August 2010
Nursery News & Store Updates
Some Helpful Hints & Tips from
Our Department Managers
Annuals
Manager...
Our annual manager is a not only a fan of annuals, but
of houseplants. Her house is covered in tropical texture.
Be sure to pull
off any flowers that may appear on your coleus plants or they will die
soon after.
Also remember that it is best to acclimate your plants
by bring them inside slowly and periodically once cooler weather hits,
and use a good slow release fertilizer before you bring them indoors.
What a surprise!
Our full sun, dark purple, sweet potato vine flowers a lavender colored
flower, and though short lived at 1 day, it is a beautiful and
surprising site to see on a plant.
It is used most often for
only foliage color and overhang.
Plus if you end up bringing it indoors it will eventually grow
POTATOES! Even though they are not edible, they’re great for
display and exciting to reveal.
Hint:
We currently have an amazing rainbow selection of Coleus in stock.
Favorites include Small Wood Driveway which has
every color of the rainbow speckled into each leave, it is honestly one
of the most beautiful Coleus’s seen.
Also check out Kong, which grows HUGE leaves
once potted into a larger size pot. You will have to hurry as these
amazing stunners are going quick.
Looking
for easy, quick summer color? Don’t forget to
check out our newly planted color bowls in bright tropical
shades!
You also don't want to miss our growing selection of
pottery planted with a mix of perennial & annual plants. They are ready and waiting to simply pick and place on any
patio or stoop to brighten your home.
Tip: Dusty Miller, An Amazing – Annual?
Many of us love the stunning contrast that dusty miller
provides against any colored annual, but did you know that it also is
one of the most drought tolerant and hardy annuals!
Dusty Miller can stay dry for a while before it starts
to wilt, and it sticks around into late fall and early winter long
after other annuals have faded. Sometimes it even over-winters, as two
of our plants did in our front entrance pots. They are now in full
bloom with gorgeous, bright yellow daisy-like flowers.
Just In!
Attractive variegated and splashed tropical looking foliage that loves
heat & humidity, blooms Apricot colored flowers and has a
fragrance reminiscent of the tropics.
HUGE Mature Mandevillea Vine & Alice Dupont with
a pink flower enhanced by a yellow throat and 4” ‘Rio Hot Pink’ are other tropical looking favorites. Their huge bright
colored flowers can take not only full sun and heat, but also do
well in a part sun / part shade environment. Other popular beauties like Celosia (pictured above), Amaranthus and Nasturtium are showing their bright colors now too.
Hanging
Basket Houses
We still have a nice stock of huge, healthy, blooming
and beautiful Black-eyed Susan Vines , Calibrachoa (Million Bells)
and 'Scentimental'Scented Begonia Hanging Baskets.
Vegetable
Manager...
Tip:
Now is a good time to think about cooler weather crops. In fact did you
know that besides fall crops that you can plant now for fall harvest?
There are also quite a number of crops that can be over wintered and
harvested in spring, that makes for YEAR ROUND vegetable harvesting and
fresh, healthy home-grown food. What a deal!
It’s the perfect time to plant winter cover crops, like Fava Beans, in
vacant space in the vegetable garden. We have all the seed
you need. If we don’t, we’ll try to get it.
You can plant
winter kale, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts,
turnips, parsnips, parsley, and Chinese cabbage, too.
Lettuce can be sown all season into the fall.
Hint:
Although vegetables are near their end, whatever we
have remaining is on sale or will be so check our website often!
We still have gorgeous, HUGE, HEALTHY eggplants that already have eggplants on them.
Get more for your money with a plant that keeps producing instead of
spending just as much on groceries.
Fruit and Berries Manager...
Check out our Blueberry bushes that are also bearing fruit.
Simply plant in ground and start picking your own blueberries. Great for
your morning yogurt or cereal!
We also have a great selection of fruit trees in stock.
If you have never grown
fruit before, have no fear. Our knowledgeable staff is here to
get your fruit growing off to a simple, healthy start!
Perennials
Manager...
Never has our perennial house been so full of color. In fact THIS is
the time of year to come out and see
up to 70% of our perennial plant stock IN BLOOM!
Even better is that most of what’s in bloom now attracts those
beautiful warm weather butterflies and hummingbirds.
Also much of it is drought tolerant which leaves you more fun in the
sun time in the upcoming heat wave months.
Many
folks have been asking for the always popular Salvia
'Hotlips', an amazingly beautiful plant
with long blooming, bright red flowers.
Make sure to put this guy in full sun for the best show and if it gets
to tall or leggy, just give it a hard cut back to about 1 foot and it will fill out and rebloom all
over again.
