Self Improvement Site
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
On The Internet! Take the Self Improvement Tour
Articles from Francis Rosenfeld | Selfgrowth.com
- Bundled Indoors - by Submitted on Jan 03, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldSnow arrived, as promised, and blanketed a rather drab decor with a fresh coat of white. I’m bundled indoors, cozy next to the fireplace and a thick pile of flower catalogs: the summer bulbs are here. What’s featured in the glossy pages? Gladioli, every breed of lily in existence and ...
Views: 422 - Buttercups - by Submitted on Mar 21, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldGuess which were the first flowers to bloom this year? Spring finally made up its mind, not before one last fluffy snow. Despite this desperate attempt, winter lost its power and the wet blanket swiftly melted to provide the plants with welcome moisture. Every day I take a trip through the ...
Views: 631 - Care Free Bloom - by Submitted on Jul 06, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldNo matter how passionate you are about gardening, there comes a moment when you just want to plant your flower bed and forget it, at least forget about having to tend to it constantly; rest assured there are many plants, both annual and perennials, that would take care of themselves without a ...
Views: 394 - Caring for Bulbs During the Cold Season - by Submitted on Nov 02, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldWhen you plant bulbs, whether that happens in fall or spring, don’t forget to mix in a good measure of bone meal into the dirt, to help them set in and give them some food for the first year. Other than that, bulbs don’t need a lot of care. Because they are usually sprinkled among other ...
Views: 547 - Caring for Indoor Plants - by Submitted on Oct 02, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldPlants that grow in pots on the window sill like pretty much the same things as the ones cultivated in the garden: a good amount of natural light, sufficient water and a little bit of help in the form of fertilizer every now and then. That being said, indoor plants have their own set of needs ...
Views: 601 - Caring for Lavender - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldSince plant foliage usually doesn't come in this hue, even for the namesake plant itself, and this is the first time lavender came out of winter looking alive, I didn't know if it was old growth I should prune or evergreen growth I should leave alone, so I looked up lavender care ...
Views: 595 - Catmint - by Submitted on Feb 01, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldI got catmint for its pleasant scent, a blend of peppermint and pennyroyal, and its pale lavender flowers, a very refreshing sight on hot summer afternoons. It is one of the coveted perennials that bloom at the end of summer and it requires very little in terms of care. This mint cousin ...
Views: 677 - Chamomile Lawns - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldIf you have a sunny slope that is difficult to mow, in a location with well drained, sandy soil, try a chamomile lawn. The delightful apple scent is a reward in itself, and using chamomile as a groundcover offers some advantages, like low mowing, feeding and watering needs, but the plant is ...
Views: 662 - Charming blues - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldGardens have personalities, just like people. You can plant your garden, but it will decide what stays and what goes. Mine decided it likes blue flowers. Maybe it is the clay soil that gives the plants the alkaline mix they need, maybe it's the dappled shade that promotes the growth of woodland ...
Views: 636 - Charming in the Shade - by Submitted on Jun 15, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldShade gardening grew on me, literally. I don’t know how fast trees grow, but it’s fast enough and those lovely giants of the vegetal world can cover a lot of territory, both above ground and below. That’s how I ended up with every flavor of shade known to horticulture. In this situation, if ...
Views: 461 - Charming shade gardens - by Submitted on Jul 06, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI just finished creating a lovely shade garden which features a very welcome addition, "Stained Glass" hostas. These plants have everything the sun-starved gardener could hope for: beautiful and resilient foliage that weathers heat and drought, dramatic colors and large fragrant flowers worthy ...
Views: 661 - Charming Tangle - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldIf you want a real cottage garden, don’t tame it, it is supposed to be wild, messy and overgrown, sort of jumbled together without too much focus on height hierarchy and perfect color schemes. Many of its traditional plants are tall, broad and thick and spill over railings, fences, trellises ...
