#BENEFICIAL

[thebugcollection]

Gosh, they're so pretty.

This is a Rainbow Scarab, and despite its striking appearance.. It's a dung beetle. It eats poop.

These bugs are rather beneficial and most pest controls won't eliminate them.

I remember the first time I saw one of these babies, and it seemed to know that I was in awe of it. I got really close and was taking pictures of it, and it seemed as though it was posing for me. It only flew away when someone else got close to it.

[earthlyradish]

Marigolds are so underrated imo. I could go on, but I will spare y’all lmao

[spockvarietyhour]

Star Trek Enterprise "Kir'Shara"

[unscramblerer]

Todays Word Of The Day is: Auspicious

Auspicious originates from Latin auspicium(omen). It combines avis(bird) and specere(to look). It entered English in the 16th century. means something promising or lucky.

[catsinthebagdesignposts]

What Love Says… Focus

A heart, mind, body choosing to be focused with conscious awareness of love, love that creates an energy of joy, passion, excitement. Remember where your focus goes your energy flows, choose how and were you focus with compassion, joy, love and care.

Are your thoughts, words, actions in a current of energy that is truly you, truly love, becomes truly beneficial. Conscious awareness is a wonderful way to joyfully create. Place your focus on the energy of joy, passion and excitement this is your magic.

When you love with heart and soul a magic ignites within sparking inspiration to focus on everything you prefer. So power you are as you create thoughts, words, actions which become things–choose with love and conscious awareness.

Bring into loving focus your truth, your love, and what you prefer, mix carefully with gratitude, appreciation and joy while you squeal with delight living your best life regardless of what comes your way.

What Love Says… 2024 by Jennifer R. Cook @catsinthebagdesignposts Daily messages from animal spirit guides assisting human beings to embrace all facets of love. Each post includes delightful animal illustrations.

[thoughtfulexpertgarden]

.proDentim.

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Kickstart your ProDentim journey and enjoy fresh breath naturally with 7 unexpected spice and herb mixes from your kitchen that can do wonders.

click here for more https://lnkd.in/dYNNJq5D

[dorasuga]

Sassy and Sweet

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

"Every adversity that comes across our path, whether large or small, is intended to help us grow in some way. If it were not beneficial, God would not allow it or send it, “For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men” (Lamentations 3:33). God does not delight in our sufferings. He brings only that which is necessary, but He does not shrink from that which will help us grow." - Jerry Bridges

[benefitsofbadhabits]

BENEFITS OF WATCHING PORN

The subject of pornography is complicated, and opinions on merits and negatives can differ greatly. Some people may feel some advantages, it is crucial to highlight that these advantages are subjective and may not apply to everyone. Here are some points of view on the claimed advantages of watching pornography:

Sexual arousal and exploration: Pornography can serve as a tool for sexual arousal and exploration. It can provide visual stimuli and fantasies that some individuals find pleasurable and use to enhance their sexual experiences.

Self-exploration and self-knowledge: For some individuals, pornography can be a means of self-exploration, allowing them to understand their own desires, interests, and preferences in a private setting.

Education and information: Certain types of pornography, such as instructional or educational content, may provide information about various sexual activities, techniques, and practices. However, it's important to note that not all pornography is accurate or reflective of real-life experiences.

Fantasy fulfillment: Pornography can allow individuals to engage in sexual fantasies and scenarios that they may not be able to experience in their personal lives. This can provide an outlet for imagination and exploration of desires.

Emotional release and stress relief: Like any form of entertainment, pornography can be used by some individuals as a means of relaxation, stress relief, or temporary escape from daily life.

It's essential to recognize that there are also potential drawbacks and negative impacts associated with pornography consumption. These can include unrealistic expectations, objectification of individuals, potential addiction or compulsive behavior, and negative effects on relationships and mental health. It's crucial to approach pornography consumption with critical thinking, self-awareness, and an understanding of personal boundaries and values. Additionally, it's important to ensure that the consumption of pornography is legal and consensual and that individuals engaging with it are of legal age.

[endlessdreaaaaam]

Clutter

Bismillah, been sooo long since I pen down my thoughts.. Been pushing myself to do journaling but to no avail. So here am I, utilizing the social media for goodness inshaAllah.

There's a couple of things that I can't seem to express or share. Or even if I do, I feel the need to pen it down. Largely, for my benefit, and if its benefits anyone then Alhamdulillah. K i'm rambling unimportant stuffs.

Some background, I recently joined a new company that heavily prioritizes our purpose in this world and a child's nature to be inclined to find the truth ie Allah. Initially, I had my doubts as I thought a child as young as 3 years old are incapable of doing so, as they are just starting to make sense of the world.

