French Garden Styles

Horticulture, in simplest terms, is the cultivation of a garden. The word itself comes from Latin in two parts: Hortus, meaning garden, and cultura, meaning cultivation. Garden cultivation is considered a form of art and, like all art forms, it has different styles.

The traditional French garden style was first developed during the Baroque and Rococo periods of the 17th and 18th centuries. The gardens of the era were majestic exhibitions of power and riches constructed by royalty and aristocrats for the purpose of impressing guests. Inspired in part by ancient classical gardens, traditional French garden style is formal. The garden design is geometric, organized and disciplined, and the gardens are almost always laid out on level ground. The terraces that are often a feature of such gardens are artificially created, and elaborately designed stairs are included to link one terrace to another. Because of the largely flat topography, traditional French gardens use large sheets of water for their reflective qualities or as impressive, artificial fountain displays. Below is a list of the main attributes of traditional French formal garden design.

* Yards are contained of square frames and constantly shuddered by neat, squared bushes

* Flowerbeds are also geometrical in shape rectangular, oval or circular.

* Parterres are an important feature of formal French gardens. These gorgeous, vast geometrically designed patterns on the ground were made with flowers, dirt, gravel and stones of all different colors. Parterres are often lined with boxwood, lavender, or rosemary. Parterres de broderies or rather, embroidery parterres, are magnificently elaborate. Visitors can view parterres from garden terraces.

* Water features are mostly canals and large, flat pools. Most of these water fountains have engines to operate them.

* Allees, meaning axes or rides, is the term used for the garden walks or pathways, bordered by trees or neatly clipped hedges that provided the framework of the French garden style. A fountain or accenting garden ornament of some kind is the usual destination of such straight pathways.

* French Garden Ornaments: In French garden designs, you will find a lot of statues, columns, trellises, sundials, birdbaths and more. Symmetrical placement occurs with these objects.

*Vegetation: Planting designs are most often created according to color. French gardens predominantly use pastel colors with a touches of yellow, red or orange and some lilac and blue. Ideally, gardeners should choose plants that bloom all year round.

* Primarily French in origin, and available as an optional feature, Orangerie is a large glass-enclosed room in the garden where you'll find lemon, lime, and orange trees blooming during the cold winter months.

Most of the time Herb Gardens will be in French Gardens. The French garden style is well-planned and organized, providing different locations for various gardens types such as fruit, rose or herb. The herb gardens are another feature of the garden and are not just herb patches. Paving is used in a specific pattern a chessboard pattern or a circular pattern, laid out like the spokes of a wheel. Seats are often placed in the center or in a corner of herb gardens. Some of the more common French herbs are lavender, rosemary, sage, marjoram, thyme and sweet bay.

A famous example of the traditional French formal garden style described above is the Versailles Gardens located just outside Paris. King Louis IV hired landscape architect André Le Nôtre to create the Versailles Gardens, in 1661. These gardens occupy an area of 800 hectares, very roughly about 400 acres, on the west side of the Chateau de Versailles. The gardens have meticulously manicured lawns, parterres of blooming flowers, and dozens of valuable statues and sculptures. The most impressive feature of the gardens, however are its 1,400 fountains. An enormous system of pumps and reservoirs, including fourteen water wheels, was built to bring the waters of the Seine River up to the garden. Still, there was never enough water to run all the fountains at once. While Louis IV was in charge the fountains, one by one, would be turned on as he approached. Today, they are only operated on Sundays.

If you aren’t planning a visit to France, you can still get an idea of the traditional formal French garden style by visiting the Conservatory Garden in the northern sector of New York City’s Central Park.

Despite the fact that traditional and formal gardening styles of France influenced the designs of gardens around the world, not all French gardens are traditional. France has many less formal gardens, including the Giverney garden overflowing with blooming flowers as shown in Monet's beautiful paintings.
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How To Use An Indoor Greenhouse Kit

So, you've resolved to grow greenhouse plants inside, but don't want to go through all the bother of making your indoor greenhouse from scratch. Don't fear. An extensive variety of indoor nursery kits are obtainable from supermarkets, garden supply stores and online retail merchants.

