HERBS & CONTAINER GARDENS

June 7, 2024 Karen Logan

Chives illustration by karen blackerby logan

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JOIN US THIS SATURDAY MORNING

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GARDEN WORKSHOP

CONTAINER GARDENING

SATURDAY JUNE 8TH // 11:00AM // VINEYARD GARDENS

Please join us in a hands on workshop to learn how to make your own long blooming planted containers. We look forward to seeing you there!

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CONTAINER PLANTING

Add annuals to your perennial beds, containers & hanging baskets

Annuals long bloom season offers a consistency in color and blooms that keep your containers looking fresh through the fall. Try adding annual vines to containers and hanging baskets like Mina lobata, Thunbergias, Cobaea scandens (Cup and Saucer Vine) & Mandevilla.

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Tips for Planting Containers

Plant your flower pots now! They are a welcoming splash of color at your entrance, on your deck or patio. Pots can vary in size and can be combinations of sizes and heights arranged together to make a dynamic display. Sometimes just one kind of plant in several pots arranged together can be simple and elegant, such as one large hosta in a shade pot next to an impatiens pot. Or an acanthus plant in an urn. An advantage of utilizing planted containers allows you to be flexible with the arrangement.

In mixed containers the plants will be married together for the whole season so be sure they have similar requirements. Group full sun plants or shade plants together depending on your spot.
We usually recommend annuals for pots because they bloom all summer, perennials usually only bloom for 4 or 5 weeks. Although do consider perennials because some have beautiful foliage and do very well in pots, plus their flowers can be an extra bonus for a little while. Some examples are Heucheras(Coral Bells) or Brunnera Jack Frost (Forget me nots) or even one large Hosta in a pot can be very effective in shade.
Geraniums are an old time favorite. They are drought tolerant once established. Combine them with other drought tolerant sun lovers like Euphorbia Diamond Frost instead of the traditional vinca major.
Great container plants for sun include Verbenas, Calibracoa ‘Million Bells’, Petunias, Zinnias, Euphorbia Diamond Frost, Salvias, Sweet Alyssum and Sweet Potato Vine. A simple pot can just be Cosmos sonata, dwarf series. You could also try something new like Browallia americana or Cephalophora aromatica.
Great container plants for shade include Impatiens, Begonias, Fuschias, Four O’ Clocks, Nicotiana, Rudbeckia hirtas ‘Black eyed Susan’, Coleus, Lobelia, and Sweet Potato Vine.
Plant the taller plants in the center and the trailers around the outside.
An easy way to insure proper fertility is to put some Osmocote fertilizer on the soil surface when you finish planting your pots and then water with the hose. Otherwise mix a few tablespoons of water soluble fertilizer into your watering can and water them with fertilizer about once a week.
It is still early in the season and annuals grow quickly so don’t overcrowd them.
Most importantly have fun designing and planting your pots and watching them grow.

COLOR COMBINATIONS

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***In combining annuals***
***and perennials watch***
***your color combinations.***
***Different tones of the***
***same color look great***
***together. The contrast***
***between dark and white***
***works well. Blues, grays***
***and greens help tone***
***down the louder colors***
***like orange and red.***
***Keep it simple but***
***effective.***

Trachymene caerulea (the blue lace flowers)

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HERBS

Come check out our herb house & herb garden. Now is the time to plant some perennial, annual and edible herbs! They are a wonderful addition to container gardens!

ANNUAL HERBS (6 packs / $5.95 & 2” herb pots / $3.95): Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Chervil

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PERENNIAL HERBS

Sage, Thyme, Lavender, Chives & Tarragon

Perennial herbs tend to live longer that two years. They go dormant in the winter and return in the spring sending up new stems and leaves from the crown. Chives are usually the first to pop up in March. Most herbs in the mint family are perennial, such as oregano, thyme, sage, lemon balm and mint

PERENNIAL HERBS (4" pots / $6.95): Thyme. Sage, Mint, Tarragon, Lemon Verbena and Lemon Balm

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SAGE

Sages are known for both their ornamental and culinary qualities. On top of that, they are drought tolerant and deer resistant. Sage grows best in full sun, well draining soil and can withstand frost.

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CHIVES

Chives are cool-season, cold-tolerant perennials best planted in early to mid-spring for an early summer harvest. They are a wonderful companion plant that deters pests. Plant alongside carrots, celery, lettuce, peas, and tomatoes.

