i had to fly my potted plants by air in the suitcase, so i was searching for the best way to do it and found a video by hawaii orchids growers that ship plants in pots in bloom by air! but i can't find my book mark ;(. it was on youtube. basically you need to make a custom box that will fit the plant: foliage/flowers and all. find a bigger used box and then cut/bend it to size. the best method to prevent shifting of the pot is to cut a strip of cardboard and bend it in upside down U shape with flaps :think hat with brim. the ends are taped to the bottom of the main box. the upsidedown U need to be positioned against the pot: the corners sticking out over the pot and side across the pot. this strip will also safegard the stem. think how the packaging is done for electronics ...similar to that. you can also do a strip over the pot - so that it does not wiggle side-to-side. the easier method is to wrap the pot and all into sev layers of paper deli style. roll from the corner, fold one side, roll more, fold another side in, finish rolling - forming a sturdy tube and stuff that into a box with shredded paper. shredded paper also goes inside between flowers/leaves/etc. to prevent soil from spilling, put some shreds on the surface to the rim and then tape posting tape over it and to the pot sides. it all worked perfectly. also if you are shipping by air - the paper roll/shreds will insulate well against cold cargo hold. you can prolly put the paper-rolled plant in bubble wrap too for insulation. if you don't have access to shredder, just fold paper in a long strip and cut with scissors, then fluff and mix together. i had to do this... it takes a little wrist effort, but it workable. newspaper print is very good to cut by hand, also tissue paper. i had to improvise any which way, thankfully i at least had scissors....:). Here is a link that might be useful: description of method in another post

I took a hard foam ring that I bought at the craft store. I cut holes in it. I then painted the bottem and inner bottem holes with craft paint. I then planted the impatiens in it after i rinsed all the dirt off. I made sure I got some of the root to the bottem so it would soak up the water. I then took clear fishing line and attached each plant in its place because the falls was spinning it around and the plants were leaning over. The ring is filling in nicely and its in full Minnesota sun. This is my first year with a pond so I am experimenting. What other annuals can you plant without dirt in full sun in the stream? I am trying impatiens and nasturtiums on the side. Any help? Thanks

This describes what I did in similar situation. We live in a 200 year old log cabin seated on its original foundation. A bog septic system has the normal septic tank then the affluent flows through a bog which eats the dead organism that ate the sewage. The roots go down to the liquid and feeds on the result of this process. This is acting like a Bokaski composting system. We plumbed our shower out the back of our house into a constructed bog. We keep a bucket at the back door for household waste and kitchen scraps, this is dumped into the entry of the bog septic system. Most of us are gardeners which is the main reason I mention this. Plants grow like weeds in this system. The construction is like a pond made from a rubber liner then filled with hardwood mulch to begin the process. I piled the mulch up as you might do for a raised bed. You can substitute any organic matter for the hardwood mulch which was what was available at the time. My first thought was to plant bog plants but before I could get around to bog plants I planted daylilies and hosta which just love it. Before you say that hosta or daylilies donÂt like wet feet, they have prospered for years. IÂve planted a long list of plants in this system, all have done really, REALLY well including a dwarf tree. Before anyone expresses fear, a properly sized "Bog Septic System" is safer than a normal septic system, in fact you could poop in one end and drink the water coming out of the other end. I sat it up so that the over flow goes into our pond and fish are doing well. To get ahead of the first question; no the soap has never caused a problem. IÂve never added fertilizer except the occasional urine in the bucket of household waste. This would make a great way to handle rain water that is causing an erosion problem, capturing air conditioner condensate. If you canÂt picture either of these, IÂll explain.

If it's caterpillars "Thuricide" will kill all of them. Period! If it's slugs or snails, sprinkling "diatomaceous earth" along the ground, under the plants that are under attack, will absolutely solve the problem. About every other year I get a major infestation of both snails and slugs. DE is used in swimming pool filters as a filter media. It's a very fine white powder. If you look at it in a microscope, it is very very spiney with many very sharp edges. As the pests crawl through the DE, it sticks to them and, (I believe) it slices them wherever it contacts them. I know this sounds crazy but, I don't really know whether it kills them or runs them off. An engineer friend of mine claims it kills them. I've never stayed awake to actually witness what the DE actually does to the pests. I just know I've NEVER had any more damage after DE application! It amazes me how many people continue to have problems with snails and slugs when, they only need to visit their pool supply store for Diatomaceous Earth.