Tip:
Why settle when you
have the best of three worlds...butterflies, hummingbirds and drought
tolerant!
Tree
& Shrub
Manager...
Some great summer
shrubs that are looking fabulous this time of year include:
- Hydrangeas, which are
affected by very few diseases or insects and can change color by simply
applying lime for pink blooms and aluminum sulfate for blue.
- Daphne Lawrence Crocker, which is a fantastically fragrant, low mounding shrub that
blooms most of the summer. These gems require good
drainage and benefit from lime once a year.
- >Acer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’.
The 'Red Sunset' makes a wonderful shade tree that provides green summer foliage
followed by bright red hues in fall.
Tolerant
to most soils and fast growing to 45 feet tall & wide in only
10 years. It is best to use 2 stakes when planting so to prevent root
mass movement, these stakes can be removed after the 2nd winter.
Hint: Rose of Sharons are
starting to bloom. Also Crape Myrtles will be
budding up soon. These long interest plants provide fantastic late
summer color.
Tip:
Watch for aphids on Roses, Birch & Japanese Maples and apply
Soil Activator to lawns & shrub beds. Finally, water! Water
less frequently but deeper.
Don’t count on short running daily sprinklers to
properly supply water. It is better to use soaker hoses, hand water, or
if you must use sprinklers leave them on for longer periods in the
morning hours only.
Hardgoods
Manager...
The Hard Goods Manager says, “Compost happens”. The United
States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that, "yard
trimmings and food residues together constitute 26 percent of the U.S.
municipal solid waste stream."
This means, that if you
start composting today, you'll keep approximately one-quarter of all of
your solid waste out of the landfill. Here’s an excellent link on how to do it
right.
We have affordable and sturdy Compost materials that can
help you get started:
Geo-bin Compost Bins
- Lightweight rugged plastic bin creates an instant
compost system.
 Ventilating
holes admit air and moisture- Fast and easy to assemble
- Holds compost neatly in place
- Retains heat and moisture for faster decomposing
- Creates rich garden soil, helps reduce landfill waste
- Adjustable to over 3' in diameter
Compost Aerators
- Folding wings
harpoon into the heart of the compost pileopening when withdrawn
- Mixes compost without the use of a shovel or heavy
lifting
- Helps aerate and circulate compost, introducing
oxygen needed for microbes and promoting faster decomposition.
- Extra durable, all steel construction
Compost Thermometers
- Easy to read stainless-steel thermometers with 19"
probe
- Specifically designed for compost
Keep an eye on garden irrigation so crops and ornamentals don't dry
out. Check out our new supply of Hanging Basket watering wands. They are specially designed to
not let water run down your arm while you’re watering your baskets.
Speaking of Baskets, I hope you are still fertilizing like crazy to
keep your Baskets looking great. If you are tired of getting the
watering can out and fertilizing plants one at a time, try a Syphonject™.
Lightweight, corrosion resistant plastic siphon mixer
with an external check valve
Average dilution ratio 20:1
Manufacturer guaranteed
Attach a Syphonject™ to your hose and put the drawing nozzle into a
container with any fertilizer YOU choose. Save money and time!
Hoses are on sale, so make sure to check out
our specials.
Lastly, control yellow jackets and wasps with traps and lures as
necessary. Johnson Brothers now carries beautiful and functional Glass
Wasp Traps (with lures) and replacement lures.
Fertilizer
&
Pest Control...
Tip:
Now is the time to think about WATERING. It is always better to water
less often but deeper than just a little bit every day.
 A great product to help lawns or any garden areas
with hard compacted soils that won’t take in water is
Ferti-lome Brand AqueDuct L&G.
It helps water penetrate and break through surfaces and
then hold water longer! After applying AqueDuct, you will
want to apply Ferti-lome Natural Guard Soil Activator.
It is all natural and made from Humic Acid, which is a
precursor and prior relative to Coal, only in a shorter process. It
also contains micronutrients to help the soil take up nutrients more
readily.
Tip:
Moles are popping up everywhere – literally! Help combat mole
populations naturally with St. Gabriel Organics brand ‘Holy Moley’.
This pet safe product uses Castor Oil that covers the
moles hair.
Since
moles don’t like it on their hair they leave the area –
with no harm to the animal! An all around must-have for mole ridden
yards.
*Note:
At Johnson Brothers we always insist customers use proper protection
when using any fertilizer or pesticide, be it conventional or organic.
Remember more IS NOT better when it comes to fertilizers and pesticides!
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Plants