Landscape Lighting Professionals of Jacksonville to Participate in Xscapes Bi-Annual Xpo
Jacksonville, FL, August 16, 2007 –(PR.com)– Xscapes, a unique outdoor home improvement showroom located at 112180-1 Phillips Highway in Jacksonville, will be hosting its bi-annual Xpo September 8th and 9th. During this event, Xscapes will hold cook-offs, designer challenges, putting contests for prizes, crafts for kids, and more. The full schedule of events will be posted on their website at www.xscapes.com. Xscapes features displays by local businesses, who they call Xibitors. Xibitors showcase a wide variety of products in a real environment, providing the shopper with ideas for their own property. All of the Xhibitors are encouraged to be on site during the Xpo to answer any questions that attendees may have. Xscapes limits its Xibitors to only one company per product or service. NiteLites, the Landscape Lighting Professionals, is proud to be the selected vendor for outdoor lighting. Other categories of products include pavers, swimming pools, decks, sod, and several other home improvement products and services.
While attending the Xpo, stop at the NiteLites display and let Trevor Rosendahl and his staff show the high quality, specification grade fixtures that NiteLites uses for every outdoor lighting system. He will also discuss the techniques that NiteLites uses to create the custom lighting system that complements a house and landscape. NiteLites provides many types of weather resistant coastal friendly low voltage lighting fixtures including outdoor lights for landscapes, patios and gardens, decks, fountains and ponds, and paths. The NiteLites System provides clients with breathtaking curb appeal, added safety and security, increased value and resale potential, and the ability to enjoy outdoor patios, decks, swimming pools and walkways for precious additional hours each evening. The company works with homeowners, architects, architectural landscapers, builders, property managers, and landscapers to create designs that not only highlight landscaping, but also with a gentle glow to showcase the architectural details of properties.
For more information on NiteLites Architectural and Landscape Lighting, or to schedule a free demonstration, call Mr. Rosendahl at 904-779-9020, or 1-866-NITELITES (1-866-648-3548), or visit www.nitelites.com and click on Contact Us or Free Demo. NiteLites of Jacksonville is an active member of The Northeast Florida Builders Association (www.nefba.com); Better Business Bureau of Northeast Florida (www.jacksonville.bbb.org); Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce (www.myjaxchamber.com), and the Ponte Vedra Beach Chamber of Commerce (www.pontevedrachamber.org).
Growing Geraniums From Root Cuttings
When ready to plant, cut off the lower leaves, allowing but two or three to each cutting. Also pull off the little wings on the stem, since they are inclined to rot. Dip stem ends in hydrated lime to prevent decay and then insert about halfway, in a flat or large pot of pure sand or a mixture of sand and peat moss. With geraniums, rooting powders are hardly necessary.
When cuttings develop inch-long roots, they are ready for spacing out in another flat or for separate planting in 2½-inch pots. Fill with a mixture of three parts sandy loam and one part peat moss or leaf mold. After planting, keep in the shade for the first few days, and bring indoors before cold weather.
When the separated cuttings have developed strong root systems, shift to 3½- or 4-inch pots. Use the same potting mixture as before, with bone meal added. Later as established plants begin to grow, feed periodically with a high phosphorous fertilizer, as 5-10-5 or 4-12-8.
To keep plants bushy and to encourage branching pinch while small, starting when they are three to four inches high. Provide sunny windows, and keep turning pots to prevent lopsided growth. Water regularly, but allow soil to dry out just a little between applications. Above all, do not permit pots to stand in water, but set them on pebbles spread out in the saucers. Best growing temperatures are 60 to 70 degrees F. by day, no higher, with a ten degree drop at night, though this is not always possible in the average home.
If you wish, you can hold onto your original plants and winter them indoors. Cut back tops to 6 or 8 inches, and if containers are not too enormous, place them in a sunny house or a well-lighted cellar window. The important thing in winter is to grow old plants cool, at about 50 degrees F., and to water sparingly to encourage rest.
Plants may also be wintered in cool cellars with little light. Remember only that the less light, the cooler the temperatures should be. This is because too much warmth and insufficient light cause lanky growth that undermines vigor.
In late winter or early spring, if old plants are growing in strong light, take cuttings for young plants to use outdoors, rooting by the method described. Or if you prefer, when weather permits, cut back your old plants, repot them in fresh soil and set outdoors. Many gardeners find this method successful, and it does provide big specimens Growers of geraniums often ask whether plants can be lifted in fall and stored by hanging upside down in cellar or basements.