Types of Interior Nursery Kits

Indoor nursery kits range from a tiny herb garden that you can maintain on your table top to a kit capable of turning your basement's shelving unit into a conservatory. There is no standard list of sizing categories and terms like "movable nursery", "mini indoor nursery", "small-scale nursery" and "orchid greenhouse" can bear a mixture of meanings reckoning on the preferences of the provider. It is best to work out how much space you require and then endeavor to find a kit to match it. Probabilities are, somebody will make one in just your size!

What's In The Package?

The real contents of an indoor greenhouse kit vary, but typically the following will be included:

A base: this can range from a flowerpot-type structure in the smaller kits to a set of up to 4 shelves in the larger ones.
Potting soil or peat: some kits, better-known as hydroponic kits, do without this and permit the nurseryman to raise plants in substances such as coconut fiber, sand, gravel or a liquid food solution instead.
A cover, normally constructed of the selfsame type of glazing material observed in spacious nurseries.
Indoor Greenhouse Lighting materials: given the absence of sunlight in a typical indoor nursery, specialised fluorescent lamps are needed to provide the light and warmth that would ordinarily be provided by the sunlight.
Watering kit, commonly consisting of a spray mechanism, timer and reservoir for water or nutrient solution.

Basements: They're Not Only For Wastrel Children Any More

If you're feeling truly determined, you could switch a part of your basement into an interior greenhouse. Hydroponic kits function particularly well for this purpose, as they supply all the light, water and sustenance necessary to raise tropical and subtropical floras in what is in all likelihood the coolest, darkest place in your home. You can buy a cover for an present shelving unit that will hold in warmth and moisture for your floras, or you can buy the shelves as part of a kit, with the same parts as in the kits listed above. You will want to commit special attention to the ventilating system and air circulation in your basement to hold back the raised humidness from rotting your wooden beams and joints. Likewise, make sure you confer with any family members who use the cellar, to make sure they don't object to it being turned into a hothouse!

Making Your Home More Organic With Indoor Herb Gardening

Indoor Container Herb Gardening

It can be a fun hobby or it just be functional, indoor herb gardening definitely has many uses. If you have no idea what indoor herb gardening is, well it's simply the cultivating and growing of herbs for either medicinal, culinary or ornate purposes inside the home. Indoor herb gardens are for the majority grown in containers which are placed near windows or areas where there is exposure to the sun. Indoor herb gardening has a multitude of benefits and these can include the convenience of having fresh herbs readily available for your kitchen or for your medicinal needs. As a cooking need, the availability of an indoor herb garden in your own kitchen is sometimes indispensable especially if you need herbs all the time.

What Your Should Know About Planting Herbs In Containers

In today's age of instant everything, an indoor herb container garden sometimes becomes a necessity and the good news is that it is actually quite easy to have one. Pots with premeasure soil, seeds and nutrients are being sold in many stores and this makes it easy to have an indoor herb container garden in your own kitchen.

There are a few simple tips you should be aware of when planting herbs and one of these is being careful when you place the herb seeds in the soil. Placing them too deep could translate to the them not growing well whilst too shallow could mean that the roots would not get a firm grip on the soil and easily be toppled over. When you start off your indoor herb gardening project, you will need to ensure that a thin layer of sandy soil or even gravel is placed at the bottom of the container pot. Doing this will allow for proper drainage so that the pot will not be water logged. Many of the common herbs really do not want too much water being maintained in the pot so this point should be taken seriously. At the bottom of the pot, it is of course necessary to have holes to facilitate the proper drainage needs. For some, they may even prefer to place additional pieces of chips or tree bark as part of the potting mix. This technique does the job of not only providing excellent drainage for the pot, it also gives additional organic matter into the pot which provides added nutrients as it decomposes and thus improving the chances of a successful indoor herb gardening project.

You might also want to make sure that the soil in the pot is slightly moist until the seed has germinated. Misting the soil lightly at least two to three times a day should do the trick. Indoor herb gardening requires that the pot be exposed to sunlight for several hours a day. This exposure to sunlight helps to coax the plant out of the seed. Most herbs like a lot of sunlight so don’t hesitate to give them lots.

