Your living space shouldn’t define your ability to garden. Flex your green thumb (no matter how small your home may be) with these gardening solutions for apartment-dwellers.

6 Gardening Tips for Apartments

1. Go vertical. Don’t have space for an indoor vegetable garden? Get inspired by creative vertical gardening ideas and watch your tiny apartment burst into bloom.
2. Hit the roof. If you’re lucky enough to have rooftop access to your apartment building, you have plenty of useable space for growing light-loving plants, potted trees, and other plants that may have a hard time flourishing indoors.
3. Hang around. Hanging planters aren’t just for idyllic Southern patios. Hang a few well-placed planters in the kitchen for easy access to herbs and spices. Find brightly decorated pots to incorporate hanging greenery into your living room decor. If you have a balcony, you can take advantage of the roof overhang to give hanging planters better access to unfiltered sunlight.
4. Short, squat, and in a pot. Container gardening allows apartment-dwellers to cultivate their favorite blooms small-scale. Do you have a balcony or patio that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight? Pot dwarf roses and enjoy!
5. Hang out the window. What’s an easy way to make your apartment stand out from the crowd? Window boxes! Plant window boxes filled with spring flowers, an herb garden, or strawberries.
6. Plant wisely. Want a plant that will add life to your apartment without requiring a lot of care? All succulents require to thrive is water every 10 days and 2-4 hours of direct sunlight.

Transform your apartment with fresh, vibrant herbs, succulents, and seasonal flowers. Visit Ace of Gray for plants, fresh tips on apartment gardening, and the materials you’ll need to build a DIY vertical garden.

Is your inner gardener waking up from hibernation? Spring is just weeks away, and there’s no need to hold back your green thumb anymore. Plant these easy grow shrubs for a sensational, stress-free landscape. It’s time to make spring bloom!

Lacecap Hydrangea

If you want to flex your gardening muscles, hydrangeas are our top pick. They’re delicate, voluminous, and thrive in well-drained soil. What’s the fun part? They change colors based on the pH of your soil. Play around with the acidity of your soil to change hydrangeas from pink to blue (or a purply mix of the two). The more aluminum in the soil, the bluer they’ll be! A few pro tips:

• It’s easier to change hydrangeas from pink to blue than vice versa, so keep that in mind when you purchase your plants
• White hydrangeas won’t change color no matter how much you amend the soil

Stella D’Oro Daylily

These smiling, sunny flowers make us happy just thinking about them. Add a dose of warmth to the spring landscape by planting them in early to mid spring. Make sure they get full sun to light shade. These lovely lilies love smiling at the sky!

Knockout Rose

Easy to grow, hard to kill, and with a flair for the dramatic, knockout roses are one of the most popular plants for springtime. Just don’t decide “low maintenance” means “no maintenance.” They still need water, fertilizer, and enough sunlight to thrive.

Did your favorite low maintenance spring shrubs make the cut? If not, visit Ace of Gray and share your favorite plants for the spring landscape.

As winter ends and nature awakens, you might consider improving the look of your yard. One of the main challenges of spring landscaping is having the right vision of what your garden design could look like after the changes are made. Ace of Gray can provide expert advice about outlay, color, type of flowers and shrubs, maintenance, feeding, tools, or anything else that can help create a quality landscape.

Garden Design Tips

Do you have a feature in your yard that stands out? A fountain, outdoor fireplace, dining area, or anything else that draws the first glance? Shrubs can be strategically planted around your outdoor entertaining area in patterns that are pleasing to the eye, creating a personal space for your family and guests.

If you wanted to add some color to your landscape, annual flowers are available in every hue imaginable. While perennials are better value for money, adding various annuals each year allows you to find your preferred color through experiment and testing. The most popular annuals are petunias, zinnias, impatiens, and marigold. Some more exotic choices include cleome, lisianthus, Joseph’s coat, or gazania.

Plant arbors, birdbaths or other ornamentals now. When the flowers grow around them, your hardscaping elements will look twice as nice.

5 Spring Landscaping Tips

1. Always prune hedges and clean up winter debris like dry branches, leaves, and dead plants.
2. Apply pre-emergents to prevent weeds from developing.
3. Check the condition of irrigation equipment and tune your lawnmower regularly.
4. Keep the lawn watered to ensure the healthy growth of new grass.
5. Mow any cool season grasses like fescue.

The new plants are at gentle stage of beginning of their growth. Applying these tips now can contribute to your garden displaying its full potential throughout the year.

Attracting winter birds to your yard is a great way to help protect wildlife. It also adds color to a dreary, lifeless landscape. February is the most difficult month for wild birds to find the food and shelter they need. There’s no better time to dust off those bird feeders!

National Bird Feeding Month

February was declared National Bird Feeding Month to help wildlife survive the harshest part of the winter. How can you get involved with backyard birding?

• Build a buffet. Just like people, the way to a bird’s heart is through its stomach. Attract colorful birds to your backyard by putting out winter bird feed like sunflower seeds, cracked corn, fruit, mealworms, and suet. Ace of Gray sells bird feeders, but if you want to get creative, these DIY bird feeders will look as good as they’ll taste.
• Provide shelter. Animals need protection from the elements, especially in winter. Buy a bird feeder from Ace of Gray or plan a fun weekend project and teach your kids to build their own.
• Let them splash around. Who wants to take a bath in the bitter cold? Birds! Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you should drain your birdbath. Not only will birds still splash around, birdbaths are a vital source of water for many winter birds. Keep the water from freezing by putting a handful of pingpong balls in the water. If it’s in the shade, move it to direct sunlight to keep it warm during the day.

National Bird Feeding Month is a great way to teach kids about winter birds, help with wildlife conservation, and add vitality to a dull winter landscape. Visit Ace of Gray for backyard birding supplies.

Not sure what to get that special someone this year? Valentine’s Day can put a lot of pressure on relationships, no matter how long you’ve been together. But you have an ace in the hole! Ace of Gray has every Valentine’s Day gift you could ask for.

The Valentine’s Classics

Does your S.O. love the classic romance of Valentine’s Day? So do we! Every year we get creative with well-loved gifts like chocolate, teddy bears, gift baskets, and fresh bouquets from our in-house florist. You can even personalize presents with monograms. And we deliver! Surprise your spouse with their favorite flowers at work or send your daughter a box of candy at school to show her you’ll always be her #1 supporter (and supplier of chocolate).

Tough Lovers

Does your loved one prefer muddy boots to chocolate kisses? We can help! Our gift center isn’t all hearts and roses. We also carry practical gifts that will show the adventurer in your life how much you care. Buy his and hers hiking boots and plan a night of camping just for two, or get your husband that Stihl leaf blower he’s had his eye on. It’s a gift for him and a gift for you. After all, acts of service is one of the 5 Love Languages!

Crafts and Kisses

Sometimes the best gifts are the ones made with care. Do you have a dozen DIY gifts pinned online? Get crafting! Ace of Gray has craft supplies and building materials to make your DIY Valentine’s Day gifts a breeze.

Whether you’re a romantic planner or a last-minute shopper, Ace of Gray has what you need to make this Valentine’s Day a success.