3 Easily Grown Flowering Plants

Many homeowners who have acquired a new house or done major renovations to change the look of their existing house long to do something special with the landscaping. Inexperienced gardeners can make mistakes, so it is important to plan out what to buy and where to place it ahead of time to avoid nasty surprises. Plants that are easy to care for are the best friends of anyone who is just learning about gardening, or who does not have much free time to tend to their yard.

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1. Black-Eyed Susan

One of the easiest flowers in the world to grow is the black-eyed Susan. A lovely yellow flower with a black center that stands about two feet tall, it is a great complement to all types of landscapes. It is a perennial plant with a strong root system that ensures it can come back stronger every year. It is native to North America and is hardy to heat and cold. They can spread into other parts of the garden, so it is prudent to keep them in check. There are different varieties available, so make sure that an annual is not selected by mistake, as it will likely not come back the next year. They can be grown from seeds or purchased as seedlings.

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2. Hostas

Hostas come in different shades of green, with some varieties being all one color and others having two different colors on the leaves. They are a leafy green plant that flowers in mid-summer. The flowers appear on long stems that grow from the middle of the plant and are usually white or purple. Once the flowers have died, the stems can be cut down and just the fleshy leaves will remain as attractive foliage until the late fall. They can be purchased as small plants from a garden center, but they can also be gotten from any friends or neighbors who have some. They need to be split in half or thirds when they grow too large, so most people try to give away the cuttings during the spring or fall.

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3. Marigolds

Most commonly known for their puffy orange or yellow blooms, marigolds are incredibly easy to grow. They can be started from seed a month or so before planting season starts to give them a head start in making the garden beautiful. They can be planted directly in the ground to create a stunning garden or walkway border, but they also do great in pots. In fact, pots are a great way for a new gardener to learn how to care for plants, and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes that bring a lot of character to a yard.

Not everyone is born with a green thumb and great instincts for plant care. Most people who are just starting out need to do research into proper plant care. Anyone who is looking for something that can be cared for with minimal effort should plan their gardens with sun and shady spots in mind and get appropriate plants that will thrive in different areas.

BIC Launches U.S. Program To Recycle Used Pens, Pencils & More The “WRITE” Way

BIC, a world leader in stationery, lighters and shavers, has partnered with international recycling leader TerraCycle® to offer consumers a free and easy way to recycle their fully-used pens, mechanical pencils, markers and other stationery products and parts of packaging nationwide. As an added incentive, for every shipment of used stationery products collected and sent to TerraCycle through this program, collectors earn points that can be donated to a school or charitable organization of their choice.

“As families spend more time writing, drawing and coloring together, we want to provide them with a responsible way to dispose of their products once they are used. Our collection program with TerraCycle gives consumers a simple way to recycle their writing instruments and art supplies to make a difference in the world,” said Mary Fox, North American General Manager for BIC. “Sustainability has always been at BIC’s core. We are thrilled to expand this program to the U.S. from Europe, where we have successfully recycled an astounding 46 million items.”

Through the BIC® Stationery Recycling Program, consumers can now send in all brands of pens, markers, mechanical pencils, highlighters, glue sticks, watercolor dispensers and paint sets to be recycled for free. The program is also collecting the soft, flexible plastic packaging that some writing instruments are packaged in. Participation is easy: sign up on the TerraCycle program page https://www.terracycle.com/bic and mail in the used items using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the waste is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that is remolded to make new recycled products. The BIC® Stationery Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office or community organization.

“Through this free recycling program, BIC offers consumers the unique opportunity to learn about the value of recycling products they use every day while learning, playing or working that would otherwise end up in landfill,” said Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle. “We are proud to partner with BIC to offer consumers an easy solution for these typically unrecyclable items.”

This is the latest step BIC has taken on its journey to further enhance the sustainability of its long-lasting products, which are made with the least amount of material, and to minimize its impact on the environment, one of the goals in its 2025 “Writing the Future, Together” program.

BIC and TerraCycle began partnering in 2011 to collect and recycle used stationery products in Europe. A similar program was launched in Australia and New Zealand last year.

