•Advertising Nursery Plants And Trees In Newspapers
Classified ads and display ads are not used much anymore to advertise nursery plants in newspapers, although 15 to 20 years ago, plant ads were commonly seen in newsprint publications and farm magazines. Several reasons are responsible for the nursery plant businesses abandoning this form of media advertising. The main reason has been the emergence of other competitive, lower priced media forms, the most significant being the Internet, followed by free advertising offers in a regional area,...
•Advertising Nursery Products On TV - Part 2
It is also advisable for nursery plant advertisers to diversify their ads, so that during a one week, if 20 commercials are scheduled, it is beneficial to alternate four or five entirely different commercials during that period. If, for instance, only a white flowering dogwood commercial is scheduled to run, day after day, the ad will soon become ineffective and unprofitable to continue generating sales over an extended time period. Every item that is advertised will not be successful, and...
•American Fruit Trees, Nut Trees, Berry Plants, Grapevines, And Native Plants Promoted By Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the United States minister to France following the great American, Benjamin Franklin in 1785. While acting as the French minister to the United States, Jefferson surveyed crops of agriculture in France searching for fruit trees, nut trees, grape vines, berry plants, and many other potentially useful crops that might be commercially grown in the United States. Many of these seed plants and trees were exported to the American colonists and planters for experimental growing...
•America’s Ancient, Historical Hickory Trees
In 1792, William Bartram reported in his book, Travels, the discovery of a native shagbark hickory nut that he called ‘Juglans exaltata.’ Today, shagbark hickory is called ‘Carya ovata.’ Bartram reported that this shagbark hickory grove was cultivated in groves by the Indians west of Augusta, Ga.
Bartram documented that he saw 100 bushels of shagbark hickory nuts that were stored at just a single Indian family home. The nuts were pounded into a mash, and then boiled in water, where a white,...
•Ancient Bible References To Date Palm Trees, Phoenix Dactylifera
Palm trees in ancient desert sands grew and satisfied almost every need the ancient Jews needed. The Jews ate the palm tree dates; the tree juices were fermented into wine; the trunk of the palm tree was used as construction timber; and the palm leaves were woven into baskets, mats, brooms, beds, ropes and made into furniture.
Promises were made in the Hebrew Bible by God for a new home for the nation of Israel , and the moving finger on the wall pointed to the palm tree as the perfect...
•Ancient Biblical Grape Juice And Wine Drinkers, Raisin Eaters And Teetotalers (part 2) Scriptures (mostly Old Testament) Forbidding Wine Drinking
There were anointed men of the Bible who took an oath; that they would not drink wine or eat or drink any of the products of a grapevine, including fresh grapes, raisins (dried grapes), grape seed, grape skins, or grape juice. This cult of Jews was called Nazirites, that included Aaron, the brother of Moses, his priest descendants; Samson, the Judge; and John the Baptist. The Scriptures suggest there were other temporary Nazirites, such as the Apostle, Paul, and others.
Moses gave special...
•Azalea Hybrid Bushes And Native American Fiery (flame) Azaleas
Buying the best azalea shrub offers a gardener many choices for various landscapes. The Southern indica azalea hybrids are the most popular flowering shrubs for warm climates that includes the Formosa azaleas of white, pink, red, purple, magenta, violet, and lavender. Other outstanding Formosa azaleas are Duc DeRohan, Dutchess of Cypress, G.G. Gerbing, George L. Tabor, Madonna White, and South.
Kurume azaleas are evergreen azaleas with considerable cold hardiness and were introduced into the...
•Box Store Plant Advertising Has Worked Up To Now - Part 1
The status quo of the nursery business has been changed forever by the entrance of the box stores into the plant and tree markets. Box stores are defined as retail stores with commercial building designs, shaped like cardboard boxes. Industry spokesman categorize box stores, such as Home Depot, Walmart, K-Mart and Lowe's, as the most obviously successful of these chain store giants. Many communities welcome the opening of new box stores, while other cities dread and invoke ordinances to...
•Box Store Plant Advertising Has Worked Up To Now - Part 2
Many factors affect commerce, including uncontrollable and unpredictable rising and falling fortunes of various industries, such as air travel, that nevertheless still performs excellent passenger services for our American society. The soaring fortunes of the National airlines 10 years past, now has been reversed by ongoing bankruptcy factors caused by inflated fuel costs, worker pensions and salary contracts. American automobile manufacturers may face a similar fate from the Japanese...
•Canna Lily Sales Face A Chaotic Future
Many agricultural plants that are reproduced by vegetative division face a mysterious problem that results in a decline in the clone vigor, and most farmers and nurserymen claim that the plant crop has “run out.” A number of factors adversely affect the plant clone to the point that it becomes unproductive and uneconomical to continue growing.
