Where Not To Plant Snowball

I know a lady who has a beautiful Snowball plant and after a while, I did not understand why she kept cutting the plant down to about 24 inches from the ground in Spring before the plant begins to bloom.  I kept telling her to wait at least until after it blooms out before cutting it down but she would not listen.  I finally figured out (or at least I think so), that the reason she does this, is that she is tired of sweeping the fallen petals off her back porch.  The Snowball is planted close to her porch which is almost ground level, so the wind carries most of the fallen petals inside her porch.

Lesson:  Do not plant a Snowball  in areas where the fallen flowers will be unsightly such as close to door ways, porches, patios or driveways, unless you don't mind sweeping everyday while the plant is blooming.

I have mine planted next to our driveway but I don't mind the fallen petals scattered over my driveway and most of the petals fall in the grassy area below the drive way.  I planted the Snowball there to prevent soil erosion from the driveway which is situated in a sloping area.  Snowball Flowers are very attractive and fabulous in Spring Bouquets.

It is very easy to propagate Snowball bush.  All you have to do is to chose a drooping branch that is close to the ground.  Fill a medium size pot with potting soil and using a garden pin to fix the selected branch, (it should be flexible enough so that it does not break when bent), into the dirt inside the pot.  Use A stone or any heavy object to keep the branch pegged into the potting soil.   Keep the soil in the pot moist.  The pegged plant will develop roots and it should be ready to be cut from the mother plant and be transplanted by the following spring.

 Here are some more facts about Snowball plants.  Please check the link below:

here

Comments are always welcome.  Thanks for stopping by.

Butterflies, please be still....

Butterflies, please be still so I can take some good pictures of you.  Still the two butterflies would not keep still long enough for me to take a good photo.  Below is the best shot I can do.

Butterflies on Red Azaleas

I want flowers but I don't want to water everyday!!!

It's time to dirty my hands again and get involve in gardening.  It is hard to garden underneath trees.  But before I give up gardening totally because I don't want to cut down trees in my yard, I want to try one more time.   I will do Container Gardening.  The tree roots will not steal all my plants nutrients if they are planted in a container.  I want the Plant Pots to have water reservoir inside so that the plants do not have to be watered everyday.  Searching the internet, here are sites which explain how to construct a wick garden and how a wick garden works:  My sincere thanks to the pioneers of this idea.  Their names are mentioned on the websites below.

here
here
 also here
and here


Below are pictures of my 2-week old newly planted container plants with water reservoir underneath or inside the pot.

 Flower Pot #1

 

 Flower Pot #2

Here is how I constructed my flower pot with water reservoir:  

Materials for Flower Pot #1:  Flower pot, empty half gallon milk jug, empty 20-fl-oz  water bottle, piece of porous weed block, stones,  Miracle Grow potting soil, mulch, wicking cloth.

I used an urn shape flower pot with 10 inch diameter opening.  I cut the plastic milk jug in half and used the top end of the bottle with lid on as the reservoir, so that the tapered end went farther down the flower pot.  I stabilized the reservoir with small stones.  I cut the plastic water bottle in 3 pieces of equal length; made holes on the bottom end of the bottle and remove the lid, then arrange these at the bottom of the reservoir.  These serve to raise the dirt and to keep it above the water.  I cut a piece of weed block big enough to cover the top of the reservoir, side of the pot and up to the top edge of the pot.  I cut an x slit in the center of the weed block, big enough for another water bottle to go through. I  cut holes at the very bottom of the water bottle then thread it through the x slit on the weed block.  This bottle serves as the water level monitor for this pot.  Keep the lid on this bottle to keep the dirt out.  I then cut 3 inch by 12 inch strips of polyster fabric (old t-shirts will do also).  I cut 3 small x slits on the weed block about half way between the center slit and the side of the flower pot.  I roll up these  3 strips then thread them into the the small slits down onto the bottom of the reservoir.  I put stones over them so that they will not get pulled out of place.  I put the top ends of these strips at the side of the flower pot.  I then pour the dirt inside the lined pot being careful to keep everything in place up to within 2 inches from the rim of the pot.  I plant the flowers around the water monitor bottle then lay the top ends of the fabric strips next to the flowers.  Cover the strips with dirt.  Cut any excess fabric.  I then put the mulch over the dirt around the flowers.  Water the whole pot thoroughly to soak the plants and make the dirt settle.  Open the lid of the water monitor and check if there is any water at the bottom, if not pour more water until you see water in it.  Now I watch the progress of the planted flowers.  The flowers will tell me if my construction is working, by its healthy growth and at this moment, it looks like it's working.  I only watered these one time since I planted them.  Of course, it rained for some days during these last 2 weeks.  I will try this method also on some vegetables.

Flower Pot #2:  Same materials as above except:  I used the plastic lid of a wide, rounded ready to serve fruits/veggies tray as my reservoir.  I did not need the plastic water bottle because the veggie tray lid is deep enough so that when I set the flower pot on top of it, there is about 2" deep water reservoir.  I thread the strips of wicking fabric through the flower pot holes and through holes on the weed block which lined the flower pot and did the rest of the procedure as in flower pot #1.