When springtime comes, one of the first things I want to do is to go out and get some fresh flowers for my home. I don’t mind winter so much, and I always loved the snow when I was a kid, but there comes a time when you have had enough and you long for warmer weather. I love the first snowfall of the year, but I love even more the first signs of flowers popping up in the yards in my neighborhood. Sometimes you can even find them popping up out of the snow.

Fresh flowers seem to remind you that everything is coming back to life after what seems like a long and dead winter. Though some people seem to hate winter, I see it as something that makes life what it is. Without the winter, I don’t think I would appreciate the summer and the fresh flowers as much as I do. Winter reminds me to enjoy what the warmer weather has to offer, and I try not to take one single nice day for granted because I know they will not last forever.

You can find your own fresh flowers, but you have to make sure they aren’t in someone’s yard. My daughter has a hard time understanding this, but that is understandable as she is only four years old. She wants to pick all of the fresh flowers she sees on our spring walks, and I can rarely let her pick them because they are usually in someone’s yard. Instead, I go to the florist and pick out what we have seen on our walk to bring home and put in a vase. The fresh scent of these flowers always has a pick me up effect on the entire household.

This is also the reason why so many people give fresh flowers to people on dates, or when they come to visit someone for any reason. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who does not appreciate the color and scent of fresh flowers. This is why they are always appropriate. They are also popular for funerals, though I’m not entirely sure why that is. I suspect that it is a reminder that even though one life has come to an end, the world continues. Though that thought may not be welcome when you are first mourning the loss of a loved one, it certainly is a comfort in the weeks to come.

John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/fresh-flowers-94088.html

Alright, so i just got some peas and pumkins to plant in my garden. However, this garden hasnt been used in a while, lets say about 2 years. It had once very rich soil, but now, grass, and weeds have taken over! How can i get my garden ready again? If you do not know very well how to do it, some instructional videos or just plain old links on how to do it would also be very appreaciated. Best answer for the most infromation.!!! Ty!

Well, you could just buy a square shovel, edge out the area you want to plant in and get rid of about 1 inch of weed/grass and soil. By throwing this grass and soil somewhere else (woods, compost etc) you can then add bags of good healthy soil on top.
Also, invest in a little "Quick Start" for your seeds. It’s from Miracle Grow. IT’s fantastic!

Tomatoes are harvested for 3-4 months in a year. If it is wanted to process tomatoes after the harvesting season how should tomatoes be stored for industrial purposes?(for paste or sauce production) Can they be freezed?

They are frozen.

Both Trees and small plants evolved flowers. My question is which came first, the tree or the flower. If trees evolved first, then I would expect to see no flowers on trees at all, or flowers that are dramatically different from those in plants. If plants evolved flowers before trees, then I would expect to see all, or most, trees to have bright colorful flowers. So how is it that only a few trees have flowers, but small plants have flowers as well?
I am not asking to prove a religious point. I am honestly asking for curiosity sake.

Flowers could have evolved more than once. Comparing the genomes of plants has inclined many to this opinion. If they have multiple origins then more than one of the current theories may be correct. The one thing they have in common is that the smaller plants or understory trees where the first to develop a symbiotic relationship with insects rather than just rely on wind. Tall canopy trees like the Progymnosperm Archaeopteris or the true conifers relied on wind more easily since with height the pollen could travel farther.

Paleoherb or the ’sneaky herb’ theory suggests smaller herbs or even grasses started it all. The plants began with separate single sex (dioecious) plants. These have the oldest known fossil as evidence. A 120 million year old member of the pepper family, a Piperaceae. The small plants were weedy, fast growing colonizers looking for disturbed soil. They came to this open habitat then had to find each other over longer distances to mate. Large open habitats drove the shift to grow floral structures to attracts insects as aids in pollination. So flowers came as an adaptation to large open spaces to ensure sexual reproduction at long distances between single sexed flowers.

However another of the theories, supported by some molecular studies, is the Woody Magnoliid or the Euanthial theory that says small trees or woody shrubs (magnolia-like plants) with cone-like flowers are the common ancestors. This has the insect pollination syndrome as the driving force rather than habitat.
Here it is suggested the exposed female gamete of the conifer’s cone was gradually enfolded by an increasingly protective structure. The structure became the plant’s ovary eventually.
The female gamete is exposed once the cone’s scales open for pollination and is good food for foraging insects. If the cone developed a cupped shape around the female gametophyte there was more protection but pollen was not blocked from entering with the wind. The more the insects became involved in the pollen delivery process the more enclosed the female gamete could become. Insects bearing the pollen could crawl into where the female gamete was when wind failed to push the male gamete in.
These were shrubby, short, under story trees with broad leaves to catch light penetrating the canopy of archaeopteris and true conifers.

True flowering trees evolved from the first flowering plants. Just as Insect diversity increased dramatically following the origin of the flowering plants so the plants themselves adapted to every possible niche.
http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Angiosperms/coevolution.htm

Having recently moved to Texas from the midwest, I have no clue how to landscape our yard. What types of plants, shrubs,flowers etc grow best down here. Obviously they need to be heat and humidity hearty, but also want low maintainence as I do NOT have a green thumb. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Impatiens, hostas, azalias, ferns
ask your local store…or look on the tab that comes with the plant
always buy native plants…the ones you will need for texas will have to be drought tollerant