If April Showers bring May Flowers, what does June Rain bring?

FUNGUS !!!! I'm turning green are you? And not in an eco-friendly kind of way. (Although I suppose it is!)

Well, May planting was hectic, as you can see, no time to blog. We spent May dodging rain drops in an effort to get all our annuals planted, and June has been the same. Last week I went out and sprayed all my Zinnias, phlox, roses, for powdery mildew, black spot, and a host of other fungus' that I'm sure are lurking under those wet leaves. With many fungus' they don't start growing until the rain stops, and the temps rise, so I might have a slight chance of preventing complete defoliation of my roses, but with weather like this...who knows!

Lawns are looking a little yellow, since too much rain will leach out all the nitrogen in the soil, so if you have a lawn, I'd put on another light application of nitrogen. (10-6-4 ) It's the same with your containers, if the leaves are looking a little yellow, add a shot of slow release fertilzer to all your pots.

But, mostly, the rain is great! The rest of my garden look spectacular! Everything is growing like crazy and all the woody plants, and perennials we planted this spring are loving it! Unfortunately the weeds like the rain too, but, hey, we're gardeners, weeds are our middle name!

Spring has Sprung!

And thank goodness for that!! As you can see by my blog posts, I am definitely one of those hibernating kind of gardeners! If it's under 60 degrees, it's all I can do figure out what to make for breakfast, let alone plan for the spring that never seems to come! I try my hardest to get out there and do productive outdoor activities, but, like that spring seed, I need warmer temps before I emerge!

In saying that, we were very busy this winter, we expanded our shop into the building next door. We had a great time doing it, and it looks fabulous. It still isn't huge, but it gives us that much more space to allow us to showcase more cool stuff. We were able to use some reclaimed barn wood to blend the new space with our existing store. We also have a tiny backyard now, which enables us to hold about 30 flats of plants for retail sale, so that's exciting too.

So....Spring is here! Yipee! What are we doing now in the garden? We're planting primrose, pansies, linaria, and bleeding hearts. Yellows, reds, orange with black stripes, cool blues,... anything goes when it comes to pansies, we're so glad to have any color this time of year. For all those gardeners who like to be subdued the rest of the year, pansy time is when you can cut loose! So....start by ripping out anything that looks dead or crummy, (remember, in a small space garden, take no prisoners! Replace it!) Prune out bits of dead in otherwise healthy plants, trim the dead out of your roses, and give everything a little fertilizer. You have to think about watering again, since your planting new stuff, and don't forget to dead head your pansies, it will make them flower longer. If your vegetable gardening, then your planting lettuce, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, chards, etc. We're selling organic soil now from the Organic Mechanics in Media Pa, and it's great for growing veggies in a box.

Stop by the store once and awhile to see our outside plantings progress, we try to keep changing and adding to it, so that our customers can see how to use some of the stuff we sell. We also have a great roster of professional gardeners and designers coming in to give free workshops this the season .(you can check our website for times) All of them are very talented, and I learn from them every time they come into my store, so I'm sure you will too.

So I've been gardening, or prepping for gardening, for about two weeks now, and, for all the complaining I've been doing all winter, (my hands hurt, my back hurts, I think I've got arthritis honey..) As the Temperature climbs, and my hands get back into the soil, all my ailments slowly recede. I'ts another miracle recovery!!! Thank you Mother Nature!

A clean break!

Wow Did we have fun this week! We were asked to participate with Minima (Eugenie Perret and Elizabeth Oliver)on their exhibit for Design /Philadelphia, titled, A Clean Break. http://www.acleanbreak.org/ The installation showcases modern pre-fab architecture, with an emphasis on low environmental impact, and sustainability. I can't really explain it well! I don't have all that architectural vocabulary so you'll have to go and check it out yourself! It's on Broad Street, across from the Kimmel Center. I enjoy the process of working with people from other disciplines; designers, and architects think in such broad strokes, unlike most of us gardeners, who tend to have our noses a little too close to the ground!

So this week I got my mind expanded to say the least! Our job was to choose the planters and plants that would help finish the look on the site, picking different style planters based on the materials and ambience of each house and surrounding space. This IS actually what we do when we garden. We get to know our customers taste and lifestyle, and interpret that through the choosing of plants and the garden layout itself, or in the case of ' A Clean Break', turning a parking lot into something artful and...cozy? It was a great combination of talent, and it looks great! John Jstremski Landscapes and Leroy Landscape Services installed bigger trees and shrubs, and Colibraros Nursery of Horsham, donated all the plants. I also had the pleasure of working with the crew from Greensgrow . They have their own installation there which is really beautifully done. Gardeners don't get to socialize as much as we would like, since we're usually in someone elses backyard, so being able to hang out a little with Mary and her team of gardeners was great. Greensgrow continues to be the innovative gardening force in Philadelphia. I hope we can keep up with them!
So go check it out and see what you think. It's only on for 2 weeks, and then it all goes away. It's open 11 to 7. And it's free!! 

my current plant list

. There are certain perennials that come into their own this time of year because they have amazing foliage that are perfect for container gardening. I plant them to last all winter long, and then, in the spring, I plant them out in the yard. I thought I'd take a few minutes and talk about them.

