Healty Mind Body And Spirit

The Three Sides Of Health

Health includes having a healthy mind, healthy body, and a healthy spirit. It takes all three to be a truly healthy person. Gardening fosters all three. This is from my personal experience.

A Healthy Mind

Communing with nature, in this case gardening, can clear my mind better than anything else. We all have had periods in our lives where troubles can become overwhelming. It seems that all that we do just are not enough- lying awake at night, unable to concentrate on anything other than our difficulties, or sometimes sinking into a severe depression.

Depression has been a lifetime "curse" for me. I often suffer from what is called clinical depression meaning that I inherited it and have a chemical imbalance. The imbalance can bring on an episode of depression in an instant without any apparent reason.

It is times like these that I grab my garden tools and head outside. Weather permitting of course. If the weather is bad and I can't get out, I'm in trouble. I'm thankful that I live in a climate where this doesn't happen too often.

When I'm in the garden or yard working with my landscape, my mind has a chance to relax so to speak. No real focus. Just doing mundane things like trimming, pulling some weeds here and there, maybe this plant would look better over there, etc.

How does this help? Focusing on my difficulties has moved from the "forefront" (conscious) to the "back" (subconscious) of my mind. Of course the problems haven't gone away, they just aren't dominating my every thought. Conscious thought requires energy. That is a contributing factor to a depressed person's fatigue. Subconscious thought doesn't require nearly as much energy.

However, the subconscious is at work processing and looking for solutions without my conscious awareness. On numerous occasions I have had solutions or ideas pop into my mind while working in the garden and not even thinking about any difficulties. WOW! I call it my "Mountain Top Experience" when this happens.

A Healthy Body

Gardening is good exercise! Doctors advise their patients to engage in various exercise regimens to improve their health. At the mall or walking tracks, you see recovering heart patients walking to help regain their health. Sometimes it is preventive measures to promote a healthy body.

Maybe I have a strange way of looking at things, but I view walking around in circles a waste of time. Why not get your exercise and be productive at the same time? Wouldn't it be more rewarding to promote a healthy body and have something else to show for it? In other words, two benefits for the one effort.

My gardening efforts give me the exercise I need and produces a beautiful flower bed (or landscape, veggie garden, etc.) to enjoy. Rather than "walking in circles" I now have something to show for it in addition to the exercise.

Can gardening give you adequate exercise in all the areas you need may be your question. You can design just about any kind of exercise regimen you can think of around gardening. Of course it is highly advisable to consult with your healthcare professional before engaging in any kind of exercise program.

Here are just a few examples of beneficial exercises that can be gained from gardening:

Flexibility

Gaining flexibility helps to relieve muscle tension, improve posture and balance, increase range of motion and elongate and relax muscles. Think of all the contortions you place your body in by just weeding your garden or landscape. Bending over, sitting down, getting up, or reaching to name a few. Overall, you or using muscles that just walking doesn't do.

Aerobic Exercise

Also known as "cardio", aerobics increases your heart rate and helps burn calories rapidly in addition to reducing symptoms of depression, prevent many forms of heart disease and improves insulin resistance to diabetes. The best tool to give aerobic exercise is the old fashioned shovel! Just digging in the dirt can increase the heart rate faster than anything else I know of. And you can work at a pace that is suitable for you.

Strength

Strength exercises improve strength, tones muscles and burn fat. Additionally, benefits of improving bone strength, fighting osteoporosis, decreases blood pressure, preventing lower back pain, increasing your resting metabolic rate, promoting psychological well-being, aiding in insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. WOW! Picking up sacks of fertilizer, pulling, prying, digging, etc. are just a few strength exercises that go along with gardening.

I'm sure you can think of many other ways of perfecting your exercise regimen while gardening. Please, DON'T OVER DO IT ON YOUR FIRST DAY OUT THIS SPRING! Being over zealous and suffering the consequences can be very discouraging.

If you are not sure of what you should or should not do, consult your health care professional BEFORE beginning any exercise regimen.

