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Articles by Susan Patterson
Comprehensive Guide to Crocus Flower Care and Cultivation
Crocuses are native to meadows and woodlands. Early spring bloomers are most common; however, some crocuses bloom in the autumn. The name crocus is derived from the Latin crocatus, meaning saffron yellow. The spice saffron is obtained from the stamens of Crocus sativus, a fall-blooming species. Appearance The flowers are delicate, cup-shaped blooms in shades of yellow, white, purple, and lavender. Many selections have bi-colored blooms.
How to Harvest Seeds (& Why You Should)
Just because you've plucked all your garden's fruits and veggies and watered your flowers for the last time doesn't mean your gardening job is over. It's time to start harvesting seeds. While it's hard to ignore the bigger and brighter hybrids flaunted in flashy catalogs, you'll enjoy substantial savings by growing plants from your own seeds. Don't let the naysayers steal your joy! With enough tender love and care, your seeds can sprout into beautiful plant babies.
Give the Perfect Gifts for Any Patterson Fan this Mother’s Day
We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy. by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro If You Haven’t Read the Women’s Murder Club, Start Here! The latest in this “successful and suspenseful” (Entertainment Weekly) series: an attention-seeking copycat is recreating murders by a famous killer from the Women’s Murder Club’s past—with devastating new twists.
April 2, 7 PM ET
Join authors Jordan Harper, William Landay, Susan Patterson, and Alisa Lynn Valdés along with Back Room hosts Karen Dionne and Hank Phillippi Ryan for an evening of great conversation! REGISTER The Authors William Landay is the author of All That Is Mine I Carry With Me and three previous novels: Defending Jacob, which won the Strand Critics Award for best mystery novel; The Strangler, listed as a best crime novel of the year by the L.A. Times, Daily Telegraph and others; and Mission Flats,...
How to Grow Monstera Deliciosa: Complete Plant Care Guide
If you're a fan of big, beautiful tropical houseplants, Monstera deliciosa is sure to capture your plant-loving heart. Monstera has distinctive leaves, which are large, perforated, heart-shaped, and split into lobes. Thanks to its holey leaves, this plant is sometimes called the Swiss cheese plant. Intrigued? This care guide will tell you everything you need to know to successfully care for a monstera plant of your very own - and even propagate more.
How to Clean Crocs of Any Variety (Easily and Damage-Free)
Whether you love them or hate them, you might find Crocs creeping into your closet. These unique shoes look like a clog but are surprisingly comfortable. Created with a specialized rubber material, Crocs require a bit of TLC when it comes to cleaning. Learn how to quickly and easily clean Cross of all types, from standard to leather. Find out why you shouldn't put them in the dishwasher. Croc Cleaning Supplies Before you get to cleaning, you need to grab a few supplies.
Rain Gutter Garden Ideas to Make the Most of Any Space
Rain gutter gardens are a creative way to make use of vertical space outdoors. If you have pieces of old rain gutter lying around, it's a great way to recycle them. Gutter Garden Basics The concept is simple: the rain gutters function as a long, shallow pot. Thus they're only suitable for plants that don't need a lot of growing space. They are conducive to long, narrow spaces.
Introducing LoveToKnow Health & Wellness!
The LoveToKnow team is excited to announce that we have launched LoveToKnow Health & Wellness, your new, go-to resource on how to live a happier, healthier, more balanced life. For over a decade, you have come to us for the information you need and love to know on everything from parenting and pets, to entertaining, gardening, and more. Our mission is to empower women through knowledge and help you live a life you love.
Why Is My Lucky Bamboo Plant Turning Yellow?
Lucky bamboo plants can develop yellow leaves or stalks for a number of reasons. Learning what to do if your lucky bamboo turns yellow can help you save your plant. The key to saving a plant when the yellow appears is to assess the cause and take action to bring your lucky bamboo back to health. There are four possible causes for a lucky bamboo turning yellow outside of disease: water, light, fertilizer, or temperature. Why Is My Lucky Bamboo Plant Turning Yellow?
