The ‘Lantana Camara’ is a shrub that has some small, and beautiful looking flowers that attracts both human visitors and butterflies (just keep the dogs, pets and small children away from the plant since contact with the plant has a certain amount of toxicity inherent in it). It looks beautiful as part of gardens, hanging containers and does not require much maintenance. The only problem with it in warmer locations is that it can be terribly invasive. Here are more details about this plant:

Common Lantana is a rugged evergreen shrub originally from the tropical areas of the world. Lantana will grow to a height of around 6 ft (1.8 m) and may spread in a bush type growth to 8 ft (2.4 m) in width. Some varieties are able to clamber vinelike up supports to greater heights with the help of supports. The leaves of Cantana are 2-5 in (5-12.7 cm) long by 1-2 in (2.5-5 cm) wide having rounded tooth edges. The leaves have a textured surface. Lantana is valued for a long season of bloom, with flowers existing for many months.

Hardiness: Grow in USDA Zones 8-11. Lantana is happy to be in a climate of both humid and dry heat. Lantana is frost-sensitive, so plant outdoors after the ground has warmed thoroughly. Space the plants about 18 inches apart. This tropical plant is killed back to the ground at 28 ºF (-2.2 ºC) but will grow back from the roots when warm weather returns and is very tenacious.

When it is killed to the ground by frost and then recovers when the weather warms, Lantana blooms in summer and fall. The color of the flowers ranges from white to yellow, orange to red, pink to rose in many combinations, with the flowers usually changing in color as they age. To get a good display, put the plant in a hanging basket when its flowers bloom into these many shades of color. Lantanas are most often used in containers. They grow well in sunny window boxes, hanging baskets, or patio planters.

Lantana is very easy to grow and will adapt to most soil types. Too much water and fertilizer will reduce bloom, and is to be avoided.

Moisture: Newly planted lantanas will need to be kept moist for the first few weeks until the roots have spread into the surrounding soil. Well drained soil is preferred. Lantana is very drought resistant.

Lantana requires little fertilizer. Feed your plant every 2 weeks with a houseplant variety fertilizer. Keep feeding as long as buds keep developing.

Prune lantana periodically during summer by lightly shearing the tip growth to encourage repeat blooming. Plants that have become too large for their allotted space may be pruned back by up to a third of their height and spread, and you can be assured of a good bloom.

Dangers:
Lantana is an invasive exotic species causing problems in many countries such as Australia and India, being capable of disrupting the health of natural species.
Parts of plant are poisonous if ingested.
Handling plant may cause skin irritation or allergic reaction.
Dangerous to pets such as dogs.

Lantana should be propagated in mid-summer from stem cuttings. Make cuttings from the shoots that are non-flowering (around 3 inches long). Strip off any leaves from the lower part of the cutting, and then immerse the ends in a hormone rooting medium. Once done, insert in a container having moist, well drained, soil made of peat moss and sand. Cover the container with a clear plastic bag and keep in a spot with bright filtered light. After rooting, which takes around 2-3 weeks, and you see new growth emerging, take your container into brighter light and do light fertilization every 2-3 weeks. In the spring, move into individual pots or in the ground.

Heirloom tomatoes are just that, family heirlooms – grown from seeds saved over generations by families that grew or liked a particular tomato. Tomatoes can have up to thirty-one flavor components and, like wine, are described by growers with phrases like “intensely rich with sweet overtones” and “smoky and complex.” The whole principle is to have a seed bank of healthy, tried-and-true varieties of anything, including flowers and veggies of all sorts. Opalka was brought from Poland to New York around 1900.
Opalka has a thinner, more tender skin, a deeper red color both inside and out, is sweeter tasting, more flavorful overall, has denser flesh, fewer seeds, far less gel and open space inside, has a more sturdy growth habit and better leaf coverage. This is an excellent variety for making sauce or eating fresh. It is commonly styled as a paste tomato. Paste tomatoes are varieties that are specially adapted for cooking, particularly tomato sauces.
The Opalka is a long, red paste tomato that could easily be mistaken for a red jalapeno were it not for its sweet, floral aroma. The 5″ long, 3″ wide fruits have a pointy tip and grow in clusters. They are meaty with few seeds. Paste tomatoes are, of course, well suited for slow, long cooking, and the Opalka is a paste tomato first and foremost. But what sets this cultivar apart from other pastes, is its delicious, complex raw flavor, best ordered midseason.
Grows 6-8 ft. (1.8-2.4 m) tall. Needs a full sun. Takes around 70-80 days to reach maturity. For collecting the seed, allow the fruit to ripen, clean and dry the seeds, and ferment the seeds before storing to get rid of any bacteria. Seeds can be stored in airtight jars in a cool place for 5-7 years.
If you garden on a terrace, grow your tomatoes in a pot with a capacity of at least 10 to 15 gallons, and fertilize every few weeks with seaweed solution. You may have to water twice a day, so put those babies on a drip system with a timer if you work long hours.

