Johnnye Merle's Gardens

Lovely weather! New plants! Sale!

2011-11-25T09:36:00.001-08:00

Yep, it's true. 4 great reasons to come see us this weekend:

1. As part of Country Roads 'Day After Thanksgiving' celebration, we'll be having 20% off our plants all weekend long!

2. We got a BUNCH of new SUPER cool plants in a few days ago! They are lonely and lovely and looking for a home...

3. The weather is going to be AWESOME this weekend in SoCal.

4. We're real nice people.

Hope to see you soon!

-Brande

2011-11-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Wow - looking outside here in Seal Beach, it hard to imagine a more beautiful Saturday! Wind and rain have cleared the sky and today we are left with sunshine - a perfect day for gardening!

We just stocked our nursery - working in the rain, I might add! - so that our 'garden nerds' will have a good selection to work with. Check out some of our new additions...

Sweet Peas! Yes, we know, how can it possibly already be that time? Fact is, for southern California gardeners, November is the PERFECT time to plant your sweet peas. We have a really cool selection in too:

"Annie B Gilroy" is a 1907 heirloom, fragrant and vibrant cerise color.

"Cupani" was cultivated by a Sicilian monk, Father Cupani, in 1695. It's intensely scented and a really cool deep pruple-blue, violet color.

"Senator" is fragrant and heat tolerant, a very impressive pink and rose 'splattered' color.

At just $3.50 for a 4", out Sweet Peas are not only unusual and colorful, but a great buy. Plant now and have some early surprises in your spring garden!

You can read more about Sweet Peas at Renee's Seeds great website as well.

We have much more in our gardens for you this weekend as well - stop by and see us!

-Brande

Garden photo of the day...

2011-10-28T08:42:00.001-07:00

Morgan is obsessed with assisting in watering duties when she visits at the shop these days. Since she's still a good three feet short of watering the planter boxes, she makes sure the city trees get lots of love...

Garden photo of the day...

2011-10-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

It's staring to actually feel like fall in Southern California, and in our gardens!

Garden photo of the day...

2011-10-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

T.anacetum parthenium aureum "Golden Feverfew". The blooms of this beauty are also impressive - click the link - but think the foliage is my favorite part of all, such a cool, dainty, surprising lime green color!

More new fall plants!

2011-10-22T07:57:00.001-07:00

Happy weekend garden nerds!

Nothing beats a lovely fall day for doing some planting. We just got some very cool new plants in from our friends at Annie's that we wanted to share with you all!

Actinidia deliciosa - KIWI! For reals! Such cool foilage and flowers; getting fruit can be tricky, but it's possible - we talked to a customer at our shop yesterday in fact that gets fruit! - but even without the fruit this plant is worth growing as a super cool unusual vine. They are in 4" sizes which makes them easy to plant and cheap too, just how we like 'em!

Dianthus caryophyllus, 'Chomley Farran' O.M.G. Click out the link and check out the bloom on this plant! It's totally worth the trip down to the nursery! We have them in 4" sizes for just $5.50.

Stipa, 'New Zealand Wind Grass'. This one is a show stopper! The photo doesn't do it justice - the blades of the grass have incredible detail in them, really really cool. Grasses are such a great way to add some interest and spark some life in a landscape that might seem a little flat. Check it out! In a 4" container and only $4! We have some other great 'fall' grasses in right now too: Imperata Red Baron, one of our all time favorites, and Carex testacea, 'Orange New Zealand Hedge'.

Papaver 'Danebrog' and Papaver 'Naughty Nineties'. If you have never grown papaver, you really need to join in with the cool kids and give it a shot - they are really not to be missed! These two have some pretty incredible blooms; click the link for photos of what they'll look like once you get them into the ground and they grow up! We have them in 4" sizes.

We also have some cool black violas, lots of fall blooming sweet peas and California poppies, sedums galore, and much much more.

Our gardens are looking nice and full for this fall planting season, come in and see us on this beautiful weekend!

New plants looking for homes! Come see us this weekend!

2011-10-15T07:43:00.001-07:00

The crazy October heat broke and now the weather is LOVELY - perfect for gardening! Our friends at Annie's Annuals just sent us a bunch of wonderful new plants - I'll post more about that later today, but in the meantime, check out some of the photos below. Lots and lots of great, unusual, colorful additions for your fall garden! We'll be open from 10-5 all weekend, come in and see us!

Fall is in the air...

2011-10-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Fall is here! Lots of new plants starting to come in...

Garden photo of the day...

2011-10-07T20:11:00.001-07:00

Our helper Trinity was especially excited about this Salvia since it matched her fancy dress today...

New stuff!

2011-10-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

We got some new plants in last weekend - when the rain clears out, stop by and check 'em out, lots of goodies on this one!

We are working away on our fall gardens too - keep your eye out for a fall celebration and sale in a few weeks...

Garden photo of the day...

2011-09-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

Taken in Monterey, California last month.

Garden photo of the day...

2011-09-15T22:13:00.003-07:00

Echeveria Afterglow - photo taken earlier this spring. I never get tired of this plant - love the color on it!

Garden photo of the day...