Another background, I attended a course some time back and they shared on the ayah:

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ ۛ شَهِدْنَآ ۛ أَن تَقُولُوا۟ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَـٰذَا غَـٰفِلِينَ

And ˹remember˺ when your Lord brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants and had them testify regarding themselves. ˹Allah asked,˺ “Am I not your Lord?” They replied, “Yes, You are! We testify.” ˹He cautioned,˺ “Now you have no right to say on Judgment Day, ‘We were not aware of this.’ (Surah Al-'Araf Verse 172)

and it's extensive explanations and implications.

So what is it?? That I'm trying to say?? So this post is really just my thought process. Haha, if I were to do this in my mind I think I wont be able to conclude. See now I'm rambling again. Astaghfirullah.

I am trying to connect these two, and make sense of it. So when Ustaz Mahdi Lock, translator of various Islamic books including books written by Sheikh Ramadhan Al-Buti in his Halaqah session mentioned that us humans, a part of us will always feel empty, as though some thing is missing (No matter how much we fill it in with love, work, distractions, entertainment and so on) We will not find it through materials, We will only find it through the Zikrullah.

If you were to tell this to me.. maybe even a year back, I'll be rolling my eyes, coz sis have heard this a lot of time. But somehow this time.

It clicks.

Our souls have been yearning for Allah from the moment we make that promise (from the ayah: alastu birabbikum). We are waiting to reunite with Allah. Even as young as 3 years old.. A part of us knows, a part that we ourselves are not able to comprehend.

Allahu, such a beautiful ni'mah that Allah has given us.

I have been struggling to keep my Iman in check, from my clothings to the perfumes and the entertainment. And what is the best and most important form of Zikrullah - Remembrance of Allah? Solat.

Moving forward, not some extravagant/far fetched resolution.

Is to Perfect my Solah, it is grand the eyes of Allah.

Reminder to self x10000000000000

رَبِّ اجْعَلْنِي مُقِيمَ الصَّلَاةِ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي ۚ رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلْ دُعَاءِ رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيَّ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْحِسَابُ

Ouh Allah, make me an establisher of prayer, and [many] from my descendants. Our Lord, and accept my supplication. Our Lord, forgive me and my parents and the believers the Day the account is established.

Amin, Amin, Amin

[tameblog]

