Home Improvement

Resin Surfacing has Become Popular Recently

Resin surfacing has become popular recently after coming over from England and Ireland. This is a process of mixed colored gravel with epoxy for driveways, paths, and patio surfaces. They provide good traction when wet, the water through (depending on the technique), and weed growth is curtailed.

You must have a good base like concrete to start with. There is resin-coated colored gravel that is placed on the base. The gravel will bind with the base and to each other. This method is called scattercoat.

Or you can mix the colored pea gravel with the epoxy and spread and smooth onto the base. Then smooth out with a concrete trowel. This method is called resin bound.

There are resin panels (like stepping stones) that can fit together on a base of compacted sand.

Shrubs

Honeysuckle Shrub

It is a honeysuckle shrub. There have been a lot of questions last week about a shrub being found in areas that were not noticed before. This time of year you can tell by the “choke cherry” sized seed capsules. Birds can carry the seeds for miles.

The new varieties produce a nice compact shrub with reddish flowers while the old “shelterbelt” kinds are leggy with white flowers, however, I think the flowers have more of a honey-like fragrance. The berries are mildly toxic so leave them for the robins and waxwings.

Flowers (annual and perennial)

Flowering Tobacco

Most people know the flowering tobacco annual flowers. You can find them at the greenhouses or order the seed online. Easy to grow, coming in many colors: white, lavender, red, and shades in between.

I plant the variety Nicotiana alata, which grows up to 4 feet tall with white flowers opening at night giving off a jasmine order. Its main pollinator is the large sphinx moth which has been flying around at night with the fireflies. Being a bright white color, they seem to glow in the moonlight.

I started these indoors and wondered if they would germinate because the seed is smaller than sand. I did not cover them and they all popped up within a week. The wind does not seem to bother the plants much.

Being related to the regular tobacco plant, the nicotine in the leaves deter most insects and pests from munching on the leaves. Some varmint took a bite out of a leaf and spit it out, I believe it was a deer.

There is a variety of Nicotiana alata called Sensation which grows around 3 feet tall and is bushier. Then there are the Nicotiana sanderae which are the common greenhouse bedding plants growing around 15 inches tall with bright colored flowers.