A technique has been discovered that has revitalized the agricultural crops such as strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, sweet potato, banana, and a...
•Chinquapin History
There are two types of chinquapin trees, also called ‘chikapin trees,’ that are available commercially in the United States, the Allegheny chinquapin and the Georgiana chinquapin. The Allegheny chinquapin, ‘Castanea pumila’, is considered a shrub by some; however, some researchers claim that its dwarf size does not justify its reclassification. Many old-timers remember sweet memories from their youth when baskets were filled with the spicy, sweet, nutty flavored chinquapins. These nuts were...
•Clumping Cold Hardy Bamboo Plants In America
Clumping bamboo is composed of over 500 species, and is less adaptable than the running bamboo species. The vast majority of clumping bamboo species grow in the tropical, and sub-tropical regions around the world, however, several species will grow in the southern United States, zones 7 – 10. Clumping bamboo, as the name suggests, grows into large grass-like clumps with the stalks growing tightly together, and expanding 360 degrees outwards, to reach a diameter of 10 – 15 feet.
Generally,...
•Cold Hardy Palm Trees For Landscape Design And Planting In The United States
Scattered reports of palm trees growing in Northern areas of the United States and Canada have been known for many years. Semi-truck loads of windmill palm trees have been unloaded and successfully grown in Canada and the Northeast beginning in the year 2000. These windmill palm trees, Trachycarpus fortunei, provide many resorts and homeowners with a tropical look for their pools or patios. Needle palms, although very rare and available only in short supply, tolerate below zero temperatures of...
•Cold Hardy Palm Trees For Landscapes In Southern States – Zones 8-11
In Southern States, the Northern type palm trees that withstand cold temperatures of -20* F will also thrive in the South. The Northern type palm trees, such as Windmill Palm trees, Trachycarpus fortunei, Needle Palm trees, Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Dwarf palmetto palm tree, Sabal minor, and Dwarf Saw Palmetto palm trees, Serenoa repens, are discussed in another article by the same author called “Cold Hardy Palm Trees for Landscape Design and Planting in the United States.” Other palm trees that...
•Cold Hardy Palm Trees For Northern Garden Planting
Palm trees were once thought to be suitable for planting only in tropical landscapes, however, several cold hardy palm trees occur naturally, growing in America, where snows fall during winter. The windmill palm tree, Trachycarpus fortunei; the Dwarf Palmetto palm tree, Sabal minor; the Saw palmetto, Serenoa repens; and the Sabal Palm, sabal palmetto; and the Needle Palm, Rhapidophyllun hystrix; Much of the information that is published in book from, magazine articles and Internet websites is...
•Commercial Pecan Tree Orchard Production In The United States
The pecan tree, Carya illinoinesis, is a native American tree that was known as a food item by the ancients as early as 3000 to 6000 BC, according to recent cave excavations unearthed by archaeologists in Texas. The pecan nut was widespread and used by the mid-American Indian tribes into other territories long before the arrival of the Mayflower. This thin shelled nut is easy to collect from underneath pecan trees after the nuts begin ripening in the fall, and the presence of the soft shell...
•Evergreen Shrubs And Hedges Are Important, Cold Hardy Landscape Specimen Plants
Next to the landscape importance of trees is that of shrubs that grow in our gardens, parks, landscape foundation, street borders, and commercial landscapes. Thousands of different varieties of shrubs are grown to ornament lawns, yards, and borders, but only a few varieties are available to buy at your local nursery for planting, and growing. Many shrubs are selected and grown on a basis of intelligent buying of flowering hedges, evergreen cold hardiness, non-flowering hedges, berry shrubs,...
•Fast Growing Cold Hardy Bamboo In America
Running Bamboo is the most widely grown, fast growing type of bamboo plant in the world, and is comprised of over 700 species. The most widely used and possibly the 'King' of the running bamboo in the Phyllostachys genus, which is comprised of approximately 80 species. The most fast growing, popular bamboo species are Phyllostachys aurea (Golden Bamboo or Fishing Pole Bamboo); Phyllostachys bambusoides (Giant Timber Bamboo); Phyllostachys nigra (Black Bamboo); Phyllostachys nigra 'henonis'...
•Flowering Azaleas, Camellia, Crepe Myrtle (crape Myrtle), And Other Important Landscape Shrubs
Landscape shrubs are divided into two main categories: Evergreen shrubs grown primarily for the green leaves, and shrubs that are grown for flowers. Some of the flowering shrubs that are grown for flowers are also evergreen, such as: Albelia, Azalea, Banana shrub, Bottlebrush, Bridal Wreath, Gardenia, Ligustrum, Oleander, and Tea Olive. Azaleas and Camellias are the most important of the flowering shrubs.
Flowering Evergreen Shrubs
Azaleas are perhaps the most well known evergreen flowering...