Happy Monday GPODers! Today Allyson Levy of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York is reminding us to leave the leaves! Allyson has shared her knowledge, and the incredible plants her and her partner Scott Serrano grow on 21 acres several times last year: Growing Pawpaws, Special Fall Plants, Fall is for Purple. Each time she enlightens us to exquisite, and sometimes unusual, plants to grow as well as ways to support your local environment and wildlife with your garden. To learn more about the incredible land they tend, and when you can visit, check out their website: hortusgardens.org As co-director and co-founder of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens I am often asked about how we deal with winterizing the gardens which is no small task with over nine acres of cultivated gardens! However, for nonprofessionals, even those with small home gardens, chores can seem overwhelming and never-ending. However, now that we are well into December, there are some strategies that if you didn’t follow this season are worth incorporating and putting on your 2025 to-do list. High on your list should be the mantra “leave the leaves”. This is a good one for sure, giving us gardeners the opportunity to do other tasks that maybe aren’t centered solely on plants. Now that the majority of deciduous tree leaves have fallen, except for the few marcescent Oak species and some Beech trees with leaves still clinging onto branches, reminders of the season that was. If this “leave the leaves” is a new phrase for you, or you just didn’t get around to taking out your leaf blower, or garden rake, rejoice, because the garden world has finally embraced this slogan since it is right in step with keeping a more naturalistic garden. For those of us who live in urban or suburban environments buying those tall brown “waste” bags to fill up with your lawn debris to leave on the sidewalk for pickup can now become a thing of the past. And even if you did tidy up your leaves this past fall it is a task that you can take off your 2025 list. The rationale behind this is simple. Fallen leaves break down over time and add nutrients to your plantings. Even different species of oak trees, notorious for keeping their leaves intact due to their high carbon to nitrogen levels, are still beneficial. Fallen leaves can trap snow, leading to additional moisture for both tree and perennial roots. But what they don’t trap are early spring bulbs, which have no problem emerging from the soil despite a layering of leaves covering them. Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), Crocus (Crocus spp.), and Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), along with a whole range of other early spring bulbs and ephemerals manage to push their way up through the leaf litter. Even more importantly fallen leaves provide places for insects like moths, butterflies, wasps, and ground beetles to lay their eggs as well as well as a place to overwinter by offering protection from predators and the elements. Then come early spring when you’re ready to “clean-up” you can easily address any big piles of leaves that haven’t completely broken down by lightly raking them apart so they are loosened up some but still kept in place. If you require a more tidy look you can gather them up to put into your compost, where the leaves can continue to break down over time. If you maintain a large garden, or if the leaves are all over the place you can run a mower over them and shred them up, essentially mulching them. Okay, so now you have one less chore to do. But what about all your spent stems and flower heads that are left in the garden? Can you leave those in place, too? Yes!! Seeds have many strategies for propagation, and wind is often one of the ways plants do this on their own. It is always smart to gather some of the seeds in fall to sow yourself, but because many native plants need to be cold-stratified in order to germinate, leaving seeds on the plant and letting Mother Nature do the job is one way to ensure future plants. Of course, wind doesn’t pay attention to your garden design and plants may grow far away from the original “mother” plant. Above, rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.) seeds in late fall get disbursed by the wind, but the seed heads remain. Regardless, many flowering plants still retain the seed heads after the seeds have been strewn, and they can be often very decorative as well. Above is a Japanese Angelica (Aralia elata, Zones 4–9) seed head before and after its seeds have fallen. You can leave your helianthus, echinaceas, symphyotrichum, solidago, and pretty much any annuals, perennials, grasses, and fruiting branches in place especially those still holding onto persistent berries or seed heads. Birds will thank you for it, as will many species of wasps and other insects that use the hollow stems, think Joe Pye (Eutrochium purpureum, Zones 3–9) for egg-laying and/or overwintering in. The availability of “brown” plant material is one of the most important factors for encouraging an increase in the population of all sorts of insects including bees. Forget buying a “bee hotel” and let nature make them for you. Besides, there are many flowering plants that provide visual interest “off-season.” Above are viburnum berries for the birds. Clematis seedheads are stunningly ornamental and may be even more visually interesting, or at the very least last a lot longer than the actual flowers. Virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana, Zones 6–8) seed heads have just as much visual interest as their flowers. Late blooming perennials like the shade-loving Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Zones 5–7) have seed heads that surprisingly persist through winter, with only a really strong wind blowing them apart! And if you live in a place where it snows, any heavy dump will do the work of bringing down those leftover seed heads and stems for you. However that snow dump can be messy with some stems down, others bent over at weird angles, while some are left unperturbed. Does that mean you need to go out and tidy it up?? The answer is no. As with the leaves, leave the plant material alone. At least for now. Having stems of various heights with different diameters of stems encourages a wider diversity of nesting habitats for a larger amount of different insects including stem-boring moths, and cavity-nesting wasps. Any fallen-over stems provides protection for ground-dwelling bees too. Come March or April, depending on where you live, you have plenty of time to clean up and tidy if that’s your thing. However, there is something you can do that is even more beneficial, which is to assist the whole process come spring by breaking up both the standing and fallen stems either by hand or lopper and leaving the now brown material alone. Think of this chop and drop as a mulch for your soon-to-be emerging spring plants. They will have no problem growing up through the plant debris, and come late spring, you won’t even see that. Plus any insect that is still residing in the dead plant material, or any of their eggs essentially stays in place. You may even begin to do what I have started to do, which is during the season using this chop and drop method when I am pruning or cleaning up a plant; I will cut the branches, stems, etc., into smaller pieces and throw them down around the base of the plant, allowing the material to break down in place. No need to drag a wheelbarrow or tarp to your compost for this. Just let the material break down in place. So, of course, leaving the leaves, not cutting back flowers, or gathering up all the seed heads (like the remaining seed heads of this northern sea oats [Chasmanthium latifolium, Zones 5–9]) just saved me several days of work because with managing the end-of-the-season duties at the arboretum there’s still much to be done. More on that soon! Thank you for sharing more inspiration and information from Hortus, Allyson! You continue to encourage us to look at gardening from a perspective beyond just the beauty that we create. A trip to your amazing arboretum and botanical garden is definitely on my agenda for spring.   Have a garden you’d like to share? Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here. Fine Gardening Recommended Products Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. Source link

[ramestoryworld]