Views: 447 - Charming Tangle - by Submitted on Feb 02, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldIf you want a real cottage garden, don’t tame it, it is supposed to be wild, messy and overgrown, sort of jumbled together without too much focus on height hierarchy and perfect color schemes. Many of its traditional plants are tall, broad and thick and spill over railings, fences, trellises ...
Views: 406 - Chocolatey Goodness! - by Submitted on Jun 13, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldIt appears that the regular consumption of cocoa increases blood flow to the brain, thus helping it work faster and stalling neuron degeneration. Just in case we needed more reasons to reach for that chocolate bar. We don't normally think about it, but it takes a lot of effort for said sweet ...
Views: 677 - Climbers and Ramblers - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldClimbers and ramblers are nature's gift to the land-locked gardener. I don't think there is anything cozier and more delightful than a little corner filled with greenery and flowers tucked away from the world, sheltered between walls covered in rose bunches or hiding behind an old arbor trailed ...
Views: 380 - Cold Front - by Submitted on Dec 01, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldThe winter arrived, somewhat tentative but for good. Yesterday it snowed with the large and fluffy kind of flakes which form when the air is still warm. At least the garden is ready: the flower beds are mostly cleared of leaves, the bulbs are in the ground, the trellisses and the pots are ...
Views: 426 - Collaborative Growth - by Submitted on May 16, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldEstablished gardens have a secret gardeners don't learn until they've spent many seasons watching them and caring for them: the group planting graciously indulges one or two species to rule the garden for a season, and those rights change every year, allowing all the plants the opportunity to ...
Views: 320 - Color for the heart of summer - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldI must start with a confession: I'm not really fond of daylilies. They are ever present in generic plantings, in places that don't really belong to anybody but still need to look presentable. They owe this dubious reputation to the fact that once planted they really require no care. I grew up ...
Views: 592 - Companion Gardening - Planters - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldFinding good companion planting is even more important when the plants are stuck together in a container. I watched the denizens of assorted pots fight for dominance many a time and more often than not one species brazenly asserts its rights over the sun, water and nutrients and ends up owning ...
Views: 395 - Confused in the Fall - by Submitted on Oct 18, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldBetween the forty five degree mornings and the eighty degree afternoons, I don't know if I'm coming of going anymore. So much so that I had to look at the calendar to remember it is almost time to plant spring bulbs. Or not. Good gardening practice advises to plant them after October 15, but if ...
Views: 571 - Coniferous, Woody and Citrus Scents - by Submitted on Feb 28, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldConiferous and citrus scents are refreshing, restoring and revitalizing. Their smell shakes the doldrums of drab days and brings a little sunshine to your outlook on life. Coniferous scents like pine, cypress and especially balsam fir, are healing and restorative, both for physical ailments, ...
Views: 567 - Container Garden Companions - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldFinding good companion planting is even more important when the plants are stuck together in a container. I watched the denizens of assorted pots fight for dominance many a time and more often than not one species brazenly asserts its rights over the sun, water and nutrients and ends up owning ...
Views: 404 - Container Garden Companions - by Submitted on Aug 04, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldFinding good companion planting is even more important when the plants are stuck together in a container. I watched the denizens of assorted pots fight for dominance many a time and more often than not one species brazenly asserts its rights over the sun, water and nutrients and ends up owning ...
Views: 438 - Container Gardening - by Submitted on Jun 21, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldContainer gardening sneaks up on you. You start with one potted plant and pretty soon the entire patio or balcony is covered in them, looking almost indistinguishable from the adjacent flower bed. If you have lots of plants in pots, keep them grouped. That way the containers get some ...
Views: 478 - Cooking with Roses - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldWhere I grew up, roses belonged in the pantry. Between the rose preserves, the rose syrups, and the rose water in pastry dough, the aristocratic flowers doubled up as bona fide cooking ingredients. What do roses taste like? They are a bit of an acquired taste. Rose preserves are extremely ...