•Flowering Dogwood Trees: A Favorite Tree Of America
The State of Virginia has adapted the dogwood flowering tree as its State tree, and many cities in America have named themselves 'The Dogwood City.' Atlanta, Georgia holds a spring festival every April to coincide with the flowering of the of the dogwood trees in Atlanta, Georgia. The Dogwood Festival has continued for 70 years, successfully attracting visitors for events such as outdoor musical extravaganzas in Piedmont Park and the attraction of many artists to display and sell to those...
•Garden Tips On Buying The Best, Cold Hardy Flower Bulbs For Outdoor Planting
Buying flower bulbs to plant and grow is an exciting experience that begins in the fall and continues through the spring. Dutch flowering bulbs are usually delivered to American ports by the month of September for fall planting. Major Dutch bulbs offerings include Dutch Amaryllis and African Amaryllis; daffodil bulbs and the famous, Tulip bulbs.
Amaryllis flower bulbs grow the showiest blooms and are pre-cooled to force fast flowering in 3 weeks after containerizing. Dutch bulb importers of...
•Gift Certificates Are A Delight To A Dedicated Gardener
Gift certificates can be sent by email instantly, by immediate fax or by mail on the date that you wish. A gift certificate is important for two very important reasons. First, the person who receives the gift certificate will cherish the thoughtfulness of your remembering and honoring an important occasion or holiday. Second, you can easily solve the problem of what to give, because a gift certificate will enable your loved ones to pick out exactly what they want to receive and plant, whether...
•Have Dutch Bulb Exporters Gained Financial Control Of American Horticulture? (part 1)
Many inquiries have been initiated into the reasons why Foster-Gallagher, the largest direct-to-consumer marketer of horticultural products in North America, filed for Bankruptcy on July 2, 2001, after ceasing all normal business operations on June 29, 2001. Somewhere between 3000 and 4000 employees lost their jobs and retirement benefits, stock-owned equity and $100,000,000 in debt liabilities. The network of companies, owned and operating under the umbrella of Foster-Gallagher, were known by...
•Historical Controversies Of Nectarine Nomenclature, Prunus Persica Nectarina
The question of when history on nectarines began cannot be answered properly and with any certainty. Efforts to do this by some websites that suggest that nectarine Prunus persica nectarina history should begin in China in 2000 BC to correspond with the history of the peach is absurd for several reasons, unless it is assumed that a nectarine is a cultivar (variety) of a peach. In American agricultural and commercial fruit circles, the nectarine fruit is treated as a separate species from...
•Historical Mechanisms Promoting Chestnut Survival Through Hybridization
Historically, chestnuts have throughout the ages provided food and wood products in both European and Oriental cultures. Chestnuts have saved some civilizations from vanishing during famines, wars, and natural disasters. Native American chestnuts offered many promises and comforts to the early colonists, but during a blight that was introduced by importing nursery stock from Asia, the chestnut trees of American were almost eliminated. Certain chestnut tree colonies survived in isolated...
•History Of Apple Trees
Apple trees were the most popularly grown fruit tree in colonial America and practically every settlement farm and backyard gardener planted this easily grown fruit tree, or easier, the seed of the apple could be planted to establish a permanent food supply. Growing these apple tree products could be eaten fresh or could be dried and preserved in many different ways to eat at a later time. Historical instances on the existence of apple trees are documented from folklore, legends, stone images...
•History Of Blackberry Plants
Blackberries were perceived by the ancient cultures as being a wild plant, and historical accounts for a backyard culture of blackberry bushes are few. The Greeks used the blackberry as a remedy for Gout, and the Romans made a tea from the leaves of the blackberry plant to treat various illnesses.
John Bartram, the early American explorer, botanist, and writer founded the first United States Botanical Garden, in 1728. In the early American colonies, William Bartram in his book, Travels, noted...
•History Of Blueberry Plants
Very few historical records exist on ancient blueberry culture in the Greek and Roman empires. Those cultures did use parts of the blueberry plants and fruit to eat or to treat ailments. The size and flavor of native blueberry plants was extremely variable, and the USDA, modern, extensive research and development of choice selections was judged on a basis of taste, yield of plants, aroma, small berry seeds, and the lasting quality of the fresh berries increased the popularity of this fruit in...
•History Of Citrus
The pleasing appearance of citrus trees and the fruit was mentioned by many ancient travelers, even though the fruit of citrus trees had not evolved to the point as an important food staple, the fragrance of all parts of the citrus trees, including the flowers and fruit, were desirable perfumers of rooms and were thought to repel insects.
The occurrence of citrus in Europe and Mideast were thought to have been natural occurring native trees and shrubs, but historians today believe that the...