Happy Monday GPODers! Today Allyson Levy of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York is reminding us to leave the leaves! Allyson has shared her knowledge, and the incredible plants her and her partner Scott Serrano grow on 21 acres several times last year: Growing Pawpaws, Special Fall Plants, Fall is for Purple. Each time she enlightens us to exquisite, and sometimes unusual, plants to grow as well as ways to support your local environment and wildlife with your garden. To learn more about the incredible land they tend, and when you can visit, check out their website: hortusgardens.org As co-director and co-founder of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens I am often asked about how we deal with winterizing the gardens which is no small task with over nine acres of cultivated gardens! However, for nonprofessionals, even those with small home gardens, chores can seem overwhelming and never-ending. However, now that we are well into December, there are some strategies that if you didn’t follow this season are worth incorporating and putting on your 2025 to-do list. High on your list should be the mantra “leave the leaves”. This is a good one for sure, giving us gardeners the opportunity to do other tasks that maybe aren’t centered solely on plants. Now that the majority of deciduous tree leaves have fallen, except for the few marcescent Oak species and some Beech trees with leaves still clinging onto branches, reminders of the season that was. If this “leave the leaves” is a new phrase for you, or you just didn’t get around to taking out your leaf blower, or garden rake, rejoice, because the garden world has finally embraced this slogan since it is right in step with keeping a more naturalistic garden. For those of us who live in urban or suburban environments buying those tall brown “waste” bags to fill up with your lawn debris to leave on the sidewalk for pickup can now become a thing of the past. And even if you did tidy up your leaves this past fall it is a task that you can take off your 2025 list. The rationale behind this is simple. Fallen leaves break down over time and add nutrients to your plantings. Even different species of oak trees, notorious for keeping their leaves intact due to their high carbon to nitrogen levels, are still beneficial. Fallen leaves can trap snow, leading to additional moisture for both tree and perennial roots. But what they don’t trap are early spring bulbs, which have no problem emerging from the soil despite a layering of leaves covering them. Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), Crocus (Crocus spp.), and Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), along with a whole range of other early spring bulbs and ephemerals manage to push their way up through the leaf litter. Even more importantly fallen leaves provide places for insects like moths, butterflies, wasps, and ground beetles to lay their eggs as well as well as a place to overwinter by offering protection from predators and the elements. Then come early spring when you’re ready to “clean-up” you can easily address any big piles of leaves that haven’t completely broken down by lightly raking them apart so they are loosened up some but still kept in place. If you require a more tidy look you can gather them up to put into your compost, where the leaves can continue to break down over time. If you maintain a large garden, or if the leaves are all over the place you can run a mower over them and shred them up, essentially mulching them. Okay, so now you have one less chore to do. But what about all your spent stems and flower heads that are left in the garden? Can you leave those in place, too? Yes!! Seeds have many strategies for propagation, and wind is often one of the ways plants do this on their own. It is always smart to gather some of the seeds in fall to sow yourself, but because many native plants need to be cold-stratified in order to germinate, leaving seeds on the plant and letting Mother Nature do the job is one way to ensure future plants. Of course, wind doesn’t pay attention to your garden design and plants may grow far away from the original “mother” plant. Above, rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.) seeds in late fall get disbursed by the wind, but the seed heads remain. Regardless, many flowering plants still retain the seed heads after the seeds have been strewn, and they can be often very decorative as well. Above is a Japanese Angelica (Aralia elata, Zones 4–9) seed head before and after its seeds have fallen. You can leave your helianthus, echinaceas, symphyotrichum, solidago, and pretty much any annuals, perennials, grasses, and fruiting branches in place especially those still holding onto persistent berries or seed heads. Birds will thank you for it, as will many species of wasps and other insects that use the hollow stems, think Joe Pye (Eutrochium purpureum, Zones 3–9) for egg-laying and/or overwintering in. The availability of “brown” plant material is one of the most important factors for encouraging an increase in the population of all sorts of insects including bees. Forget buying a “bee hotel” and let nature make them for you. Besides, there are many flowering plants that provide visual interest “off-season.” Above are viburnum berries for the birds. Clematis seedheads are stunningly ornamental and may be even more visually interesting, or at the very least last a lot longer than the actual flowers. Virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana, Zones 6–8) seed heads have just as much visual interest as their flowers. Late blooming perennials like the shade-loving Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Zones 5–7) have seed heads that surprisingly persist through winter, with only a really strong wind blowing them apart! And if you live in a place where it snows, any heavy dump will do the work of bringing down those leftover seed heads and stems for you. However that snow dump can be messy with some stems down, others bent over at weird angles, while some are left unperturbed. Does that mean you need to go out and tidy it up?? The answer is no. As with the leaves, leave the plant material alone. At least for now. Having stems of various heights with different diameters of stems encourages a wider diversity of nesting habitats for a larger amount of different insects including stem-boring moths, and cavity-nesting wasps. Any fallen-over stems provides protection for ground-dwelling bees too. Come March or April, depending on where you live, you have plenty of time to clean up and tidy if that’s your thing. However, there is something you can do that is even more beneficial, which is to assist the whole process come spring by breaking up both the standing and fallen stems either by hand or lopper and leaving the now brown material alone. Think of this chop and drop as a mulch for your soon-to-be emerging spring plants. They will have no problem growing up through the plant debris, and come late spring, you won’t even see that. Plus any insect that is still residing in the dead plant material, or any of their eggs essentially stays in place. You may even begin to do what I have started to do, which is during the season using this chop and drop method when I am pruning or cleaning up a plant; I will cut the branches, stems, etc., into smaller pieces and throw them down around the base of the plant, allowing the material to break down in place. No need to drag a wheelbarrow or tarp to your compost for this. Just let the material break down in place. So, of course, leaving the leaves, not cutting back flowers, or gathering up all the seed heads (like the remaining seed heads of this northern sea oats [Chasmanthium latifolium, Zones 5–9]) just saved me several days of work because with managing the end-of-the-season duties at the arboretum there’s still much to be done. More on that soon! Thank you for sharing more inspiration and information from Hortus, Allyson! You continue to encourage us to look at gardening from a perspective beyond just the beauty that we create. A trip to your amazing arboretum and botanical garden is definitely on my agenda for spring.   Have a garden you’d like to share? Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here. Fine Gardening Recommended Products Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. Source link

