Month: May 2022

What Bushes Have Red Berries & Ivy Like Leaves?

A popular and versatile addition to the landscape, holly (Ilex spp.) Grows in several types, including deciduous, evergreen, tree and shrub forms. There are over 300 known types of holly around the world, although not all are grown in the United States. Chinese holly and Yaupon holly are just two species offering dwarf or compact shrubs using ivy-like leaves and red berries, somewhat like Christmas holly.

Background

The Ilex genus was present in America when the first colonists arrived. The shrub was known to Native American men and women, who preserved the crimson berries and made them into ornamental buttons. The buttons were so popular with several tribes they were employed for bartering. Wood from holly bushes is utilized to make canes, furniture and ornamental scroll work. Holly wood was also stained black and substituted for ebony on some sorts of inlay work.

Berry Production Requirements

Most holly species are dioeious plants meaning that they are either female or male, and each sex creates their own flowers. Only female plants produce berries, therefore bees are necessary to carry pollen from male flowers back to feminine flowers. As long as there are male plants within a 1 1/2 to 2 mile radius, pollination will occur. However, some species and cultivars are self-pollinating. Not all Ilex species are considered shrubs, and in addition, not all that are shrubs create red berries. Those that do range in size from compact or dwarf to very large. Evergreen hollies are found in more temperate climates, typically in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 to 11. Evergreen varieties include festive winter colour at a moment when, there may not be abundant shade in the landscape.

Chinese Holly Cultivars

“Burfordii” or Burford holly is a compact tree with dark leathery green leaves and plenty of bright red berries. It grows to a height of 12 to 20 feet and spreads to a width of between eight and 10 feet. “Burfordii Nana,” a dwarf Burford holly cultivar is a compact, compact dwarf shrub. With shiny green leaves and red berries, it grows to a height of 5 to 8 feet and spreads equally wide. “Rotunda” is a compact and compact dwarf Chinese hollly. It’s dark green leaves that are covered with spines and creates considerable quantities of red berries. “Rotunda” grows 3 to 5 feet tall and wide.

Yaupon Holly

“Nana,” a dwarf Yaupon holly, is a small shrub with a compact texture. It’s small dark green rounded leaves displaying a yellowish tinge when they emerge, and creates scarlet-colored berries. “Nana” bushes grow 3 to 5 feet tall and spread to between 3 and 6 feet wide. “Taylor’s Rudolph” dwarf Yaupon is a very compact shrub, only growing 3 to 4 feet tall. Its spread extends a foot more than its height, creating a very compact look with its fine-textured leaf. Leaves are small, and upon emergence, are tinged with purple, maturing to bright green. This compact Yaupon holly also creates red berries.

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How Long Does It Take for a Tomato to Switch Red After Being Full Grown to a Plant?

Few things in life are as annoying as waiting for that first green tomato of the season to ripen or your green tomatoes turn red before frost kills plants. Ripening is a complex procedure in tomatoes, making it difficult to predict exactly how much time it is going to have a fully-formed green tomato to turn red.

Inside the Machine

Tomato ripening is a complex process involving tens of thousands of chemical reactions. Pigments like carotene and lycopene are created as chlorophyll breaks down, causing the gradual coloration of this fruit. At exactly the exact same time, acid levels are rising, causing starches in the fruit to convert into sugars and softening the tomato. Under perfect circumstances, this may all occur in as little as a week, however, often requires 20 days or longer in certain weather conditions.

Factors Affecting Ripening

Many factors play key roles in ripening tomatoes, such as ambient temperature, soil temperature, the plant’s natural ability to produce the hormone ethylene and even the number of fruits demanding ripening. Ambient temperatures over 85 degrees Fahrenheit or soil temperatures over 80 degrees would be the primary reasons why tomato plants set the brakes on ripening. Occasionally, a plant is so heavily laden with green fruits that it simply lacks the energy to encourage them all to ripening. Some gardeners remove the smallest tomatoes in an over-burdened plant; raising water and sulfur for plants experiencing hot roots may also accelerate ripening.

