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The Limitations of Google – DuckDuckGo To The Rescue – What once was a delightful task to use Google for all of your research projects has nowadays become a bit of a headache. Anyone who does online searches using Google has noticed that the experience is something different of what it used to be. Instead of relevant information, loads of excessive ads disrupt the search experience. Organic search results are often buried beneath layers of paid ads, making it harder to find non-commercial, authentic insights. Google’s business model heavily relies on advertising income, which has led to increased amount of “pollution” in search results, sometimes at the expense of organic content. As more and more search results are contaminated by ads, spam and with articles optimised for search engines, many users take on a long-standing belief that the search engine is getting worse.

Granting forums priority over well-researched articles, the changing algorithms of Google often lead to irrelevant results and outdated pages. Even insightful forums cannot match the depth and accuracy of professional content. Websites overstuffed with keywords to achieve higher search engine ranking, sacrifice readability making it harder for users to find genuinely helpful content. Even misinformation driven by economic incentives makes Google struggle to filter out fake news and misleading content. Google’s answer to the problem of depleted search result quality is to continuously work on algorithm improvements, spam detection, and user feedback, though the effectiveness and pace of these changes is debatable. 

Luckily, there are excellent alternatives that provide much better results that are also ad-free. DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave Search, and specialised AI search engines like Perplexity or Kagi offer better results, especially in terms of privacy. DuckDuckGo for instance prides itself of being the most privacy based search engine on the web.

Unlike DuckDuckGo, for decades, Google has been tracking user’s searches, embedding trackers in the Chrome browser, and hiding even more trackers on the most-popular websites. Google’s best alternative lets users browse the way they want and puts them back in control of their private data.

DuckDuckGo is an independent Internet privacy company that aims to make getting privacy simple and accessible for everyone. their free web browser for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows lets anyone search and browse the web. Unlike Google Search and Chrome, they don’t track searches or browsing history, but block other companies from trying to track users, all by default.

Get DuckDuckGo !

DuckDuckGo Web Tracking Protection – DuckDuckGo never tracks you. And when you leave our search engine and use our apps or extensions to browse other sites, we aim to protect your privacy as much as possible. To be effective, browser tracking protection needs to continually evolve to mitigate how trackers attempt to evade specific protections. That’s why we offer multiple types of web tracking protections. Other browsers offer some of these by default, like cookie and fingerprinting protections, but we also provide many other protections that most browsers do not offer by default, like 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection, Global Privacy Control, Link Tracking Protection, CNAME Cloaking Protection, Google AMP Protection, and more, which all help cover different tracking angles.

For example, most browsers’ default tracking protection focuses on cookie and fingerprinting protections that only restrict trackers after they load in your browser. Unfortunately, that level of protection leaves information like your IP address and other identifiers sent with loading requests vulnerable to profiling. We offer our 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection to help address this vulnerability, which stops most 3rd-party trackers from loading in the first place, providing significantly more protection. We created this page to explain how each of our web tracking protections works, how our protections work across supported platforms, and how they work together to provide overlapping protection. More

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The three numbers on fertilizer are the N-P-K ratio, which stands for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These three nutrients have separate functions and are essential to a plant’s growth and health. Fertilizers can be organic or synthetic, and come in a dry or liquid form.

Feeding your plants is an essential routine to care for them. Plant fertilizers increase a plant’s fertility and encourage growth. Fertlizers are either plant- or animal-based (organic) or man-made chemicals (inorganic), and some are water-soluble while others are dry granular. It can be confusing when it comes to choosing the right fertilizer for different plants. That’s why it is essential to find out what nutrients plants need and in which proportions. 

What Does Each Number Mean? The three numbers on the label indicate the ratio of each nutrient, or N-P-K ratio. The first number is for nitrogen (N), which increases leaf production and makes plants greener. Plants that are almost all leaves need a lot of nitrogen. The second is for phosphorus (P), which promotes root development, fruiting and flowering, and the third is for potassium (K), also known as potash which helps the plant fight off diseases, promotes hardiness and is essential to the metabolic process. Different amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium will impact the growth of a plant in different ways. 

Each number represents the weight percentage of each nutrient in the package; for example, if a plant fertilizer contains a 10-15-10 ratio, this means it has 10 percent nitrogen, 15 percent phosphorus, and 10 percent potassium. The remaining 65 percent is a combination of other micronutrients such as iron, zinc, boron, and copper.