All of the heuceras (coral bells) for example, with the exception of the straight species, have a wide range of colors. With names like, tira misu, plum pudding, gingerale, and rasberry regal (Anyone wanna eat?) the names describe the color range of this great plant, from deep maroon to bright, bright yellow; plum pudding is purple with silver stripes. The heuceras stand up to extreme cold and look good even with snow on them.

Blue fescue(festuca) grass is always a good winter perennial, I often throw it out in the spring, because its a little rough looking and doesn't quite make it through, but it's totally worth it for that metallic blue that only a fescue can do. They are short, so put it in the front of your pot where you can see it.

Euphorbia purpurea is a fleshy perennial (related to Poinsettia) that has purple foliage , and Euphorbia kalipso has gold/ chartreuse foliage with kind of a tropical look to it, that shows up against other dark foliage. If your plants overwinter, and they often do, the blooms on them on quite unique, cactus like, airy bouquets of light yellows and pinks.

Japanese painted fern, give you an airy loose texture, that will spill over the side of your pot a little, there are really many ferns that will look good in a pot, christmas fern is another good one , but it is flatter, so take that into consideration when you place it.

Carex is a group of grasses, (sedges) and there are lots of varieties with gold in the leaf, from 2' to 1''. The one I just planted is Carex 'aurea' it is literally 1'' tall, with bright yellow stiff blades, like a little scrub brush!

Ajuga 'black scallop' is a pitch black ajuga, and of course, any of the lavenders look good all winter, and flush out in the spring. I haven't mentioned grasses which are of course wonderful and every variety works. ( I have a great winter picture of snow sitting on tall grasses; they can be stunning all winter long)

Last but not least are the Sedums, there are so many varieties, Tall and short, groundcovers, etc. Sedum 'autumn joy' is the most popular one, but I find that it doesn't bloom long enough for me; I prefer sedum matrona for a tall variety, It has a heavier leaf and bloom, and the seed heads look good a lot longer. Sedum 'vera jamison' is a good short one with a blue cast to the foliage, and then there are countless ones that are groundcovers that would look great in a small pot on a patio table. ('dragons blood', or 'john creech' to name two)

The list could obviously go on and on, but you get the idea, look for plants that, when planted together, contrast with each other, and have a good hardy constitution. Don't be afraid to cram them in so that it looks like a bouquet, I usually take them out in the spring and replace with spring color, but sometimes if everything looks good, I just pull what looks bad and replace with little snippets of pansies, and that looks great too.

Kite flying weather!

What a gorgeous day! These cool breezy days regenerate me! Just when you think that august has beaten you, September comes along and lifts you right back up! The orange impatiens in my garden have been limping along for a month, but as soon as we got that rain and some cool temps.. they just jumped right up and said ''hey, look at me!" The oranges and reds this time of year just seem to show up more.

So it's almost the end of annual season, and as it cools off, some annuals look better and some look worse. I take no prisoners this time of year. If the annuals look bad I rip them out, I'd rather have a plain well groomed garden this time of year, so I get out the rake, and I re-edge, and cut out anything thats brown (within reason) . If it's a container, unless it's absolutely drop dead gorgeous, out it goes. There are lots of perennials this time of year that, combined with evergreens, make for beautiful arrangements that last through the winter; and if you count the months, you get just as many months out of you winter pots as you do out of your summer ones. ( you can even do it in your glazed pots, I would just use them until christmas though, and then store them.) Don't forget though; containers still need to be watered in the fall and winter, so you have to water them by hand when they're not frozen.

So why is my title today about Kites? I watched a man with his son the other day trying to fly a kite in the abandoned lot next to City Planter. The lot is so small, how was he going to get a running start? They weren't successful, but they had alot of fun....maybe they'll come back today!!!!

oh brave new world!

Well well, who would have thought it . Here I am writing a blog about gardening! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! Well ..welcome all who decide to read what I write, I will try my best to be informative for all those who are in dire need of gardening info. (not that there is a dearth of it out there in gardening cyber space!) I will say that at 50, and having been gardening for 30 plus years, I still find absolute joy in what I do. I work with a great bunch of people, have great clients, and 100% job satisfaction. (unless my back is out!) We have always specialized in ornamental horticulture, and for those of you not in the field, it's all about beauty. We've been professional gardeners in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia for about 20 years, so we're well versed in the care of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, and creating....ahem...beautiful containers!! We're excited about where this new shop of ours is going to take us, and I have to say that so far it's been great. Peter and I are learning alot about running a retail store, and we hope we can pass some of our knowledge on to you!! Thanks Mary

COMING SOON!!