Ripening Indoors

Tomato fruits are sometimes ripened inside by craftsmen when sunscald or pest insects are a persistent problem or whenever frost starts to threaten. A tomato picked in the “breaker” point, when a blush of its finished color looks, will ripen fully on the kitchen countertop if kept out of direct sunlight. Tomatoes harvested at the breaker stage contain all of the sugars of a completely vine-ripened tomato and will develop exactly the same taste.

Hastening the Final Harvest

As winter looms and frost threatens, many gardeners rush into the lawn to cover their plants, trusting those remaining fruits will ripen until the plants die. You can speed ripening in your tomatoes by eliminating any green fruits that are not fully developed — these tomatoes will probably not grow further due to cooling temperatures anyhow. Withholding water and fertilizer also will help accelerate the ripening procedure. If a killing freeze is predicted, uprooting your tomatoes and hanging them upside down in a basement or garage will make it possible for the rest of the fruits to ripen on the vine.

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Do it Yourself: Brick Sidewalk Pavers

If you’re planning to put in a new pathway, select bricks to bring a more complex design without raising the problem of installation. Brick sidewalk pavers add a traditional look to landscaping and are used often in walking surfaces. Lay them down along your pathway, and you will be astonished at how the overall look of your landscaping transforms from that one small addition.

Mark the pathway region. Place enough brick pavers around the surface in the desired pattern to discover how wide the path should be to fulfill your needs. Catch a 1/8-inch space between the bricks. Tap stakes into the ground all over the path edges and run string between the stakes to create straight lines to the path.

Remove the pavers and put them around the side. Use a scoop to scoop off the grass if there is any.

Measure the height of the brick sidewalk pavers and subtract 1/2 inch. Remove 4 inches of soil in addition to the width calculation of the pavers. This permits room for sub-material and attracts the pavers 1/2 inch above the ground so that rainwater is not able to readily wash debris on the trail.

Use a level to check the surface. If you’re on level ground, it stands to reason that you wish to maintain a level surface, but you also need water to flow to the either side of this path. Do this by building up the center only slightly, creating a slope into the sides of 1/4 inch for each 2 feet. Use the level that will assist you add and tamp down soil to earn the slope.

Fill in the region with 2 inches of gravel. Spread the gravel out evenly and utilize your level to keep up the slope. Tamp down the gravel with a compactor, walking it back and forth across the region. Check the slopes into the side once you tamp the gravel and add more if needed.

Fill the region with 2 inches of mud in precisely the exact same manner as you did the gravel. Tamp it down and check the slope into the sides.

Start at one side and set the bricks in the pattern that you chose, spacing the brick pavers 1/8 inch apart. Use spacers if required to maintain the spacing as you move. Don’t press the bricks down into the mud.

Pour sand above the brick pavers once you’ve placed them to fill the spaces between the bricks. Use a broom to sweep the mud around, allowing it to fall in between the 1/8-inch spaces. Run the compactor above the surface to place the pavers.

Water the pathway lightly with a garden hose to settle the mud.

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The way to Wire a Floor Lamp

A floor lamp adds style as well as light to your room. Whenever you have a floor lamp that’s no longer working correctly or come across just the right lamp base for your decor in chronological sequence, do not kick them to the curb. A broken socket or wiring can be replaced with readily accessible supplies and tools that are common. .

Unplug the present lamp cord from the power outlet. Unthread the nut at the top of the lamp harp and eliminate the lamp shade.

Pinch the sides of the lamp harp and eliminate it in the holder. Slide the lamp socket to loosen it in the base. Lift the lamp socket upwards and pull a few inches of wire through the base. Unscrew the screw on each of the two terminals with a screwdriver and remove the wires. Put the socket aside.

Untie the knot in the end of this electrical wire, and pull the cable through the underside of this lamp and place the cable aside. Twist off the lamp socket in the threaded nipple, and place it aside.