A Healthy Spirit

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars." - Martin Luther

God also writes gospel in our daily lives. The mind clearing rewards of being able to touch, feel, smell, see, and hear His creations in itself is proof of Being.

A healthy Spirit is not just about religion! A healthy Spirit is being at peace with creation (the Laws of Nature), it's beauty, and being a part of it. Gardening provides the avenue to building the spirit!

To a certain extent, gardeners can take the pre-determined (creation) characteristics of nature and arrange them in a way that embellishes our enjoyment. For example, we can arrange a flower bed to give certain colors, a variety of texture, to frame a certain view, or a multitude of other ways of arranging nature around us.

Our spirit is lifted we can become a part of nature itself. Being able to touch, feel, smell, see, and hear what has been given us to enjoy excites our senses.

It is satisfying knowing that we had a part in the beauty and health of our garden. Being able to support nature by giving and receiving is our reward. We contribute by arranging, feeding, and looking after the health of our plants. In return, we are rewarded with nature's bounty.

Rafflesia

Rafflesia flowers, native to Indonesia, have been used in traditional medicine “to stop internal bleeding, shrink the womb and restore the female figure” after childbirth. The gigantic parasitic plant grows in the forests of Borneo and nearby islands.

But the post-modern blues are taking precedence over post-partum folk medicine. Logging and development have encroached on the plant’s habitat; meanwhile, the Orang Asli people, who have harvested and sold rafflesia for generations, say that prices have declined in the past two years, both for rafflesia flowers and for the Rajah Brooke butterflies they attract.

“Now we know that the flower has a higher value when protected,” one Orang Asli collector told the Malaysia Star. “Tourists are willing to pay more to see a rare bloom of the Rafflesia.” Just so, the people, who used to harvest these giant, pimply flowers, now are guiding tour groups through the forests where the rafflesia have survived.

Those living in prescription-drug cultures may lament that another folk custom is dwindling, and that the mysterious fungal flowering within that custom has been turned into an exotic experience some of us can and will buy. (Dean MacCannell’s book The Tourist explains this whole creepy process.) But if indigenous societies, as well as rafflesia and the Rajah Brooke butterfly, can persist—finding new means of survival, without slot machines, for Pete’s sake —that worth an ocean of postmodern tears.

Hibiscus

Hibiscus also called as Bunga Raya had originated in China and around the Pacific islands, but they are found throughout the tropics in the world. The Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia and it is called as the Queen of Tropical Flowers as they signify bravery and peace. The hibiscus flower species belong to the Malvaceae cotton family. This flower is found to grow throughout the country and does not seem to gain much attraction. It is a plant that hardly has any problems and it flowers throughout the year. The delicate petals of the flower are fine and light and are found in various colors that range from deep red to light pink. The flower blooms in the morning and usually starts wilting by afternoon. Although the flower lasts for a day or two, there are new buds that open the next day so you find the plant always covered with flowers.

Bougainvillea

In Malaysia, the bougainvillea is also called bunga kertas, malay for "paper flower". And they do look like very bits of very thin paper, don't they?

I remember the bougainvillea being everywhere when I was growing up in Malaysia in the 1970s. People would plant bougainvillea of various colours -- pink, white, orange, yellow, purple, red, etc. -- in flower pots, and line them up in front of their homes.

Today, they're not as popular, at least not in Malaysia or Singapore, where greens and palms are thought to give a more modern look to a landscape design. So it was really wonderful for me to notice some planted on a couple of overhead bridges near my current home in Singapore. They're perfect there -- adding a bright profusion of purple to what is otherwise an ugly concrete structure.

DID YOU KNOW?
#1 The actual flower of the bougainvillea is tiny and white, and surrounded by 'bracts' (the paper-like colourful parts we usually think of as the flower).

#2 The bougainvillea is named after Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who "discovered" it in the 18th Century.

LILIES

Lilies of different kinds are commonly found all across the globe. Lilies come in different shapes, sizes and colors.