This was possible in old-fashioned cellar with dirt floors and without central heating units; but it is not possible in modern basements, which are warm, dry and well insulated. Gardeners with cellars or sheds when temperatures remain above freezing, can winter geraniums this way. The dead-looking sticks, set out in pots or in the garden in warm weather, will astound you when they develop into glorious flowering specimens. The fact that geraniums, under certain conditions, can be wintered without soil is certainly proof of their toughness.
Keeping Tuberous Begonias In The Shade
Tubers can be held over from year to year if stored properly during the winter. In fall in cold areas, frosts will blacken the foliage, but in warmer regions the need for rest will be indicated by yellowing without actual frost. Usually this occurs in October, when it is advisable to withhold water. After frost kills tops or they turn yellow, lift plants carefully with a spading fork so as not to injure them. Then, with the tops attached, spread the tubers in the sun for a few hours to dry. After the drying period, cut off tops; but if a portion of stem remains, do not break off. Allow it to dry before removing it later.
Finally, shake off the soil, arrange tubers in trays or shallow boxes, and cover with dry peat moss or clean, dry sand. The ideal storage temperatures is 45 to 50 degrees F. Some gardeners winter the clean tubers in paper bags, keeping the same colors together, and results are just as good. You can also leave tubers in pots. In this case, simply turn containers on sides and store in cellar, basement, shed or other frost proof spot where temperatures remain 40 to 60 degrees F.
If kept too warm, bulbs tend to shrivel and their future as handsome pot plants for locations in filtered sunlight is seriously jeopardized.
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Basic Needs Of Fushias
These tender woody plants do best under cool, humid conditions. They are especially successful in coastal areas, where fog and humidity prevail, though some varieties, as the single all-red Mephisto and the red-and-white Mme. Cornelissen, will thrive in hot, dry inland regions. They are great favorites because they bloom in shade, not the heavy shade of low-branching trees, but high, open shade and that found on the north side of a building. In dense shade, plants get leggy and flower sparingly. In hot, direct sunshine, however, they dry out and the leaves burn. In hot climates, lath houses provide ideal conditions. Windy locations should be avoided because of the delicate flowers and brittle branches.
Moisture is essential. Plants announce dryness by wilting. In containers, they usually need water every day and sometimes more often. Good drainage is important. In the bottom of the container provide sufficient rough material broken flower pots, pebbles, or cinders to insure free passage of water.
Do not allow pots to stand in water, and in hot weather sprinkle the foliage to remove dust and increase humidity.Fuchsias require an acid soil. The mixture must be rich in organic matter. A good combination consists of one part good garden loam, one part leaf mold or peat moss, and either one part old manure or a small amount in dehydrated form.
Containers should be large enough to allow for full development of plants during the summer growing season. A small plant needs a six-inch pot; if two or three are grown together, use a ten- or twelve-inch pot. Starting with young plants is preferable, although large specimens are satisfactory if they are healthy and vigorous.
When fuchsias are wintered in containers and are not treated as annuals, you can enrich the growing medium the first year by scooping a few inches of soil from the top and replacing it with a fresh mixture. The next year, take plants out of containers in early spring, cut back the tops and some of the roots and repot in fresh soil in the same container. Drastically cutting back branches in the spring, before growth commences, will make plants branch well.
Increasing Your Supply
When you want to increase your collection, take three-inch cuttings from the tender spring growth, dip the ends in a hormone powder and insert the lower inch of each stem in a mixture of half leaf mold and half sand. Protect the cuttings from sun and either spray them lightly from time to time or cover with polyethylene plastic to prevent their drying out. When roots have formed, transfer the plants to small pots in a mixture of light loam and leaf mold. Cuttings can also be taken in late summer or early fall for small plants that are easier to winter.
Voracious in their needs, fuchsias require regular feeding through the growing season. Give liquid fertilizer once a month, following directions on the package. Fish emulsion, applied monthly, will give especially good results.
During the winter, store plants at 45 to 50 degrees to keep them dormant. Water sparingly, just enough to prevent wood from shrivelling. Outdoors, hardy fuchsias will survive to 25 degrees, but where hardiness is questionable, it is safer to winter plants in a greenhouse, cool room, shed, or in a cold frame. During this period, cover the roots with a layer of peat moss.
Insects likely to attack fuchsias include aphids, red spiders, white flies, thrips, mealy bugs, and leaf hoppers. Use a safe insecticide from your local gardening supplier, and apply regularly, especially before an infestation is heavy, will keep these enemies under control.
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