Dear ##firstname[Friend]##,

Crystal Rennicke

Happy Holidays! Have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet? I’m sure I’m not the only one that has put ‘saving money’ on my list. Thanks to our wonderful readers, I’ve gotten a lot of great advice for being frugal in my backyard. How are you saving money this year? Send us your tips!

Take a look at some of the pictures from our December photo challenge. And while you’re there, upload your favorite nature photos that correlate with our January theme, “winter.” Have fun!

Happy Gardening!
—Crystal

##\keycode.PSCopyHTML##

READ ON TO DISCOVER...

• Plant of the Month
• Yard Smarts
• Question of the Month
• Frugal Backyard Tip
• Submit Your Story

Plant of the Month

Christmas Cactus
Botanical name: Schlumbergera.
Size: 2 feet high; 3 feet wide.
Light needs: Bright to indirect light indoors. Partial shade if placed outdoors in summer.
Flower colors: Red, white, orange and deep or pale pink.
Bloom time: Most bloom from late fall to late winter, but some flower in spring and late summer.
Soil type:Epiphytic cactus potting mix or any well-draining potting soil.
Propagating: Place stem cuttings in potting soil.
Prize pick: Schlumbergera orssichiana produces white blossoms with a purplish-pink tinge at the tips. This small species has a particularly long blooming period, from late summer to winter.

top

Yard Smarts

Something Warm on a Cold Day
One of the biggest winter favors you can do for birds is to offer a heated supply of fresh drinking water.
  According to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, this will not only help the birds, but could attract species that don’t normally come to your feeders. Click here for an easy-to-make heated watering hole.  

top

Question of the Month

Tough Beauty
Q: This resilient plant is in one of my flower beds and bloomed right through the ice and snow. Do you know what it is? –Sue Young, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Melinda:This tough beauty is a poppy anemone, botanically known as Anemone coronaria. Although it typically survives winter weather only in zones 7 to 10, a few bulb producers have found it tolerates slightly colder locations—as your photo proves!
  These anemones prefer light sandy soils and full sun, plus drier conditions during its dormant period after it flowers.
  Gardeners in colder climates will need to dig up the tubers and store them indoors in a cool dark location for winter.

For more answers from Melinda, click here.

top

Frugal Gardener Tip

Dual-Purpose Décor
My neighbor uses straw bales to decorate her yard in fall, so I asked if I could have them after she was finished with them. She seemed thrilled that I could use them—and even offered to deliver them to my house!
  I spread the straw on top of the paths between my raised garden beds. This deters weeds, keeps my shoes dry and provides a pretty path to walk on. –Hope Martin, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

top

Submit Your Story

Have you committed a backyard blunder? We want to hear it! Click here to submit your story.

Submit your story»

top