New Easy Gardening Tips App from Suntory Flowers Offers On-the-Go Garden Advice and Videos

PRWEB.COM Newswire

PRWEB.COM NewswireTokyo, Japan (PRWEB) June 11, 2014

The most recent introductions to the garden aren’t plants at all. They’re apps. People are digging technology as they seek garden inspiration, advice and information.

The new summer edition of Easy Gardening Tips app from breeders of the Suntory Collection has just been released. It is more of a digital magazine than an app with suggestions for color combinations, engaging how-to videos, seasonal updates and new flower introductions.

The app gives advice on how to decorate a deck, create stunning containers and tips for coping with summer heat. Users can search for flowers by color, bloom time and conditions.

“Whether for practical, hands-in-the-dirt purposes or for drinking in the beauty of flowers, today’s apps really fulfill gardeners’ needs,” says Masashi Matsumura from Suntory Flowers. “Our Easy Gardening Tips app provides both the expert information and the beauty gardeners want.”

Finger Tip Gardening

The just released Summer Edition of Easy Gardening Tips is available now and includes:

• Decorate a Deck– Designing three unique looks for one deck.
• Easy-Care Containers–Stunning container designs for flowers that bloom all season.
• Cool As a Cucumber–Coping with summer heat.
• Saving a Taste of Summer–Canning and preserving summer vegetable harvests.
• Green Walls–Installing a plant wall.
• Red Hot – Using Sun Parasol mandevilla in and around landscapes.
• Links, store locators, video advice, combination designs, the Flower Find and more information from experts at The Suntory Collection.

The Spring Edition included :

• Pick the Perfect Palette–A guide to color and flowers.
• Flower Finder–Search the best flower by sun exposure, bloom time and plant type.
• Spring Garden Prep–Tips and tricks for this season.
• Combinations Demystified–Ideas on how to pair plants for gorgeous containers.
• Expert Advice Videos–Learn about everything from plants to planting to outdoor décor in these informational videos.

“We created this app to help people be more successful gardeners so they can relax and enjoy their time among the flowers,” adds Delilah Onofrey, who represents Suntory Flowers in North America.

The Easy Gardening Tips app and publications are available as free downloads for the iPad from the App Store. To learn more about The Suntory Collection of beautiful flowers, visit http://www.SuntoryCollection.com.

About Suntory Flowers:

Since the groundbreaking introduction of Surfinia, the first vegetatively propagated petunias, to the world markets, Suntory has led the way in bringing innovative new varieties to market. These include Million Bells calibrachoas, Tapien and Temari verbenas, Summer Wave torenias and more recently Sun Parasol mandevillas and Senetti pericallis. From Suntory’s origins as a beverage company in Japan, the company’s goal is to create new products that enrich people’s lives. Suntory Flowers’ message for consumers is “Kantan, Kirei, Jobu,” which means “Easy to Grow, Gorgeous, Longevity” in Japanese. Suntory guarantees a plant’s garden performance and offers consumers the chance to enjoy beautiful plants. Enjoy Suntory’s “top-shelf” varieties.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/06/prweb11923869.htm

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Crafters who want to harvest natural dyeing materials straight from their yards can learn how by reading “A Garden to Dye For: How to Use Plants from the Garden to Create Natural Colors for Fabrics and Fibers” by garden expert Chris McLaughlin.Jennifer Ackerman-Hawyood | MLive.com 

Artists and crafters tending flower or vegetable gardens can harvest so much more than blooms and veggies this summer. We can harvest color, folks – and lots of it.

In her new book, “A Garden to Dye For: How to Use Plants from the Garden to Create Natural Colors for Fabrics and Fibers,” (142 pages, $17.95) California garden expert Chris McLaughlin takes a gardener’s approach to natural dyeing. And while I’ve experimented a bit with natural dyeing methods outlined in dyeing books written for fiber artists, I appreciate McLaughlin’s low-key approach.

“As a hand spinner I’m aware of all the dye books,” said McLaughlin, 50, adding that she was surprised to find out that her gardening colleagues were “not using the plants in this way.”

And because she knows that gardeners are always looking for more reasons to grow things, she decide to explore natural dyeing from a gardener’s perspective.

“I thought I’d like to bridge that gap between these fiber artists knowing all about this already and the gardeners who are actually growing the plants,” she said.

And don’t feel bad if you don’t know all about natural dyeing or gardening. McLaughlin helps readers learn what they need to grow the plants and then dye with them after the harvest.

While other books on the topic tend to be more scientific and a bit more complicated, McLaughlin focuses on outlining the basics from dye material collection to fabric and fiber prep. She then walks readers through the process of heating the plant material to release the color and then transferring that color to silk scarves, yarn and even playdough. She also includes instructions for making watercolor dye paints out of a variety of plant life, including berries, herbs, beets and onion skins.