Tulip Tree vs. Magnolia Tree: Why They Are Often Confused
Both tulip trees and tulip magnolias bloom in spring or summer depending on your location, and provide gorgeous, showy displays of flowers. Despite both having the word "tulip" in their name, that's about where the similarities end. Here's how to tell these two beautiful flowering trees apart. Tulip Magnolia Trees Tulip magnolia trees are beautiful flowering trees that are native to east and southeast Asia, as well as parts of South America.
10 Best Bathroom Cleaners That Make Cleaning a Breeze
The market is flooded with bathroom cleaners. You could spend all day in the cleaning aisle trying to find the best one. Now you don't have to. We've gathered all the best bathroom cleaners on the market in one place to make your life simple. Whether you need the perfect toilet cleaner or a tub scrub, you'll find a little bit of everything you need and more.
10 Edible Succulents (and How to Grow Them Yourself)
Succulents are becoming increasingly popular in gardens for their bold forms and hardy nature, but some people also savor them for their flavor. Here are a few edible succulents which, despite the intimidating appearance of some, make great candidates for edible landscapes. Not all succulents are edible, and you should be sure you have correctly identified any succulent you plan to eat.
I FEEL… | Kirkus Reviews
From the Baby University series This book presents a simplified explanation of the role the atmosphere plays in controlling climate. The authors present a planet as a ball and its atmosphere as a blanket that envelops the ball. If the blanket is thick, the planet will be hot, as is the case for Venus. If the blanket is thin, the planet is cold, as with Mars.
S IS FOR SUPLEX | Kirkus Reviews
An inclusive ABC imparting essential squared-circle lingo. E is for everybody, for people like me (and maybe you), who cry out with glee as the ref counts to three in a book that is long overdue! Over the decades, professional wrestling has earned—and deserved—a bad rap due to racist, sexist, homophobic, and otherwise bigoted storylines and gimmicks.
A RAINBOW OF ROCKS
Characteristics of rocks and minerals are presented alongside beautiful photos in this picture book. Clear, close-up photographs of rocks and minerals set against black backgrounds highlight this informative picture book designed for young readers. The first nine double-page spreads of the book feature a simple rhyming text that points out an uncomplicated distinguishing characteristic of two paired rocks, each named in a complementarily colored type: “Copper give sunstone its fiery glow.
20 FIRST WORDS IN 20 LANGUAGES
by Odd Dot ‧ RELEASE DATE: today A set of stock photos, mostly of happy babies or toddlers, with big spinners between each that offer appropriate single words in 20 languages. A baby waves in the first picture, and turning the toothed wheel reveals 20 greetings in a small die-cut window adjacent.
WHAT'S THE WEATHER?
An obsessed narrator creates an alphabet book overrun with rabbits, much to the chagrin of an owl who wants to create a “proper, respectable” alphabet book. The picture book begins, “A is for A rabbit,” an illustration of a large brown rabbit taking up most of the recto.
11 Insider Secrets For Growing The Most Flavorful & Abundant Herbs
There’s some advantage to growing herbs in pots and keeping them in the kitchen window sill. When you want a sprig of thyme or a few basil leaves to add to your pizza, they will be accessible. But these small plants will not give you enough raw material to make sauces or for drying and freezing. If you want an abundant supply of fresh herbs, grow them in the ground or in large raised beds. Large tubs may be considered for extremely prolific herbs that tend to encroach into the space of others.
11 Time Wasting Things You Are Doing In The Garden That You Should Stop Right Now
Do you indulge in a lot of unnecessary gardening chores by force of habit or even ignorance? The time wasted in such activities could be gainfully employed in more practical gardening chores. Check whether you are wasting time and resources on any of the following. If you garden in an area with limestone, your soil will be alkaline. Similarly, gardens close to woods and in low-lying, waterlogged areas tend to have acidic soil.
7 Hacks Used By Prize Winning Gardeners To Double Their Tomato Harvest
A bumper crop of vine-ripened luscious tomatoes is every veggie gardener’s dream. The success of this warm season vegetable depends on the length of your growing season, but following the little tricks employed by successful, prize-winning gardeners would ensure that your efforts are rewarded. Most of their secret tips for bumper tomato crops are actually hidden in plain sight but are easily missed unless pointed out. Tomatoes love rich, well draining, deep soil that allows easy root run.