[alexha2210]

Happy Monday GPODers! Today Allyson Levy of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York is reminding us to leave the leaves! Allyson has shared her knowledge, and the incredible plants her and her partner Scott Serrano grow on 21 acres several times last year: Growing Pawpaws, Special Fall Plants, Fall is for Purple. Each time she enlightens us to exquisite, and sometimes unusual, plants to grow as well as ways to support your local environment and wildlife with your garden. To learn more about the incredible land they tend, and when you can visit, check out their website: hortusgardens.org As co-director and co-founder of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens I am often asked about how we deal with winterizing the gardens which is no small task with over nine acres of cultivated gardens! However, for nonprofessionals, even those with small home gardens, chores can seem overwhelming and never-ending. However, now that we are well into December, there are some strategies that if you didn’t follow this season are worth incorporating and putting on your 2025 to-do list. High on your list should be the mantra “leave the leaves”. This is a good one for sure, giving us gardeners the opportunity to do other tasks that maybe aren’t centered solely on plants. Now that the majority of deciduous tree leaves have fallen, except for the few marcescent Oak species and some Beech trees with leaves still clinging onto branches, reminders of the season that was. If this “leave the leaves” is a new phrase for you, or you just didn’t get around to taking out your leaf blower, or garden rake, rejoice, because the garden world has finally embraced this slogan since it is right in step with keeping a more naturalistic garden. For those of us who live in urban or suburban environments buying those tall brown “waste” bags to fill up with your lawn debris to leave on the sidewalk for pickup can now become a thing of the past. And even if you did tidy up your leaves this past fall it is a task that you can take off your 2025 list. The rationale behind this is simple. Fallen leaves break down over time and add nutrients to your plantings. Even different species of oak trees, notorious for keeping their leaves intact due to their high carbon to nitrogen levels, are still beneficial. Fallen leaves can trap snow, leading to additional moisture for both tree and perennial roots. But what they don’t trap are early spring bulbs, which have no problem emerging from the soil despite a layering of leaves covering them. Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), Crocus (Crocus spp.), and Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), along with a whole range of other early spring bulbs and ephemerals manage to push their way up through the leaf litter. Even more importantly fallen leaves provide places for insects like moths, butterflies, wasps, and ground beetles to lay their eggs as well as well as a place to overwinter by offering protection from predators and the elements. Then come early spring when you’re ready to “clean-up” you can easily address any big piles of leaves that haven’t completely broken down by lightly raking them apart so they are loosened up some but still kept in place. If you require a more tidy look you can gather them up to put into your compost, where the leaves can continue to break down over time. If you maintain a large garden, or if the leaves are all over the place you can run a mower over them and shred them up, essentially mulching them. Okay, so now you have one less chore to do. But what about all your spent stems and flower heads that are left in the garden? Can you leave those in place, too? Yes!! Seeds have many strategies for propagation, and wind is often one of the ways plants do this on their own. It is always smart to gather some of the seeds in fall to sow yourself, but because many native plants need to be cold-stratified in order to germinate, leaving seeds on the plant and letting Mother Nature do the job is one way to ensure future plants. Of course, wind doesn’t pay attention to your garden design and plants may grow far away from the original “mother” plant. Above, rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.) seeds in late fall get disbursed by the wind, but the seed heads remain. Regardless, many flowering plants still retain the seed heads after the seeds have been strewn, and they can be often very decorative as well. Above is a Japanese Angelica (Aralia elata, Zones 4–9) seed head before and after its seeds have fallen. You can leave your helianthus, echinaceas, symphyotrichum, solidago, and pretty much any annuals, perennials, grasses, and fruiting branches in place especially those still holding onto persistent berries or seed heads. Birds will thank you for it, as will many species of wasps and other insects that use the hollow stems, think Joe Pye (Eutrochium purpureum, Zones 3–9) for egg-laying and/or overwintering in. The availability of “brown” plant material is one of the most important factors for encouraging an increase in the population of all sorts of insects including bees. Forget buying a “bee hotel” and let nature make them for you. Besides, there are many flowering plants that provide visual interest “off-season.” Above are viburnum berries for the birds. Clematis seedheads are stunningly ornamental and may be even more visually interesting, or at the very least last a lot longer than the actual flowers. Virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana, Zones 6–8) seed heads have just as much visual interest as their flowers. Late blooming perennials like the shade-loving Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Zones 5–7) have seed heads that surprisingly persist through winter, with only a really strong wind blowing them apart! And if you live in a place where it snows, any heavy dump will do the work of bringing down those leftover seed heads and stems for you. However that snow dump can be messy with some stems down, others bent over at weird angles, while some are left unperturbed. Does that mean you need to go out and tidy it up?? The answer is no. As with the leaves, leave the plant material alone. At least for now. Having stems of various heights with different diameters of stems encourages a wider diversity of nesting habitats for a larger amount of different insects including stem-boring moths, and cavity-nesting wasps. Any fallen-over stems provides protection for ground-dwelling bees too. Come March or April, depending on where you live, you have plenty of time to clean up and tidy if that’s your thing. However, there is something you can do that is even more beneficial, which is to assist the whole process come spring by breaking up both the standing and fallen stems either by hand or lopper and leaving the now brown material alone. Think of this chop and drop as a mulch for your soon-to-be emerging spring plants. They will have no problem growing up through the plant debris, and come late spring, you won’t even see that. Plus any insect that is still residing in the dead plant material, or any of their eggs essentially stays in place. You may even begin to do what I have started to do, which is during the season using this chop and drop method when I am pruning or cleaning up a plant; I will cut the branches, stems, etc., into smaller pieces and throw them down around the base of the plant, allowing the material to break down in place. No need to drag a wheelbarrow or tarp to your compost for this. Just let the material break down in place. So, of course, leaving the leaves, not cutting back flowers, or gathering up all the seed heads (like the remaining seed heads of this northern sea oats [Chasmanthium latifolium, Zones 5–9]) just saved me several days of work because with managing the end-of-the-season duties at the arboretum there’s still much to be done. More on that soon! Thank you for sharing more inspiration and information from Hortus, Allyson! You continue to encourage us to look at gardening from a perspective beyond just the beauty that we create. A trip to your amazing arboretum and botanical garden is definitely on my agenda for spring.   Have a garden you’d like to share? Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here. Fine Gardening Recommended Products Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. Source link