The two organizations have also partnered to promote the circular economy by offering BIC products through LOOP, an e-commerce circular economy platform created by TerraCycle aimed at eliminating waste and reducing dependence on packaging.

For more information on TerraCycle’s recycling programs, visit www.terracycle.com.

PopSockets Launches National Recycling Program

Do you have any old PopSockets or phone cases sitting around that you no longer use? PopSockets, maker of expandable phone grips, has partnered with recycling leader TerraCycle® to create a FREE recycling program for PopSockets products and packaging, as well as ANY brand of cellular phone case.

Through the PopSockets Recycling Program, consumers can now send in the following products and packaging to be recycled for free:

●           PopGrips®

●           PopMinis®

●           PopGrip® Slide

●           PopWallet® & PopWallet+

●           PopChains®

●           PopSockets® PopMounts®

●           PopSockets® packaging

●           Otter + Pop Phone Cases

●           PopThirst®

●           PopGrip® Lips, PopGrip® Mirror & PopGrip® AirPods Holder

●           PopStation®

●           Any brand of cellular phone case

Participation in the program is easy: simply sign up on the TerraCycle program page at https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/popsockets and mail in the accepted waste using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the waste is broken down, separated by material and the plastics are cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.

Be sure to search around the TerraCycle site, because you would be amazed to find out the things you can have recycled instead of throwing them out. 

4 Fun Earth-Friendly Projects To Complete With Your Family

It is never too early to start planning in advance for the winter or spring breaks. Schools will be out, and you'll be searching for activities to keep the whole family busy and happy. If your goal is to go green, invest some time into eco-friendly projects that reuse materials you already have. Look for ways to conserve energy around the house too. Check out these green projects you can complete this holiday.

Upcycle Plastic Grocery Bags

Image via Flickr by groundsel

Each time you go grocery shopping, you bring home several plastic bags. Instead of recycling your bags, turn them into something new. Grab a crochet hook to make plastic yarn, known as plarn. Weave or crochet the plarn into hats, handbags or decorative coasters. 

During the holidays, turn plastic bags into festive decorations including wreaths and pom-poms. Flowers made from plastic bags make beautiful accents you can use any time of year.

Start a Green Energy Project

Let the kids pitch in with a summer research project. School-age children can study eco-friendly power sources including solar and geothermal energy. The finished report could be a head start on this year's science fair project. Review the information together as a family to decide if any of these green energy solutions can work in your home. 

One thing you can do now to make your home eco-friendly is to complete an energy audit. Check for drafty windows and doors and use a programmable thermostat to control the home's temperature. Also, ensure that your heating and cooling system is running as efficiently as possible. 

Consistent HVAC maintenance is an essential step in conserving energy at home. Schedule appointments to have a professional technician change your filters and clean your home's air ducts regularly.

Reuse Plastic Bottles

Plastic bottles provide durable craft material that you can use to make cute planters for your home or garden. Simply cut off the tops and paint on a design. Another idea is to take off the bottoms to create hanging lights for the patio or den. 

If you have a few extra wooden spoons and a plastic bottle, help your feathered friends and build a birdfeeder for the backyard. Poke a few small holes in a soda bottle, attach a hose and you have yourself a homemade sprinkler to help the kids cool off during a hot summer day. 

Photo by Parker Burchfield on Unsplash

Give Old T-Shirts a Second Life

Your favorite T-shirt you've worn hundreds of times may have seen better days, but it's still hard to let go and throw it out. Not to worry, that old shirt with a hole in it can still be useful. Cut more holes in it to make a reusable produce bag. 

You can also fashion worn-out cotton shirts into onesies or bibs for infants. If a shirt has stains on the front, salvage the sleeves and turn them into soft baby hats or socks.

Try these green project ideas this summer and see how you can recycle old materials and find ways to save energy. You'll have fun and feel good about going green and protecting the environment all year long.

