Detergent growing on trees

I was reading about nature and natural products and was amazed to read that we had detergent growing on trees - yes, you read it right. I am talking about soap nuts. The online material suggests that they could be packaged properly and used even with a washing machine. 100% natural and as good as (or even better than ) the detergent that we buy from the supermarkets. Soap nuts are also used in Ayurvedic Medicinal system for treating hair-loss.

My Roses are rare!

The roses in my garden are rare. That's because they hardly bloom. I have alteast 5 rose plants and they all uniformly are growing taller. They are almost 7 feet high. I get an occasional rose(that's why i called them rare), say once in a month. I spoke to another gardener and he suggested that I should cut off all the branches having 7-leaflets. Is there any other way to make the roses bloom better?

Adding gypsum to make the soil better

I happened to run into a horticulturist recently . I enquired if it would be good for the plants if I added some red soil. he suggested that it was not important to add new soil but to improve the soil which is there in the garden. He suggested that I should add Gypsum to make the soil better.
Does anyone have any opinion on this? I would like to keep my garden an organic garden. Will adding gypsum make it chemical?

New Additions to the Garden - Chrysanthemums!

The Chrysanthemums are must have in the garden. I planted some last year, but they failed to survive. Recently, I spotted some yellow and lavender chrysanthemum plants in a nursery. They were in full bloom and i couldn't resist the temptation of buying them. Bought a few pots too for a decent sum of money and lo, now right at the entrance to my home and the garden, I have the beautiful and bright yellow and the lavender chrysanthemums welcoming us and the visitors inside.
Chrysanthemum is locally called Saamandhi in Tamil and is offered to the Lords, especially to Lord Balaji.