Did you know?

_Elsa_

Is it? Wow then that will work out perfect because I was just looking for gardening facts to post here. Thanks for letting me know.

_Elsa_

What Your Favorite Flower Says About You

Roses can have several different meanings depending on their color. Red roses symbolize love and desire, while dark red roses are a symbol of unconscious beauty. Pink roses mean grace, happiness and gentleness; white roses mean purity, innocence, reverence, and silence; yellow roses symbolize new beginnings, joy and friendship; orange roses symbolize desire and enthusiasm; and coral roses symbolize friendship, modesty and empathy. Lavender roses represent love at first sight.

What they say about you: You almost always think with your heart. Your aesthetic? Classic, timeless and never going out of style. You know how to make a statement and make it seem effortless.

Tulips can also have different meanings depending on their color. Overall, tulips are usually accepted to symbolize perfect or true love, and fame. Red tulips are considered a declaration of love, while yellow tulips are said to mean “sunshine in your smile.” Purple tulips symbolize royalty, white tulips symbolize worthiness and forgiveness, and variegated tulips represent beautiful eyes.

What they say about you: You’re thoughtful and confident and your personal style changes a lot based on your mood but is somehow always sleek and coordinated.

Daisies origin is actually a perfect descriptor for the flower—it comes from an Old English word that means “day’s eye.” Daisies represent innocence, hope and purity. Gerbera daisies, which come in bright colors, aptly signify cheerfulness.

What they say about you: You’re an optimist who can find the good in any bad situation—and you’re probably a morning person, too. You always know what to say to make people smile.

Lilacs symbolize youthful innocence, or the joy of youth, but they also can have different meanings based on their colors. Purple lilacs, for example, mean first love, while white lilacs symbolize humility and innocence.

What they say about you: You live for all things nostalgic—going through old photos from your past, poking around in antiques shops, watching old shows—and you’re all about infusing your style with vintage pieces.

Daffodils is one of the most popular flowers and symbolizes regard for someone, or friendship. Daffodils don’t represent any states, but they are the national flower for the Wales.

What they say about you: You put your friends and family first. You love to host events, especially if it’s a party for someone you love. Your style shows off your fun-but-laid-back personality.

 Sunflowers signify adoration (because they turn to face the sun), as well as dedication or dedicated love, and pure thoughts.

What they say about you: Your favorite activity? Making new friends. You thrive around people and you love to be the center of attention. Your style is bright and warm, and you’re never without a bold statement piece.

Orchids symbolize exotic beauty, refinement, thoughtfulness, and mature charm. They’re also a symbol of proud and glorious femininity.

What they say about you: You’re both sophisticated and mysterious—you’re never the loudest or most glamorous person in the room, but people are still drawn to you. Your style is all about the details, and they’re always on-point.

Peonies have several different meanings, including bashfulness and compassion, indignation, or shame. They also symbolize a happy life, good health, a happy marriage and prosperity.

What they say about you: You’re a positive person who’s always looking ahead at the future. You’re thoughtful and empathetic towards others. Your style? Bold, bright and elegant, but not overbearing.

Lilies symbolize purity and refined beauty, though their meanings also change depending on their color and type. White lilies symbolize modesty and virginity, yellow lilies represent gaiety or cheerfulness, and orange lilies symbolize passion. Calla lilies—particularly white ones—symbolize magnificence, beauty, purity and innocence, and are typically chosen for wedding bouquets. Lilies of the valley represent sweetness and purity of heart.

What they say about you: You’re a happy, impassioned hard worker and you’re not afraid to be proud of your accomplishments. Your style is always perfectly tailored, and you know how to stand out in a crowd.

Carnations mean “alas for my poor heart,” according to the Farmer’s Almanac,  but they can symbolize different things based on their color. Red carnations represent love, pride and admiration, for example, while pink carnations symbolize the love of a woman or mother. Purple carnations represent capriciousness, yellow carnations mean disdain or rejection, white carnations symbolize innocence and pure love, and striped carnations represent refusal.

What they say about you: Your best quality is that no matter what, you remain down-to-earth. You have many moods, but regardless of how you feel, your style remains the same: simple but stunning.

Poppies also have different meanings depending on their color—red poppies generally symbolize consolation, while yellow poppies signify wealth and success.

What they say about you: You’re fun, quirky and creative, and you love it when people notice that about you. Your style is bold and colorful, and you’re not afraid to try new trends that others shy away from.

Zinnias are unique and colorful flowers related to the daisy family that are said to symbolize thoughts of absent friends.

What they say about you: You’re an intensely passionate person—you wear your heart on your sleeve, and sometimes you get a little stuck in the past. Your style is the perfect mixture of classic glamour and unique edginess.

You can see all this info here. 

 

_Elsa_

Gardening Facts and Tips

• The ladybug is a beneficial insect. They consume large numbers of aphids and scale bugs thus keeping them from chewing on your precious plants.

• The best time to water your plants is in the morning or at dusk. This not only protects your plants from burning but watering in the heat of the day also causes an increase in evaporation and thus your plants don’t get as much water as you think. It also saves water!

• When watering your plants try not to water the leaves. Water remaining on the leaves is a great way get and spread disease. To avoid this try placing the hose at the base of the plant.

