Your All Things Plants weekly news: January 25, 2014

There were 8 new gardening ideas posted last week:

By greene January 25, 2014 Got Weeds? by greene and Plant Sister If you have weeds, why not put them to work for you? Stir up a batch of FPE - Fermented Plant Extract - and your weeds magically become fertilizer and pesticide - and it's organic! (1,300 words - Read the full article) (no comments)

By dave January 24, 2014 ATP Podcast #43: The Annuals Week Postlude We wrap up annuals week with a discussion of the interesting articles posted to this site this week. We also talk about the usual things happening around the farm, Dave introduces us to his aquaponics efforts, and we have an impromptu discussion about some interesting crepe myrtle cultivars and species. (2 comments)

By Joannabanana January 24, 2014 Creating a Color Theme with Annuals Have you ever thought it would be fun to have a color themed garden? Using annuals to enhance a specific color is a lot easier than you may think. One of the advantages is that you can change your color theme every year. (969 words - Read the full article) (22 comments)

By Newyorkrita January 23, 2014 Zinnias, Old-Fashioned Annuals for the Modern Garden Zinnias are in constant bloom from late spring till frost. These vibrant colorful flowers come in a rainbow of colors and are attractive to butterflies and gardeners. Zinnias are so easy to grow and make wonderful cut flowers. (262 words - Read the full article) (19 comments)

By chelle January 22, 2014 Winter Sowing Annuals Did you know that you could sow your annual seeds in winter? I didn't, but now I'm hooked on winter sowing not only perennials and shrubs, but also many of my annuals. The following ideas can help to keep your garden chock-full of blooms all season long, too, and it's so easy to do! (1,075 words - Read the full article) (10 comments)

By springcolor January 21, 2014 Pelargonium Cuttings If you have a hard-to-find or favorite variety that you want more of, here’s how to propagate it easily. (363 words - Read the full article) (6 comments)

By RickCorey January 20, 2014 Easy Annual Flowers Bloom All Summer Common "easy" annual flowers produce lots of blooms and are very forgiving of soil, climate, and lack of experience. (551 words - Read the full article) (17 comments)

By Marilyn January 19, 2014 Grow Annuals for Butterflies and Hummingbirds Annuals for Color and Attracting Hummingbirds, Butterflies, and Bees (456 words - Read the full article) (21 comments)

The most popular images last week from our plant database: Photo of Dwarf Fireweed (Chamerion latifolium) by magga: Photo of Violas by Calif_Sue: Photo of Rose (Rosa 'Purple Tiger') by Gilli: Photo of Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) by Gilli: Photo of Rose (Rosa foetida 'Austrian Copper') by Gilli: Photo of Rose (Rosa 'Easy Does It') by Gilli:

The most popular Multi-Plant Photos from last week: Multi-plant photo by ge1836: Multi-plant photo by pirl: Multi-plant photo by pixie62560: Multi-plant photo by poisondartfrog: Multi-plant photo by 4susiesjoy: Multi-plant photo by Paul2032:

Noteworthy acorn tips given this week:

10 people gave for the idea "Creating a Color Theme with Annuals" by Joannabanana 10 people gave for the idea "Winter Sowing Annuals" by chelle 7 people gave for the idea "Grow Annuals for Butterflies and Hummingbirds" by Marilyn 6 people gave for the idea "Zinnias, Old-Fashioned Annuals for the Modern Garden" by Newyorkrita 5 people gave for the idea "Pelargonium Cuttings" by springcolor 5 people gave for the idea "Easy Annual Flowers Bloom All Summer" by RickCorey 4 people gave for a post in "Banner for January 23, 2014 by Newyorkrita" by Newyorkrita 3 people gave for a post in "Banner for January 18, 2014 by mcash70" by mcash70 3 people gave for a photo of Dwarf Fireweed (Chamerion latifolium) by magga 2 people gave for the idea "Time to Winter Sow Your Seeds" by valleylynn

The most active threads this week:

Subject	OP	Area	Replies
OT- The Porch Swing	Char	Daylilies forum	258
Just Curious	Xeramtheum	Sandbox forum	71
Some photos from my 2013 garden	Muddymitts	Irises forum	70
Question about spider plant from new member	woofie	Ask a Question forum	63
Grumpy Thread - Open thread	JB	Sandbox forum	60
Those Interesting edges!	tveguy3	Irises forum	52
January 2014 - Backyard Birds	plantladylin	Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum	35
Countdown till Spring 2014.	NJBob	Perennials forum	27
a retiree's last trip to wal-mart	abhege	Sandbox forum	27

Some new recommendations from our members:

bodden recommended Tropical Plants & More and wrote: Just received my second order of orchids and I am very pleased. I have ordered from other suppliers and after a year only half of the ordered plants have survived. Tropical Plants and More sells orchids that are well established and healthy, so their survival rate has been 100% so far. Ken is a real pleasure to deal with and gives excellent customer service and communication. It is great to deal and communicate with a real person that is knowledgeable; a real rarity today. Each of my orchids comes marked with a picture of a mature plant blooming. Helps me stay patient while waiting for the plant to bloom because orchids take their own time. Cannot say enough about this supplier.

greene recommended Best Cool Seeds (online store of the Denali Seed Company) and wrote: Best Cool Seeds is the self-serve, online store for Denali Seed Company, which specializes in seeds that grow well in cooler climates. Shipping cost is reasonable, sent first class with order tracking - email confirmation all the way; order fulfillment is unbelievably fast and professional. As a reward for ordering online (without the need for a paper catalog), customers are rewarded with free seeds - and not just random free seeds: These are seeds the customer selects.

Some numbers from last week:

• 57 new members.
• 132 new threads.
• 4,197 new posts.
• 793 new images to the plant database.
• 63 new comments in the plant database.
• 31 new Multi-Plant photos.