Healing and Air Purifying Plants

I always knew I loved gardening and having plants around me...love the feel of the dirt in my hands and watching things grow...now I know that it's good for many reasons other than my personal enjoyment!!

Have a good one!



Green Eyes on: Healing and Air Purifying Plants

by Sara Snow on 01.19.09

Gerbera daisies and mini Gerbera daisies. Photo via flowerbud.com.

A number of years ago, NASA began to look into the air purifying properties of plants (PDF). Specifically, they were trying to find out if plants could be used to clean the air in orbiting space stations. The findings--helpful for both their purposes and ours--proved common indoor air pollutants (culprits called Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, off-gasses from the likes of fabric finishes, paints, wood adhesives, and floor stains) can be mitigated or removed by way of the leaves, roots, and soil of certain indoor plants.

English Ivy. Photo via Talkin Over It.

By keeping plants like Gerbera daisies, English ivy, and bamboo palm in the house, your air can actually be a great deal healthier than it would be without the plants.

New Research Shows Plants in Hospitals Help Healing
All of this is something I’ve known for quite some time. What is exciting me today is recent research showing that plants also have a tremendous healing influence on hospital patients.

And here’s why it’s so interesting to me now: For the last two weeks, I’ve spent my days with my 90-year-old stroke-recovering grandma. We’ve gone to physical, occupational, and recreational therapy appointments together. We’ve eaten meals of pureed turkey and vegetables. We’ve watched a continuous loop of wildlife scenes on the in-house hospital TV channel. We’ve read cards from well-wishers and (being the proud grandma that she is) snippets from the galley copy of my upcoming book. And we’ve marveled at the beauty of the live plants and fresh cut flowers in her room. This is why I was thrilled by the recent influx of information on the actual, scientifically proven, healing properties of plants.

Sara's grandma.

According to a recent study, patients with plants in their room (and we mean plants, not just cut flowers because of the longevity of the plant) began to take interest in their plants, watering and pruning them, and moving them around for better light. At the same time, these same patients took less pain medication, had less pain and anxiety, lower blood pressure, improved heart rates, and felt more positive overall about their room environment. When asked, they said they said plants were their favorite element in their rooms, versus the patients without plants who voted for the TV.

Tomorrow morning when I head back to the hospital, instead of just giving water to the jasmine plant on my grandma’s window sill, I think I’ll take it to her bedside to see if she wants to smell it or prune it. Or maybe she’ll just want to admire the way its tendrils stretch up toward the sky. Who knows, that could be the magic pill the doctors have missed.

More on Indoor Air Quality and Healing Plants

More Than a Pretty Greenhouse--Kew Gardens research into herbal remedies
Top 5 Plants For Improving Indoor Air Quality
10 Tips for Improving Indoor Air Quality
Indoor Air Quality on Planet Green
A Bicycle That Creates Clean Air AND Clean Water!
VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds, Indoor Air Quality and Respiratory Health

Sara Snow is a green living expert and regular contributor to TreeHugger via her Green Eyes On column. She can also be seen on CNN.com on Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Her new DVD Growing Green Babies is now available through SaraSnow.com.

Don't throw in the trowel—there's still time to garden!

Here in my part of the world, the growing season is practically year-long...one of the great things about living in East Texas. No matter where you are, I think you'll find several new ideas to perk up your window boxes or container gardens for the Fall.

As usual COTTAGE LIVING MAGAZINE is an excellent source of ideas...many thanks.

Have a good one!

Fall Window Box, 3 Ways

Don't throw in the trowel—there's still time to garden.
These fiery fall container combos will last all season.
By Kate Karam

photography: Robbie Caponetto
A: Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum); B: variegated Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii 'Variegata'); C: florist mums; D: small white pumpkins 'Baby boo'; E: ornamental peppers

1. Playful

Tricked out for the season in combustible colors and a late-autumn harvest, this exuberant window box celebrates all that we love about fall—like the vivid colors and leafy textures. While it may require some boldness and a passion for abundance to pull off a planting like this, it was actually very easy—we found all the plants and supplies at our local home-improvement store's garden center. (By the way, this was the one that really got the neighbors talking.)

Tip: Mums rarely come tagged from a nursery or garden center with specific variety names; they usually are just listed as "florist mums." If you want to know which mum's which, check out kingsmums.com or yoder.com for color photos of dozens of named varieties.

photography: Robbie Caponetto
A: Ornamental cabbage 'Dynasty'; B: ivy (Hedera helix 'Glacier'); C: ornamental kale 'Kamone'; D: ornamental kale 'Peacock'; E: cascading mums

2. Elegant

We love the luxe, posh look of this box with its classic pairing of mums and ornamental cabbages. What keeps it from veering into cliché territory are the unusual cascading mums. To get the look, pack a window box with deep smoky purple ornamental cabbages and sparkling white ornamental kales, then intersperse them with rich magenta pompom chrysanthemums trained into a graceful cascade. Ice-tipped trailing ivy adds shimmer in the late afternoon light.