[angusstory]

Happy Monday GPODers! Today Allyson Levy of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York is reminding us to leave the leaves! Allyson has shared her knowledge, and the incredible plants her and her partner Scott Serrano grow on 21 acres several times last year: Growing Pawpaws, Special Fall Plants, Fall is for Purple. Each time she enlightens us to exquisite, and sometimes unusual, plants to grow as well as ways to support your local environment and wildlife with your garden. To learn more about the incredible land they tend, and when you can visit, check out their website: hortusgardens.org As co-director and co-founder of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens I am often asked about how we deal with winterizing the gardens which is no small task with over nine acres of cultivated gardens! However, for nonprofessionals, even those with small home gardens, chores can seem overwhelming and never-ending. However, now that we are well into December, there are some strategies that if you didn’t follow this season are worth incorporating and putting on your 2025 to-do list. High on your list should be the mantra “leave the leaves”. This is a good one for sure, giving us gardeners the opportunity to do other tasks that maybe aren’t centered solely on plants. Now that the majority of deciduous tree leaves have fallen, except for the few marcescent Oak species and some Beech trees with leaves still clinging onto branches, reminders of the season that was. If this “leave the leaves” is a new phrase for you, or you just didn’t get around to taking out your leaf blower, or garden rake, rejoice, because the garden world has finally embraced this slogan since it is right in step with keeping a more naturalistic garden. For those of us who live in urban or suburban environments buying those tall brown “waste” bags to fill up with your lawn debris to leave on the sidewalk for pickup can now become a thing of the past. And even if you did tidy up your leaves this past fall it is a task that you can take off your 2025 list. The rationale behind this is simple. Fallen leaves break down over time and add nutrients to your plantings. Even different species of oak trees, notorious for keeping their leaves intact due to their high carbon to nitrogen levels, are still beneficial. Fallen leaves can trap snow, leading to additional moisture for both tree and perennial roots. But what they don’t trap are early spring bulbs, which have no problem emerging from the soil despite a layering of leaves covering them. Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), Crocus (Crocus spp.), and Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), along with a whole range of other early spring bulbs and ephemerals manage to push their way up through the leaf litter. Even more importantly fallen leaves provide places for insects like moths, butterflies, wasps, and ground beetles to lay their eggs as well as well as a place to overwinter by offering protection from predators and the elements. Then come early spring when you’re ready to “clean-up” you can easily address any big piles of leaves that haven’t completely broken down by lightly raking them apart so they are loosened up some but still kept in place. If you require a more tidy look you can gather them up to put into your compost, where the leaves can continue to break down over time. If you maintain a large garden, or if the leaves are all over the place you can run a mower over them and shred them up, essentially mulching them. Okay, so now you have one less chore to do. But what about all your spent stems and flower heads that are left in the garden? Can you leave those in place, too? Yes!! Seeds have many strategies for propagation, and wind is often one of the ways plants do this on their own. It is always smart to gather some of the seeds in fall to sow yourself, but because many native plants need to be cold-stratified in order to germinate, leaving seeds on the plant and letting Mother Nature do the job is one way to ensure future plants. Of course, wind doesn’t pay attention to your garden design and plants may grow far away from the original “mother” plant. Above, rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.) seeds in late fall get disbursed by the wind, but the seed heads remain. Regardless, many flowering plants still retain the seed heads after the seeds have been strewn, and they can be often very decorative as well. Above is a Japanese Angelica (Aralia elata, Zones 4–9) seed head before and after its seeds have fallen. You can leave your helianthus, echinaceas, symphyotrichum, solidago, and pretty much any annuals, perennials, grasses, and fruiting branches in place especially those still holding onto persistent berries or seed heads. Birds will thank you for it, as will many species of wasps and other insects that use the hollow stems, think Joe Pye (Eutrochium purpureum, Zones 3–9) for egg-laying and/or overwintering in. The availability of “brown” plant material is one of the most important factors for encouraging an increase in the population of all sorts of insects including bees. Forget buying a “bee hotel” and let nature make them for you. Besides, there are many flowering plants that provide visual interest “off-season.” Above are viburnum berries for the birds. Clematis seedheads are stunningly ornamental and may be even more visually interesting, or at the very least last a lot longer than the actual flowers. Virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana, Zones 6–8) seed heads have just as much visual interest as their flowers. Late blooming perennials like the shade-loving Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Zones 5–7) have seed heads that surprisingly persist through winter, with only a really strong wind blowing them apart! And if you live in a place where it snows, any heavy dump will do the work of bringing down those leftover seed heads and stems for you. However that snow dump can be messy with some stems down, others bent over at weird angles, while some are left unperturbed. Does that mean you need to go out and tidy it up?? The answer is no. As with the leaves, leave the plant material alone. At least for now. Having stems of various heights with different diameters of stems encourages a wider diversity of nesting habitats for a larger amount of different insects including stem-boring moths, and cavity-nesting wasps. Any fallen-over stems provides protection for ground-dwelling bees too. Come March or April, depending on where you live, you have plenty of time to clean up and tidy if that’s your thing. However, there is something you can do that is even more beneficial, which is to assist the whole process come spring by breaking up both the standing and fallen stems either by hand or lopper and leaving the now brown material alone. Think of this chop and drop as a mulch for your soon-to-be emerging spring plants. They will have no problem growing up through the plant debris, and come late spring, you won’t even see that. Plus any insect that is still residing in the dead plant material, or any of their eggs essentially stays in place. You may even begin to do what I have started to do, which is during the season using this chop and drop method when I am pruning or cleaning up a plant; I will cut the branches, stems, etc., into smaller pieces and throw them down around the base of the plant, allowing the material to break down in place. No need to drag a wheelbarrow or tarp to your compost for this. Just let the material break down in place. So, of course, leaving the leaves, not cutting back flowers, or gathering up all the seed heads (like the remaining seed heads of this northern sea oats [Chasmanthium latifolium, Zones 5–9]) just saved me several days of work because with managing the end-of-the-season duties at the arboretum there’s still much to be done. More on that soon! Thank you for sharing more inspiration and information from Hortus, Allyson! You continue to encourage us to look at gardening from a perspective beyond just the beauty that we create. A trip to your amazing arboretum and botanical garden is definitely on my agenda for spring.   Have a garden you’d like to share? Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here. Fine Gardening Recommended Products Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. Source link