Views: 528 - Cottage garden roses - by Submitted on Jun 15, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldWhen a cottage garden is well designed it makes you forget the planning that went into creating it and takes over by establishing new hierarchies, thriving on apparent randomness and developing a personality of its own. Roses are very good companions in this environment and blend in ...
Views: 634 - Country Garden Favorites - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldThe country garden relies on scent just as much as it does on color and texture. Gertrude Jekyll popularized this garden design, praising the care free style of cottage perennials. Old country favorites don't always enjoy the extraordinary blooms worthy of flower shows, but they each have ...
Views: 581 - Create a garden for children - by Submitted on Feb 02, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldThere are few things that match the joy of watching children take charge of little projects, and gardening projects are no exception. Set aside a little patch of dirt for your kids to plant seeds and watch things grow. Make sure it is reasonably fertile and in full sun, you don't want to make a ...
Views: 727 - Creepy Crawlies - by Submitted on Apr 29, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldHave you noticed how many beautiful ground covers fall into the creepy category: creeping phlox, creeping veronicas, creeping Jenny? These plants usually spread by runners, hence their name, and once adjusted to their location they will keep running indefinitely, growing more substantial with ...
Views: 652 - Crop Rotation - by Submitted on Dec 02, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldCrop rotation requires a lot more space than is usually available in a backyard, but I can discuss it in concept. It is a natural gardening method that allows the soil to maintain its balance, so it doesn’t get depleted over time due to the repeated cultivation of a crop that makes heavy use of ...
Views: 612 - Cyclamen, year three - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldOn a list of gardening mistakes that expands as I advance in experience and wisdom I have to place my lack of knowledge about the behavior of the cyclamen plants. After I threw away perfectly good tubers more times than I care to recount I found out that cyclamens only grow leaves in the ...
Views: 612 - Daffodil Gardens - by Submitted on Feb 19, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldI’ve only seen daffodil gardens in public parks and plant conservatories, gardeners usually grow these lovely spring bulbs in mixed borders, where their fading foliage can be concealed by the fresh growth of the summer perennials after they are done blooming. The basic layout of a daffodil ...
Views: 437 - Daylilies - by Submitted on May 26, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldIt’s not summer until the day lilies bloom and they usually do so before the fourth of July in anticipation of the joyous celebration. For a few weeks the whole garden turns blazing orange and after the flowers fade, their foliage slowly dies down to the ground to make room to the late summer ...
Views: 538 - Decadent Indulgence - by Submitted on Feb 08, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldNow and then I get a renewed enthusiasm for making my own beauty products and the kitchen turns into a magical apothecary where decadently sweet smelling lotions and potions steam and brew. Sometimes I think making the creams, oils and perfumes is more enjoyable than using them. Not! For a ...
Views: 651 - Delightful Aromatics - by Submitted on Jul 11, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldAromatics come in two flavors: kitchen herbs and medicinals. A few herbs cross over from one category to the other, rosemary and lavender would be good examples of that, although using lavender for cooking is a bit of an acquired taste. Almost everybody has grown kitchen herbs on a sunny ...
Views: 512 - Dividing Herbaceous Perennials - by Submitted on Mar 22, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldMost herbaceous perennials can be propagated by division: dig up the clump, tease it apart into several sections, making sure they all get a reasonable share of the roots, and replant them. Some root systems are really hard and gnarly, but plants are resilient; you can use a fork or a shovel ...
Views: 363 - Early Spring Border - by Submitted on Apr 27, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldThe area I’m really looking forward to this year is the herb garden. I must have just the perfect soil for herbs, because they’re thriving, every one I planted doubled in size. The herb patch concept started as a wheel, but the space allocated has the wrong shape, so it follows the wild and ...
Views: 438 - Easy Shade Garden - by Submitted on Dec 12, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldA shaded corner isn't usually the gardener's dream, but the challenge of creating abundance in an otherwise barren and uninspiring spot is impossible to resist. Fear not, eager green thumbs, for the effort you put forth into finding out what would grow in less than ideal conditions brings with ...
