Sweet Pea!

A timely reminder from Orchard Nursery in Lafayette - it's Sweet Pea planting time!!!

"Colorful, fragrant Sweet Peas make magnificent cut flowers for the vase - in large, long lasting quantities. They are a hardy, winter - spring annual vine to about 10' tall. Provide a trellis, string, or wire, as plants need support as soon as the tendrils form. They are ideal as a temporary screen. Sweet Peas like sun or light shade; rich, moist, well - drained soil high in organic matter and regular deep watering."

How To Get Sweeter Oranges

This tip just came from Orchard Nursery in Lafayette - a World Class Nursery.  Incredibly knowledgable staff, great selection of basics and really unusual plants (check out the 4 inch section for the most mouth-watering perennials!) with great displays to inspire new plant combinations and new cravings.  Come with your car empty - it will be full when you leave.  And! they have great classes.  A petting zoo in fall, a winter wonderland during the holidays.  What more could you ask for? For Sweeter Oranges: Fertilize in late summer, fall and winter with Master Nursery Master Bloom or Garden Elements Ultra Bloom. These fertilizers are formulated without nitrogen to aid in the development of flowers and fruits, and they also help plants resist disease and cold weather damage. High potassium is very important in increasing sugar levels in citrus (especially oranges and tangerines) and studies have shown that high potassium levels in the soil improve yield, color, size and quality of the fruit. Apply once a month from late summer to spring and taste the difference in your next crop.

 

Dirty Little Secrets

This is the time of year I really need a bigger business end in my garden. It's one of the dirty little secrets of gardening. There are old plastic pots to go back to the nursery...

There are the pots that held bulbs in the spring and will hold bulbs in the fall. And they all need a good scrub. It will have to wait.

The big beautiful gardens you go visit - Filoli and all those fabulous English gardens like Great Dixter and Hidcote and Sissinghurst all have one. A messy working business end tucked out of sight.

There are bright spots in my garden too - the Lychnis coronaria is seeding its damn fool head off. I let it. It's easy to pull from unwanted spots, it's pretty carefree, and everyone who sees it wants some. Plus it's a perfect match for my current favorite pelargonium...

and for those who think this is a geranium...

...this is a geranium. A species geranium. It's Johnson's Blue, altho Rozanne is just as beautiful.

Latin may seem confusing and pretentious, I thought so too, until I met a woman who spoke no English and walked thru her garden with her. I couldn't ask if I could use the restroom, but we could talk about the plants because we had a common language. I can walk into a nursery or seed store in any part of the world and know what plants I'm buying. So even tho it seems silly it does come in handy. 

Check out the selection of species geraniums at Orchard Nursery in Lafayette. Or at your local nursery. Sloat's in Danville, or Navlet's anywhere. But don't expect to find these treasures at the big box retailers. If you want there to be a local nursery then you have to shop there. Get your purse, I'll wait. And I'll be here when you get back.