For those who really get into natural dyeing, McLaughlin’s book including plans for four kinds of dye gardens, including edible and cutting options.

In her new book, “A Garden to Dye For: How to Use Plants from the Garden to Create Natural Colors for Fabrics and Fibers,” California garden expert Chris McLaughlin takes a gardener’s approach to natural dyeing.Courtesy Photo 

“You don’t have to be be a major gardener to do it,” McLaughlin said. “I just wrote it from the heart of a gardener. We’re the ones who love the plants.”

McLaughlin resides on a five-acre hobby farm where she maintains several gardens and raises a handful of fiber-producing animals, too. Her farm life is the realization of a childhood dream.

“I always laugh because I’m sort of this farmer internally who was brought into this IBM family,” McLaughlin said, about growing up with a traditional backyard and a father who worked for IBM.

But it was in that back yard that McLaughlin caught the gardening bug at age 10 when she decided to dig up seedlings and pot them in bathroom-sized Dixie cups. She loaded the seedlings into her brother’s wagon and sold them door-to-door for 10 cents per plant.

She went on to work for a florist at age 16 and then kept planting gardens when she got a place of her own.

“I got older and started writing about them,” she said.

It was a magazine article she read 20 years ago about using plants to dye Easter eggs that led her to to start experimenting with natural dyes.

Many of the artists and crafters I know are also avid gardeners, so “A Garden to Dye For” is likely to strike a cord with creative types.

McLaughlin recommends dying silk scarves with onion skins or marigold flowers for those looking for a satisfying first foray into natural dyeing.

Keep in mind that spent marigolds can be deadheaded and collected for dyeing, so there’s no need to waste colorful blooms. Likewise onion skins are readily available at your local grocery store. (Ask before you start collecting, but chances are good that most produce managers will be okay with you helping them clear out the onion skins that are otherwise discarded.)

McLaughlin also covers how to dye with coffee and tea bags that you can collect and freeze until you have enough to create a colorful dye bath.

“The experiments never end,” she said. “There’s just so much to dye.”

Email Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood at jennifer@craftsanity.com or send story ideas to P.O. Box 888192, Grand Rapids, MI 49588. Read Jennifer’s blog at craftsanity.com. Follow @CraftSanity on Twitter and Instagram and check out the latest edition of CraftSanity Magazine available for download at craftsanity.com.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Have you seen the prices of vegetables lately? I guarantee when you grow vegetables yourself, you won’t have to pay that much and they’re going to taste a whole lot better! Here’s a great way to let your kids play in the dirt and develop some tasty knowledge all at the same time.

“Once they plant the seed, yeah they’re really willing to try it,” said Keith Farrand of Farrand Farms Greenhouse. “Things that you’d put on their plate, maybe not. But the great experience is watching the plant grow and produce food. That’s what makes it fun.”

Farrand says the biggest mistake people make is forgetting that their herbs, fruits and veggies need to be fed too.

“If you’re using liquids, fertilize a lot more often because water dilutes it more quickly than you might think. Granulars, once we very six weeks.”

We all know what we can do with some delicious strawberries. Or you can plant some fantastic herbs, beautiful flowers, tomatoes, peppers and much more. You’ll be saving on grocery bills and introducing some new flavors to your menu!

“Kids and family, that’s essential. Kids today don’t know where food comes from other than the grocery store. When they’re four to ten years old, they love to play in the soil and help Mom, help Dad and help Grandma or Grandpa.”

The plants you can buy through local nurseries are tested to perform better in our local climate, plus they are grown locally. Instead of doing all the work of starting from seed, they’ve done the tough stuff for you. That means you will be enjoying great flavors and all you need are just a few pots, some good quality soil, a little feeding T.L.C. and some sunshine and you might actually get those little ones to enjoy eating their veggies and a whole lot more!

I just love buying from local growers. You’re going to get better quality, better service and better results.

IT’S THE WEEKEND: Grow It – June gardening tips from National Garden Gift Vouchers

12:54pm Saturday 7th June 2014 in News

JUNE is a lovely month to be in the garden. With the evenings getting longer and brighter and the longest day of the year on June 21, the extra light and warmth encourages the garden to put on a burst of growth.

And that includes the lawn, so if you feel like give Dad a day off from mowing to celebrate Father’s Day (June 15) then here are a couple of mowing do’s and don’ts: mow once a week in the summer, don’t mow when grass is wet or during a drought, and raise the mower blades when mowing in very hot weather.

