There are many different opinions on how to grow bonsai trees. There is no right way. Learning to grow bonsai trees should be a personal experience. A hobby you can individualize for yourself and be able to enjoy.

Those lucky enough will have an experienced bonsai grower to guide them. Others will have to depend on books, guides and the internet to teach them. Whichever methods you learn by, remember you are working with something that is living. Bonsai trees are each individual and different.

Learn the different styles of bonsai. There is the classic and the informal. With the classic, the tree is wider at the base and tapers up. It is the more difficult to learn. The easiest to learn is the more informal style. This is where you prune and wire the trees to be a smaller version of what appears in nature. Study the trees or shrubs. Imitate how they grow.

You can start your bonsai by seed or you can purchase one that is already started. Purchasing one may be an easier way to start your hobby. Ensure that you acquire your plant from a reliable source. Starting with a healthy plant will give you a greater chance of success.

Consider purchasing a starter kit. These will include everything that you need to grow your bonsai. You need a shallow container, specialized soil, fertilizer, specialized tools and of course your tree. Consider the type of tree or shrub you would like to start with as well. Asking for recommendation on what a beginner can start with as well as personal preference should be measured.

Bonsai growing is a very enjoyable hobby. It can be very rewarding taking care of these small trees. They need love and attention. Once you have the basics down there are more advanced techniques to conquer. There are always new things to learn about growing bonsai.

By: James Penn
Discover bonsai tree care secrets at http://www.squidoo.com/bonsai-tree-care-secrets.

When we choose plants at the garden centre, it's usually because we attracted to their eye-catching foliage or boldly-coloured flowers, However, the showiest of plants are often disappointingly scent-free, which means you end up with a garden that may looks bright and gorgeous, but doesn't satisfy your sense of smell.

Buying fragrant plants for borders and containers will create a satisfyingly sensuous plot. And it won't just be popular with you - bees and butterflies will love scented plants, too. If space is limited, or if you simply want to create a scented container for a kitchen garden, fragrant herbs, such as lemon balm, golden oregano and tricolor sage work wonderfully on a smaller scale and are great for aromatic salads, too.

All fragrant plants need protection from the wind for you to enjoy their scent to the full, so choose the most sheltered parts of the garden for creating your perfumed flowerbeds, corridors and sitting areas. The ideal sites are against walls, around a sheltered patio or in window boxes. Alternatively, create natural screens - trees, hedges and evergreen shrubs all make good scent-savers. Read on to discover the best buys for every part of your garden.

Easy-grow plants for scent and colour
Summer-flowering perennials, such as clove-scented pinks, peppery lupins and lemon verbena, and bedding plants like wallflowers and cherry-pie scented heliptrope are ideal choices for your borders. For showy plants, choose lilies - the white ones are the most highly scented. The Madonna lily (Lilia candidum) has stunning white trumpet blooms on tall stems, and the Lilium longiflorum has an irresistible jasmine scent.

Line paths with aromatic herbs
Lavender, catmint, clary sage and lemon balm all release scent when brushed against - as does rosemary, an ideal plant to grow as a low, clipped hedge around a gateway to the garden. Plant grey-green southernwood (Artemesia arbrotanum) too, which releases its sweet aroma at the slightest touch. Creeping carpets of woolly thyme and camomile are irresistible places to sit, and release sensational perfumes when walked on - plant small patches in low-traffic areas of the lawn. For best results, put camomile plants a maximum of 15cm apart; water well until established, then cut back regularly to encourage compact growth.

Surround patios with a heady fragrance
Fix trellis all around your patio and grow a mixture of scented climbers to enjoy both during the day and the evening. Try the moon flower (Ipomoea alba): its trumpet-shaped blooms open at night and fill the air with fragrance. Old favourites like wisteria and jasmine will lace the air with sweet scents, too, but for a heady perfume on balmy summer evenings, plant star jasmine (Trachelopsermum jasminoides). Bedding plants provide scent and colour, so fill pots, baskets and window boxes with petunias, stock, Nemesia, marigolds, heliotrope and trailing snapdragons.

Grow Scented Climbers
Plant shrubs like lilac, or train honeysuckle and climbing roses against walls to bring fragrance to nose level. Ideally, choose south or west-facing walls and they will produce their scent for even longer each day. Try the cream-flowered honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), which grows as high as 2m, or the very fragrant version 'Winter Beauty' (Lonicera x purpusii), which grows to 1.5m. For a rose arch, choose varieties of ramblers and climbers with a long-flowering season and few thorns, such as 'Zéphirine Drouhin''. 'The Pilgrim' rose has the exotic scent of myrhh. Match it with the sumptuous, fruity fragrance of the 'Evelyn' rose.

Perfume the night air
Some plants are at their most fragrant in the evening. Our favourites are the tobacco plant (Nicotiana alata), sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis), evening primrose and night-scented stock (Matthiola bicornis) , which releases a powerful fragrance at night and can be detected some distance away. Plant them where you'll be entertaining outdoors, or outside a window. To add extra colour, plant alongside Virginian stock or honey-scented, sweet alyssum.

Pick mood-enhancing scents for seating areas
Some scents are said to improve your mood, so put these plants near where you sit or entertain.

