If you have a pool, you may wonder why there are so many bees in it. Often you'll scoop up a half-dozen casualties when you're skimming the pool, and they tend to land on everyone--especially those wearing bright colors.

Swimming pools are like big beacons for bees. They see them and they think "Water! Yes!" Swimming pools are a dependable water source for suburban animals. In many places a pool will be the only body of water inside their entire territory. They tell their friends and then they all know that your pool is the place to drink up.

The problem is, you don't really want them there, and it's not a safe place for them, either. Bees have to dry out before they can fly, and the vertical and slippery walls on your pool make this impossible for them, so they will drown. They can also drown in your nice, deep birdbath.

A good way to help out your local pollinators and to keep your pool safer is to create a place for them to get water safely, away from your pool. All you'll need is a basin of some sort, wide and shallow works best, some clean water, and something to put in it for the bees to climb onto to dry off.

A ceramic or clay pot base works well, but you could also use a bird bath, a bowl, or even a deep dish for the basin. Marbles, glass beads, fish gravel, rocks or wood can be used on the inside. A water-absorbing rock, like pumice or sandstone, works well--they can land and drink out of the rock. Even a loofah will work (but make sure you don't use one with soap added)!

The important thing is that there is something to hold water and a way for them to get out of the water. Arranging your filler at various heights in the basin will allow for bees to get water whether it's all the way full or mostly empty. As with a bird bath, you will have to clean and refill periodically.

Choosing a nice decorative basin and mixing and matching different sizes and colors of substrate will create a unique-looking and fully-functional bee bath. And don't be surprised if you attract a few butterflies as well!

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For most pool owners, the landscaping surrounding it can be the finishing touch to the backyard oasis. Plants provide beauty and privacy around a swimming pool.

They also can be used to hide swimming pool equipment and help swimming pools to blend more naturally with the surrounding environment.

Your goal should be to create a landscape that frames your pool and makes it the focal point of your yard. Make sure to incorporate some taller plants that will be able to form privacy screens around the pool area. And don't forget to select plants that will be low maintenance and use less water. This will give you more time to enjoy your pool.

Every pool owner should be aware of a number of considerations before selecting plants. Remember that your pool and the deck surrounding it reflect a tremendous amount of sun. Make sure to choose plants that can take it. Also, pick plants that either don't cause much litter or that drop all their leaves at one time so you only have to clean up once a year. Constant leaf drop will require constant cleaning.

Use low water-use plants that will not require heavy irrigation around the pool. Too much water can damage pool equipment and potentially lift your concrete decking. Plan for year-round color and select plants with showy flowers that don't attract bees.

Try to avoid planting lawns near swimming pools. This will help keep grass clippings out of the water. If planting trees, select varieties with non-invasive root systems to avoid damage to deck or pool.

It's hard to avoid splashing around a pool, so any nearby plants will probably be exposed to the effects of pool chemicals. How your plants are affected will depend upon the type of chemicals you use. As a general rule, plants with thick leaves are more likely to be resistant to chemicals and pool salts.

A poolside landscape will enhance the beauty and elegance of your pool. By softening the edges of your pool, you can make it blend in more naturally with the rest of the garden. We have a great selection of plants that are perfect for poolside planting. Stop by and our staff of nursery professionals will be happy to help get you started.

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An arrangement of fresh flowers will brighten a room, bringing the beauty of nature indoors. Picking fresh flowers that you have grown yourself is one of the delights of gardening, but whether you are picking your own flowers or buying cut flowers, you will want to do all you can to get the most from your arrangement.

Picking Flowers

When picking flowers from your garden, do so early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Cool them quickly by placing them in a bucket of water left in a cool place for an hour or so. This is especially important in hot summer weather.

Buying Cut Flowers

If you are buying cut flowers, look for bright, fresh-looking flowers that are just starting to open. Avoid flowers that have been standing in the sun or have been exposed to car exhaust fumes. Flowers with yellowing leaves on the stem or those with slimy stems have been in water for quite some time and are unlikely to be very satisfactory. When you get your flowers home, put them straight into a bucket of water without unwrapping them and leave them in a cool place to revive.

Clean Vases

Make sure your vases are perfectly clean. The stains in vases are usually bacteria that will get to work blocking the water uptake to the flower stems. Stains that are difficult to remove with normal cleaning may be removed by filling the vase with water and adding a few drops of household bleach. Allow the vase to soak for a couple of hours; then rinse well.

Clean Water and Preservatives

Clean water is essential for cut flowers. You can change the water in the vase daily or use a floral preservative. Check the vase often to see if it needs filling. Some flowers with woody stems drink a lot of water, especially in the first two or three days after cutting.

Preparing the Flowers

Daffodils, jonquils and tulips should not be placed with other flowers immediately after cutting because their secretions can block the stems of other flowers, causing their vase-mates to collapse. Place them in a separate vase for an hour or two. Then seal the tips of the stems by dipping them in very hot water before adding them to a mixed arrangement.