• Variegated (different colored pieces of leaves, etc) plants are due to a mutation in the plant.

• Picking off flowers and vegetables actually increases the productivity of the plant.

• Thinner leaved plants tend to need more water than plants with thicker leaves.

• Mixing cinnamon in with your soil is a simple and easy fungicide.

• Control mildew buildup by diluting milk with water and spraying it on your plants.

• Less than 2 percent of insects are harmful.

You can read this here. 

 • A sunflower is not just one flower. Both the fuzzy brown center and the classic yellow petals are actually 1,000 – 2,000 individual flowers, held together on a single stalk.

• There are more microorganisms in one teaspoon of soil than there are people on earth. It's aliiiiive! OK, in all seriousness, that fact might make you itchy, but microbes are important for keeping your soil full of nutrients.

• Plants really do respond to sound. Talking to plants to help them grow is a well-known old wives' tale, but studies have shown vibration (like music, or perhaps even the sweet sound of your voice) can affect plant growth. Plus, the Myth Busters (in an admittedly not-so-scientific study), compared a silent greenhouse to one where they piped in a voice soundtrack, and found that plants in the latter grew more.

• Butterflies might be more attracted to your weeds than your flowers. Colorful blooms aren't the chief reason these insects love your garden – it's more about the fragrance and nectar. According to the Smithsonian Institute, new cultivars of popular flowers have been bred for enhanced color and size but have often lost their fragrance in the process. So everyday weeds, like dandelions and clovers, might actually be the most appealing things in your yard to butterflies (they hate pesticides, too). Taking care to choose heirloom flower seeds can get them to also fly your way.

• A little baking soda can help you grow sweeter tomatoes. A regular sprinkling of this kitchen staple into your plant's soil can help reduce acidity, which sweetens up your crop.

• Some of your favorite fruits are actually in the rose family. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, and more are rosaceae, making them cousins to the long-stemmed Valentine's Day variety.

• The right orchid combination can smell like your favorite dessert. Did you know that the vanilla bean comes from a orchid varietal? And it's not the only sweet-smelling kind: "An oncidum hyrbrid called Sharry Baby smells like chocolate," says George Hatfield, president of the Santa Barbara Orchid Show. "It's 'baking cookie' aroma has made it a winner." And that's not all: The cymbidium Golden Elf smells lemony, and the phalaenopsis violacea has a cinnamon scent. "Just like you'd combine Jelly Belly beans to create new flavors, you can combine orchids to create a garden that smells like a dessert buffet," says Hatfield.

• You can change a hydrangea's color by altering the pH level of the soil. A more alkaline soil will result in pinker blooms, while more acidity will produce blue blooms. To coax your plant to the blue side, add more organic matter to your soil, like eggshells and coffee grounds (though the acidity in used coffee grounds can vary greatly, so you might try a high-acid fertilizer, too). The change won't happen overnight, but eventually you should succeed in manipulating your soil's pH level.

• Deer can jump eight feet high. They might require a running start to reach such heights, but a tiny fence often isn't enough to keep these garden nibblers away. Try a taller one, plant thorny or pungent plants as a natural barrier, or scare them off with lights or wind chimes.

• You don't need to be a dedicated composter to reap similar benefits. Call it cheating but applying used coffee grounds, eggshells, chopped-up banana peels, and other organic matter directly to your soil (no composting required) can offer plants nutrients as they decompose. For already-growing beds, scatter and bury the items within the first few inches of soil.

The above info came from here. 

lulu13

White Roses are my favorite @Elsa so this must be me! [white roses mean purity, innocence, reverence]

I think i quite like that. 😍

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_Elsa_

I love your white rose! It is rare to see a white rose.

lulu13

Happy Friday the 13th @Elsa 😉

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aD2saalBwwftBIY/giphy.gif

_Elsa_

So are we going to avoid walking under ladders today? Or make sure that a black cat doesn't cross our path?

lulu13

No chance of walking under any ladders for me or seeing a black cats.! Iv'e been out of action for over a month. I have pulmonary fibrosis caused by pneumonia. 10 days in Hospital and now convalescing at home. Bored out of my mind!

https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohhwkvfB82M5MxwWs/giphy.gif

Good job iv'e got this one to keep me company 👇️She may be black but no bad giugiu here today 😍 meet Lilly!

_Elsa_

You have to be so careful with your lungs. I have asthma so I have to be careful too with this virus.

_Elsa_

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and to eat Pie.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

You can read more here. 

Pi facts

• It is thought the concept of pi was first discovered around 4,000 years ago.

• We can never find the true meaning of pi because it is what is known as an "irrational number".

• Welsh mathematician William Jones was the first person to use the symbol we now use for pi more than 250 years ago.

• The Guinness World Record for most decimal places memorised is held by Rajveer Meena, who took 10 hours to recall 70,000 places blindfolded in March 2015.

• British mathematician William Shanks became famous for manually calculating pi to 607 places in the 19th century. However, it later emerged the 527th number was wrong, making the rest of his calculations wrong by default.

• Google employee Emma Haruka Iwao has calculated the number pi to a world record 31 trillion digits today!

 The above info came from here.