and then plant.

This is the first of a series of articles on how to plan, design and grow a wild flower garden.

Gabrielle Bennett is a gardener with many years experience gardening in different climates. More information on Wild Flower Gardens can be found at http://www.complete-flower-garden.com

This article “Go Natural With Wild Flowers” is free to use as long as the following is attached: - Author Gabrielle Bennett: http://www.complete-flower-garden.com

In most parts of the country it’s still dead of Winter. However, in a few spots like here in the Desert Southwest, the warming weather starts to play tricks on Spring budding trees and plants. They think it’s time to wake up when it’s really not quite safe to.

In my own garden, I have an old Peach Tree that produces the most wonderful almost softball size peaches. And up until a few years ago, I rarely got the opportunity to see one make it past the blossom stage.

As sure as the first warm days would wake the old tree up in a display of absolute pink, so surely would a Springtime freeze bring it to an end.

But then one day a few Springs back….. I had a great idea.

It was a little overdue but still quite fortunate that I picked those first warm Spring days to take down and put up the Christmas lights. Because as I held those lights in my hands and looked over at that beautiful pink tree just coming into its glory, a light bulb turned on in my head.

Hmmm….., are you thinking what I’m thinking? I’m sure you are and it does work.

From then on I’ve been able to get the majority of my blossoms to the point of battling birds and June bugs. However, battling the birds and June bugs will be another article altogether.

While I am more comfortable to grow more fruit trees now, I find that this method still works well for me because I do only have a few trees. I’m not sure how practical, cost effective, or easy it would be to string Christmas lights through more than a few trees.

If you do ever use this method, use the old fashioned base type bulbs and not the little twinkling lights. They put off more heat. Also, if you live in an area where the climate is harsher than here in the desert, it may be helpful to place a sheet of plastic or tarp over the trees in addition to the lights.

While there are other ways of protecting your trees and plants from a freeze, I just thought I would share this with you.

Written by Steve Boulden. Steve is the creator of The Landscape Design Site which offers free professional landscaping advice, tips, plans, and ideas to do it yourselfers and homeowners. For more on garden design and landscaping, visit his site at www.the-landscape-design-site.com

The Cause and Solution to Your Condensation Problems

Submitted by: Michael Del Greco, President of Accurate Inspections, Inc. a New Jersey Home Inspection company. Click here for a New Jersey Home Inspector.

The Cause and Solution to Your Condensation Problems

Condensation is caused when warm, moist air moves into a cooler air space or comes in contact with a

cooler object. The warmer the air is, the more ability it has to hold water. The cooler the air is, the less

ability it has to hold water (i.e., when warm, interior air comes in contact with a cold surface, such as a

metal window frame or cold water pipe, the vapors in the air turn to liquid on the colder surface).

In an attic in the winter, moisture or ice may form on the roofing nails and the roof sheathing for the

same reason.

Mold/fungus develops in bathrooms when vapors permeate through the surface of drywall or plaster and

turn to moisture before it exits the other side of the wall material. This is due to the change in

temperature between the living space (or warm side of the wall or ceiling) and the exterior (or cold side

of the wall or ceiling).

On milder days or milder climates, it is less of a concern because the temperature differential between

the inside and outside is not far apart. The solutions are ventilation, additional insulation, or stopping the

permeation of vapors through the wall/ceiling material. In existing situations, access is typically difficult

for proper ventilation or insulation. So the simplest approach would be to paint the wall and ceiling

surfaces with a material that would significantly reduce or stop the permeability of vapors. Most

enamels or hard-finish paints will do a good job controlling or reducing the amount of vapor which may

pass through the wall/ceiling surfaces.



The best way to ventilate an attic:

The air in attics is warmer than the outside air in summer or winter. It is obvious how warm attics are

in summer, but it may not be so obvious in the winter. Assuming the outside temperature is 35 degrees,

the thermal loss from the house will raise the attic temperature 5-10 degrees, depending on insulation,

wind, etc. Based on this information, the air in the attic will always be lighter than the outside air

because it is warmer.

The best way to ventilate an attic would be with high-low ventilation because the only condition we can

be sure of is that warmer air will be lighter and has a tendency to rise.

With high-low ventilation, the warmer air rises out of the high vents, preferably ridge vents, and this air

is replaced by cooler air from low vents, typically soffit vents.

The amount of air and the speed it moves is dictated by the temperature difference between the attic

space and the exterior. This is called thermal convection. When the ventilation is correct, mother nature

will control the air changes based on the temperature differentials and mechanical help is unnecessary.

General criteria for improving attic ventilation:

1) For every 300 square feet (SF) of attic floor space, you need at least one (1) SF of clear air. If the

clear air is not distributed 50% high and 50% low, you will need additional ventilation.

2) Louvers and vents are typically only 50-60% of their total measurement in clear air. Be sure to

calculate this when you buy these appliances.



Note: If you cannot develop high-low ventilation, you will have to increase the horizontal or high

ventilation by 100% or more, or approximately two (2) SF plus for every 300 SF of attic floor space.

Without a proper vapor barrier, it may be necessary to as musch as double the above ventilation.



Information provided by Michael Del Greco, New Jersey Home Inspector Lic. GI 0121, American Society of Home Inspectors Member 102273, Pesident of Accurate Inspections, Inc. A West Paterson New Jersey Home Inspection firm.

Patio Maintenance in Fall

Ahh fall! Crisp air, beautiful colors, and — oh no! — winter
preparation! It’s true that fall brings many household
maintenance tasks, but the pleasant weather makes it enjoyable
to be outside, and the time spent maintaining your patios and
yards will add years to their life span.

Patio maintenance is particularly important in the fall. Patios
which are made of wood should be treated with a waterproofing
substance to protect them from the winter weather. This is not a
big project — it can be done in an hour or two for an average
sized patio. The time spent doing this will protect the wood and
prevent costly repair bills in the springtime.

Moisture is the big enemy of wood, so anything that can
trap moisture should be removed. This means sweeping it from
time to time to get rid of the falling leaves and to remove
debris from between the floorboards of the patio. This can be
done with a screwdriver or other small object. Debris which
remains between the floorboards holds moisture and quickly rots
the foundation frame underneath.

If your patio needs a coat of paint, the fall is a good time to
do it. The paint will give the wood more protection during the
wintertime. Just make sure not to leave the job too late in the
season — the weather should be clear and dry on the painting
day for maximum effectiveness.

If you have plants on your patio they must be prepared for
winter. Perennials can be protected with sackcloth and placed in
an area where they are less exposed to the elements. Annuals
should be removed from their beds and in the soil can be
re-fertilized.

Patio furniture should be examined and repaired if necessary,
and should be stored in a protected area. Leading patio
furniture outside during the winter is bad for both furniture
and patio — moisture will accumulate under the legs and stain
or rot the patio floor.

Doing all this work in the fall will extend the life of your
patio. In addition, there will be fewer patio jobs to be done in
the springtime. All you will need to do is bring out the
furniture and replant your plants.