Richard Hoyt

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Stories By Richard Hoyt

  • How To Grow A Cherry Tree From A Seed Or Pit

    It's not hard to grow a cherry tree from a seed or pit, but there's a specific process if you want a tree that yields fruit in spring. It's best to use a local cherry seed because not every cherry grows well in every environment. Sweet cherries need to be pollinated by nearby trees to produce fruit.

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  • How To Prune Mums

    Learning how to prune mums allows you to promote healthy growth and encourage more blooms. Mums need to be pruned for a variety of reasons, including general pruning, shaping and flower growth.

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  • Mexican Fan Palm Tree Care

    The Mexican fan palm grows readily in USDA zones 9 through 11. These palms tolerate less than desirable soil conditions and a bit of salt, requiring little care. Pruning is sometimes necessary, however, as these trees tend to hold onto their dead leaves, creating a fire hazard and home for vermin.

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  • Live Oak Tree Vs. Laurel Oak Tree

    Live oak and laurel oak are two different species of oak trees. Live oak grows larger (80 feet tall and 100 feet wide) and lives longer (more than 150 years) than laurel oak (60 feet tall and wide with a life span of 50 to 150 years).

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  • When To Plant Clover Seeds

    Clover is a useful and adorable plant. It is extremely beneficial to vegetation around it thanks to the nitrogen in its roots. It is also used as a cover plant in gardens, as "green manure" to fertilize soil once it dies and decomposes and it can also be used to plant turf.

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  • How To Care For An Anthurium

    Anthurium is a flowering perennial grown outside in tropical climates or as a low-maintenance indoor-outdoor potted plant. Care for an anthurium is easy, and with proper drainage, protection from cool temperatures and bright but indirect sunlight, anthurium grows bright-red, heart-shaped blooms.

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  • Causes Of Oil Furnace Soot

    Soot is the particulate matter released by an oil furnace. It is corrosive and difficult to remove from the walls, ceilings, and furnishings. It is also a health hazard. Furnace soot is often the result of "puffback" and dirty flues and chimneys.

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  • Which Is Best: Rubberwood Or Pine?

    It is difficult to compare rubberwood to pinewood because rubberwood is a hardwood imported as moderately priced indoor furniture, and pinewood is a native resinous softwood made into both interior and exterior furniture and is widely available to carpenters and cabinet-makers.

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  • How & When To Prune A Ming Aralia

    The Ming aralia (Polyscias fruticosa), native to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, is an exotic plant with luxuriant foliage; its genus name, Polyscias, means "many shaded." It is popular as an indoor plant because its thick canopy of slender leaves give a room an oriental look, and it is a favorite bonsai plant.

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  • Do Succulents Need A Lot Of Sunlight?

    Succulents store moisture in fat roots, stems and leaves, accounting for their reputation of requiring little water. Their requirements for light, however, vary more widely, depending on whether they evolved in desert, alpine or tropical climates. Cactuses are also succulents.

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  • Does Bougainvillea Grow Fast?

    **Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spp.) are fast growers, a botanical term that for vines means they can grow more than 36 inches year**. Bougainvilleas will only achieve this rapid growing rate under their optimal preferences for weather and growing conditions.

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  • How To Grow Callaloo Seeds

    If a friend tells you she is going to enjoy callaloo, she may be referring to a stew popular in the Caribbean or a plant in the genus Amaranthus, native to Africa. Amaranth leaves are the main ingredient of callaloo, the stew, hence the name of the plant. The nutritious seeds are a flavorful grain.

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  • How To Plant Potatoes In Florida

    Annual potatoes (_Solanum tuberosum_) are typically associated with russet potatoes used for french fries and for baking. Russets are grown in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. But planting most cultivars of russet potatoes in Florida is not a good idea.

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  • How To Grow A Magnolia Tree From A Cutting

    The three most frequently grown species in the Magnolia genus are those with star-shaped flowers, those with saucer-shaped flowers and evergreen species that are also called southern magnolias. Some species root best with softwood cuttings while others require semi-hardwood.

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