Lilies are really excellent plants for beds and borders. Lilies are suitable for use in a shrub border, as accent plants, a formal or naturalized pool planting. Even some of the small species would fit perfectly in an alpine rock garden.

Kingdom
Plantae
Division
Magnoliophyta
Class
Liliopsida
Order
Liliales
Family
Liliaceae
Genus
Lilium
The Lily flower symbolizes purity and refined beauty. Based on the colour or type, the Lily flower can convey different meanings.

Colour/Type of Lily Symbolic Meaning
White lily modesty and virginity
orange lily passion
yellow lily gaiety
Lily of the valley sweetness and purity of heart
Easter lily symbol of Virgin Mary


Due to its regal beauty and the variety in color and type that can symbolise a variety of meanings, Lilies are also popular flowers for gifting purposes. Among the flower bouquets of lilies, stargazer and cassablanca lily bouquets are the most sought after floral bouquets. Besides bouquets, lily bulbs as well as potted

Some Interesting Facts about Lilies
•Lilies are one of the most beautiful, and graceful of all summer-blooming flowers.
•Lilies belong to the Lilium genus consisting of less than 100 known species, occurring in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
•Lilium, the genus, is the Latin form of the Greek word 'Lerion' for the Madonna Lily.
•Red lily was first described by the famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linne (Linnaeus) in 1753.
•Lilies are believed to have been under cultivation longer than any other ornamental flower, having existed in gardens 3,000 years ago.Floral designs, particularly of Lilies, made their appearance and became very popular in the 18th dynasty of Egypt.
•Madonna lily (Lilium candidum) is the archetypal flower symbolising purity. The association of Madonna Lily with the Virgin Mary dates back to an early Christian legend, in which her tomb was filled with Lilies after her assumption into heaven.
What are True Lilies?
There are many kinds of flowers, which have been called "Lilies", but many of these so-called Lilies such as the day-lily, water-lily, and arum-lily, actually belong to other groups of flowering plants.
Plants in the Liliales grow from Bulbs, or Corms, both of which will store food over the winter or during the dry season. Unlike other Liliales, these vines produce their flowers in spherical clusters called Umbels, as in Bomarea.

True Lilies are composed of fleshy scales without a protective outer coating. True Lilies are never dormant.

Varieties in Lily
There are numerous Lily varieties. But, among the Lily varieties , only groups like the Asiatics and Orientals are the most popular flowers and widely grown.

•Asiatic Lilies - small flowers, less fragrant, wide colors
•Trumpet/Aurelian Lilies
•Oriental Lilies - Have strong fragrances, few colors,larger, flowers
•The Wild Lilies
•Martagon hybrid Lilies - Edible and Esculent herbs
•Candidum hybrid Lilies
•American hybrids Lilies
•Longiflorum hybrid Lilies - strong, sweet fragrance, large funnel shaped flowers, usually white.

Different species of Lilies Scientific Name Common Name Common Uses
Lilium auratum Japanese golden rayed lily Lily from Japan, white bowl shaped flowers with a golden ray down the centre of petals and crimson spots. The flowers are fragrant and will make a great cut flower.
Lilium bulbiferum Orange lily The bulbs edible. Sweet and mealy, these lilies make very fair eating and can be used as a substitute to potato.
Lilium canadense Canada lily Scented use
Lilium candidum Madonna lily The bulb is employed for medicinal purposes, having highly demulcent and also astringent properties.
Lilium henryi Henry's lily relieve congestion, and the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy
Lilium japonicum Krameri nourishing and useful in diseases of the chest
Lilium tigrinum Tiger lily Lily from China with light glowing orage colored flowers with purplish black spots and protruding stamens. They are late flowering, black stem bulbils with stem rooting
Lilium lancifolium Tiger lily produce edible bulbs
Lilium longiflorum Easter lily Rrumpet shaped, white and waxy flowers that are early flowering and stem rooting, mostly used in flower beds
Lilium martagon Martagon lily, Turkscap lily The bulb has diuretic, emmenagogue, emollient and expectorant properties. They are used to relieve heart diseases, pain in the cardiac region and angina pectoris.
Lilium pardalinum Panther lily The flowers are 1.5 metres tall, red in color with a yellow centre and maroon spots on it, the bulbs of which are edible.
Lilium regale Regal lily Plant in groups integrated in a perennial border.
Lilium speciosum Japanese lily The flowers diffuse a powerful sweet honey perfume.
Growing Lilies
Lilies are propagated mainly by means of Bulbs. They are also grown from seeds, scales, bulbils and bulblets. One can buy lily bulbs online or from a local bulb vendor.