Rocketbook Is The Last Notebook You Will Ever Have To Buy (Giveaway)

We are deep into back-to-school season over here. Many of you might have purchased new clothes, shoes, backpacks, lunch boxes, and school supplies. There is one item that I bet you didn't get. How about a notebook that will last a lifetime? The Everlast notebook by Rocketbook provides a classic pen and paper experience that is built for the digital age. Although it feels like a traditional notebook, the Everlast is endlessly reusable and connected to all of your favorite cloud services.

When you write using any pen from the Pilot Frixion line, your writing sticks to Everlast pages like regular paper. Use the Rocketbook app to scan your notes into editable documents and automatically save them to your favorite cloud services including Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote, to name a few. Rocketbook allows students to document their notes and illustrations in an efficient and environmentally-friendly way. Since it's reusable, Rocketbook will last a lifetime.

We are definitely old-fashioned pen and paper people in my home, so I was eager to test the Rocketbook out for myself. I love that I can take notes or work out math problems while helping my son with his home school math lessons. I realize that we were going through way too much scratch paper, and it was such a big waste. Now we can work out problems, and wipe clean with a damp paper towel with zero waste! The size is perfect if you are traveling or have a need for a notebook while on-the-go.

Rocketbook makes different sized notebooks and notepads, and offers pens and accessories to go along with them. This would make the perfect gift for any student, teacher, or for friends or family who are big on earth-friendly products. I mean how can you go wrong with a notebook that will last a lifetime? Check out the video below to see the Rocketbook in action.

Purchase your Rocketbook on their website or Amazon.

Giveaway: One lucky reader will win one (1) Everlast notebook from Rocketbook, and one (1) 3-pack of Pilot Frixion gel pens ($41 value).
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This giveaway is open to U.S. Residents only and ends on Oct 14, 2018. Must follow rules in Rafflecopter. One winner will be chosen randomly. Mom Files is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes. Good luck!

The Best Plants To Help Keep Mosquitoes Away

It's crazy to think that although we are in the month of April, many parts of the country are getting late snowfall and freezing temperatures. We have experienced all four seasons in recent weeks. What surprises me is although we have only had a handful of days in the lower 80's, we have seen swarms of tiny mosquitoes. Since we spend a lot of time on our back deck, we have to do all we can to keep those pesky buggers away. 

Last year we tried a few plants that were recommended by our local garden center, and we added a few others. Keep in mind that some of these plants can be hard to find at the big chain places, so you may have to go to a local specialty place for them like we did for some. The plants below have worked for us, which says a lot since mosquitoes can find me in a crowd of a thousand people! 

Take a look at these plants that help keep the mosquitoes away

Citronella (also called the mosquito plant)

This plant gives off a citrusy scent that mosquitoes hate. We find this plant is most effective when you pluck a leaf or two off, rub it to release the natural oils, and wipe it on your exposed areas like your legs and arms. This one really does work well! I have yet to get single bite if I have this around. We found it at a local garden center, but you can buy them here as well. 

Marigolds
The great part about these is you can find them in almost any store that sells plants. They are super affordable, come in different colors, and work great in garden beds, pots or hanging baskets.

Rosemary 

This herb is very fragrant so it chases mosquitoes away. I can't stand the scent at all myself. Rosemary is a hardy plants that requires no maintenance aside from watering. They can take full sun as well. 

Other recommended herbs are: basil, peppermint, spearmint, and garlic chives. 

Eucalyptus
This plant emits a fragrance that chases pests away. We bought a couple small pants called silver drop that we planted in pots. They will only get to be a few feet tall, which makes it good for containers. We might consider getting a larger tree to plant in the ground at the bottom of our deck. We use eucalyptus in our home, so it would be great to have a full size tree.

Geranium
This flower plant is a stunner! I have read that they can help repel mosquitoes, so of course I had to buy a plant to put in a pot to admire. I'll report back to let you all now if it worked or not. At least it's pretty, right?

So far we have plenty of potted plants on our back deck and our front door entrance to keep mosquitoes from trying to enter our home. We are hoping the summer heat isn't too hard on them. The only real maintenance these plants need is proper watering, a little plant food, and the correct amount of sun. Too bad plants only work for small areas.