•History Of Grapevines
The first documentation of grapevines growing in the Americas was discovered in researching the logbook of navigator Giovanni de Verazzano, who reported in 1504 that a large "white grape" was vigorously growing at Cape Fear, North Carolina. The English explorer of the New World, Sir Walter Raleigh, confirmed in a letter to Arthur Barlowe in 1585, the discovery of a white grape (scuppernong), when he landed in coastal North Carolina.
The 1500's ancient discovery of native grapevines growing in...
•History Of Mulberry Trees, ‘Morus Alba,’ ‘Morus Rubrum,’ And ‘Morus Nigra’
Mulberry trees were well known in the ancient civilizations of the world. They were famous fruit trees, because of the delicious berry fruits that were abundantly produced by fast growing trees—loaded with huge green leaves that were eaten by livestock, along with the berries, and the leaves were used in the Orient to fatten silkworms for the silk trade. General Oglethorpe, in 1733, imported 500 white mulberry trees to Fort Frederica in Georgia to encourage silk production at the English...
•History Of Oak Trees, Quercus Sp.
Heroditus, the father of ancient history, recorded in the mid-400's B.C., that oak trees were reputed to have within their boughs, the gift of prophecy. The presence of oak tree galls in oak trees is caused by insect larvae that tunnel inside the twigs. The oak tree branches can become infested with numerous little galls that look like brown or tan balls, as the cells of the oak tree grow to surround the insects inside. Some cultures call these creations, 'Oak Apples,' and they are used...
•History Of Olive Trees
Olive trees, ‘Olea europaea,’ are the oldest fruit trees and certainly are one of the most important fruit trees in history. Olive tree culture has been closely connected to the rise and fall of Mediterranean empires and other advanced civilizations throughout the ages. Because olive trees offered wealth and future food supplies to established civilizations, the agricultural nations became stable societies, resulting from a secure expectation from past experience of an uninterrupted food and...
•History Of Peach Trees, Prunus Persica
Peach trees, Prunus persica, are originally believed to have come from China to the Mideast through the trade routes known to extend to Turkey and Iran (Persia). The peach seeds could be used to plant and grow trees throughout North Africa and Europe and finally were introduced to America in the mid 1500’s. The first appearance of peaches in China may date back to 2000 BC.
Historians believe that peach trees were first introduced into the colonial settlements of the United States by the...
•History Of Persimmons, ‘Diospyros Kaki L.’
Japanese persimmons, ‘Diospyros kaki L.,’ were introduced into the United States from Japan by Admiral Perry who discovered the fruit growing on the coast of Southern Japan in 1851.
Most of the early Japanese persimmon introductions in 1828 were sprouted from seed in Washington, DC, but were unsuccessful, because of the unusually cold winters experienced during that period.
The USDA introduced grafted cultivars of Japanese persimmon into California and Georgia beginning in 1870, and many of...
•History Of Pine Trees
Since the year eight hundred ten the city of Venice, Italy has been standing strong and mighty with its ever present clock tower, and St. Marks square. What few people know however is that 'The city of Venice rests on the hearts of Larch.' In the ninth century the name 'Pine' had yet to be coined, so today if you translate that saying, you get, 'The city of Venice rests on the hearts of Pine.' Today heart Pine is a very valuable building commodity, so imagine that the entire city of Venice...
•History Of Plum Trees And Their Hybrids
The documentation of ancient plums growing in antiquity is sparse. The best evidence of that oldest existence is best documented through America’s most famous pomologist, Luther Burbank, who reported in his twelve volume botanical literary classic, Small Fruits, Volume IV page 136, that the European plum, Prunus domestica, and its ancestor fruit originated in the Caucasus Mountains near the Caspian Sea. Burbank detailed evidence that the prune (dried plum) was a staple food of the Tartars,...
•History Of Pomegranates, ‘Punica Granatum’
Because of the many seeds found in pomegranate fruits, they were regarded as a symbol of fertility by the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The Greek writer, Homer, wrote about pomegranates growing at Syracuse, on the island of Sicily. The Bible of the Hebrews records many references to the pomegranate, and the image of the fruit was used extensively in molding and stone sculptures found in Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem, Israel.
Pomegranates, ‘Punica granatum,’ are native shrubs...
•History Of Quince
Quince is a fruit that was highly prized by ancient civilizations, and it probably originated near the antique city of Smyrna, Turkey. The fruit was widely disseminated in artistic drawings, as wall paintings and mosaics at the lost city of Pompeii, Italy, and even though the ancient Greeks had developed and grafted quince with an exceptional quality, it is only in recent years that agricultural scientists have hybridized a fruit with a softer texture and a juicier flesh.
Some modern Bible...
•History Of Raspberry Plants
According to Luther Burbank, who studied and hybridized raspberries and blackberries more than any other horticulturalist, and wrote his classical 8 volume treatise on Small Fruits and Fruit Improvement in 1921; the red raspberry plant was cultivated in Europe for centuries, growing wild from Greece to Spain and to the North from Norway to Sweden.