The species name “greggii” was named for Josiah Gregg, (1806-1850). He was born in Overton County, Tennessee. In the summer of 1841 and again in the winter of 1841-42 he traveled through Texas, up the Red River valley, and later from Galveston to Austin and by way of Nacogdoches to Arkansas. He cataloged a number of species, and his name was given to a number of different species.
This native of Texas and Mexico has a woody base and forms a nice mounding shrub up to 4 ft (1.2 m) tall by 2 ft (0.6 m) wide with slender new herbaceous shoots. Most of the branches originate near the base of the plant, giving a vase-shaped appearance.
The flowers are made up of two lips: the upper one forms a hood over whiskery stamens and the lower lip, which itself is wide and toothed. Butterflies and hummingbirds love them.
The leaves are leathery and small, adaptations that probably help prevent moisture loss in its dry native climate. Autumn sage is usually evergreen, but a hard freeze may cause it to die to the ground, usually to reemerge in spring from the larger branches at the base of the plant. It has great heat and drought tolerance but only flowers well during more congenial weather.
Too much fertilizer and moisture will kill autumn sage. Do not plant where regular lawn fertilization and irrigation will bother it. After the spring bloom, trim off 1/3 off the top, and again in late summer. Avoid planting it near heavy foot traffic because the stems are very brittle.
Light: Full sun to part shade; can take extreme sun and heat.
Moisture: Autumn sage is very drought tolerant. It can take prolonged dry periods once established. Autumn sage requires well-drained soil.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 7 - 9.

Planting Instructions:
1. Dig a hole 2 times the width and 1 and 1/2 times the height of the container.
2. Set rootball at ground level.
3. Prepare a good soil mix.
4. Backfill with amended soil.
5. Water.

Propagation: Most easily grown from softwood or semi-hardwood tip cuttings. Application of a rooting hormone improves rooting. Rooting should occur in three weeks. Also propagated by root layering or from fresh, untreated seed sown in fall or winter.

The dianthus family was known as early as 300BC; Dianthus is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia. Common names include carnation (D. caryophyllus), pink (D. plumarius) and sweet william (D. barbatus).

Origin of name: from the Greek ‘dios’ which means divine and ‘anthos’ meaning a flower.

The species are mostly perennial herbs, a few are annual or biennial, and some are low subshrubs with woody basal stems. Most Dianthus produce richly fragrant flowers in the spring or summer, sometimes extending right up until the first frost, and most varieties will grow 18″ to 24″. The flowers have five petals, typically with a frilled or pinked margin, and are (in almost all species) pale to dark pink.

Growing Conditions: Can be grown from seed or from cuttings. If using seed, you can either use them directly, or grow them indoors and transplant later. Given that they prefer warm weather, if planting outdoors, start in spring once the weather turns a bit warm. Dianthus seeds can be started indoors around 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost is expected in case you want same year blooming. Once the seeds are sown, they should be covered lightly with soil, and planted around 10- 11 inches apart. But, you can even plant them with a bit of crowding since they look good in clumps. Do not mulch them.
Should be planted such that they receive 4-5 hours of sun a day. There should not be water-logging, so avoid too much water; so the soil should be fast-draining, fertile, and mildly alkaline (pH of approx between 6.7 - 6.8). Water them during dry periods, once or twice per week. Fertilizer should be added monthly. Once flowers have bloomed and then dried, the spent flowers should be removed, and the plant pruned to stem level.

Carnations (one of the varieties): The plants have grayish-green foliage and fragrant, semi-double rosy, purple or white flowers. There are many hybrid varieties in a variety of colours and sizes with no fragrance. They are great plants to grow in gardens and can be used as cut-flowers.
Cuttings can be taken off any carnation, but the best shoot come from cuttings off a year-old plant after it has bloomed (what helps is that this is the part of the plant where there is enough length of the stalk to form a cutting).