Other plants that are growing upwards and outwards this month are roses. They are a great addition to any garden environment, large or small, contemporary or traditional with varieties for planting in flower beds, borders and planters.

Blue Peter gardener, Chris Collins thinks no garden is complete without a rose or two.

“I suppose the choice of a rose as my favourite may be considered an obvious one when gardeners talk about plants – but the English garden is incomplete without one or possibly many,” he said.

“When I started my apprenticeship with the parks, the hours spent in the rose garden is where I first connected with plants in a professional capacity.

“However, my real love of them came much later when I began to import David Austin Roses into Japan whilst working there. These plants really just give and give and with the minimum fuss.”

There is a rose for every garden situation from Hybrid Teas to miniatures, climbers to floribundas. Roses can be used for all aspects of the garden, from cladding walls and pergolas to providing informal barriers and rambling roses can be used to cover old stumps and unsightly fences or walls.

If you want to find out the best rose for your own garden requirements then go to www.roselocator.co.uk, a searchable database of roses and stockists.

Roses can also be grown in pots – so ask your local garden centre or nursery about the best variety to get and they can give you planting advice and tips on caring for container roses as part of the nationwide “It Starts with a Pot” campaign running through the summer to encourage everyone to give gardening a go.

It’s a busy time in the garden with many tasks to occupy any gardener – so here’s a list of the top jobs for this month from the Royal Horticultural Society and National Garden Gift Vouchers:

1. Hoe borders regularly to keep down weeds

2. Be water-wise, especially in drought-affected areas

3. Pinch out sideshoots on tomatoes

4. Harvest lettuce, radish, other salads and early potatoes

5. Position summer hanging baskets and containers outside

6. Cut lawns at least once a week

7. Plant out summer bedding

8. Stake tall or floppy plants

9. Prune many spring-flowering shrubs

10. Shade greenhouses to keep them cool and prevent scorch

Showbiz news

• Jamie Oliver: I want to do less

• Hynde: I won’t play my old hits

• Lucas: Ford asked for screen death

• McFadden gets fit for dating game

• Neeson has no bum note for Theron

• Mary Berry awarded freedom of Bath

If you want to taste locally, grown food and learn about gardening then you should head out to “Reaping the Harvest”.

The Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners is celebrating its fifth year of volunteer contributions to the health and well-being of our regional community.

You can participate in the celebration between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, June 15 at several gardens throughout Shreveport.

There will be family activities, food sampling, nutrition tips and cooking demonstrations.

The three featured community gardens participating in the event are:

• Northwest Louisiana Interfaith Pharmacy Garden, 909 Olive St., Shreveport. Visitors will sample “Party Soup” made with seasonal vegetables and learn about growing vegetables in containers.  Located between Line and Fairfield.

• Highland Community Garden, 520 Herndon St., Shreveport. “Confetti Salad” will be featured, along with information about using earthworms to make compost for your garden. Located across from Noel Methodist Church at the corner of Herndon and Stephens.

• Valencia Park Community Garden, 1800 Viking Dr., Shreveport. Delicious carrot cake will be shared, along with a garden “treasure hunt”.  1800 Viking Dr. next to Caddo Magnet High School.

For more information, contact the Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners at (318) 278-3081.

Matthew Stevens

Posted: Friday, June 6, 2014 11:48 am

Gardening Tips: Water at the right time and deep

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It is amazing to me sometimes how quickly things can change in the gardening world. Back in April, we were all complaining about how wet the garden was and how the rain we’d had up to that point had delayed a lot of our planting and yard work. Now, nearly two months later, the weather has gotten warmer and the rain has slowed down and the hottest, driest part of the year is looming. While we are certainly not in any immediate danger of facing the kind of drought that we had in 2007 and 2008, I have started to hear more and more people mumbling things like: “We sure could use a bit of rain.”

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Friday, June 6, 2014 11:48 am.

Posted: Saturday, May 31, 2014 12:30 am

Planting annual flowers

By Bob Beyfuss
For Columbia-Greene Media

thedailymail.net

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The temperature reached 90 degrees this past Tuesday and I opened every window in the house for a breeze. By Wednesday night it had dropped to 40 and I had to close everything up once more. My anxiousness to get the vegetable garden planted in a hurry quickly subsided. It is still May and there is lots of time to begin a garden.

Few plants can add as much color to a landscape in such a short time as annual flowers. There are annual flowers suitable for just about every location around your home, from deep shade (try impatiens or coleus) to the hottest, driest spot imaginable (try portulaca or celosia). Visit your local garden center and ask them for advice as to specific plant selection. In general, the workers at these local businesses are very knowledgeable. I stopped at a local nursery today to buy some seed potatoes and spied a beautiful shrub in full bloom that I did not recognize. I asked a young woman who works there, who appeared to me to be about 15 years old, what type of shrub it was and she told me it was a variety of viburnum. Of course I would expect her to know what type of plant it was, but she then went on to explain that, unlike many viburnums, the flowers of this one did not have a bad smell. That extra bit of friendly information from this worker impressed me! Hopefully, the following guidelines will help you to have a successful annual flower garden this year.

