Reasons for Staking Plants Perennials lean, topple, and flop for many reasons. Sometimes an otherwise sturdy stem tumbles when rain and wind, combined with weighty blooms, bend stems to the ground. In other cases, stems grow lush and weak because of overfertilizing; most established perennials thrive on little fertilizer. A mulch of compost in spring or an annual addition of an organic fertilizer scratched into soil power plentiful growth without creating weak stems....

On This Episode Host Mélanie Berliet talks with real estate investor Chris Lavergne. He shares how he built a successful real estate portfolio, including Clearing Farm, a multi-home compound in Upstate New York. Chris offers tips for finding the right investment property, renovating a fixer-upper, and what first-time home buyers should look for in a house. Meet Chris Lavergne Chris Lavergne, 34, is a real estate investor in New York and Florida....

Cool Weather Options Grow African iris as an annual in Zones 7 and below. Enjoy the bright white blooms in container gardens or planting beds for the season and replant the following year. You can overwinter African iris rhizomes by digging them up before the first fall frost. Allow the rhizomes to dry in a cool, dry place for about a week before packing them in peat moss for storage over winter....

3 tablespoon olive oil 3 ½ cup cubed ham 1 cup chopped onion (1 large) ¼ cup all-purpose flour 3 cup cold milk 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper ½ teaspoon dried sage, crushed 2 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley (optional)

Coconut note: This recipe works equally well with desiccated coconut - small shreds of unsweetened coconut - or sweetened flaked coconut. The sweetened coconut will result in more browning. Cooking Tip Cook the first batch of shrimp only 8 minutes. This ensures that the shrimp held in the warm oven are not overcooked.

About Air Plants Air plants (Tillandsia spp.) are epiphytes, meaning that in nature they grow on other plants, usually on tree branches. There are hundreds of species and varieties of air plants. They usually have strap-shape or slender triangle-shape leaves that grow in a rosette pattern with new growth appearing from the center. Those with silver foliage tend to be the most drought-tolerant; greener types dry out faster. You can also find colorful species, like Tillandsia maxima that can have coral leaves....

1 cup shortening 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon almond extract 1 16 ounce package powdered sugar (about 4 cups) 3 tablespoon milk

1 cup powdered sugar 1 tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon vanilla Desired food coloring (optional)

In late 2021, Sophie from The Stir-Crazy Crafter shared a video of what she calls her embroidery journal, and we’re not the only ones obsessed with the results. Her viral TikTok video (which has more than 218,000 likes and nearly 10,000 shares) walks readers through a year-long project: A large embroidery project with a small stitched design for every day of the year. It’s similar to the temperature blanket trend we fell in love with in 2020, where knitters and crocheters would add a stitch to a blanket every day based on the weather outside....

¾ cup sugar ½ teaspoon hot water Crackly Caramel Sauce Just before serving tartlets, prepare Crackly Caramel Spikes as directed, except omit foil-lined and buttered baking sheet and reduce sugar in the skillet to 1/2 cup. Immediately drizzle caramel sauce over tarts (mixture will harden).

DIY Tip: Use what you have. Extending this small patio solved a big space problem. Adding on to existing elements will save time and money that you would sacrifice in a major overhaul. DIY Tip: For tricky blocks that must be cut to a specific size, contact a local stone dealer to slice them for you. DIY Tip: Change things up to make your space more interesting. Using wood, concrete, and plastic materials includes contrasting textures that give the patio space depth....