Although the lilies grown from seeds are more disease resistant, the only disadvantage with growing lilies from seeds is that the lily plants take a longer time to bloom, may be, in some cases, even five to six years. Hence, bulbs are very much preferred to grow lilies.

•Lilies are usually planted during fall or spring in the garden.
•Lilies can also be grown in containers or in outdoors.
•A cool, porous and well drained soil is essential for good growth of lilies.
•Adding large amounts of organic matter will improve clay or sandy soils. The bulbs will stay in place for several years, so good bed preparation is an investment for the future.
•The ideal location will for Lilies provides direct sun all morning during the summer, with partial shade during hot afternoon hours.
•When selecting bulbs, be sure they do not look dry or shrivel, and plant them immediately.
•Proper spacing usually is 12 to 18 inches apart, but it varies according to the variety selected.
•As soon as the soil has become consistently warm during late spring, apply a 3-inch layer of organic mulch around the plants. The mulch will conserve soil moisture and keep the soil (and bulbs) from becoming too hot during the summer.
Lilies Plant Care
•Lilies do not require daily watering, but when watering, be sure to water deeply enough to reach the bulb.
•Feed the plants with a balanced fertilizer every few weeks during the growing season. Avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers.
•Remove seedpods when they appear.
•Also, remove stems and foliage when leaves become yellow.
•Mulch should be removed in late fall.
•Keep lilies blooming by removing blossoms as they fade. This prevents the plant from expending its energy in producing seed.

From www.theflowerexpert.com

Roses Are Red

The rose has been a symbol of love, beauty, even war and politics from way back in time. The variety, color and even number of Roses carry symbolic meanings. The Rose is most popularly known as the flower of love, particularly Red Rose.

Roses have been the most popular choice of flowers for the purpose of gifting across the world. They also act as a great addition to home and office decor. A bunch of roses or even a single rose works wonders aesthetically and considerably enlivens a place. Besides fresh cut roses, artificial flowers like silk roses in different colors are also widely used as decoration
Some Interesting Facts About Roses
•The birthplace of the cultivated Rose was probably Northern Persia, on the Caspian, or Faristan on the Gulf of Persia.
•Historically, the oldest Rose fossils have been found in Colorado, dating back to more than 35 million years ago.
•Roses were considered the most sacred flowers in ancient Egypt and were used as offerings for the Goddess Isis. Roses have also been found in Egyptian tombs, where they were formed into funeral wreaths.
•Confucius, 551 BC to 479 BC, reported that the Imperial Chinese library had many books on Roses.
•Ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia (in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley) mentioned Roses in a cuneiform tablet (a system of writing) written in approximately 2860 BC.
•The English were already cultivating and hybridizing Roses in the 15th Century when the English War of Roses took place. The winner of the war, Tudor Henry VII, created the Rose of England (Tudor Rose) by crossbreeding other Roses.
•While no Black Rose yet exists, there are some of such a deep Red color as to suggest Black.
•Roses are universal and grown across the world.
•The Netherlands is the world's leading exporter of Roses.
The Netherlands, with about 8000 hectares of land under Rose cultivation, is the global leader in Rose cultivation. 54 per cent (about 5000 hectares) of the cultivated land in Ecuador is under Rose cultivation!! Zambia, a small nation, had 80 per cent of its cultivated land under Roses.
Classification of Roses
Broadly, Roses are divided into three classes-

Species Roses
Species Roses are often called Wild Species Roses. Species Roses often have relatively simple, 5-petaled flowers followed by very colorful hips that last well into the winter, providing food for birds and winter color.

