Plants to Decorate Your Dorm With - And How to Care for Them
What’s the Buzz about August 19th?
August 19th is World Honey Bee Day! It is a day set aside to bring awareness to the importance of bees and what they need to survive. We often don’t think about it, but we can thank bees for many of our daily activities and indulgences, and we aren’t just talking about adding honey to your morning tea! The honey bee population has been in decline for several years, and August 19th is designed to remind everyone just how important honey bees are, and what we can do to ensure their health and success.
How to Keep Your Plants Alive on Vacation
Everyone deserves a vacation. Whether you are planning a weekend getaway or an epic month-long adventure, careful planning ensures that everything back home is taken care of. When you are preparing for your next vacation, don’t forget about your houseplants!
Prepping your plants for your time away can be easy. It will give you peace of mind that your plants will remain happy and healthy while you are away.
Adjust Lighting and Temperature
Before making any adjustments, you’ll want to consider how often you normally need to water your plants. Depending on the season and your unique access to natural lighting, it can help to move your plants to a new location while you are away. If you normally water your plants once a week and you’re only leaving for the weekend, you don’t have to worry much about the lighting and the temperature. However, if you have great access to natural lighting and find yourself watering your plants often, adjusting their access to light and its heat can help ensure they remain healthy. The more access to natural lighting, the thirstier your plant gets. Use a sheer curtain or move your plants away from the direct light source during your absence.
Maintaining Moisture
Plants need moisture to thrive. If you are leaving for a brief vacation, giving your plants a thorough watering before you leave can be enough. If you are going on an extended trip, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that your plants have the moisture they need to prevent them from drying up. These steps include:
- Add wood chips, mulch, or lava rocks- Place these on top of the soil to maintain moisture for longer.
- Use a clear plastic bag- think of this as a mini greenhouse for your plant. You’ll want to cut some slits to ensure airflow and use chopsticks or something similar to keep your plant from touching the bag.
- Line a shallow tray with rocks- Using small rocks and a small tray, fill the tray with water and set your planter on top of the rocks. This can help increase humidity and moisture. You just want to make sure that the base of your planter is not sitting in idle water.
Contact a Friend
If you are comfortable doing so, having a trusted friend care for your plants can ensure they stay healthy and happy while you are away. It is helpful to talk about proper care with your friend before your vacation, as well as leave written instructions during your absence. This takes the guesswork out of proper watering and any need to move your plants while you are away. You can even get updates while you’re gone!
Tips from Flower Works
You deserve to enjoy every aspect of your vacation. With just a little prep work, you can ensure that your houseplants get what they need while you’re away. We love helping our customers see their houseplants thrive. If you have a vacation coming up and are unsure what is best for the unique needs of your plants, let us help! Contact us today!
A Beginners Guide to Plant Care This Summer
Summer is a great time to get started on that garden you always wanted to grow or to start raising plants inside your house. If you’re new to it, though, you may be surprised to find out that caring for plants isn’t as simple as soil, water, and sunlight. Different plants have different care requirements, and there are always ways you can enhance their growth. Check out these beginner tips, and then find out where you can get some flowers to plant in your garden!
Plan Ahead
If you know what you’re going to be planting, it makes it that much easier to proceed with the rest of the plant growing. Knowing what you’re planting also involves understanding the needs of each plant, which can drastically alter what you plant and where. Some factors to look into include:
- Which plants do you like the most? Your garden should reflect your interests and personality.
- Are there any native plants you might want to use? Natives are preferable because they help the local ecosystem and are adapted to work in the climate.
- How much water do the plants need?
- How much sunlight do the plants need?
- How much space do the plants need?
- Where will the plants go? Some plants are good when grown near each other, such as herb plants and tomato plants. Others need to be spaced out.
Feed Your Plants
The soil provides nutrients, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give your plants a little boost. You can feed your plants by creating homemade compost out of plant scraps and other biodegradable materials. You can also find organic or inorganic mulch and fertilizers, as well as liquid plant feed that attaches to your hose. You’ll have a healthy, thriving garden in no time!
Keep Up With the Watering
This may seem obvious, but it’s something that’s easy to forget or neglect if you’re not careful. Your plants need water to survive, and if they’re dehydrated, they’ll quickly dry up and wither away. The important thing to remember here is that different plants need different amounts of water to survive. Succulents can survive a while without water, while others are more high maintenance and need daily showers or more.
Prune Them
The idea that cutting and pruning your plants will make them grow stronger may seem backward, but it’s true. If you want to make your plants as healthy as possible this summer, you should make sure to prune them regularly. This removes dead or diseased plant material, encourages them to grow to a certain size or shape, and allows them to develop more flowers, fruit, or stems. If you’re worried about cutting too much off, you can simply stop at removing anything dead, overgrown, tangled, or crowded, and it’ll still be helpful for your plant in the long run.
Get Your Plants at Flower Works
The first step to really growing your dream garden? To get the plants, of course! At Flower Works, we have everything you may need, from flowers to ferns and more. Grow your garden with these plants, or get advice on how to keep it thriving. Call us today.
Ways to Include Lavender in Your Home (From Decor to Recipes)
Lavender is a beautiful flower that can be used to enhance your life in multiple ways beyond adding some color and scent to your garden. It can help you reduce stress and sleep better. On the medical side, it’s just as useful, boasting abilities such as healing cuts and keeping bacteria away.
It’s a versatile plant that many people have underestimated until recently, and in the last few years, there’s been no shortage of creative ideas you can use if you want to add a little bit of lavender to your life and home
6 Flower Craft Ideas for Kids
Flowers have a way of inspiring the artist in all of us. If you’re looking for ways to entertain your kids this summer, here are some fun flower crafts they’ll love. Some involve creating flowers out of paper, while others use real flowers that you can pick up at a florist or get from your garden!