Views: 587 - Eighteen and Snowing - by Submitted on Jan 08, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldI woke up this morning to a wispy snow flurry, the thin and icy kind that comes about when temperatures drop too low. Eighteen degrees, to be precise. It settled, unsure, in a thin, powdery layer that still lets the ground show through. I almost hesitated to disturb the pristine cover when I ...
Views: 559 - Eighteen and Snowing - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldI woke up this morning to a wispy snow flurry, the thin and icy kind that comes about when temperatures drop too low. Eighteen degrees, to be precise. It settled, unsure, in a thin, powdery layer that still lets the ground show through. I almost hesitated to disturb the pristine cover when I ...
Views: 444 - Enchanted Autumn - by Submitted on Sep 27, 2016 from Francis RosenfeldThe beginning of fall usually saddens me, but not this year, I don't know why, for some reason even the cold rain, the wispy fog and the chilly mornings feel soft, like an embrace. The garden doesn't look sad either, it doesn't don the scraggly, despair driven appearance that usually accompanies ...
Views: 505 - Enjoy radiant skin - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2015 from Francis RosenfeldThree major factors contribute to the health of your skin: good nutrition and general wellbeing, good conditioning and removing dead cells and impurities. Good nutrition and general well-being Food that is good for the whole body will make your complexion glow too, however, hair and skin ...
Views: 1501 - Fairy Circles - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldWhat an exciting find! I’ve heard about this phenomenon, but it is the first time I got to see it in person. It’s called a fairy circle, or ring, and there is a very simple scientific explanation for why it occurs. The spores of a mushroom extend radially around it and even though the center ...
Views: 596 - Fall Perennials - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldBy the time sedum starts to bloom autumn is not too far behind, and since every year I have the same problem, which is that the fall landscape turns into a sea of mums in every color known to man, I made a list of other perennials to get a little variety during the cooler months. Between the ...
Views: 487 - Fall Schedule - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldIf only a little late in the season, here are a few things for the fall gardener’s schedule. I haven’t even started most of mine yet, sadly. Mid-fall is the best time to move, divide or plant spring and summer blooming perennials. Fall perennials can be moved and divided at this time too, if ...
Views: 543 - Fall Textures - by Submitted on Sep 24, 2018 from Francis RosenfeldThe best way to describe the September garden is a charming mess. The summer plants don’t know whether it makes sense for them to keep going, and when they do bloom they do so in bursts and spurts that have a jarring effect on the fall landscape, which is of a completely different ...
Views: 517 - February Sowing - by Submitted on Jan 30, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldIf you thought February is when the gardener has nothing to do but wait for spring, that would not be correct: February is planting time. Every year in the middle of winter my otherwise serene living room turns into a wild jungle, and for two blessed months I live inside a miniature ...
Views: 582 - Flowers for the Shade - by Submitted on Sep 18, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldAs if the garden was aware of the colors that flatter it most, it chose white for its shade blooms, a color that creates drama when set against the darkness of its shadows. Many gardeners, weary of more unsuccessful attempts that they can palate, usually resign themselves to a shade garden ...
Views: 616 - Flowers for the Summer Solstice - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldThis is so exciting! I have heard so many stories and legends about this flower, but I never actually saw it before. This is Galium Verum, Lady’s Bedstraw, the flower of St. John, a plant so deeply associated with the summer solstice that some even believe it only blooms on the Eve of St. John’s ...
Views: 1202 - Flowers of the Rainbow - by Submitted on Mar 27, 2017 from Francis RosenfeldBecause they are so old, irises have become quite heavy with symbolism and legend, so much so that I almost got drowned in the downpour of information that carried me from the gods and goddesses of Antiquity to the budding medicine of the Middle Ages, to the royal house of France, and then back ...
Views: 648