Tabebuia makes an excellent shade, lawn, or street tree, or border plant. The yellow poui develops like a tree and is the national tree of Brazil. It is a tree that grows up to 37 m in height and has large buttresses at the base of the tree. (Explanation: Buttresses are flared supporting structures found at the base of the tree trunk that provide additional support for tall trees that grow in shallow soil without a deep root system.) Yellow poui isn’t an evergreen; during the autumn it assumes a orange-yellow-red coloring. It’s leaves are oblong-lance-shaped, and mid-green in color. Dense panicles of funnel-shaped yellow flowers with 5 crimped lobes are produced.
The tree needs sun for some time at least, and it is best to position the The yellow Poui in a place where it is exposed to at least a few hours of direct sunlight. You should avoid exposure to late freezings; grow it in a covered place, locating it outside only in late spring. During the winter young plants could need a light protection from the wind or cold; and they should be provided with a high stake to keep them erect. Watering is required only from time to time, and make sure that the soil around the tree is made wet every 4-5 weeks. As the root system develops, the tree no longer needs special watering.
Young plants need extra phosphorus to encourage good root development. Look for a fertilizer that has phosphorus. Apply the recommended amount during planting or during the first growing season.
The wood of Tabebuia is used extensively in construction due to its durability. The dense heartwood is light to dark brown, is easy to dry despite its density, and is used for house posts, and bridge building. It was also used to make railway sleepers where they still made of wood.
Many species of Tabebuia species develop close associations with ant colonies, providing habitat and food for the ants that are thought to provide protection to the plants from herbivory.

Although groundhogs may seem cute (especially since they find mention in movies such as the popular ‘The Groundhog Day’), they are a menace to gardens; in fact they are actually a serious menace that people often underestimate until it’s too late. While you may not want to mess with them for no reason, they might be secretly eating your crops and destroying your houses without you even knowing it. They are well known for their love of green leafy vegetables. They are also famous for digging up lawns and the underside of outbuildings to set up their burrows, in effect even weakening buildings. So if you see a groundhog in your garden, you know that it’s time you got worried.
The groundhog is a type of marmot, and what marmots are, essentially, are very large squirrels. Woodchucks, having large paws, dig big holes, not to bury acorns but to build tunnels to live in, and they will dig them in any relatively flat area, including your lawn. Adults average about ten pounds. They are strictly vegetarians. They dig large, complex, interconnecting burrows and are excellent diggers.
The holes they dig can be very dangerous, with fractures from snapping of the limbs in such holes not unknown. There are many devices used to get rid of groundhogs, ranging from shooting them (if legal) to getting rid of them so that they do not come back. It is also true that what worked for somebody else may not work for you. Here’s a list of some methods that have been used to control them:
- Groundhogs will assiduously avoid properties where dogs (even little dogs) have free roam. Occasionally, if your dog is very fast, it may force encounters between your dog and the groundhog. However, it is not necessary that a dog will be able to get rid of all groundhogs.
- Simulated urine of predators, such as foxes; supposedly putting some in their burrows scares them off since the groundhogs are very scared of foxes
- Hooking a hose to an automobile exhaust pipe, extending the hose down a burrow, and running the engine until the groundhogs come out; they will then have to be trapped. Or you could go in for fumigation. Fumigation is usually done with either gas cartridges that produce carbon monoxide or with aluminum phosphide pellets. Groundhog fumigation should be done in the spring (late April, early May) before the young leave the nest, and is most effective when moist soil is used to cover the burrows, sealing the gases in and leaving no means of escape for the groundhogs.
- One of the better ways of getting rid of them is to trap them. Different types of traps can be used, but using one that can kill them needs to be checked out whether it is legal (and should not harm other pets or even small children in the vicinity). You can also use a non-lethal trap and release the captured groundhog elsewhere
- Pour human urine around the entrance to the burrow; this persuades the groundhog that this place has gone bad and they move to newer quarters
- Fence your gardens. Use 1”-3” chicken wire or wire mesh fencing, and since these creatures can dig burrows, make sure that the fence is atleast 2 feet below the surface
- Double Bubble gum: Have you seen the bubble gums manufactured under the brand name of Double Bubble? Well, they are not your typical chewing gums. A plant expert one day suggested me to use this particular bubble gum. The truth is that groundhogs love this particular brand of bubble gum very much but the irony is, as soon as they consume this gum, it instantly kills them.
- Place pinwheels around your garden. Groundhogs are scared of movement and having a few pinwheels around is likely to scare them away.
If you are trapping them, then wash your traps with plain old unscented dish soap, and use latex rubber gloves to handle the traps. This way you won’t leave the suspicious smell of human behind.