In addition to having potted plants for repelling mosquitoes, we also use Tiki torches, candles, and our new favorite, citronella mosquito repellent sticks. They are long-lasting and work really well. It's nice to be able to grill out, without getting eaten alive. If mosquitoes are bugging you, I suggest trying any of the recommendations in this post.

Ordering Trees Online- Is it Legit?

Have you ever considered ordering trees or plants online before, but was a bit skeptical? We have been planting trees in our yard since removing the old, overgrown ones. Thankfully for us, we were super lucky to score trees on clearance at our local home improvement stores. So far we have several evergreens, a corkscrew willow and a weeping cherry. Now that the pretty trees are in the ground, we decided on a pretty shade tree. I did many hours of research online and read probably close to one hundred reviews.

We finally settled on getting a Tulip Poplar tree. I went to a few local places and they wanted anywhere from $109-$170 for one. This didn't include delivery or planting. I'm sorry, that was just way too much for one tree. After getting the other ones for so little, I got spoiled and didn't want to spend a lot. I decided to take a chance and order a tulip poplar online for way less than half the cost of what I found locally. The company I used is actually located in SC about an hour from where I live, so this made me feel a little better. I figured if the trees are grown and harvested in SC, then they should be able to thrive. Here is what I got...

I was so thrilled to see how well the tree was packed and that it arrived in excellent shape. I ordered a 4-5 foot tree and got exactly that! The tulip poplar is expected to grow up to 30-50 feet with about 5-7 feet of growth each year. In the spring, it will have bright yellow tulip-like flowers that attract hummingbirds. The leaves will be big and broad, perfect for shade all summer long. In the fall, the leaves are supposed to turn a very bright yellow. It will be beautiful for all seasons! If you want to know where I ordered the tree from, send me an email.

My little guy was so excited to help his dad plant the tree while I supervised. Now we just have to keep it watered and watch it grow. I will post an update later in the year to let you all know how she's doing :)

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

I remember many years ago when we first moved into our home, the front and back yard was littered with various trees, shrubs and bushes. The previous residents were renters and let's just say that yard maintenance was not a priority to them. My husband and I spent countless hours, weekend after weekend chopping, trimming, pruning and removing anything that was manageable for us to do ourselves. We were pretty certain that the yard trash collection guys hated us because there was always a pile of branches, bags of leaves or some time of yard debris for months on end. I think it took us a good 2 years to really get the yard under control. We did have some plum trees, one Bradford pear and a couple other big trees that up to this day, we really never knew what kind they were.

Of course when you have large trees so close to your house, there comes a lot of risk. Every storm that blew through, we would panic that a large branch would crash through our bedroom window or it would break and fall onto the roof. It finally came the point of letting it all go. In late December, we had our trees removed with the exception of the Bradford pear since it was not causing any problems. It was really hard watching the trees that our daughters used to climb and swing from the branches get cut down. They were just too overgrown and the roots were getting way out of control. We just couldn't risk keeping them anymore. When all of the trees were removed it looked and felt so strange outside. We no longer had shade and our back yard became overly plain and sad looking. I have hinted around to my husband for probably more than 7 years that I really wanted a willow tree in the back yard. Now that all of our trees were gone, it made him a bit more open to getting one planted for me. Of course, he complained that I wanted so badly to hire The Local Tree Experts to get rid of the other trees only to turn around to get more trees.

We were looking around our local Lowe's recently and noticed that all of their trees were on clearance. Although we were just browsing, we came across a willow tree. Even better, the clearance price was only $5.00! My husband did not hesitate to buy it for me. I'm pretty sure he was side-eyeing me just a pinch :)

So here she is, my lovely corkscrew willow! The branches are supposed to have a curvy shape as the tree grows and it is supposed to be pretty for all 4 seasons. I'm so happy to watch her grow and add some much needed beauty and shade (eventually) to my big, empty yard. My hubby even threw in a few evergreens on the fence line. We are planning to plant a poplar tree on the other side since we need a fast-growing tree to give some extra shade. I guess good things come to those who wait. Even better, on clearance!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend xoxo