Flowers Blog

There are many things that gardeners can do to help with the declining numbers of pollinators like bees, bats, butterflies, hummingbirds and many others.

The first thing to be done is to create a landscape with the plants and flowers that they love in it. With artificial shelters like bee condominiums and bat houses encouraging them to stay.

It is best to plant flowers that are nectar and pollen rich like butterfly weeds, black-eyed susans, milkweeds, coneflowers, phlox, Queen Anne's lace, sedum and sunflowers. They appeal mostly to bees and butterflies, according to entomologist James Dill.

Hummingbird have different preferences, they are attracted to cardinal flowers, columbines and trumpet vines.

Dill says, "Red, trumpet-shaped flowers are the most popular thing you can put in your yard to attract pollinators, even though they're small, phlox have a nice supply of nectar. They also have shallow trumpet and even small insects can reach into those."

Herbicides and insecticides should be avoided at all costs. There are many non-chemical solutions for solving you problems with insects.

Forget about having a nice and orderly looking garden, bees and other animals prefer going to gardens that are not disturbed too much.

[Via: msnbc]

In backyards across America, wild honeybees have almost disappeared along with many kinds of butterflies. Gardeners are having to look at other options for pollination.

The cause of this decline has not be found yet, but some of the factors that contribute to this problem are pesticides, habitat loss, pollution, disease and pests.

Gary Mast, deputy undersecretary with the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that nearly every continent has seen declines in its native bee populations.

"In China, many fruit grower are pollinating flowers by hand because improper pesticide use has killed the bees in the orchards. And nearly two-thirds of Britain's 25 species of bumblebees are in decline," says Mast.

There are many species that pollinate in North America like bats, butterflies, hummingbirds and honeybees, and they are all disappearing. Honeybees are the most efficient pollinators, BTW.

[Via: msnbc]

Most people would assume that a plant that is about 3 meters high and smells like a rotting corpse would have trouble attracting attention.

The carrion flower has the largest flowering head in the world. It has had to make some amazing adaptions to attract its pollinating insects. The specific behaviour of this flower has only come to light with the help of serendipitous TV recording.

Wilhelm Barthlott from the University of Bonn in Germany says, "The film crew was using very strong back-lighting and suddenly we saw smoke rising up along the flower's central column. We thought the plant was on fire."

As it turned out this was not real smoke but steam, and it coincided with the the waves putrid stench coming from the flower. "We had wondered before why one moment the flower would stink like a dead monkey, and a little while later there would hardly be any smell. It never occurred to us that there was cyclic odour production."

With the help of infrared cameras they found out that waves of heat were traveling up the flower until the tip reaching temperatures above 36 celsius before releasing the steam.

[Via: NewScientist]

The winter season is approaching and there is no better time to prepare for the cool weather and festive season. You can make this season a bit more special and meaningful by making your own holiday flowers.

This way you will have not only a Christmas tree but beautiful flowers to make your home warm and joyful.

The festive season begins at home and with a little bit of work you can share the warmth and joy.

You will need: binding wire, string, white thread, green tape, yellow/orange beads, scissors, needles and candle wax.

There are many web-sites on Internet which can guide you step-by-step in creating wonderful flowers for wreaths, ornaments and other Christmas decorations. After you put in a bit of work, the flowers you create in the end will be quite promising.

[Via: OneIndia]

Flowers will soon be available in vending machines the same way that soda and chips are now.

Linda Kyllo is the mastermind behind this idea, she has already set up refrigerated machine in Rochester at the Apache Mall. She fills the machine with new arrangements of silk, dried and fresh flowers daily and there are usually 16 arrangements to choose from.

Prices range from $5 to $40 depending on the selections available on a particular day. The machine even accepts credit cards.

Kyllo says the reason she decided to set up a flower vending machine was, "I thought a vending machine would be a good venue for flowers, because I don't have a true store front."

Kyllo is a jack of all trades as she is also a hair stylist at local salon and at home.

[Via: Post-Bulletin]