Your All Things Plants weekly news: April 6, 2013

There were 7 new gardening ideas posted last week:

By HollyAnnS April 6, 2013 Adding Humidity for Indoor Plants Adding moisture to the air creates a micro-climate for houseplants that need more humidity. (114 words - Read the full article) (no comments)

By LarryR April 5, 2013 Flesh-Eating Flora Go Ultraviolet Ranking right up there among the oddities in the world of plants are those that consume living beings to supplement their diets. Most of us are familiar with the ubiquitous Venus fly trap that snaps shut when triggered by an unsuspecting insect. But some of these plants have more in their bag of tricks than we suspected. (246 words - Read the full article) (6 comments)

By Dutchlady1 April 4, 2013 Vermiculite or Perlite? Should you use vermiculite or perlite? They have a lot of the same properties, although their composition is very different. I suggest using Perlite to amend any type of soil to create a lighter, more porous mix. Perlite holds water but doesn't become soggy. Vermiculite is best used to start seeds and grow seedlings on. (8 comments)

By dave April 3, 2013 ATP Podcast #12: Gardening for Birds, Bees, and Butterflies Join us for an exciting episode where we talk all about birds, hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. We discuss how to attract and take care of these wonderful creatures, including what plants to grow. We also include a collection of tips and ideas for your flying friends. (502 words - Read the full article) (5 comments)

By jeri11 April 2, 2013 Limestone Might Kill Your Fish Limestone near your fish pond might raise its pH by a large amount. (11 comments)

By chelle April 1, 2013 Trash Can Planter Extend the depth of your root zone area and reduce watering needs by planting in low-cost refuse containers purchased from a discount store. (547 words - Read the full article) (27 comments)

By Sharon March 31, 2013 Planting Signs and Easter Sunday We spent most of the month of March watching for signs, those signals that would tell us it was planting time. I don't remember knowing much about the groundhog and his shadow, but I do remember watching for the turkey buzzard to come swooping over our heads, announcing to all the world that spring had arrived. (1,361 words - Read the full article) (21 comments)

The most popular images last week from our plant database: Photo of Iris (Iris 'Marble Cake') by eclayne: Photo of Iris (Iris 'Manx Mushroom') by eclayne: Photo of China Aster (Callistephus chinensis 'Pavlova Dark Blue') by Joannabanana: Photo of Smoketree (Cotinus coggygria 'Velvet Cloak') by robertduval14: Photo of Naked Lady (Amaryllis belladonna) by robertduval14: Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Lacey Lavender') by vic:

The most active threads this week:

Subject	OP	Area	Replies
Banner for April 1, 2013 by mcash70	mcash70	Site Banners forum	44
Extreme vole destruction	goldfinch4	Sempervivum and Jovibarba forum	31
April Showers & chat & stuff...	Skiekitty	Roses forum	30
Sempervivum "Blueberry Muffin"	clintbrown	Sempervivum and Jovibarba forum	29
Love it!	plantladylin	Trash Can Planter	26
Should be a good year for Black Swallowtails	WRRanch	Texas Gardening forum	26
Our Orchid blooms in April 2013	Ursula	Orchids forum	25
I suddenly have *Plant Brain Freeze* ... and need help thawing my memory!	plantladylin	Plant ID forum	23
Banner for April 3, 2013 by Paul2032	Paul2032	Site Banners forum	20

Some new recommendations from our members:

kqcrna recommended Pinetree Garden Seeds and wrote: I have been ordering from Pinetree for many years. Their shipping isn't always the fastest, but I get good germination from them. Most seed counts are low, but that matches the lower prices. I think Pinetree is a good source for small quantities of seeds. For larger quantities of one kind of seed, another company might be better.

Some numbers from last week:

• 66 new members.
• 141 new threads.
• 3,428 new posts.
• 1,235 new images to the plant database.
• 53 new comments in the plant database.