Tip: Cascading mums are no different than the mounded pots of mums you’re seeing at garden centers right now. The plants are simply trained to one stem when young then wired downward to achieve this particular effect.

photography: Robbie Caponetto
A: Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus); B: small white pumpkins 'Snowball'; C: large white pumpkins 'Lumina'; D: bittersweet (cut branches)

3. Modern

Gleaming white 'Lumina' (large) and 'Snowball' (small) pumpkins spiked with shiny tufts of black-as-night mondo grass makes a simple combination that's all-hallows spooky but oh-so chic. In and around, we tucked fat clusters of blood-orange berries, which drip from branches of bittersweet vine (sold in bunches at florists). You can up the spook factor by hiding strands of mini lights between pumpkins.

Tip: Ivy can be potted up (before a killing frost in coldest regions, anytime in more temperate zones) and brought indoors for the winter.

WINDOW BOX PLANS

	Window box Plan Plans for the cottage swallowtail window box. Download the PDF plan

Garden Pests & Summer Heat

These notations are taken from GARDEN NOTES which is written by Justin W. Hancock, who is the Garden Editor for Better Homes and Gardens. As always, he gives us useful ideas and sugestions to have a happier, healthier garden.





Stop Garden Pests

This is the start of a 3-week series of tips to help you keep your garden safe from weeds, deer, bunnies, bugs, and other pests. Week 1 is about weeds. Check back next week for tips on saving your yard from critters.

Weed Control Guide
15 Tips for a Weed-Free Garden
Smother Weeds with Mulch







Survive Summer Heat

It's hot outside, and the heat can be as much a burden to plants as it is for you. Help your plants by making sure they're watered adequately and there's a layer of mulch over the soil to help keep their roots a little cooler. For more tips, check out these links.


Container Plants That Take the Heat
The 15 Top Low-Water Plants
Tips for Using Less Water
Easy-Care, Heat-Tolerant Garden Plan





Make the Most of Shade

When I have to be out in the yard on hot, sunny days, I make the most of it by working in the shade. It can make things complicated (like weeding one garden bed, then taking a break and waiting a couple of hours for the sun to move so I can work in another shaded area). Try these tips for making the most of your shade.

The Best Perennials for Shade
10 Beautiful Shade-Garden Plans
Wishbone Flower: A Great Annual for Shade
Find More Shade Plants with Plant Finder






Question of the Week
How to Keep Your Lawn Green

Question:


How can I keep my Kentucky bluegrassgreen if there's a drought this summer?



Answer:


The easiest way to keep your cool-season lawn green during the hot months is to keep it watered. But that can be expensive and time-consuming.



Letting your lawn stop growing and turn brown in midsummer won't hurt it. The grass copes with hot, dry weather by taking a summer siesta before greening up again as soon as rain and slightly cooler temperatures return. If you don't like the look of a dormant lawn, look for turf paints that ensure the green appearance during summer's heat or winter's cold at local sports-supply stores or online. Mix the paint with water according to directions and spray it on your lawn. The average application lasts about 6 weeks. If you paint your lawn, allow it to go dormant and do not water it. Click here for more on lawn care.

JULY GARDENING CHECKLIST

There's plenty to do in the garden this month, including planting, trimming, watering and harvesting.

By Sally Anderson


While you're standing at the grill, brushing barbecue sauce on sizzling chicken and passing out cold ones to your friends, remember that your garden friends will be extra thirsty this month too. Gardens should explode with color and fruit this month, as long as you don't let them dry out -- and be ferocious about pest and weed control.

Annuals

Go wild! "Color spots," usually sold in 4-inch, 6-inch or 1-gallon pots, can go straight from the pot into the ground to instantly jazz up colorless corners.

--Check all annuals often for dryness; new plantings are especially needy as they establish their roots.
--Deadhead spent blossoms -- snap or snip them off -- to reinvigorate flowering plants; you'll be rewarded by more flower and root growth.
--For a second bloom, cut annuals back to half their height and fertilize.
--Replace dead annuals with hardy annual or perennial newcomers.

Perennials

Perennials can be transplanted all month; keep on top of deadheading duties.

--In mild climates, fertilize roses once a month throughout the summer.
--Bearded irises should be separated and given a bit more space between now and August, especially if it hasn't been done in the past three to five years.
--After the last iris blooms fade, stop giving them water.
--When leaves start turning brown, trim them down to green areas in a two-snip pyramid shape.
--Dig them up and cut apart their knobby rhizomes.
--Set them in the shade for a few days to harden off.
--Replant at the same depth (rhizomes should be approximately level with the ground) in soil that's been amended with processed manure and compost.