A higher concentration of any of the three nutrients will impact a plant’s development. High amounts of nitrogen will cause greater leafy growth, high phosphorus will cause more fruiting or blooming, and high potassium will cause greater hardiness. Fertilizers with higher ratios are more concentrated than those with lower ratios. High numbers need diluting with more water before applying to plants.

Fertilizer Types – Choosing between wet and dry is more of a preference. Granular fertilizers are mostly used for outdoor plants. They are generally cheaper and have a longer shelf life. For indoor plants or small container plants outside, liquid fertilizers are recommended. Diluted with water, they can get down to where the roots are rapidly.

Organic vs. Inorganic – Organic fertilizers work in a slow and natural way, while synthetic fertilizers work rapidly. Synthetic fertilizers tend to be more concentrated and need to be diluted. Organic fertilizers are made from natural ingredients, are less concentrated and take longer to break down once applied. This helps avoid over-fertilizing and provides steady nutrients over a longer period of time.

For gardens with edible crops, granular or dry fertilizer should be mixed in with the soil before planting in the spring. For gardens with perennial flowers, fertilize before the spring growing season. Over-fertilizing plants is usually worse than choosing the wrong numbers since over-fertilization can cause the plants to burn and leave them weak. If the plant’s requirements are different than what is indicated on the fertilizer numbers, they will show signs.

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The Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a early spring blooming Oklahoma native. It’s a multi-trunked shrub or tree with vibrant magenta flowers appearing before heart-shaped leaves. The plant has a graceful, spreading habit, and its horizontally arranged branches form a round canopy.

The bark of the Eastern Redbud sometimes starts with a smooth, grayish colour that turns reddish-brown and develops deep fissures and a scaly texture, as the tree or shrub matures.

A delicate and sweet fragrance throughout spring adds a mild, subtle aroma as pleasant element to the visual beauty.

Eastern Redbud trees are versatile and can thrive with minimal care under normal conditions. They are cold hardy to a temperature of minus 28 degrees Celsius. However, the hot and dry climate of the Okanagan and Shuswap regions are a challenge for Redbud plants to survive. They require sun to part shade exposure and frequent, deep, regular watering and moist, well-drained soil. Claims that Eastern Redbud plants are drought tolerant are incorrect. The climate conditions in Oklahoma where these plants originate are completely different from that of the BC Interior.

Oklahoma has a southern humid belt merging with a colder northern continental one and humid eastern and dry western zones that cut through the state. The result is normally pleasant weather and an average annual temperature of about 16 degrees Celsius, increasing from northwest to southeast. No region is free from wind. As the collision point for warm and cold air masses, with sudden rises and falls in temperature, the state has heavy downpours in summer, thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornadoes. Final thoughts: The Redbud plant requires humidity and lots of moisture to thrive. Rock beds and drip line are not favourable.

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Cedar hedges are grown just about anywhere in the world as they feature a number of positive attributes. They are easy to grow, create an almost instant privacy hedge and they are easy to maintain on a drip water system once established. The claim they need a lot of water is a myth. Cedars need just about as much or as little water as many other tall shrub plants intended for hedging.

There are however a number of undesirable negatives attributed to this and other coniferous hedging plants. Most evergreen conifers including deciduous evergreens are laden with oils and resins which make them extremely flammable. With today’s FireSmart practices in mind, coniferous plants in general should all be avoided in gardens and modern landscapes.

The BC FireSmart plant program features a guide about lower risk plants for hedges, privacy and screening that contains a lot of plants for a lot of places. Many suggested plants species are not everywhere available, or they aren’t heat tolerant or cold hardy enough to survive Okanagan winter cold snaps. Following are a few lesser known, tough plants worth considering as alternatives as they are also fire, deer and drought-resistant.

Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius) – A super fragrant deciduous ornamental hedging shrub with beautiful white flowers makes for an ideal summer privacy screen in backyards. A upright growth with stiff and woody branches featuring dark-green and oval leaves that can grow from 3 to 12 feet tall and wide, depending on the variety. Mock Orange requires full sun, well drained soil.

