Search Results for: label/flowers/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

520 results

Easter Lessons

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Chickens, Domesticus, Mistakes
25 Comments
...I tried out onion skin (russet dye), red cabbage (bluish dye) and hibiscus flowers(purplish). All looked well. I went to bed imagining the rich, solid colors I’d find the next day, the arty pictures from the original post dancing in my head. This morning I pulled my eggs from the fridge, all excited, only to find something had gone wrong. The onion skin eggs looked all right at first, a nice rusty shade, but when I touched them the color came off,...

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How to Deal with Extremely Root Bound Plants

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Gardening, How-to, Mistakes
22 Comments
...we bought these plants in gallon-sized pots. The plants had already put up flowers. And yes, of course they were root bound. Extraordinarily so. They were living in dense pots made of their own roots. As I tried to resuscitate and plant these babies, I realized that I should post this technique on the blog, in case it might be helpful to others. Forgive the photos. Erik wasn’t around to help me take them, and the battery on the camera was flashing...

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Why Your Garden Should Be Dark at Night

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Garden Design, Gardening
20 Comments
...not in use. Reduce wattage–you don’t need as much as you think. Here’s another idea: garden with moonlight. Rather than light up your garden with artificial light, include plants with silvery-grey leaves or white flowers. Our white sage glows spectacularly during a full moon. I’m also happy we put in a climbing white rose over our entrance arbor. By embracing the darkness we can open our eyes to the stars above....

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Bees will love your Coyote Brush Hedge

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Bees, Garden Design, Urban Farming
1 Comment
...power: native and non-native pollinators love, love, love! its tiny little flowers. If you want to lavish affection and care on the pollinators in your garden, plant one of these babies, if you can. It really is one of the best plants for the purpose. (For more info on coyote brush, here’s a nice post at the Curbstone Valley Farm blog with lots of pictures. And here’s its page at Theodore Payne Foundation.) What I didn’t realize until our recent g...

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Name This Weed and Win . . .

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Gardening
31 Comments
.... . . bragging rights. Extra points for telling us the scientific name. I think it’s some kind of geranium and it’s been sprouting up in the backyard for years every winter. If allowed to grow it puts off small, uninteresting flowers. I’m hoping it has rare pharmaceutical value. Then I could offer better prizes on Root Simple, like an all expenses paid trip to East Hollywood....

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