Red Raspberry, Rubus idaeus, is a native berry bush to Turkey and was gathered by the people inhabiting Troy, (Troas, Turkey) from vines growing at...
•History Of Seedless Grapes And Raisins Used In Wine Making
In centuries past, ancient man noticed that grapes hanging on vines lasted for months, and even though seedy, the fruit was sweet to the taste. These grapes dried out in the sun and were called raisins. The raisins could be stored for months to be eaten at a later time, centuries before advanced civilizations learned how to preserve foods artificially by canning and freezing. Other fruit items such as palm tree dates, figs, apricot, prune-plum, pear, and peach could be preserved by sun drying....
•History Of The Apricot Fruit Prunus Armeniaca L. And Flowering Apricot Trees Prunus Mume
Apricots originated on the Russian-Chinese border in about 3000 BC and were imported along with peach seed into Europe through the “Silk Road” that extended camelback trading to the Mideast. The fruit grows as an escaped naturalized plant along modern roadsides in Turkey and Armenia today in abundant numbers. Apricots were known in ancient Greece in 60 BC and later introduced into the Roman Empire. The apricot trees are believed to have arrived in the early American colonies in seed form for...
•History Of The Cherry Tree
There are only a few instances in the ancient historical record concerning cherry trees. This absence in the record perhaps resulted in the fragile nature and perishability of the fruit, unlike the fruit from the apple tree. There are strong suggestions that the cherry tree originated in the territories of Asia Minor near the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Other suggestions that the cherry trees were used in the Greek and Roman cultures come from literary historians, and it appears that cherry...
•History Of The Discovery Of The Native American Palm Trees
William Bartram, the famous botanist and explorer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was commissioned by the English aristocrats to collect, identify and record the plant and animal life growing in the English colonies. The English colonies were acquired from Spain, after the Spanish settlements were conquered and abandoned to the English. John Bartram, the father of William Bartram, accompanied his son on several early, exploratory missions, and his father helped to secure a financial...
•History Of The Filbert (Hazelnut)
The modern name for filberts has evolved from European folklore. The original name was connected with Saint Philbert’s Day (Saint Filbert), the day that harvesting the nuts began, August 22nd, the day of observing the Saint’s day of celebration. The famous Roman historian, Pliny, recorded that ‘hazels’ (filberts) were frequently gathered by the Romans as food. Pliny believed that filberts (hazelnuts) had originated in Damascus, Syria, where they grew naturally in forests; however,...
•History Of The Jujube Tree
Chinese poets spoke about the wonderful jujube in 600 BC. The fruit of the jujube has been used in ancient Chinese medicine for many nutritional remedies for 2500 years. Jujubes were used by Gerard in Europe as a medicinal herb in the 1600’s to treat ailments of the kidneys, lungs, and liver.
The Chinese jujube was brought to America by Oriental immigrants who built railroads in Arizona in the early 1900’s. Hundreds of grafted jujube cultivars are available in China, and a large number of...
•History Of The Loquat
Loquats, ‘Eriobotrya japonica,’ are documented to have been grown in Japan around 1100 AD. Some botanists have suggested that the first plantings of the loquat trees may have come from China originally and later were introduced into Japan. The loquat tree was widely distributed in Europe after 1712, but early records show that it came to the United States in the mid-1800’s. This prolific plant is now established firmly as a seed-borne naturalized fruit tree in hundreds of countries, even in...
•History Of The Mayhaw
Very little information can be found in the historical docket on the native American fruit, the mayhaw, ‘Crataegus aestivalis.’ This is true because of several factors, one being the size of the mayhaw and the bland taste of the fruit found growing in the wild state. These factors did not excite early American botanists and explorers such as William Bartram, because they did not fulfill their expectation as a classic fruit, since the native Indians ignored them. The crop generally ripened...
•History Of The Pawpaw Tree
Pawpaw trees were discovered in 1541 by the Spanish explorer, Hernando Desoto, on an excursion into the Mississippi Valley, and he sent samples of this plant back to Europe.
William Bartram in 1776 stated in his botanical book, Travels, that he found pawpaw trees growing on the Alatamaha River in Georgia and in east Florida, which he described as, ‘Annona incarna,’ the name later was updated by modern taxonomists. “The fruit the size of a small cucumber …containing a yellow pulp of the...
•History Of The Pear
There is convincing archeological evidence from the excavation of the ancient lake dwellers in Switzerland that the European pear, Pyrus communis L., was known by that civilization. It is believed that the pear was known by prehistoric man, but there is no agreement on whether the apple came first or the pear. The ancient pear tree of Europe was fundamentally different from the Asian pear tree, Prunus pyrifolia.
English records show that in 1629 “stones of pears were sent by the Massachusetts...