Thread the lamp socket foundation from a brand new lamp wiring kit onto the nipple and then hand tighten the socket base. Thread the cut end of the new wire through the hole at the base of this lamp, pushing the cable upwards until it looks above the lamp socket. Pull on a foot of cable from above the socket base.

Separate the two conductors in the end of the cable by about two inches and strip about 3/4-inch of insulation from each conductor with a pair of wire strippers. Tie a knot in the cable just under the point where the two wires separate.

Attach the ribbed or striped cable to the terminal screw marked as neutral on the brand new lamp socket with a screwdriver. Then attach the remaining wire to the other terminal. Feed the additional lamp cord through the socket base and then bench the socket to the foundation with a small twist.

Insert a fresh light bulb into the socket. Plug in the lamp cord to the outlet and test the light.

Attach the lamp harp to the holder, then place the shade over the tighten and tighten the nut to fasten the shade.

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Root Size to the Chinese Dogwood

Chinese dogwood (Cornus kousa var. Chinensis), a deciduous, flowering shrub or small tree, is native to Japan, Korea and China and hardy at U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 8. As a general rule, the magnitude of the main structure of this tree is four to seven times the area covered with its crown. Chinese dogwood includes a 15- to 30-foot crown, so its roots could cover an area from approximately 185 to 660 square feet.

Planting

Most Chinese dogwoods are offered in nursery pots or even “balled and burlaped,” using their roots encased in a ball of dirt which is then wrapped in burlap or some similar material. To allow for root growth, it is important to either cut or removed large slits in the burlap wrapping stuff. If you don’t do so, the plant’s roots grow in circles instead of growing outward. Finally this weakens and kills the young tree.

Where to Plant

Plant young dogwoods in sunlight to light shade with a eye on the mature size of the roots and crown. If the dogwood is meant as a street tree, make sure the planting strip between the curb and the sidewalk is wide enough to accommodate the roots. If the strip isn’t wide enough, then plant the dogwood on the opposite side — property or house side — of this sidewalk. The planting hole should be at least twice as wide as it is deep to permit for root growth.

Root Growth

Most Chinese dogwood roots, like those of most trees, which are at the top 18 inches of dirt. Due to this, it is very important to mulch and water the trees, especially when they are young. Watering is best done by drip irrigation, which reduces water evaporation. Mulch, that insulates and conserves soil moisture, should be spread in at least a 3-foot-wide circle around, but not touching the trunk. Mulch thickness should be 3 to 4 inches.

Care

When the Chinese dogwood is established, good root care will ensure it continues to be healthy and blossom freely. Avoid piling additional top soil around the base of this tree. When digging inside the root zone — for example installing garden plants — plant in pockets between roots, rather than cutting through roots. Don’t cut through roots to set up walkways or other hardscaping. Roots that are severed or otherwise limited cannot support the tree adequately or hold the dirt well enough to stay upright in strong winds.

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How to Install a Pop-Up Umbrella Lavatory Sink Drain

An umbrella pop-up fits to the bottom of the lavatory. It differs from a traditional pop-up style drain, in that the umbrella style requires no pop-up arm to be lifted or lowered to close or open the drain. Instead, the umbrella drain operates by simply pushing down on the drain cap to engage or disengage the closing mechanism. You may install a pop-up umbrella lavatory sink drain in with just a couple of hand tools and perhaps even limited DIY skills.

Loosen the fixtures on the lower portion of the S-trap beneath the lavatory sink. If you cannot loosen them by hand, use a large pair of slip-joint pliers to loosen the fittings. Set the S-trap aside.

Loosen the locknut on the bottom of the drain tailpiece holding the current drain to the sink, and unthread the locknut. Push the aged drain tailpiece out of the sink and wipe off any old putty that remains.

Loosen and remove the locknut and washer from the bottom of a brand new pop-up umbrella drain. Apply a layer of plumber’s putty to the bottom of the flange only if instructed to do so by the manufacturer.