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THYME

A hardy low growing evergreen herb with small, fragrant leaves and thin, woody stems. Thyme has ornamental, culinary and medicinal qualities.

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LAVENDER

'“Lavender, an herb with many culinary uses, also makes a stunning addition to borders and perennial gardens, providing sweeping drifts of color from early summer into fall. With its silvery-green foliage, upright flower spikes and compact shrub-like form, lavender is ideal for creating informal hedges. You can also harvest it for fragrant floral arrangements, sachets, and potpourri.” Garden Design

TIMING IS KEY IN GARDENING! DON’T WAIT TO GET STARTED!

WARM WEATHER VEGETABLES

May 16, 2024 Karen Logan

WARM WEATHER VEGETABLES

As we slowly move into the warmer season, it is safe to plant out your warm weather vegetables. Stake vines and veggies as needed. Mulch or top dress around vegetables to prevent weeds and conserve moisture.

All the warm season vegetables can go in now: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, corn and squash.
The tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are growing in small pots. Cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash are growing in little peat pots that can go directly in the ground.
Beans and corn should be planted from seed directly in the ground now. Remember to keep them moist until they germinate.
We also have in stock annual herbs including Parsley, Basil, Dill, Rosemary, Chervil, Fennel, Summer Savory and Marjoram.
We have a nice selection of perennial herbs including Thyme, Tarragon, Sage, Oregano, Sweet Woodruff and Lavender
We also carry edible flowers including Violas, Bachelor Buttons, Calendulas, Borago and Nasturtiums.
A second crop of the spring cool weather plants can also go in now. Carrots and beets should be seeded again. We have packs of lettuce and arugula and it is still a good time to plant those.

Plant now and enjoy the edible bounty of your efforts later!

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TOMATOES

Tomato season is upon us and there are so many varieties available. How do you choose which to grow? The first step is to understand the differences between heirloom and hybrid tomatoes. Both varieties have their strengths and weaknesses.

[HEIRLOOM VS HYBRID TOMATOES]

HEIRLOOM

Heirloom tomatoes are varieties that have been grown without cross-pollination for at least 40 years. They are open-pollinated, which means pollinated by insects or wind without human intervention. That allows them to remain stable in their characteristics from one year to the next. Gardeners appreciate their consistency in taste and agree that most heirloom varieties tend to have greater flavor than hybrids. Heirlooms are often grown locally and allowed to ripen on the vine which affects their flavor. They often produce only a small number of fruit since they have not had the selective crossbreeding as hybrids, Heirloom Tomatoes tend to be more susceptible to pest disease, especially fungus, which makes them crack and split.

HYBRID

Hybrid tomatoes typically yield a crop that is uniform in both appearance and timing. Typical supermarket tomatoes are hybrids that have been carefully crossbred to achieve a desired combination. Some of those characteristics may be bigger in size, better disease resistance, dependability, less required care, early maturity, higher yield, and/or specific plant size.

**TOMATOES**
**——————**

*Pink Brandywine*
*Amish Paste*
*Black Krim*
*Cherokee Purple*
*Patio Choice Yellow*
*Bush Ace*
*Prudence Purple*
*Jetstar*
*Black Prince*
*Green Zebra*
*Watermelon*
*Candyland*
*Beefsteak*
*Gold Metal*
*Golden Yellow*
*Better Boy*
*Celebrity*
*Early Girl*
*Roma Plum*

**CHERRY TOMATOES**
**——————**

*Supersweet 100*
*Sungold*
*Tropical Sunset*
*Honeydrop*
*Moby Grape*

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PEPPERS

We carry a variety of different peppers from sweet bell peppers to a range of hot peppers and Shishito Peppers

**HOT PEPPERS**
**——————**

*Early Jalepeno*
*Chili Peppers*
*Czeck Black*
*Jaluv an Attitude*
*Red Long Slim*
*Annaheim*
*Banana*

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BASIL

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SQUASH & CUCUMBERS

Cucumbers have made it to the Nursery, We have pickling & slicing varieties & Japanese Cucumbers. to highlight some specific varieties we have Marketmore, Painted Serpent, & Pickling. We are selling a nice selection of squashes, zucchini and cucumbers in peat pots.