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Saturday, May 31, 2014 12:30 am.

Matt Stevens

Posted: Friday, May 30, 2014 1:01 pm

Gardening Tips: Controlling cedar-apple rust disease

By Matt Stevens

The Daily Herald, Roanoke Rapids, NC

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One of the most interesting aspects of plant diseases is the interaction between the pathogen, the host plant, and the environment. In some years, a particular disease might be nonexistent while in other years it can be devastating. The degree of damage or spread of the disease is often determined by the weather at one or two critical times of the year.

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Friday, May 30, 2014 1:01 pm.

Selangor and Federal Territory Gardening Society’s latest book has lots of practical information, writes Stephanie Choo

I CHUCKLE as I read the introduction of the newly-released book by the Selangor and Federal Territory Gardening Society. Dr Arlene Ngan, the chairperson of the society’s book committee states she has yet to see anyone sporting “green fingers”.

While the term refers to people with the ability to grow plants with little effort, it is actually the devoted, laborious and calloused fingers that create and maintain a beautiful garden, large or small,  over a period of time.

Much can be gleaned from this second publication of the Gardening In Malaysia book series. Written by experienced practising gardening enthusiasts, the first one was Flowering Plants. Volume 2 is titled Annuals, Ground Covers And Herbs.

The book was launched last week at the society’s annual dinner held at the Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur. The cosy affair was made extra special with a good turnout of members and  guests, and the society’s patrons, Tan Sri Dr Chong Hon Nyan and wife, Puan Sri Chong Eu Ngoh.

THE CONTRIBUTORS
Lam Peng Sam, a past president of the society and former columnist for New Straits Times, co-wrote the book with Dr Tan Swee Lian, the society president, the late Dr Anthony Santiago, Deve J. Kunaseelan, Puan Sri Suguna Arumugam, Lina Santiago, Mansor Puteh, Salmah Sodhy and Wong Wai Ching. Other contributors include Woo Kum Wah, Janet Yap and Datuk Dr Mahani Mansor.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Some 40 popular annuals, ground covers and herbs are covered in the first few chapters. The botanic name, common name, place of origin, botanical description, uses, propagation ways and cultivation methods of each plant are described in an easy-to-read manner.

The section on cultivation offers practical instructions on how to grow plants successfully — from the sunflower (scientific name: Helianthus annuus) to the ground-hugging Spanish Shawl (Dissotis rotundifolia) and the zesty ginger (Zingiber officinale) — in the hot and humid tropics.

Although annuals mainly flourish in full sun locations, petunia cultivars also fare well in filtered light places. The Common Rue (Ruta graveolens) can be grown here in semi-shade locations with little maintenance despite being a native of the Mediterranean region. Ground covers with flowers and colourful foliage, like the Flame Violet (Episcia cupreata), is a beauty to have in our gardens.

USEFUL SNIPPETS
Sweet Honey Leaf (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni), a “healthy” alternative to sugar is a short-day plant of determinate growth. The plant grown here can only reach to about 30-40 cm high before it flowers, so the leaf yield is low. Early flowering hinders progress of stevia cultivation in this country.

Several interesting home remedies, other personal experiences in the use of some local medicinal herbs and why we need to eat colourful fruits and vegetables everyday are unravelled in the book too.

There are nuggets of wisdom on growing mediums such as charcoal and sand, the different kinds of soil, how to improve soil quality and the importance of drainage.

The Selangor Gardening Society (as it was then known) was founded by expatriates long before Merdeka. It became defunct in 1950 due to a lack of local support but was reregistered in 1967 by a group of garden enthusiasts. The late Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui was invited to be the society’s first patron.

As the society’s initial project, the founding members — Lam Ramaswamy Vengdappa and the late Kurup Gangatharan — led by its first president, Tan Sri Salma Ismail, took the responsibility of labelling the trees in the Lake Gardens (currently known as the Perdana Heritage Gardens) at their own expense!

Details on the society and book at www.sftgs.org.my or send an email to sftgardensociety@gmail.com
 

 

 

Guest-of-Honour Lam Peng Sam (left) and society patron Tan Sri Dr Chong Hon Nyan at the event.

The book explains how flowers like the Spanish Shawl cab be grown in our tropical heat.

Forty beautiful annuals are covered in the book’s first few chapters.