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    While the weather outside is cold and gray, you can begin your gardening season indoors. Having a solid foundation will make it easier for you to get your garden started in the spring and to get creative when it comes to the plants you use or the garden’s layout. This also gives gardeners an opportunity to get in the habit of tending to their gardens before it’s time to plant them in their selected location.

    1. Location is Key

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    Symbolizing love and devotion, hostas are shade-tolerant foliage plants that thrive from early spring to late summer. They’re a great addition to perennial gardens, woodland gardens, areas needing ground cover, suburban yards or even outdoor containers.

    Love and Care

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    If you’re a gardener looking for a change, consider upgrading your garden with a raised bed. These above-ground planters help separate your garden from the rest of your yard and can add dimension to otherwise flat areas. Some standard items needed to start include soil, wood or the material you plan to use to create the raised bed, a shovel and a tiller.

    Raised Ground Beds

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    Each fall, the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden lights up with vibrant fall colors. The diverse tree canopy creates a picturesque foliage, but another autumnal highlight is the cascading mums in the Pring Dry Garden. 

    About the plant: Chrysanthemum is a genus of plants containing about 40 species. They originate in the Far East, mostly in China. They have been grown in cultivation for over 3,500 years.  

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    In 1979, writing in the first edition of The Plantsman, a publication of the Royal Horticultural Society, Sandra Raphael, a senior editor in the dictionary department of the Oxford University Press, noted the term “plantsman” is intended to mean a connoisseur of plants or an expert gardener.

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    What is a microgreen? Microgreens are essentially baby vegetables! Typically picked once they are 10 to 14 days old, microgreens differ from sprouts (baby vegetables in their first two to five days after germination) in looks, taste and nutritional value. Microgreens are the second phase of a plant’s life cycle, and they provide many key nutrients, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Any type of salad green, herb and many garden vegetables can be grown as microgreens.

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