[tumibaba]

Happy Monday GPODers! Today Allyson Levy of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York is reminding us to leave the leaves! Allyson has shared her knowledge, and the incredible plants her and her partner Scott Serrano grow on 21 acres several times last year: Growing Pawpaws, Special Fall Plants, Fall is for Purple. Each time she enlightens us to exquisite, and sometimes unusual, plants to grow as well as ways to support your local environment and wildlife with your garden. To learn more about the incredible land they tend, and when you can visit, check out their website: hortusgardens.org As co-director and co-founder of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens I am often asked about how we deal with winterizing the gardens which is no small task with over nine acres of cultivated gardens! However, for nonprofessionals, even those with small home gardens, chores can seem overwhelming and never-ending. However, now that we are well into December, there are some strategies that if you didn’t follow this season are worth incorporating and putting on your 2025 to-do list. High on your list should be the mantra “leave the leaves”. This is a good one for sure, giving us gardeners the opportunity to do other tasks that maybe aren’t centered solely on plants. Now that the majority of deciduous tree leaves have fallen, except for the few marcescent Oak species and some Beech trees with leaves still clinging onto branches, reminders of the season that was. If this “leave the leaves” is a new phrase for you, or you just didn’t get around to taking out your leaf blower, or garden rake, rejoice, because the garden world has finally embraced this slogan since it is right in step with keeping a more naturalistic garden. For those of us who live in urban or suburban environments buying those tall brown “waste” bags to fill up with your lawn debris to leave on the sidewalk for pickup can now become a thing of the past. And even if you did tidy up your leaves this past fall it is a task that you can take off your 2025 list. The rationale behind this is simple. Fallen leaves break down over time and add nutrients to your plantings. Even different species of oak trees, notorious for keeping their leaves intact due to their high carbon to nitrogen levels, are still beneficial. Fallen leaves can trap snow, leading to additional moisture for both tree and perennial roots. But what they don’t trap are early spring bulbs, which have no problem emerging from the soil despite a layering of leaves covering them. Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), Crocus (Crocus spp.), and Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), along with a whole range of other early spring bulbs and ephemerals manage to push their way up through the leaf litter. Even more importantly fallen leaves provide places for insects like moths, butterflies, wasps, and ground beetles to lay their eggs as well as well as a place to overwinter by offering protection from predators and the elements. Then come early spring when you’re ready to “clean-up” you can easily address any big piles of leaves that haven’t completely broken down by lightly raking them apart so they are loosened up some but still kept in place. If you require a more tidy look you can gather them up to put into your compost, where the leaves can continue to break down over time. If you maintain a large garden, or if the leaves are all over the place you can run a mower over them and shred them up, essentially mulching them. Okay, so now you have one less chore to do. But what about all your spent stems and flower heads that are left in the garden? Can you leave those in place, too? Yes!! Seeds have many strategies for propagation, and wind is often one of the ways plants do this on their own. It is always smart to gather some of the seeds in fall to sow yourself, but because many native plants need to be cold-stratified in order to germinate, leaving seeds on the plant and letting Mother Nature do the job is one way to ensure future plants. Of course, wind doesn’t pay attention to your garden design and plants may grow far away from the original “mother” plant. Above, rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.) seeds in late fall get disbursed by the wind, but the seed heads remain. Regardless, many flowering plants still retain the seed heads after the seeds have been strewn, and they can