• To invigorate, put in citrus-scented plants like lemon balm and lemon-scented thyme. To refresh, choose rosemary.
• For well-being, plant golden marjoram, geraniums and pineapple-scented sage.
• To promote happiness, choose the tobacco plant and exotic angels' trumpets (Brugmansia), both of which share a perfume that is almost dizzying. Night-scented stock (Matthiola bicoprnis) and the four o'clock flower Mirabilis jalapa) are ideal too.
• Create a relaxing corner with a collection of lavender and sweet peas.
• Children will love chocolate cosmos - it smells of what the name suggests!

By: Penny Day
You can find more information on garden design ideas and garden advice at house to home, helping you create a look you'll love

The Crape Myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, is one of the most ideal choices for a tree in a small garden, backyard or patio. It is also fairly modest in its water needs and so is particularly suitable for dry and Mediterranean gardens. It has an attractive form, delicate leaf texture and as a deciduous plant, looks good when out of leaf, not least due to its reddish pealing bark.

It is usually chosen however because of its amazing flower display in the summer months; Crape Myrtle blooms being one of the highlights of the gardening calendar. While being impressed by flower display alone is normally a bad reason for choosing a particular tree species, in the case of Lagerstroemia, by virtue of its small size and non-aggressive roots, an exception can be made. In fact the flower color is so significant that uniquely perhaps among trees, it determines the pruning method to be adopted.

Pruning to shape trees almost always involves removing whole branches at their base, rather than shortening them, as with shrubs and bushes. This is so in order to maintain the natural shape and flow of the tree. Conversely, the branches of flowering shrubs like roses are shortened, to induce better and more prolific flowering. It should be remembered that roses are not generally grown for their form and habit, but virtually exclusively for their blooms. It follows therefore, that while we may be interested in enhancing the floral effect of the Crape Myrtle by means of pruning branches short, care must be taken not to ruin the form of the tree in the process. How can this be achieved?

*Firstly, branches should not be cut back too radically. It's best to clip up to a third of the length of the branches. The clipping prevents the limb from shooting on as a long thin branch, encourages lateral growth and as mentioned before, superior blooms. On the other hand, cutting too far down on the branch, is liable to adversely affect the shape of the tree, particularly in the winter when it is bare of leaves.

*It is not necessary to prune/shorten each and every branch. As with all trees, removing excessive material at one session is liable to damage the energy level of the plant, thereby affecting its overall vitality and rendering it more susceptible to pests and disease.

*As pruning is carried out in the winter when the tree is out of leaf, it's quite easy to discern where the previous season's pruning cuts were made. It's possible therefore to alternate between cutting limbs that were untouched a year ago, while leaving alone those that were pruned. In this way, a balance is struck between flower production on the one hand and the general health of the tree on the other.

*Lagerstroemia indica tends to sprout new shoots from its base but it's not necessary to religiously remove each one. On the contrary, as the trunks are relatively thin in diameter, Crape Myrtle actually looks better grown as a multi-stemmed tree. Furthermore, as persistent pruning tends to weaken branches in the long run, younger stems can be earmarked to replace older ones which over the years have lost their vitality.

By: Jonathan Ya'akobi
I've been gardening in a professional capacity since 1984. I am the former head gardener of the Jerusalem Botanical Garden, but now concentrate on building gardens for private home owners. I also teach horticulture to students on training courses. I'd love to help you get the very best from your garden, so you're welcome to visit me on http://www.dryclimategardening.com.

Miltonia orchids are also referred to as pansy orchids because their open flowers closely resemble pansies. They are very fragrant, but a little more difficult to grow than other species of orchids. This article will give you a few tips for growing miltonia orchids.

Temperature

Miltonia orchids require the temperature to be intermediate to warm. During the day, the ideal temperature is somewhere between 70 and 85 degrees. At night, the temperature should be 55 to 65.

Humidity

You should always make sure your miltonia orchids get plenty of moist air. The humidity should be between 55 and 65 percent. If the temperature and lighting around the miltonia orchids rises, you also need to increase the humidity. This will reduce the stress on the plants.

Fertilizer

Miltonia orchids need fertilizer on a regular basis. You should give them fertilizer approximately every 20 days, especially when there is development of new growth. The ideal type is nitrogenous fertilizer at half-strength.

Lighting

You should make sure your miltonia orchids get a lot of bright, indirect light. The best way to tell if they are getting proper lighting is by looking at the color of the leaves. The leaves on miltonia orchids should be light green. If they are dark green, you need to give them more light. You should decrease lighting if the leaves are reddish green or yellowish.

Pests

There are a few pests that are troublesome for miltonia orchids. They include spider mites, scale, and aphids. Using neem oil is one of the most efficient ways to control these pests.

These are a few tips for growing miltonia orchids. Make sure you give them the proper temperature and lighting so that they can grow well. These orchids also require a humidity level between 55 and 65 percent. You also need to give them fertilizer every 20 days or so.

By: D Swain
Do your plants a favor and stop by care4orchids.com for more tips on growing orchids You will learn everything you need to know to grow beautiful orchids grow beautiful orchids.