•History Of The Pecan
Pecan trees, ‘Carya illinoinensis,’ grow in natural groves in bottom lands near rivers or lakes with nearby periodic overflowing water. Archeological remains and fossil evidence reveals that pecans were collected and stored by Indians, the original settlers and inhabitants of America, and the group now known as the “mound builders.” American Indians followed this same example and were actively gathering pecan nuts when the European colonists arrived. The pecan trees were found growing in their...
•History Of The Strawberry And The Strawberry Tree
It is difficult to trace the ancient history of the strawberry plant or strawberry tree, because there are so many different, complex, undefined species, and they have evolved in so many different places and countries.
Pliny described the strawberry tree, Arbutus in his early writings of the Roman culture in the first century, AD.
Strawberry trees, Cudrania tricuspidata, have been known since antiquity and have been so named because the berries growing on the trees resemble the familiar...
•History Of Walnuts
The first historical accounts of walnut trees growing under civilized cultivation was in ancient Babylon (Iraq) about 2000 B.C.; however, walnuts have evidently been attached to mankind much earlier by excavations from cave fossils as suggested by archeologists. There is a reference point in the Biblical record in the Old Testament, that King Solomon was growing nuts (identified as walnuts by some translators), however, the likelihood of these nuts being other than almonds is very remote,...
•History Of Wildlife Food: Nuts, Berries, Fruits, And Acorns
For over 100 years hunting plantations have been planting fruit trees for wildlife food and shelter. Like the old English hunting plantations, today’s hunters are realizing that big deer, strong bucks and graceful does, hardy turkey, fat quail, and dove come from supplementing what would otherwise experience a very mediocre diet by planting and growing berry plants, nut trees, fruit trees and acorns from oak trees, or muscadines from grapevines.
Fruit from Japanese persimmons are among the...
•Large Shade Trees; Pine, Oak, And Maple For Shade Tree Planting And Growing
The largest living creatures that man encounters are shade trees that are handily defined as trees that produce shade protection from the sunlight. Mankind loves and respects shade trees with their cooling benefits and the many available wood products, that improve the recreational environment and offer food and shelter for wildlife, birds, insects, and other creatures. Trees are planted and grown for many purposes; for their sculptured beauty, beautiful seasonal color, and flowers. Flowering...
•Moderate Cold Hardy Traits In Date Palms And Fan Palms
The Canary Island Date palm, Phoenix canariensis, is one of the most sought after and spectacular palm trees seen in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Lower Texas, and coastal South Carolina. This large, formal palm tree, looks great when grown next to Mediterranean architectural structures at resorts and hotels, such as the Cloister Hotel, at Sea Island, Georgia, where the large Canary Island Date palms are planted and grown at the entrances to the hotels, and stretching up...
•Modern Fruit Trees Evolved From Ancient Historical Roots
The rise and fall of ancient empires has developed parallel also to the establishment and destruction of advanced fruit tree orchards. Ancient fruit trees such as olive tree orchards increased the wealth and health of nations by feeding the populations, providing nutritious olive oil to light lamps in ancient houses at night, as food and a cooking medium, and for the purpose of anointing Kings and Queens. Olive trees could not produce continuous crops unless the gardeners growing them could...
•Modern Hybrid Canna Lily Improvement
Modern canna cultivars (varieties) began appearing 250 years ago with the collection of native wild cannas that are technically referred to by botanists as “species.” Canna wild species produced large leaves that were fast growing with a tropical appearance in the landscaped garden. The flowers of wild canna species were small and in gardening circles were viewed as of insignificant notice as a garden subject except for the lush leaves that were highly valued in exotic landscape setting. The...
•Ogeechee Limes – Pleasantly Tasting Like Citrus
The shoreline of the Ogeechee River is densely imbedded with a little known fruit tree called the, "Ogeechee Lime" Nyssa ogeechee, that could easily demand attention from farmers, who are looking for a secondary crop. Local landowners, and those who fish on the banks of the river, are familiar with this tree that can grow 30-40 ft. tall, and in the Fall, the leaves and the oval shaped fruit turn a brilliant scarlet in color. The fruit or berry is about 1-2 inches long and reaches the...
•Palm Trees For Office Indoor Planting Or Outside In The Deep South
Several types of palm trees can be grown outside or inside, if planted in a container. Palm trees grown in containers are suitable for low light office situations or indoors at homes in Northern States. Gardeners can buy small, reasonably priced palm trees at a nursery to be planted, to grow as bonsai specimens. Gardeners can purchase mature indoor palms from certain Internet nurseries that will be delivered fast by semi-trucks
Pygmy Date Palm, Phoenix roebellenii, originated in Asia and can...
