44+ min ago (277+ words) Alisha has been writing professionally since 1998, covering a broad range of topics from gardening and camping to automotive and cooking hacks. There are few topics or niches she hasn't explored in her 25+ years of writing. Keep Your Poinsettia Plants Thriving With One Simple Addition To The Soil Poinsettias are a star plant of the holiday season and bring an immediate festive air to any room. There are plenty of simple ways to incorporate gorgeous poinsettias into your holiday d'cor. However, what many people fail to realize is that these colorful plants are more than just temporary living decorations. Tropical poinsettias will grow happily indoors all year " as long as you can meet their preferences for warmth, bright light, and well-draining soil. Unfortunately, it's that last part that trips many people up. Poinsettias quickly start to struggle in damp soil. Adding…...

2+ hour, 44+ min ago (328+ words) Kristina gained her first experience working with plants in a family-owned garden nursery over 30 years ago. After spending nearly a decade and a half in Paris, France, she made her way to the high desert of Utah where her small farm features a large vegetable garden as well as fruit-bearing trees and shrubs. Keep Your Air Plant Happy & Hydrated This Winter With These Simple Tips We houseplant growers like testing our skills on different types of plants. Sooner or later, most of us will bring home an air plant (Tillandsia spp.). These epiphytic bromeliads hail from subtropical and tropical North and South America. They're appealing because of their unusual foliage, low-maintenance, and safety for pets. Winter can be a tough time for these heat-loving houseplants, even indoors. Knowing all the easy ways to care for your air plants through the…...

6+ hour, 44+ min ago (428+ words) There's a reason this smokeless fire pit topped our tests. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Extracting the Bonfire 2.0 from its form-fitting packaging took longer than getting it ready to burn.Assembly was simple: Place the base on the ground, put the pit on top of that, insert the ash pan, then place the grate on top of the ash pan. The final step, placing a ring on top of the pit for extra safety, required building the fire. Burning is much more interesting, isn't it? I started a small fire with some downed wood I found and a fire starter block. Since the wood was wet from recent rains, the smoke it produced was thick, black, and noxious.If you're thinking that's not quite what was advertised, you're not wrong. But the Bonfire has a double-wall construction that creates convection, which…...

8+ hour, 25+ min ago (379+ words) Black spot appears as dark, circular spots on rose leaves, often with serrated edges. Over time, affected foliage turns yellow and drops. If left untreated, blackspot can spread to the canes, causing purple-red blotches that darken, blister and weaken the plant. This fungal disease thrives in damp, humid conditions and spreads through water splashes from rain or overhead watering. While black spot spores don't survive in soil for long, they can linger on fallen leaves, particularly during autumn when conditions are prime. To prevent this disease from seriously damaging your roses, gardening experts at Moowy recommend adding one key natural item " mulch. They said: "Apply a substantial layer of mulch around the plant's base to help prevent the spread of black spot." The pros explained that mulch acts as a barrier, preventing soil from splashing onto the plant. Because if…...

11+ hour, 34+ min ago (358+ words) Alisha has been writing professionally since 1998, covering a broad range of topics from gardening and camping to automotive and cooking hacks. There are few topics or niches she hasn't explored in her 25+ years of writing. The Perennial You Should Plant In November For Bigger, Stronger Blooms In The Summer Planting perennial seeds in November might feel like you're running a little late in the season, but it's actually one of the smartest moves a gardener can make. The cooler temperatures provide the seeds with the cold stratification they need to germinate successfully, creating a foundation that supports bigger, stronger blooms in spring and summer. Gardeners also get the bonus of lighter winter prep for November-planted flowers, so they can concentrate on their fall garden to-do list. Most fall-planted perennial seeds only need a little supplemental water and some patience until…...

12+ hour, 33+ min ago (287+ words) As well as moving them to a sunny window and making sure they stay warm as temperatures outside dip, you should keep an eye on your orchids. When certain changes happen, you have to act accordingly. When orchids, like other perennial plants, develop yellow leaves, make sure to cut them back. Many plants get yellowing foliage in the autumn and winter months, which means action needs to be taken." Yellowing leaves on indoor orchids can often just be a sign that you need to give more care to the plant, whether that means more watering or making sure it gets more sunlight." But in other circumstances, it is a sign that you need to cut the leaves off. Sometimes, yellowing leaves on orchids can be a sign of pests or diseases. It's important to cut these leaves to stop this…...

12+ hour, 34+ min ago (954+ words) Kristeen has worked as a professional writer for more than 15 years, with the bulk of her experience involving health, wellness, and lifestyle content. Her work is regularly featured on Healthline and EverydayHealth, and she's also a consistently sought-after feature and ghostwriter on numerous topics related to lifestyle and wellness. Keep Your Lucky Bamboo Plants Thriving All Winter With These Simple Tips In the world of houseplants, lucky bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana) is a clear favorite for both its aesthetic and growing appeal. Despite its moniker, this plant is technically not a true bamboo plant and actually belongs to the asparagus family. It's also considered easy to grow and maintain in your home, even in areas outside its native West African tropical environment. This doesn't mean you can ignore your lucky bamboo plant, though, and it has been known to develop problems…...

13+ hour, 34+ min ago (386+ words) Luckily, tweaking your houseplant care routine for winter is pretty easy. Common indoor plants like certain ferns, Venus flytraps, and fiddle-leaf figs, for example, will benefit from subtle changes, such as being placed near a humidifier. Other plants may need to be moved to a new location to soak up more sun, while others will need less water. In any season, Boston ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata) can be a little finicky, but in the winter, the lack of light and moist air can cause the foliage to fall off or turn brown quickly. To'avoid these issues, give the fern access to bright light and place a humidifier next to the plant to combat the dryness. If your windows are a little drafty, keep the fern as far away from them as possible. The key to keeping most indoor orchids (Orchidaceae family)…...

14+ hour, 44+ min ago (280+ words) Krystal has been writing since high school, where she realized her love of journalism as the editor of her school newspaper. She has written on a variety of topics including travel, health, entertainment, family dynamics, and addiction. What To Do With Rose Bushes After The First Frost To Protect Them From Winter Damage The cold isn't for everyone, or everything, and that's even true in the garden. But when it comes to most varieties of roses, they tolerate the colder months pretty well if properly protected from extreme temperatures and conditions. You may already be aware that there are fall tasks you can do to protect rose bushes " like stopping the fertilizing process early enough so that residual fertilizer isn't still encouraging growth as plants enter dormancy. But as most gardeners know, the list doesn't stop there. As the months…...

15+ hour, 50+ min ago (326+ words) Jacques Julien / Getty Images Cool-season grasses revive when temperatures become more moderate in the fall. Fertilizing will boost a lawn's growth, but you don't want to encourage this too late in the season. Don't fertilize a cool-season lawn later than six weeks before the first frost. Otherwise, the new blades of grass won't get the chance to mature and could be killed by a hard freeze. A thick layer of leaves will mat down and block sunlight from reaching your lawn. Leaves also trap moisture, which can lead to snow mold. This fungal disease becomes apparent in spring when round patches of grass turn white or pink. Fend it off in fall by raking the leaves off your lawn or chopping them up with your mower, leaving behind a very thin layer on the grass. Leaving grass so long that…...