Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…

…And boy, do we have a sweet tip for you! We hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day on Wednesday. And if you were lucky enough to receive a bouquet of beautiful roses from a loved one, you can make them last forever… Just turn them into this easy, scent-sational homemade potpourri: 

1. After your flowers have fully opened but before the petals turn brown, remove all the petals from the stem. Gently lay them out in a single layer on a screen or cookie sheet.
2. Allow the petals to dry out for a week or so away from any heat sources and sunlight.
3. Once the petals are fully dried, place them in a jar with 1 teaspoon of rose essential oil for every 1 cup of petals.
4. Put the lid on the jar and store it for 2 weeks, gently shaking the petals each day.
5. Now all that’s left to do is place the potpourri in a pretty bowl and display it with pride! 

Find more flower tips and tricks (including a recipe for our Dazzling Basil Potpourri) in our bestselling book, Supermarket Super Gardens! You can even try it out absolutely FREE with our 21-Day Free Preview!

The Rosy Bedtime Ritual

Just like small children, the roses in your yard appreciate a little extra attention before they go to sleep. 

If you live where winter temperatures dip below 0°F, it’s a good idea to protect hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas, and most English roses. Once the ground has frozen, pile shredded bark, soil, or compost over the base of the stems in an 8- to 12-inch-tall mound. Remove the mulch in early spring, so new shoots can easily emerge.

Climbing roses respond well to additional winter protection. How much protection depends on the climate:

In extremely cold regions and for marginal varieties, remove the plants from their supports and bend them down to the ground (very carefully so as not to break the stems!). Cover the plants with 6 inches of soil, wait until the ground has frozen, and then add enough straw mulch to cover the mound to a depth of about 3 inches.

In less frigid regions and for hardier climbing types, pack straw around the canes while they are still attached to the trellis or support. Then wrap burlap around the straw, and hold it securely in place with twine.

Get Your Landscape Ready—Here Comes Winter!

With just a little preparation this month, you can head off a whole lot of springtime landscape headaches. Here’s your to-do list:

LAWNS

While cool-season grasses stay green until the snow flies, warm-season types turn brown at the first touch of frost. The simple solution: Overseed now with annual ryegrass. It’ll take off in a flash, stay green all winter, then fade away just as your warm-season turf is gearing up for spring.

TREES

If wintertime temps in your area routinely plunge below zero, protect young trees from snow and ice damage with this super-simple trick: Just surround each tree with tomato cages, line them with newspaper, and fill ‘em up with leaves or straw. Your trees will be snug as bugs in a rug all winter long!

ROSES

In extremely cold regions, remove the plants from their supports and bend them down to the ground (carefully so as not to break the stems!). Cover the plants with 6 inches of soil, wait until the ground has frozen, and then add enough straw mulch to cover the mound to a depth of about 3 inches.

BERRY BUSHES

Too much growth in late summer leaves your berry bushes vulnerable to damage by Old Man Winter. So what can you do to prevent that from happening? It’s simple; unless you need to get rid of diseased wood, halt all pruning at least a month before you expect the first frost. That way, new canes will have time to harden off before cold weather hits.

VEGETABLE BEDS

Spread a thick layer of newspaper over the tilled garden, add a layer of leaves over that, and top it all off with straw. After a lot of trial and error, I’ve found that this is the worms’ very favorite bedtime blanket. Come spring, your planting beds will be rarin’ to grow!

8 Glorious Rose Guardians

Roses are tasty gourmet fare for a whole lot of gluttonous insects — which is why the Queen of Flowers is generally bombarded with more chemical pesticides than any other plant on the planet. Well, friends, don’t buy into that nonsense! Nontoxic plant-care methods work just as well for roses as they do for any other plants.

What’s more, simply by planting certain flowers and herbs around your rosebushes, you can close the buffet line, even to Frequent Diners Club members like Japanese beetles, aphids, and spider mites. Here are eight of the most potent bug chasers on the planet:

• Artemisia
• Catnip
• Chives
• Four-o’clocks*
• Garlic
• Nasturtiums
• Petunias
• White chrysanthemums (no other color)

*Four-o’clocks are poisonous to Japanese beetles, and also to people and animals, so don’t plant them if pets or small children play in your yard.