•Palm Trees Suitable For Containers Used Outside And Inside Your Home Or Office
Dioon (Gum) Palm Tree - Dioon spinulosum Giant Dioon is technically a cycad of pre-historical origin, and the Dioon palm tree can grow up to 1 ½ ft. in diameter with a Dioon trunk growing twelve feet tall. The bright waxy-green leaves of the Dioon are feather-like and pointed on the tips. The giant Dioon palm tree is a favorite container plant and will tolerate temperatures of 25 degrees F., without any significant effect or leaf change.
Bamboo Palm Tree, Reed Palm Tree - Chamaedorea...
•Perennial Flowering Vines, Bush Hedges, And Fern Plants
Gardeners grow two types of plants basically, annuals and perennial plants. The annual plant grows from a seed; flowering follows and the mother plant dies after the new crop of seed has matured. The perennial plant does not have a life span that is limited to one year unless it is grown out of zone. For instance, the tulip bulb is a perennial plant when grown in the Netherlands, but in much of the United States, the tulip bulbs decline and won't flower again in many States, so that tulips are...
•Phoenix Palm Trees For Landscapes And Offices
Commercially, the Phoenix genus of palm trees is broad and very desirable for use in landscape situations of the south, and to decorate offices. Huge specimens of the Canary Island Date Palm, Phoenix canariensis, show considerable cold hardy qualities in northern parts of southern states such as zone 7. Phoenix sylvestris can also be used as landscape specimen for landscapers who look for slender trunks. The Medjool date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, can be planted as a fruit tree to produce...
•Rare And Exotic Garden Perennials For Landscape Planting
The term, 'perennial plant', means simply that the plant returns following severe freezes, to grow again the next year. Trees are cold hardy tested perennials by nature, some trees that are evergreens and do not go dormant, but merely slow down during various seasons, and other shade trees enter dormancy and shed the leaves. Tree growth of shade trees may stop altogether in extremely cold climates, but in the spring, will surge with buds that open to flower and leaf out.
Great difficulties...
•Rare Flowering Trees That Light Up Your Garden Landscape
Flowering apricot trees offer spectacular flowering blooms earlier than any other flowering tree, sometimes blooming as early as January. This early flowering can result in cold weather damage in some areas of the United States. New outstanding cultivars of flowering apricot trees can be purchased from mail order nursery retailers. Prunus mume flowers, in early spring with flower colors of red, pink, and white, all blooming on the same twigs of the tree. Double flowers of apricot, dark-red...
•Shade Trees, Flowering Trees, And Evergreen Trees For Landscape Specimen Growing
Shade trees do not all necessarily shed their leaves in the fall (deciduous), but some shade trees are evergreen, and others can be classified as flowering trees. The fact that shade trees can cool temperatures in the surrounding landscape and cool off houses during the heat of the summer is well known. Some evergreen trees also provide shade all year, a factor that may be undesirable in some cases during hard winter freezes, when an evergreen shade tree may block off the heat rays from the...
•The Amazing American Muscadine Is Delicious, With Dramatic Health Benefits.
Historically, muscadine grape vines and the resulting fruit were discovered and recognized as a very important horticultural product, found growing in huge populations and proportions in the United States from Delaware southward along the Atlantic Seaboard. The first record of muscadine grape vine occurrence was posted in the ship logbook in the year 1524 by the navigator Giovanni de Varrazzano, who was hired as a captain from Florence, Italy by the king of France to explore and report on the...
•The Amazing Flowers Of Camellia Japonica And Camellia Sasanqua
Japanese Camellia, Camellia japonica. American gardeners in the South know and love the Camellia japonica, a landscape shrub, bush, or tree that can grow 20 feet tall. The Camellia japonica became an important garden landscape plant in the World War II war years in the 1940's when Dr. Tom Brightwell collected a large Camellia cultivar planting at the University of Georgia Experimental Station at Tifton, Georgia, that is still actively maintained as a Camellia arboretum for gardeners to tour...
•The Ancient Crinum Lily Inhabiting The Island Of St. Simon, And Sea Island, Ga.
William Bartram, a notable, early American botanist, extensively explored the Island of St. Simons in Georgia; describing vividly the landscape, animals and plants in the area, along with his personal encounters with islanders, and in most cases, their generous offers of food, shelter and conversation and hospitality to him in March of the year 1774.
Near present day Fort Frederica, beautifully described by Bartram, as near a “venerable grove of live oaks, under whose spreading boughs opened...
•The Ancient History Of Berry Improvement
Many of the berries grown today commercially were recently hybridized from wild berry plants and bushes that grew as native plants on many continents since ancient historical times, such as the strawberry plants, blueberry plants, raspberry plants, and leading to the development of hybrid berries grown today such as the Boysenberry plant, Loganberry plant and Youngberry plants that are crosses between, blackberry, rubus spp., and the red raspberry, Rubus idaeus, the latter hybrid berry plants...