Lawns

If you're an inveterate summer waterer, your lawn might need a light application of fertilizer this month, even if it was fertilized in early spring.

--When mowing, recycle nutrients by letting lawn clippings stay in place, or spread them with a rake.
--Water early in the morning before the sun is at its hottest, so that plants benefit before evaporation takes place.
--Water deeply and less often -- say, an hour once a week. Aim sprinklers so that their spray benefits life forms only; water on the sidewalk is water wasted!
--In dry weather, trim lawn edges.

Cleanup

Think of July as maintenance month, and roll up the sleeves on that denim shirt.

--Take no prisoners in the war against weeds.
--Trim periwinkle and other ground covers after they've finished blooming.
--Thin plants to give them better air circulation and exposure to the sun.

Compost

--All that nice bacteria you've been nurturing as future plant food needs a little extra attention in the dog days of summer.
--Keep feeding the pile with organic materials.
--Turn compost at least once a week.
--If compost becomes too dry the bacteria will die, so give your heap a shower whenever it starts to get crusty.

Vegetables

Even in the heart of summer, in most areas you can keep planting vegetables for fall harvest.

--Plant potatoes early in the month.
--Sow seeds of these leafy green and red vegetables: spinach, kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, radishes, beets, carrots, peas, bush beans, onions and scallions.
--As you start to enjoy the fruits of your labor, there are always a few things you can fiddle with in the vegetable garden.
--Tomatoes and peppers are shameless sun lovers, so you should see lots of growth. Keep them off the ground, and harvest them as soon as they ripen so pests don't beat you to the draw.
--Keep mulch around tomato plants evenly spread and slightly moist.
--Plant veggies now for fall and winter harvest.
--Transplant greens such as kale and collards, broccoli, cauliflower and early cabbage.
--Transplant colorful ornamental kale in midmonth.

Greenhouse

When it's hot outdoors, greenhouses can turn into pressure cookers. Be sure those thirsty hothouse tomatoes and cucumbers are kept satisfied. Provide adequate ventilation during hot months, especially before making a summer getaway.

Pest control

Pests are everywhere, but if you've had a rainy June, you're looking at some serious damage control now.

--Root rot is a frequent hazard of wet seasons; help prevent it by thinning mulch around vulnerable plants.
--Look for slugs under moist mulch and in ground cover -- a favorite retreat.
--Spray honeysuckles for aphids every 10 to 14 days; spray them with an insecticidal soap or give them a strong blast with a hose.

Weeds

The weeds you didn't catch before flowering are probably supping happily on your soil now; stay ahead of the game as the next generation peeps up.

Hoe young weeds and leave them in place with their roots exposed. If you do this early on a sunny day, the sun will do the rest of the work.

Pruning

Because pruning stimulates new growth, if you expect an early winter or you're in a cold-winter region, avoid pruning trees and bushes. In milder climates, prune dead wood from shrubs and trees in early to midsummer.

--Thin apples and pears.
--Trim back lindens, boxwoods and other hedges.

Harvest

As the saying goes, you reap just what you sow, and this month you should be getting plenty of perks from your spring efforts.

--Harvest ripe vegetables and fruits as soon as possible to stay a step ahead of pests.
--Help strawberry plants stay strong after harvest: Clear out weeds, then clip or high-mow tops, avoiding plant crowns.

Container plants

Container plants get extremely thirsty in summer months and may need water as often as once or twice a day. If you're a newcomer to container gardening, you're in for a treat!

--Planters can be tucked into any cranny. Fill in bare garden spots, arrange them on steps and along walkways, frame a garage door, set them on railings, or circle them around the old oak tree.
--Variety is the spice of container gardening. Combine containers of different shapes, sizes, colors and textures.
--Try grouping similar flowers with a zap of something completely different. Don't worry about being perfect; just choose plants you like and learn as you go.
--Move pots around, from sun to shade, or just for a change of mood.
--Branch out from terra-cotta pots and window boxes. Containers made of resin and other synthetics are available in a riot of shapes and styles, from "estate classic" to "Mediterranean" -- and they're lightweight. Or get funky with old washbasins and hand-painted coffee cans. Just be sure that containers have drainage holes in the bottom.


TWO BLONDS & CO. offers an assortment of monogrammed WHITEHALL MIO PLANTERS online.



Mio Planter Monogram Package

--Constructed from fiberglass reinforced polyresin
--Includes removable drain plug
--Personalized plaque constructed from rust-free aluminum with matching finish

Dimensions (inches): 17.5"L x 17.5"W x 17.5"H