These simple tips for indoor herb gardening would be useful for many especially for the novice gardeners who would want to try out indoor herb gardening at home. By following the steps above, you will ensure that your efforts in having your very own indoor herb garden will be beneficial to you and ease a lot of your stress.

Partial Shade: White Rose Gardening

Most of the time when gardening rose bushes, it is recommended that the roses be planted in areas that are in the sun for the majority of the day. White rose gardening is a little different, since most varieties of white rose bushes tend to do better when there is partial shade in the afternoons.It is interesting that this type of rose does better in the shade since that is also where they seem to ‘shine’ most brilliantly.If a white rose is seen in the sunlight, it tends to look washed out, whereas when seen inside or in a dimmer light, it has a brilliant white or cream appearance that is gorgeous.

Tips to Know

There are several tips that can help when doing white rose gardening.  The first of which was mentioned above.White rose gardening usually requires that the roses get full sunlight in the morning hours and then have partial shade during the afternoon, when the sun reaches its hottest point.  These roses need to be in moderate conditions, rather than the higher heat required by more traditional rose varieties.

Another tip for white rose gardening is to space the roses so that they have room for the air to circulate between them.  This gives the roses plenty of room to grow, and also allows other, complementary plants, such as some herbs, to grow between them.  These complementary plants can help to keep unwanted pests away, but can also attract certain beetles and other insects that are beneficial to the soil for the white rose garden.

For individuals who would like to try organic white rose gardening should start with a compost pile.The pile can easily be started with grass clippings, pruning branches, leaves, old fruits and vegetables, and wood shavings.  Paper can also work in the compost pile.  As these matters begin to decay, they create a rich, dark soil that is slightly warm to the touch and is rich in nutrients that white roses love.  Place the compost around the rose bushes so that the nutrients sink in to the roots.Compost is also good to use when preparing the white rose garden, since it makes the soil a perfect bed for the rose bushes.

When watering the white rose garden, always water the rose bushes at the roots rather than on the leaves and branches.  Rose bushes need to be able to absorb as much water as possible and the best way to do that is to water the roots.In addition to watering, careful pruning also helps to urge the plants to bloom more often, as well as removing dead branches and leaves, creating a beautiful white landscape for all to enjoy.

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A Guide to Creating an Indoor Greenhouse

Do you long to grow hothouse plants but don't have a back yard? Why not consider an indoor greenhouse. If your home is an apartment, the benefits of an indoor greenhouse are quite apparent. But even homeowners with large yards are attracted to the idea of an indoor greenhouse.

A real benefit is the lower expense involved. A small indoor greenhouse can be a lot less expensive than building even a basic lean-to structure. It's not that difficult to build a greenhouse in your own home with supplies that are readily available at any home improvement outlet.

Perhaps you like the idea of an indoor greenhouse, but really don't want to go to the trouble of building it yourself. Well, you're in luck, because you can buy an indoor greenhouse kit. These products are available in an assortment of brands and styles. You can get them at a department store, a garden center, or an online retailer.

Indoor greenhouse kits range from a tiny herb garden that you can keep on your countertop to a kit capable of turning your basement's shelving unit into a hothouse.

If this isn’t enough to meet your needs, it’s possible to make a basic homemade greenhouse at very little cost. Begin by building a freestanding set of shelves, about 4 shelves in total. You will need to attach it securely to the floor.

Once this is done, you need to provide a means of retaining heat and moisture. You can do this by covering the shelves with plastic wrap, or even an old shower curtain, held together with duct tape. You can provide heat by purchasing heating pads and placing them at the bottom of the greenhouse. Set up a thermometer and check it frequently to monitor the temperature.

You can give your plants a humid environment by placing a cup of water in the greenhouse. For their lighting needs, you can use a basic fluorescent lamp. Really, though, you're better off using a grow light that is especially designed for the greenhouse. A basic unit is relatively inexpensive.

Your next task is to find some containers, fill them with soil and plant your garden. Arrange them on the shelves and add some water. Now can step back and admire the results of your labor in creating a homemade indoor greenhouse.

These are general guidelines, and you can add to them with your own ideas and preferences. By doing so, there's no doubt you can buy or build an indoor greenhouse that will suit your needs perfectly.