Forsythia, (genus Forsythia) – The brilliant yellow blooms early in the spring belong to the Forsythia, a member of the olive family. A cheerful backdrop commonly known for its long branches and an excellent privacy screen or center piece in urban settings. With proper watering, the Forsythia is a fast growing shrub that can reach up to 10 feet in height and width.

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) – Another local native is the Lilac shrub which is extremely easy to care for and can be pruned so that their dense leaves create a hedge with pink, purple, or white fragrant blooms in late spring and early summer. The size of Lilac ranges from 4 to 20 feet in height and width. Grown in full sun, Lilac requires fertile, well drained soil. It is hardy and can grow almost anywhere.

Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) – The Saskatoon is a deciduous native shrub that grows from western Ontario to British Columbia and the Yukon. It can grow up to 30 feet tall, although typically its height ranges at 3 to 18 feet. Before it leaves out in the spring, clusters of small fragrant white flowers emerge which bloom for about a month. Saskatoon berries Edible to both humans and animals, the plant produces small, sweet berries, that ripen in early summer. The twigs and leaves of the Sakatoon if eaten in large quantities by animals such as cattle, goats, and sheep, can be a fatal poison.

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) – An attractive plant, the Ninebark is native to the eastern and central regions of North America. It is an upright arching shrub that grows up to about 10 feet and wide, depending on variety. They are well loved for their showy floral display of small white or pink blooms that appear in the late spring and early summer. Ninebark can grow in a variety of soil conditions and the plant is drought resistant once established.

Red Twigged Dogwood (Cornus servicea) – Red twig dogwoods are deciduous shrubs with variegated leaves in a deep green-gray colour with a white edge, making them especially pleasant on the eye. Their white flowers emerge during the springtime or in early summer, and are followed by equally charming white berries with blue undertones The characteristic red coloured bark makes these shrubs a wonderful focal point in any garden. Sizes vary according to the variety. Dwarf forms can reach just 2 feet tall and wide, while the largest varieties can be up to 15 feet tall and wide.

Hi, I am Matt – the owner of Chasing Sprouts website. The blog, resources and plant database segments feature a wealth of information to master all sorts of gardening projects. Feel free to share my articles with your world. Bookmark Chasing Sprouts to stay in the loop!

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Cedar hedges are grown just about anywhere in the world as they feature a number of positive attributes. They are easy to grow, create an almost instant privacy hedge and they are easy to maintain on a drip water system once established. The claim they need a lot of water is a myth. Cedars need just about as much or as little water as many other tall shrub plants intended for hedging.

There are however a number of undesirable negatives attributed to this and other coniferous hedging plants. Most evergreen conifers including deciduous evergreens are laden with oils and resins which make them extremely flammable. With today’s FireSmart practices in mind, coniferous plants in general should all be avoided in gardens and modern landscapes.

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Cedar Hedge Planting To Become Illegal in Vernon BC – 1st October 2024 New Bylaw

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The BC FireSmart plant program features a guide about lower risk plants for hedges, privacy and screening that contains a lot of plants for a lot of places. Many suggested plants species are not everywhere available, or they aren’t heat tolerant or cold hardy enough to survive Okanagan winter cold snaps. Following are a few lesser known, tough plants worth considering as alternatives as they are also fire, deer and drought-resistant.

Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius) – A super fragrant deciduous ornamental hedging shrub with beautiful white flowers makes for an ideal summer privacy screen in backyards. A upright growth with stiff and woody branches featuring dark-green and oval leaves that can grow from 3 to 12 feet tall and wide, depending on the variety. Mock Orange requires full sun, well drained soil.

Forsythia, (genus Forsythia) – The brilliant yellow blooms early in the spring belong to the Forsythia, a member of the olive family. A cheerful backdrop commonly known for its long branches and an excellent privacy screen or center piece in urban settings. With proper watering, the Forsythia is a fast growing shrub that can reach up to 10 feet in height and width.

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) – Another local native is the Lilac shrub which is extremely easy to care for and can be pruned so that their dense leaves create a hedge with pink, purple, or white fragrant blooms in late spring and early summer. The size of Lilac ranges from 4 to 20 feet in height and width. Grown in full sun, Lilac requires fertile, well drained soil. It is hardy and can grow almost anywhere.

Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) – The Saskatoon is a deciduous native shrub that grows from western Ontario to British Columbia and the Yukon. It can grow up to 30 feet tall, although typically its height ranges at 3 to 18 feet. Before it leaves out in the spring, clusters of small fragrant white flowers emerge which bloom for about a month. Saskatoon berries Edible to both humans and animals, the plant produces small, sweet berries, that ripen in early summer. The twigs and leaves of the Sakatoon if eaten in large quantities by animals such as cattle, goats, and sheep, can be a fatal poison.

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) – An attractive plant, the Ninebark is native to the eastern and central regions of North America. It is an upright arching shrub that grows up to about 10 feet and wide, depending on variety. They are well loved for their showy floral display of small white or pink blooms that appear in the late spring and early summer. Ninebark can grow in a variety of soil conditions and the plant is drought resistant once established.

Red Twigged Dogwood (Cornus servicea) – Red twig dogwoods are deciduous shrubs with variegated leaves in a deep green-gray colour with a white edge, making them especially pleasant on the eye. Their white flowers emerge during the springtime or in early summer, and are followed by equally charming white berries with blue undertones The characteristic red coloured bark makes these shrubs a wonderful focal point in any garden. Sizes vary according to the variety. Dwarf forms can reach just 2 feet tall and wide, while the largest varieties can be up to 15 feet tall and wide.

Hi, I am Matt – the owner of Chasing Sprouts website. The blog, resources and plant database segments feature a wealth of information to master all sorts of gardening projects. Feel free to share my articles with your world. Bookmark Chasing Sprouts to stay in the loop!

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The browning of plant tissues, including leaf margins and tips is a condition known as leaf scorch, a common condition caused by various factors. In hot and arid regions, this is mainly caused by excessive heat during droughts. Other possible causes which also lead to leaf scorch are improper plant care, soil compaction, transplant shock, nutrient deficiency or over-fertilization. Exposure to bacterium carrying insects, herbicides or salt toxicity may also lead to symptoms of leaf scorch. 

Leaf Scorch Caused by Environmental Conditions
Leaf scorch caused by weather conditions can affect almost any plant. High temperatures, dry winds, and low soil moisture are favourable. When water evaporates from leaf surfaces, plant roots are unable to compensate for the transpiration loss. Leaf tissue then dies as a direct result. Young trees that are stressed by insect infestations, diseases, or other factors are more susceptible than those growing vigorously and in good condition.

Japanese maples, Norway and sugar maples, beech, ash, oak, linden, birch, alpine currant, horse chestnut, white pine, rhododendron, viburnum, and flowering dogwood tree and shrub plants are particularly prone to leaf scorch. Understanding and meeting the specific needs of plants and maintaining proper soil conditions, including proper watering practices, are all vital for preventing leaf scorch effectively.

Leaf Scorch Caused by Bacteria
Bacterial leaf scorch is a chronic, eventually fatal disease that has devastated many shade trees in landscapes and street plantings. Bacterial leaf scorch (BLS) is a systemic disease caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which invades the water and nutrient-conducting tissues of trees. 

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Bacterial Leaf Scorch of Shade Trees

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Bacterial leaf scorch is most common with pin, red, shingle, bur, and white oaks, but can also affect elm, sycamore, mulberry, sweetgum, sugar maple, and red maple. Tissue-feeding leafhoppers and spittlebugs spread the bacterium from tree to tree. Bacterial leaf scorch can easily be mistaken with symptoms of drought and heat stress and the only way to confirm its presence is through laboratory analysis.

The best time to test for the presence of this disease is in late summer or early fall when the bacteria count is at its highest. Transmission between trees through root grafts has also been reported. 

Infected leafhoppers and spittlebugs feed on the succulent, terminal shoots of susceptible host trees, transmitting the bacteria. Water transporting tissue vessels become clogged with bacteria as they travel within, multiplying and infecting other parts of the tree. There are no viable control options for the insects.

The cold-sensitive bacteria overwinters in protected areas within the tree, and populations begin to climb again as the next growing season progresses. 

Leaf Scorch Management
Maintaining the vigor of plants by keeping susceptible specimen healthy and thriving can help them resist infection and survive longer once they are infected. Branches that have died due to bacterial leaf scorch should be removed. Infected trees in a severe state of decline should also be removed. Disinfect pruning tools with a 10% bleach solution between pruning cuts.

