Monday, September 24, 2012

Some more planting ideas...

Our friends over at Annies Annuals have a great blog post about winter veggies up on their site; check it out, lots of great reading, and inspiring! 

Stay strong, southern California, this late running, hot hot summer will soon pass....



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Fall Updates From Johnnye Merles

Now, granted, the weather hasn't exactly followed the calendar cues just yet, but the fall equinox has happened, my local pumpkin patch is almost built and read to open, and it's time to start thinking about fall plantings and Halloween!

Fall Updates From Johnnye Merles:

Keeping Your Garden Fresh

One of the most frequent questions we get here at Johnnye Merle’s relates to how keep a garden looking ‘fresh’ and engaging year round. The truth is that there will be times of the year - such as a late summer heat wave - when all gardens are going to look a little less than great. The key, however, to maintaining your garden the other 95% of the time is consistency. Rather than wait for your garden to reach ‘critical mass’ where nothing short of a bulldozer will do the trick, chip away at it! A little pruning here and there, composting along the way, and weeding a little each week will work wonders and save you time.

Another tip? Bring in a few new plants each month. By adding a few plants here and there, swapping out annuals as they die back, and so forth, you will save money by avoiding ‘big re-plantings’, and keep your garden looking fresh and interesting.  To help you out with this, Johnnye Merles is starting a program this fall called the “Plant of the Month Club”: we’ll deliver 10 plants picked just for your garden each month to keep your gardens looking great! You can visit our website (www.purtyplants.com) for more information, or stop by the store for a flyer!

Fall Plantings

We LOVE fall for a lot of different reasons, but most of all because it’s a GREAT time to garden!

By planting in the fall, you give your spring blooming perennials the chance to take root and soak up winter rains so that you get extra hardy plants in the spring. Cottage favorites such as campanulas, columbines, delphiniums are all great plants to start planting in cooler fall months.

This is also the ideal time to plant hollyhocks, foxgloves and other biennials. Have you seen the black hollyhocks we carry? You need them in your garden! Plant ‘em this fall!

And what is fall without ornamental grasses? Imperata Red Baron is one of our all time favorites, and lately we’ve been carrying the very cool  “ Orange New Zealand Sedge” and “Pink Muhly Grass”. You can grow ornamental grasses all year - and they are a great addition for any garden - but we just love a garden full of them in the fall!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Therapy

Saw this on the Facebook page of New North Greenhouse today; not sure if it's their sign or not, but great either way!




In other news, yes, it's hot! We don't blame you all for not wanting to garden! Just remember, this heat will soon pass, SoCal gardeners, and we can then get back in the dirt and all the goodness fall has to offer!
Until then, iced tea, beach and a/c time...

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Garden events this weekend: Fullerton Arboretum

Some fun news: this weekend, the Fullerton Arboretum will be featuring both plants AND garden books for sale!

According to their website:


"Gardening book lovers can browse to their heart’s content during the used book sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, in the pavilion. Proceeds will benefit the addition of new research books for the facilities library.

Then from the pages of many of the books on sale, visitors can check out the more than 130 different varieties of salvias, also know as sages and members of the mint family, that are available for sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, and Sunday, Sept. 9. Sales items were propagated and grown on site."


It appears that they also have all sorts of great workshops planned this month as well.

The Fullerton Arboretum is one of those great 'somewhat hidden treasures' of Orange County, take some time and check it out.

And be sure to stop by Johnnye Merles' on your way home! :)


Monday, September 03, 2012

Labor Day SALE!!!

Happy Labor Day everyone!

What a beautiful weekend we've had here in SoCal! I plan on spending a good part of my Labor Day Monday working away in the garden, and think you should do the same...

Today is the last day of Johnnye Merle's "Back to School Sale" AND it's also a big Labor Day sale at Country Roads! 



Aaaaand: the Orange Street Fair has ended, you can park, the streets are clean...it's the perfect day to come pay us a visit! :) We hope to see you...

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Just in....

Happy Saturday, garden nerds! It's a three day weekend, SoCal weather is finally GREAT again, our BIG SALE is still going on, AND we just got some new treasures from our friends at Annie's Annuals yesterday! Check 'em out and get gardening:

Agastache 'Globetrotter' - we love agastache! Strong, tall blooms that peak out from the rest of your garden - so inspiring! And pretty!


Selinum wallichianum - such a cool plant! Blooms remind us of Queen Anne's Lace, but the foliage has more of a tropical vibe to it. Great plant for filling in spots and adding some depth and texture.


Viola labradorica - "Labradore Violet" is so...well, CUTE! We said it, it's an actual cute plant!  Likes light shade and consistent water; check out the color of those leaves, a great companion plant to just about anything!


Knautia macedonica - pincushiony (yes, we made up that word!) flowers, great color, and a prolific bloomer. How can you go wrong?


Laurentia axillaris - we just love this little blue bloomer; flowers look like stars, and while at first glance you might not think much of it, rest assured, once it blooms, you'll be glad you added it to your garden!


These plants are just the tip of the iceberg! All sorts of great flowers, herbs, and succulents are to be found in our gardens right now AND, we even have a sale happening right now!

Don't forget that the Orange International Street Fair is happening in old town Orange this weekend. If that's your thing - yay, come in and see us! And if it's decidedly NOT your thing, that's fine too, wait for the crowds to clear out Sunday night and enjoy your day off, as OUR BIG SALE is going through Labor Day Monday!

*All photos courtesy of Annie's Annuals www.anniesannuals.com