You name it, people have tried it if someone has told them it might help them lose weight. The problem with most diet pills is that they use harsh chemicals that can cause serious side effects such as dehydration, diarrhea, insomnia, and a host of others. Natural diet supplements seem to be a more preferred form of weight control so long as they actually work. What if there were a cactus that was known to be a natural appetite suppressant? It is called the Hoodia cactus of...

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 p...

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, c...

So you have decided to build a garden pond? Congratulations! With a little bit of time, effort, and money you can build a pond that is both beautiful and functional. Below you will find a checklist of what needs to be done to construct a garden pond in your backyard, as well as a list of additional things that you will want to consider when designing your pond. The Basics Step 1: Design/Plan your dream pond. This step in the process is not one to be taken lightly. You n...

Plants and flowers are a joy to behold, and they continue to be one of the major ways in which we beautiful our homes. Bringing plants into our homes, however, can be much much more than simply plunking a vase of flowers onto the dinner table. By starting an indoor house plant collection, we can incorporate all the color and greenery of a garden into the internal space of our home. If you are considering starting an indoor houseplant collection, you need to think about thi...

After a small adventure I had to go through with my apartment building tenants who needed some convincing, I was allowed to begin working on a roof garden at which I imagined myself spending time relaxing under the sun while conversing with friends. But since the space I was allowed to use from the roof top was not as big as the whole roof itself, I had to adjust my plans to the already permanent constructions and always come up with new ideas as I was moving along. My anx...

Do you have a young person in the house who wants to make extra money? If so, you can teach that young adult how to use the lawn mower. Not only can they help maintain the landscaping at home, but they can also make a little extra cash by mowing for neighbors. Some basic safety needs to be explained before you turn him/her loose on the yard. To help keep the operator safe and the mower in good condition, you should point out all the different obstacles that should be avoided ...

Koi fish are beautiful to behold, they are brightly colored and swim through the water with such grace and confidence. They are also quite entertaining. Unlike that little goldfish in your aquarium, Koi are very social animals. They love to be in large groups and will really put on a show at your next party. One of the best things about Koi is their ability to eat out of your hand. In fact, that is one of the first things that draw many Koi owners into the hobby in the fir...

Summer officially gives way to autumn on the 22nd of September, which is known as the autumnal equinox, but for the lawn owner autumn begins much earlier. This is because the green keeping tasks for autumn begin from the 1st day of September. Your first task is to make changes to your mowing method, I would suggest raising the height of cut by 1cm above your summer mowing height which will give you an ultimate mowing height of 3cm (1 ¼ inches). The reason why you raise the...

Here are 10 ways to transform a boring garden into a place of interest: * Attract Wildlife Who doesn't love to see birds and butterflies visit their garden? Try to mimic the natural landscape within your garden and you will have lots of little visitors that will delight the senses. * Add a Secret Area An area that is not immediately visible to the eye when viewing a garden can prove a delightful surprise for visitors. Clever design can hide the entrance, i.e. camo...