SQUASH
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*Honeynut Butternut*
*Squash*
*(chefs go crazy over*
*this squash because it*
*has a soft skin that*
*can be eaten, unlike*
*most butternut*
*squashes)*
*Spaghetti Squash*
*Summer Squash (Yellow*
*Crookneck &*
*Straightneck)*

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NASTURTIUMS

We carry a variety of colors.

NASTURTIUMS
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*Milkmaid (white)*
*Troika Mix*
*Moonlight (white)*
*Jewel Cherry Rose*
*Whirlybird Tangerine*
*Whirlybird Cream*
*Troika Cream*
*Jewel Primrose*

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OTHER WARM WEATHER EDIBLES: ZUCCHINI, EGGPLANT & MUSKMELON

PERENNIAL HERBS

April 18, 2024 Karen Logan

Lavender illustration by karen blackerby logan

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JOIN US THIS SATURDAY MORNING

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GARDEN WORKSHOP

SMALL FRUITS

SATURDAY APRIL 20TH // 11:00AM // VINEYARD GARDENS

Chuck Wiley, owner and expert horticulturist, will be discussing planting, growing and harvesting small fruits.

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HERBS

Now is the time to plant some herbs! Come check out our herb house & herb garden.

ANNUAL HERBS (6 packs / $5.95 & 2” herb pots / $3.95): Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Chervil

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PERENNIAL HERBS

Sage, Thyme, Lavender, Chives & Tarragon

PERENNIAL HERBS (4" pots / $6.95): Thyme. Sage, Mint, Tarragon, Savory, Lemon Verbena, Rosemary and Lemon Balm

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SAGE

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CHIVES

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THYME

A hardy low growing evergreen herb with small, fragrant leaves and thin, woody stems. Thyme has ornamental, culinary and medicinal qualities.

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LAVENDER

TIMING IS KEY IN GARDENING! DON’T WAIT TO GET STARTED!

Perennial Herbs

May 6, 2022 Karen Logan

Herbs are a perfect addition to your garden! They are extremely easy to grow and come back year after year. You can harvest them for your meals, drinks, medicinal purposes, aromatherapy, in addition many have gorgeous blooms! What's not to love about planting herbs!

THYME
Thymus vulgaris and it's many cultivars

English thyme is probably the most famous edible thyme with lemon thyme being a close second.
Creeping thyme is purely ornamental and comes in red, white, pink chintz and wooly. Wooly thyme can get 2-3 ft wide and grows beautifully over flat patio stones. Given good drainage and full sun, creeping thyme grows like ground cover. Plant these in the cracks of your patio and watch them grow.
- Other creeping thymes include Creeping Lemon Thyme, Caraway Thyme and Elfin Thyme, a slow growing beauty. All great in rock gardens. Need full sun and well drained soil.
Golden Thyme: We carry Archers gold, Golden Lemon and Golden variegated and other variegated thymes like Silver Thyme.
We always like to try a few new ones. This year we have Tansparent Yellow Thyme, Magic Carpet Thyme and Lime Green Thyme.

SAGE
The green sages are more for culinary purposes and the others are more ornamental in your garden. A sprig of sage is a very nice garnish for a special meal.

Salvia oficinalis is a wonderful perennial culinary herb. The straight species is a great plant that produces beautiful blue salvia flowers and is quite ornamental.
Berggarten Sage is a green cultivar we carry.
Purple Sage
Tricolor Sage
Pineapple sage and Golden Pineapple sage grow into tall 5-6 ft plants that produce large racemes of red flowers in late summer. Plant them early in the season to get them to full size before they bloom. The foliage really does smell like pineapple.

TARRAGON
Tarragon Artemesia dracunculus is a perennial culinary herb that tastes a little like anise or has licorice like flavors. It is a staple in French cuisine and is often referred to as French tarragon.

MINT
Mints are also perennial herbs. They are best grown in the pot because they spread voraciously and can be difficult to eliminate from a garden once it’s established. Mints are used in cooking and in making teas and cocktails, like mojitos. All mints grow best in full sun and a well drained soil.

Peppermint and spearmint are the two most popular mints.
- Mojito mint, a spearmint
- Kentucky Colonel spearmint our favorite for many years
- Chocolate mint, a type of peppermint,
- Corsican mint has tiny tiny leaves and is great in cracks in patios. It is not aggressive like the other mints, in fact this one is more challenging to grow.

We carry several more ornamental variegated mints that look great mixed with annuals in pots!