Slip the tailpiece to the drain hole from above the sink, and center the drain in the drain hole. Attach the cone-shaped drier you eliminated in the prior step back onto the threads with the broad edge facing down, followed with the locknut. Tighten the locknut by hand to guarantee the drain to the lavatory sink.

Reconnect the S-trap to the drain along with the new tailpiece. Tighten the couplers by hand.

Turn the water in the sink and watch the drain assembly for any leaks.

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How to Prune Periwinkles

The phrase “periwinkle” typically applies to Vinca major and Vinca minor. Vinca major, or big periwinkle, is winter hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture planting zones 7 through 9. The common or lesser periwinkle, Vinca minor, might be referred to as creeping myrtle and grows in USDA zones 4 through 9. While both plants are separate species within the genus, they have a whole lot in common. Periwinkles spread quickly, providing excellent groundcover and erosion prevention. Prolific reseeding habit assures that the plant’s return in spring, even in bitter spaces which kill it back completely. You will want to prune the enthusiastic periwinkles during the growing season to keep them well in hand.

Prune periwinkles back to approximately four inches tall with clean, sharp shears in early spring to reduce the plant’s natural trend toward ranginess. Do this immediately following the final predicted frost to your area and before new growth begins. Cut back big, thick, well-established patches of Vinca with your mower set to three or four inches high.

Feed periwinkles after pruning to encourage rapid, vigorous new growth. Utilize an all-purpose balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer. Follow the packaging instructions. These plants need only one annual feeding. Do not over-fertilize them; also much plant food boosts lush foliar growth with decreased flowering in periwinkles.

Pinch or trim off flowers as they fade through summer and spring to convince the plant that it’s reproductive job is not finished. The periwinkle responds to deadheading with ongoing blooming, therefore extending the flowering season considerably and keeping the plant’s look tidy.

Trim back long or lanky stems to points of origin as they happen to keep periwinkle plants looking appealing. Cut out damaged or dead growth as needed.

Prune back runners with clean, sharp shears as they sprout wherever you want to reduce periwinkle spread throughout the growing season. These plants root easily from any stem nodes that come into touch with garden dirt. Pruning runners also promotes fullness. Pull the frozen nodes and discard or destroy them; do not toss them onto the compost heap where they are sure to take hold and prosper.

Shear periwinkles back to approximately six inches tall in late summer when the plants become overgrown or untidy. Do not prune periwinkles during the autumn or winter, as pruning produces flushes of tender new shoots that are easily damaged by cold temperatures.

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How to Shade a Garden Pond

A backyard garden pond can come in a wide selection of sizes, from a small water feature at a barrel to a sizable in-ground installation. Whatever their sizes, all garden ponds which are exposed to sun can encounter issues with aquatic hardened and hardened algae blooms, which can mar the peaceful, peaceful beauty of your garden pond. Thankfully, adding shade to your pond reduces excess sun exposure, which can be among the vital factors in grass and algae growth, and consequently will help restore your pond’s appearance.

Add free-floating water crops, like water lilies and duckweed, in amounts which block approximately 40 to 60 percent of the pond’s water surface. At this speed, the floating plants’ flowers and foliage help shade the pond efficiently to keep it cool and decrease sun exposure, and in turn minimize the possibility of algae blooms and weed invasions.

Plant hardy, marginal pond plants around the edges of your pond, like sweet flag, pickerel weed and delicate rushes. Such low-maintenance plant functions several valuable functions, including maintaining debris from falling into the pond (dirt runoff and organic debris boost water nutrient levels and encourages algae growth) and casting shade across the borders of the water.

Add nontoxic pond water dye to the water as you’re waiting for your free-floating pond plants as well as marginal plants to become established. Such over-the-counter goods, available in most pond stores and many nurseries, add pigment to the water, which decreases ultraviolet penetration into the water.

Float squares of black vinyl tarp in the surface of your pond as an alternate to river plants and pond dye, covering 40 to 60 percent of the pond’s surface. While much less visually pleasing, this works well if your pond experiences just occasional exposure to sunlight during particular times of the year and, thus, long-term vegetation maintenance is not required.

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