15 Beautiful Perennials That Grow In The Shade
In almost every garden, you will find at least one area that lies in the shade. It could be under a beautiful tree in a very prominent part of the garden or in a faraway nook that doesn’t draw much attention. Sometimes you can increase light by trimming overhead branches or reducing the height of the hedges, but that may not always be the case.
21 Glorious Garden Plants That Attract Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are a delight to watch in any garden as they sprint from one flower to the next, performing some pretty amazing air acrobatics. Inviting them into your garden is not all fun and games, however, as they are instrumental in pollination, making them a welcome visitor anytime. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red, but what really keeps them coming back to a particular garden spot is lots of flowers that produce nectar.
7 Garden Tools That Are Overrated & 7 That You Desperately Need
Any self-respecting gardener should have the tools of the trade, and the very best ones at that. Nothing much can be accomplished without proper tools, but the truth is that some of the modern tools that offer the moon don’t actually help increase your yield in any way. People have always cultivated the land and grown edibles with little more than simple, handheld tools.
14 Convincing Reasons Every Gardener Should Grow Calendula
Calendula, commonly called pot marigold, has been popular with gardeners all over the world for such a very long time that its origins are lost in antiquity. Some consider it a European native while others speculate that it could have spread from Asia or the Mediterranean. Calendula’s extreme adaptability may be one of the reasons for its wide distribution. But its healing properties could have played the main role since this plant is part of the pharmacopeia of diverse indigenous cultures.
20 Plants & What They Can't Grow With
Companion planting has gained great momentum amongst novice and experienced gardeners alike; especially with those who aim to grow maximum food in minimum space. Some plants like marigolds and a few other aromatic herbs are grown exclusively for the protective effect they seem to have against many garden pests, but not all vegetables appreciate their presence.
17 Organic Secrets to Turbocharge Your Garden Harvest
All gardeners want to get the best out of their time and effort by maximizing food production. If space is the limiting factor in some gardens, inclement weather and short growing seasons could be the challenges elsewhere. Here are some practical ways to increase your garden output in spite of these problems. In outdoor gardens, regular soil is the usual growing medium, but to get a good yield from vegetables, you need to amend it suitably to match the requirements of the crops you grow.
25 Plants & Herbs You Can Propagate From Cuttings
Growing new plants from cuttings is a great way to increase your stock in a relatively short time. Rooted cuttings are often sturdier than seedlings, and come to maturity faster, many of them bearing flowers and fruits much earlier than seedlings. For example, if you were to grow English Holly from seeds, it may take years to grow into a good-sized bush and bear the red berries, if at all it does. Holly is dioecious, having separate male and female plants.
15 Advanced Seed Starting Secrets You Won't Learn At The Garden Center
Love gardening? Then you’ll love our brand new Kindle book: 605 Secrets For A Beautiful, Bountiful Organic Garden: Insider Secrets From A Gardening Superstar. “You reap what you sow,” may be a proverb with profound meaning, but it is literally true where gardening is concerned. Half the success of seed starting comes from the quality of seeds, and the other half from what you do with them.
10 Gardening Myths Most People Believe But That Aren't True
If you are interested in growing a garden, there are lots of people offering advice from the internet, to books to even those you know very well. However, not all advice is good advice and some is just downright silly. Sorting out the good from the bad is sometimes difficult, especially if you are a novice gardener. So, not matter where you get your gardening advice from, it is a good idea to be sure that your source is reputable and that there is truth behind the claim.
Vegetable Garden Layout Ideas for Space-Savvy Gardeners
This summertime activity can boost your mood, supply you with fresh ingredients, and let you stretch your muscles. Know what we're talking about? It's vegetable gardening! Whether you've got acres to plant massive gardens or a tiny plot beside your patio, you can bring a thriving garden to life. But the first step to growing a bountiful harvest is figuring out a vegetable garden layout that'll work for your space. How to Build Raised Vegetable Patches Remember Cabbage Patch Kids?
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