Hi, I am Matt – the owner of Chasing Sprouts website. The blog, resources and plant database segments feature a wealth of information to master all sorts of gardening projects. Feel free to share my articles with your world. Bookmark Chasing Sprouts to stay in the loop!

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Grown for its fragrance and flowers which attract many pollinating insects, Lavender is a hardy Mediterranean evergreen shrub popular in the arid landscapes of the Okanagan, Shuswap and beyond. Lavender is appreciated anywhere in local xeriscape gardens, cottage gardens and even in formal gardens. It can be planted beneath shrub roses or used as a low-growing lavender hedge or thrive in containers decorating decks and patios. 

Lavender – Why & How to Prune
At the time of its purchase, Lavender looks visually appealing. It is fresh, green and compact. The size and appearance however changes over time as does naturally with all plants, except not all plants turn woody and look scraggily. This is where the need for pruning comes into the picture as it is those fresh and green sprouts that will eventually turn woody if let to grow at will. Unlike with most plants, the green shoots of Lavender grow long and over time become woody from the bottom up.

The trick to keep Lavender looking nice is to keep pruning its soft shoots before they grow too long. If left to grow wild, Lavender may not be recoverable to its original looks and shape despite pruning efforts. Heavy pruning each season slows down the formation of wood and thus prolongs the lifetime of the plant.  

Prune After Bloom 
Depending on the regional cold hardiness zone, Lavender can be pruned in early spring or in fall. Fall pruning must be completed at least 6 weeks before the first frost arrives. To make sure Lavender blooms every season as it should, a best rule of thumb is to “prune after bloom”.  Pruning Lavender is quite simple. All shoots should be cut back by about 1/3 to 1/2 or or 2 to 4 inches up where leafy stems meet the woody base Then the whole plant can be given a mounding shape. 

As a compact plant, Lavender has an excellent heat resistance and loves a full sun exposure. It is cold hardy for zone 5 (minus 28 Celsius) in Canada. Garden centers carry a wide variety of Lavender plants in different sizes and flower colours such as Munstead, Hidcote, and Blue Cushion.

Hi, I am Matt – the owner of Chasing Sprouts website. The blog, resources and plant database segments feature a wealth of information to master all sorts of gardening projects. Feel free to share my articles with your world. Bookmark Chasing Sprouts to stay in the loop!

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Grown for its fragrance and flowers which attract many pollinating insects, Lavender is a hardy Mediterranean evergreen shrub popular in the arid landscapes of the Okanagan, Shuswap and beyond. Lavender is appreciated anywhere in local xeriscape gardens, cottage gardens and even in formal gardens. It can be planted beneath shrub roses or used as a low-growing lavender hedge or thrive in containers decorating decks and patios. 

Lavender – Why & How to Prune
At the time of its purchase, Lavender looks visually appealing. It is fresh, green and compact. The size and appearance however changes over time as does naturally with all plants, except not all plants turn woody and look scraggily. This is where the need for pruning comes into the picture as it is those fresh and green sprouts that will eventually turn woody if let to grow at will. Unlike with most plants, the green shoots of Lavender grow long and over time become woody from the bottom up.

The trick to keep Lavender looking nice is to keep pruning its soft shoots before they grow too long. If left to grow wild, Lavender may not be recoverable to its original looks and shape despite pruning efforts. Heavy pruning each season slows down the formation of wood and thus prolongs the lifetime of the plant.  

Prune After Bloom 
Depending on the regional cold hardiness zone, Lavender can be pruned in early spring or in fall. Fall pruning must be completed at least 6 weeks before the first frost arrives. To make sure Lavender blooms every season as it should, a best rule of thumb is to “prune after bloom”.  Pruning Lavender is quite simple. All shoots should be cut back by about 1/3 to 1/2 or or 2 to 4 inches up where leafy stems meet the woody base Then the whole plant can be given a mounding shape. 

As a compact plant, Lavender has an excellent heat resistance and loves a full sun exposure. It is cold hardy for zone 5 (minus 28 Celsius) in Canada. Garden centers carry a wide variety of Lavender plants in different sizes and flower colours such as Munstead, Hidcote, and Blue Cushion.

Hi, I am Matt – the owner of Chasing Sprouts website. The blog, resources and plant database segments feature a wealth of information to master all sorts of gardening projects. Feel free to share my articles with your world. Bookmark Chasing Sprouts to stay in the loop!

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