•The Chinese Strawberry Tree (Chinese Mulberry Tree), Cudrania Tricuspidata And European Strawberry Tree, Arbutus Unedo
The Chinese Strawberry Tree (Chinese Mulberry Tree), Cudrania tricuspidata, has been extensively planted in American because of its huge potential for bearing unique red strawberries that, once picked from the tree, have the appearance of a giant raspberry. The Chinese Strawberry fruit is more rounded than a mulberry, which is usually elongated. The Chinese Strawberry Tree is sometimes called a Chinese mulberry, because in China, the strawberry tree leaf looks like a miniature version of a...
•The Flame Azalea Shrubs Are Easy Plants To Grow In Shade
Most gardeners consider the azalea shrub as an easy plant to grow, if located in the most suitable environment. Azaleas can be divided into two recognizable groups, the evergreen azalea and the deciduous azalea, which drops all of its leaves in the fall during cold weather. Most deciduous azaleas grown in an ornamental garden are native plants of the American forests, and the group consists of approximately 16 species that vary in color from: white, pink, yellow, red and bi color.
Deciduous...
•The History And Evolution Of Banana Hybrids
Bananas are the world’s favorite fruit and many nations depend on banana trees to supply its citizens with this delicious food product to save them from famines. Bananas are available on markets year round and are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, containing only small hollow seed that are infertile. Ornamental bananas, ‘Musa ensete’ and ‘Musa nana’ are inedible but in high demand for landscaping.
India is the world’s largest producer of bananas and Alexander the Great found them growing...
•The History Of Almond Tree, ‘Prunus Dulcis’
The ancient travelers and traders, who circulated back and forth over the Silk Road route between Greece and Turkey, used almonds in their commercial trading, in exchange for other expensive and desirable goods. Native almond trees, ‘Prunius dulcis,’ are found growing in Western Asia, and biblical references suggest that almond nuts have been grown in Israel since 2000 B.C. from time immemorial in the ancient land of Canaan; according to the book of Numbers in the Testament. Other references...
•The History Of Important Flowering Trees
Most flowering trees are small and can be planted in full sun or partial shade, being easily adapted to small yards. The Japanese Saucer Magnolia, Magnolia x Soulangiana, awakens in late winter or early spring. First growing flower buds that increase in size as the weather warms up, burst into dramatic flower colors of purple, pink, white, red, and yellow; the yellow flowering magnolia is the rarest. If freezing weather occurs, as it often does during the late winter or early spring, the...
•The Impact Of Famous Americans On The American Native Nut Tree, The Pecan, Carya Illinoinensis
Historically, the native American pecan nut tree was one of the most significant plant discoveries that positively influenced U.S. agriculture and commercial food production to provide a nut product, highly nutritious, inexpensive to produce, and with a delicate distinctive flavor, unrivaled by any other nut. The pecan nut was well known by the early American Indian tribes as a food source for the American Indian families, and the Indian hunters knew that during the fall and winter, when the...
•The Rare, Prolific, Tasty Fruit Of The Chinese Jujube
The Chinese Jujube Tree (Chinese Date), Ziziphus zizyphus. The Chinese Jujube was introduced formally into the U.S. in 1908 by the USDA that imported exceptional Chinese cultivars from China, Japan, Korea and Indochina. About 50 of these trees were established at the University of GA Experimental Station under the supervision of the Mr. Otis J. Woodard at Tifton, GA and other plantings were made in LA and CA. The planting of the rare Chinese Jujube trees at Tifton, GA caused much local...
•Tissue Culture Applications To Improve Crops Of Strawberries, Raspberries, And Blackberries
When agricultural crops are reproduced by division after several generations, often a decline occurs in qualities such as vigor, yield, disease resistance, plant and fruit appearance and uniformity of size or shape. This condition of decline is commonly called, “run out.”
Strawberry plants have demonstrated this clonal decline (running out) for many years. After growing strawberry plants for five or more years, gardeners became accustomed to dividing a clump of plants that contained the...
•Web Review - Modern Canna Cultivars
One of the most perplexing and aggravating problems in marketing canna lilies or buying canna rhizomes from the retail market is the practice of renaming canna cultivars of old or new hybrids with illegitimate names. One reason merchants rename canna lilies is to offer the public an apparent new canna choice to plant in the garden. Another reason is to rename a canna that has fallen out of favor to the gardening public. This practice of renaming flowers is not just a recent phenomenon, but it...
•Web Review Of Victorian Canna Hybrids
Great progress began in 1870 in the hybridizing of the canna lily by a combination of genetic materials from the wild canna species that had been collected from around the world, leading to the production of the 'Madame Crozy' cultivar. A great interest developed in canna lilies as a colorful garden plant that previously had been grown chiefly for the fast growing, tropical foliage, since the wild canna blooms were mostly small and uninteresting. The stockpile of collected, canna wild species...
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