Author: Antonio Pachowko

How to Grow and Get the Best from your Scheffleras

In this article, we will discuss how to grow and get the best from your Scheffleras, a popular houseplant. Schefflera make a wonderful leafy houseplant and a great addition to any home.

Schefflera is a genus of flowering plants that belong to the family Araliaceae, where up to 900 species are known to exist. Most are trees and shrubs that grow up to 20m in height with beautiful palmate, long, shiny, oval leaves that droop from a central stem, thus resembling an umbrella.

Scheffleras are not frost hardy and in cooler climates, they are grown indoors for most of the …

Creating Water Plants in Buckets

In this article, we will discover how to use shiny metal buckets to plant your water plants in. Of all the water features that I have discussed from bubble fountains, water containers, planting marginals, bog plants in containers, this is the simplest.

All you need is a bucket and a plant. Shiny metal buckets that can hold water is a wonder in the garden, as they have reflective surfaces that suggest it contains water and it shows it at its best. So what is not to like about having a water plant in a metal container.

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Making your own Hypertufa Container- Create your own Container

In this article, we will be discussing how to create a hypertufa container. In a previous article on stone containers I discussed hypertufa and how it can be used to make containers, I barely touched the subject in that article but now it is the time to discuss how to do it properly.

As said in that article stone containers are delightful in the garden but they are expensive, it is easy to make a fake stone mixture that can be used to mould your own container; it is called hypertufa.


It can be used …

How to Create a Bog Garden in a Half-Barrel

In this article, we will discuss how to create a specific bog garden in a half-barrel. In a previous article, I talked about how to have a bog garden in full sun and shade, discussing how to create one and what plants to use.  I will take this further in this article and talk about how to create a specific bog garden that uses plants and other important features.

Bog plants make an ideal feature in containers and tend to look their best when full of beautiful plants in a half-oak barrel.

This is one of the best ways …

How to Grow and to Get the Best from your Pileas

In this article, we will be discussing the best way to grow your pileas. We will discuss what the best growing conditions are, what the best varieties to grow and what the pitfalls this plant can suffer from.

Pileas are very attractive plants that are grown for their leaves that are often interestingly marked and are textured. No matter what pilea you buy they tend to be easy to grow. Let us delve further into more about this wonderful houseplant.

 WHAT ARE PILEAS?

Pilea is a large group of plants that has up to 715 species in the genus. The …

Creating a Marginal Pond in a Barrel

In this article, we discuss how to create a marginal pond garden in a barrel. Often we want plants that are a bit different and often not seen in your garden. One of these is marginal pond plants as they need water to survive. You think at first that it is impossible to have marginals in a container. Well, I am going to dismiss that thought and help you create your own marginal pond garden.

YOU DO NOT ONLY HAVE TO USE A BARREL

Although I will be talking about wooden barrels, you can use any container as long as …

Creating a Miniature Water Lily Pond in a Half-barrel

In this article, we will find out how to create a miniature water lily pond in a half-barrel. Most of us have a tinkering for a pond in our gardens, but not all of us have the room or resources to have one. A potted pond may not have the size of an individual pond but it will satisfy the need for water, as they make a great patio feature.

When you are creating a water lily pond, you will need to place the container in position first, as once filled with plants, water and other feature it will be …

Creating a Water Garden in a Wooden Barrel

In this article, we will discover a simple and easy way to create a water garden in a wooden barrel. Who does not like a water feature in their garden, but some of us do not have the room or resources to have a pond. In this article, you will discover how to create a water garden in a barrel that can hold water lilies, marginal plants, fish and even a fountain.

In a previous article, I have discussed how to create a bubble fountain and a small pebble water feature, but we now extend this to cover creating a …

How to Grow and Get the Best from your Philodendrons

In this article, we will discuss how to grow the very popular houseplant philodendrons. You will discover how to grow them in terms of conditions they prefer to grow in, varieties to grow and the potential pitfalls.

WHAT ARE PHILODENDRONS?

Philodendrons are handsome, elegant foliage plants that come in a variety of forms. They are hundreds of species of philodendron (489 species at the last count), where in cool climates they are often grown as a houseplant. Naturally, in its growing habit in Central and South America, they can be grown outdoors.

They belong to the large Araceae family, where …

How to Grow and Get the Best from your Peperomias

In this article, we will be discussing the best way to grow Peperomias as houseplants in terms of the care they need, the varieties to grow and the problems that they can suffer from. Peperomias are delightful houseplants with their patterned, puckered and variegated leaves.

In this article, we will look at how to care for these beauties, what varieties to grow and what potential problems they suffer from. Before we dwell into all that, we must discover what a Peperomia is.

WHAT ARE PEPEROMIAS?

Peperomias fall into a large genus of the family Piperaceae, where Peperomia is one genus …