If flowers develop a bent neck, they probably have an air lock in the stem and are unable to absorb water properly. Recut the stems under water and place them in cool water for a couple of hours.

Most flowers absorb water best if cuts are made between nodes or joints. This is certainly true of carnations and hydrangeas. Never crush the stems, as the damaged tissue will not absorb water well, and the water will become polluted. Sharp, clean cuts are best.

When creating an arrangement from your garden, remember that foliage goes nicely with flowers--try some ferns or other greenery in your arrangement.

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5 More Mistakes Made by the New Gardener

1. Planting too deep:
All trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals (that means everything) should be planted at the same level as they were in the container they came out of. Having said that, there may be an instance, now and then, when a plant in a container has some exposed roots because of soil erosion caused by watering the plant; of course, in this case you can cover the exposed roots. DO NOT, however, raise the soil up around the trunk or the main stem(s) of the plant. This can cause the bark there to rot, eventually causing the plant to die.

If, for some reason, you can't plant at the same level as the soil in the container, it is all right (and in some soils, like heavy clay, preferable) to plant it a little high.

There are a couple of plants (tomatoes and marigolds come to mind) that you CAN plant deep; these two examples will actually develop roots along the buried part of the stem. By the same token, there are a couple of plants that require being planted a little high (I'm thinking camellias and azaleas). But if you're a new gardener, just keep it simple at first and plant most everything at the same level it was in the container - you won't go wrong.

2. Removing plants that are dormant because they look dead:
As you probably already know, there are trees and shrubs that keep their leaves year-round (these are called “evergreens”) and those that lose their leaves in the winter (known as “deciduous”). Some of the deciduous kinds can look notoriously dead when they have no leaves; also, some deciduous trees and shrubs break dormancy later than others. Before you give up on your plant and decide to give it the ax, perform a simple test. With your fingernail (on plants with softer bark), a paring knife or the blade of a pruning shear nick a very small area of the bark of the plant in question. If it is alive, you will see green right under the nicked bark.

There are also evergreen perennials and those that die to the ground in the winter (AKA “herbaceous”). These herbaceous types will re-grow in the spring from the same root. Although there are many, one example of an herbaceous perennial is Gloriosa Daisy. Don't be in a hurry to dig up and discard a perennial that dies to the ground. As with the trees and shrubs, some send up new growth earlier than others; this can also depend on how cold or warm the preceding winter was and how early spring breaks, both of which can vary from year to year.

3. Applying too much fertilizer or fertilizing when the plant is stressed for water:
If you want your plant to grow really fast, the way to do it is to feed it more than the package recommends, right? WRONG!!! Too much fertilizer is actually worse than not feeding your plant at all; neither scenario is good, but an over-fertilized plant will die a lot quicker than an under-fertilized one. Too much fertilizer will burn your plant and, depending on the amount you gave it can kill it within a day or two. If you have accidentally fertilized a plant too heavily try to scrape away the excess, if possible. Then apply a lot of water, to try to dilute the fertilizer and wash it out of the root zone of the plant. This must be done as soon as possible. It is easier to burn a plant with granular fertilizer than it is with liquid fertilizer.

Another no-no is fertilizing your plant when it is dry. When fertilizer is applied to a plant, water is given immediately thereafter so the plant can draw up food. When an extremely dry plant is fertilized, it draws up the water (and the fertilizer) much more rapidly than it normally would; this results in a burn. Make sure your plant is moist and not stressed for water before you fertilize it.

4. Using a weed-eater around the trunks of trees:
The results of this practice are so widespread that there is now a commonly-used name for it: “weed-eater disease”. It is really tempting (probably because it's so much faster) when trimming grass around the trunks of trees to grab the trusty ol' weed-eater instead of the grass shears.

Problem is, some trees (especially those with thinner bark) can be killed by this practice. Directly under the bark of the tree is the cambium layer; if this is damaged, everything above it will die. If the whole circumference of the trunk is damaged, the whole tree will die. While some trees have thick enough bark to withstand the ravages of the weed-eater, why take the chance?

5. Pruning (some) spring-flowering shrubs at the wrong time of the year:
This gets a little complicated, but we'll try to keep it fairly simple. Some flowering shrubs bloom on new wood and some bloom on old wood.

The most common time to prune things is in the winter or early spring, depending on where you live. If your shrub blooms on new wood, this won't be a problem. But some flowering shrubs (like lilacs) bloom on old wood. What this means is that they start forming their flower buds in the summer of the year before they bloom (even though you can't see them yet). You can see where winter or spring pruning on a shrub like this would create a problem. The problem is, you won't have any flowers the following spring. The time of year to prune this type of shrub is immediately after it's finished blooming. If you are in doubt about when to prune your flowering shrub, just stop by and ask us!

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