The most popular Rose species for sale today is Rosa rugosa owing to its superior hardiness, disease resistance, and extremely easy maintenance. Species roses are widely hybridized. Wild Species Roses include many different varieties. Wild Species Roses usually bloom once in the summer.

Old Garden Roses
Old Garden Roses have a delicate beauty and wonderful perfume, not often found in modern hybrid tea roses. Old Garden Roses are a diverse group from the those with a wonderful fragrance and great winter hardiness to the tender and lovely tea roses, which are best suited for warm climates.

Old Garden Roses comprise a multifaceted group that in general are easy to grow, disease-resistant and winter-hardy. Old Garden Roses grow in several shrub and vine sizes. Although colors do vary, this class of Roses are usually white or pastel in color. These "antique Roses" are generally preferred for lawns and home gardens. Several groupings of Roses classified as Old Garden Roses are China Roses, Tea Roses, Moss Roses, Damask Roses, Bourbon Roses, etc.

Modern Roses
Any Rose identified after 1867, is considered a Modern Rose.
Old Garden Roses are the predecessors of Modern Roses. This group of Roses are very popular. The Modern Rose is the result of crossbreeding the hybrid tea with the polyanthus (a variety of primrose).

The colors of Modern Roses are varied, rich and vibrant. The most popular roses found in the class of Modern Roses are the Hybrid Tea Roses, Floribunda Roses, and Grandiflora Roses. Although Modern Roses are adored by florists and gardeners, they do require proper care, and do not adapt well to colder environments.

Popular Hybrid Varieties of Roses
Species Involved Hybrid Product
Hybrid Perpetual Rose and Chinese Tea Rose Hybrid Tea Rose
Hybrid Perpetual Rose and Australian Brier Rose Yellow Permet Rose
R. multiflora and R. chinensis Hybrid/Dwarf Polyanthas or Poly Pompon roses
Hybrid Tea Rose and Floribundas Grandifloras
R. wichuriana, R. multiflora & Hybrid Tea Rose Dorothy Perkins, American Pillar, Excelsa
R. canina and R. gallica Albas
R. phoenica and R. gallica Damaskas Rose
R. damascena and R. alba Centifolia Rose
Autumn Damask Rose and China Rose Bourbons
Growing Roses
•Roses may be grown in any well-drained soil with optimum sunlight.
•Most Rose varieties are grown by budding on an understock (lower portion of a plant) propagated from seeds or cuttings. Order rose seeds online and let your garden be filled with the marvellous color and fragrance of roses.
•Clay soils, warm temperatures are always preferred, and the rose plants grow best when not set among other plants.
•Cow manure is the preferred fertilizer for Rose cultivation, but other organic fertilizers, especially composts, are also used.
•Rose plants usually require severe pruning, which must be adapted to the intended use of the flowers.
•Trim off all broken and bruised roots on the Rose plant, cut top growth back to 6 to 8 inches.
•Dig planting holes at least 6 inches deeper to accommodate the roots of the Rose plant without crowding or bending.
•Mix 1 tablespoonful of fertilizer with the soil placed over the drainage material.
•Cover this mixture with plain soil, bringing the level to desired planting depth.
•Make a mound in the center to receive the Rose plant.
•Set Rose plant roots over this mound, spread the roots, and fill in with soil.
•Firm the soil tightly 2 or 3 times while filling the hole.
It is extremely easy to buy rose plants online if you do not wish to go to the trouble of actually planting one. They usually come with a care manual and some plant food. An already flowering plant in a lovely container also makes a great gift item. The blooms stay longer and after they fade there is always the next flowering, thus providing the receiver with a lasting and beautiful gift.