be often very decorative as well. Above is a Japanese Angelica (Aralia elata, Zones 4–9) seed head before and after its seeds have fallen. You can leave your helianthus, echinaceas, symphyotrichum, solidago, and pretty much any annuals, perennials, grasses, and fruiting branches in place especially those still holding onto persistent berries or seed heads. Birds will thank you for it, as will many species of wasps and other insects that use the hollow stems, think Joe Pye (Eutrochium purpureum, Zones 3–9) for egg-laying and/or overwintering in. The availability of “brown” plant material is one of the most important factors for encouraging an increase in the population of all sorts of insects including bees. Forget buying a “bee hotel” and let nature make them for you. Besides, there are many flowering plants that provide visual interest “off-season.” Above are viburnum berries for the birds. Clematis seedheads are stunningly ornamental and may be even more visually interesting, or at the very least last a lot longer than the actual flowers. Virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana, Zones 6–8) seed heads have just as much visual interest as their flowers. Late blooming perennials like the shade-loving Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Zones 5–7) have seed heads that surprisingly persist through winter, with only a really strong wind blowing them apart! And if you live in a place where it snows, any heavy dump will do the work of bringing down those leftover seed heads and stems for you. However that snow dump can be messy with some stems down, others bent over at weird angles, while some are left unperturbed. Does that mean you need to go out and tidy it up?? The answer is no. As with the leaves, leave the plant material alone. At least for now. Having stems of various heights with different diameters of stems encourages a wider diversity of nesting habitats for a larger amount of different insects including stem-boring moths, and cavity-nesting wasps. Any fallen-over stems provides protection for ground-dwelling bees too. Come March or April, depending on where you live, you have plenty of time to clean up and tidy if that’s your thing. However, there is something you can do that is even more beneficial, which is to assist the whole process come spring by breaking up both the standing and fallen stems either by hand or lopper and leaving the now brown material alone. Think of this chop and drop as a mulch for your soon-to-be emerging spring plants. They will have no problem growing up through the plant debris, and come late spring, you won’t even see that. Plus any insect that is still residing in the dead plant material, or any of their eggs essentially stays in place. You may even begin to do what I have started to do, which is during the season using this chop and drop method when I am pruning or cleaning up a plant; I will cut the branches, stems, etc., into smaller pieces and throw them down around the base of the plant, allowing the material to break down in place. No need to drag a wheelbarrow or tarp to your compost for this. Just let the material break down in place. So, of course, leaving the leaves, not cutting back flowers, or gathering up all the seed heads (like the remaining seed heads of this northern sea oats [Chasmanthium latifolium, Zones 5–9]) just saved me several days of work because with managing the end-of-the-season duties at the arboretum there’s still much to be done. More on that soon! Thank you for sharing more inspiration and information from Hortus, Allyson! You continue to encourage us to look at gardening from a perspective beyond just the beauty that we create. A trip to your amazing arboretum and botanical garden is definitely on my agenda for spring.   Have a garden you’d like to share? Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here. Fine Gardening Recommended Products Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Pruning Simplified shows you exactly how to do it. This must-have guide offers expert advice on the best tools for the job, specific details on when to prune, and clear instructions on how to prune. Profiles of the 50 most popular trees and shrubs—including azaleas, camellias, clematis, hydrangeas, and more—include illustrated, easy-to-follow instructions that will ensure you make the right cut the first time. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area. Source link