Noisette Roses are the only Roses that originated in the United States of America.
Rose Plant Care
•When watering Roses, soak the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches, do not merely sprinkle.
•When it comes to fertilizing your roses, Provide a balanced diet to your roses. See what your plant is deficient in and try to include them in the fertilizer. Timing is also an important part to maximize the benefit of your fertilizer so that the nutrients are available to the plant when it needs it most – during the active growing and blooming stage.Order your rose fertilizer now to enhance the vigor of blooming in your roses.
•Mulching during the summer will eliminate weeds amonf Rose plants. Mulches should be applied 2 or 3 weeks before the Roses come into bloom.
•Winter mulching with straw, peat moss, or other material is advisable. This mulch regulates the soil temperature and tempers the effects of freezing and thawing on thr Roses.
•Pull soil up around each Rose plant to a height of about 6 inches after the first frost.

From www.theflowerexpert.com

Kemboja

Frangipani flowers are known for their unique fragrant clusters of colorful, bright, waxy and long lasting flowers.
Frangipani (Plumeria rubra), also known as the Hawaiin Lei flower, is native to warm tropical areas of the Pacific Islands, Caribbean, South America and Mexico. Frangipani is withstand subtropical climate. Temple Tree, Champa, Dead man's fingers, Egg Flower (southern China) Amapola (Venezuela) are other synonyms of Frangipani.
Kingdom
Plantae
Division
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Gentianales
Family
Apocynaceae
Genus
Plumeria
Species
rubra
The flowers of the Frangipani come in gorgeous rose-pink color brushed with bronze. Frangipani flowers are highly scented during nights and often used in bouquets. Frangipani flowers have wonderful tropical essence. The frangipani flower is propeller shaped with a delicate yellow center melting into the creamy white outer petals. The umbel like clusters of frangipani flowers at the end of terminal branches open over several weeks and each day the ground is carpeted with fresh frangipani flowers which are gathered for preparing the concrete.

Plumeria can be divided into two main groups, the obtusa and the rubra. Obtusa plumerias have rounded shiny leaves while the rubra have duller pointed leaves. Obtusa frangipani generally have white flowers and a strong fragrance while rubra have colorful flowers but less scent.
•Frangipani flowers colors of whites, yellows, pinks, reds, and multiple pastels.
•Frangipani is known to possess poisonous, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia.
•Frangipani flowering plants can grow to be large shrubs or even small trees.
•In tropical regions, frangipani may reach a height of 30-40 feet and half as wide.
•Frangipani plants have long leather, fleshy leaves in clusters near the branch tips.
•Frangipani plants have widely spaced thick succulent branches round or they are pointed.
•Frangipani leaves tend to fall in early winter.
•Frangipanis are deciduous and sensitive to cold.
•Frangipanis are known to possess poisonous, milky sap.
•Frangipani tree wood is white, light and soft, and can be used for the manufacturing of musical instrument, tableware and furniture.
Growing Frangipani
•When the seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant them individually into 7.5cm deep.
•Put them in the 3 in pots of a similar potting compost.
•Grow the plants on at 15-18C (60-65F) in good ventilation and light.
•Plant frangipani in fast draining soil.
•If existing soil is clay, amend with organic compost and crushed lava rock.
•Prune frangipani any time of year to retain shape and keep plants compact.
•Plants with thick waxy leaves, such as frangipani, can withstand more heat and wind than plants with delicate foliage.
•Use a slow release type fertilizer to provide a continuous source of nutrients to the plant, and to have blooms in plentiful.
•Water them carefully until the roots are growing rapidly through the compost.
•Place the cutting section in a protected, dry location for five days, permitting the wounds to callous.
•If existing soil is clay, amend with organic compost and crushed lava rock.
•Prune frangipani any time of year to retain shape and keep plants intact.
Care for Frangipani
•If scale insects are seen on the undersides of the leaves, treat with insecticidal soap and horticultural oil.
•After planting the frangipani, keep them in a sunny location.
•Plants can be over wintered in a sheltered garage, but will not continue blooming if temperatures drop below the comfort zone.
•Frangipani must be protected from frost. The fleshy stems will turn to mush at the first sign of freezing temperatures.