2011-09-14T20:33:00.001-07:00

Aeoniums are one of my favorites. They are known to be fairly heat and drought tolerant, but they seem to grow like crazy along the coast, as seen here on my front porch near the beach...Not sure on the exact variety of this one, I think Kiwi; most of the plants I have planted here are 'accidental cuttings' (meaning, plant 'arms and legs' that broke off!) from the nursery that I just plunk in. I love the color of this one though...

Garden photo of the day...

2011-09-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

Sunflowers growing from the asphalt!

Some late summer planting...

2011-08-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

So we’ve been kinda bad about blogging this year - it’s been crazy busy for us! But we promise to get better about posting!

To kick off our return to the blog, we wanted to share some of the new plants we got in this week - perfect for fixin’ up our place ahead of Labor Day weekend! Check out the photos below of some great late summer options...

Echeveria ‘Topsy Turvy’ has one of the coolest color combos ever, plus a really unique foliage shape! Low water, can take full sun to slight shade and you can get lots of plants from cuttings on this one!

Calibrachoa Coral Berry Punch with some Imperata Red Baron in the background...both pretty drought tolerant and great for color!

Sedum Autumn Fire looking nice! Low water, drought tolerant, great in any landscape!

We have some crazy bright, cheery Dahilas in right now! Every yard should have some!

Gaura Siskiyou Pink - drought tolerant, low water, hardy, great addition to any garden for some unusual, cool color! Native.

Sedums! We love 'em in all there great shapes and colors. EASY to grow and low water!

Saliva Chamaedryoides and Calibrachoa Million Bell Yellow. And our old Ford pick up truck! We love this color combo!

Scleranthus biflorus "Australian Astroturf". SERIOUSLY cool. No, seriously! A moss for sun and low water, for reals! More info here. Buy it. Put it in a pot on your porch. It's soooo cute!

Metrosideros Springfire. We love these - the color is amaaaazing. This one is in a five gallon patio tree size. Austrailian natives, they are TOUGH and can generally take heat pretty well, are known too for being good in coastal areas.

That cool looking purple plant? Echeveria After Glow one of our all time favorites! It's surrounded by Phormium and Carex grasses.

Coreopsis Sweet Dreams is a pink twist on the yellow garden classic.

We are getting creative with old pallets...

So come in and see us! We gotta lot of cool plants in right now! You can also check out more photos here!

New plants for rainy days...

2011-03-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Quick post; I'll edit with more descriptions later, but wanted to post some photos of our newest arrivals before I head out to the gardens for the day. The rain is starting to clear, spring is here, making it THE time to start planting!

Stop by and check out all our cool new plants!

-Brande

Happy Spring - new plants in for this weekend!

2011-03-19T09:09:00.001-07:00

Happy early spring!

A little rain won't dampen our excitement about spring being near! In fact, today, Saturday, would be a GREAT day to plant; plants benefit from rain water, and nothing could be better for newly planted additions to your garden than some good rain water to welcome them home!

Check out our list below for some of the very cool new plants we just got in!

Brassica oleracea - "Walking Stick Kale". Seriously, how cool does that look!

Geranium maderense "White". Giant geranium! Super cool! We have one planted in our garden that has taken OFF - we can't wait to see it bloom!

Heliphila longifolia. You've got to see this in person to really get it - awesome blue blooms that are intense! In a good way! :)

Nigella hispanica 'African Bride'. We are LOVING the unusual bloom on this thing!

We also got a HUGE selection of poppies in - big Papaver style ones, California natives in unusual colors, the every popular 'Greek Poppy' - stop in and check 'em out! It's a great time of year to plant poppies, and even though many are technically an annual, they reseed easily, which means if you plant them once and take good care of them, you'll be rewarded year and after year when they pop to life in your yard each spring.

We also still have a big selection of sweet peas available - this will probably be our last batch, so pick them up while you can!

As always, these new plants tend to fly outta here pretty fast, so stop in before the rains and take some new treasures home with you!

PS: check out our garden beds too! Darcy and I have been working hard and getting the garden planted and ready for spring!

-Brande

Gardens as connections to our past

2011-03-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

The article I write for the bi-monthly Orange Plaza Review was just published; if you don't get a chance to check out the had copy, you can read it below!

Gardens as Connections to Our Past

Gardens provide us with countless offerings: flowers, fruits and vegetables, beauty, a place to escape, a healthy environment. But some of what we gain from the things we grow are much more subtle. A few months ago, I wrote about how gardens provide us with inspiration that goes far beyond the soil and sun and seeds; this season, as the ground awakens and spring brings new life, I am thinking about how gardens provide us with a link to our past.

The inspiration for this article is two fold: the gardens I’ve created for myself, for family, for customers and with students have all been on my mind, as well as the importance how those places reflect our heritage, our ancestors, and the like. Then, quite recently, at Country Roads, where our garden shop is located, we lost a long time friend and customer in a very tragic, sudden way. Our reaction, after the initial shock and sadness, was to come up with some sort of way we could remember her in our store. “Doing something in the garden” seemed like the only natural choice.

I like that gardens can be place of remembrance, in happy, health ways. Early spring of each year, I always plant bachelor buttons, the blue, cheery cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) that my grandmother, and namesake of our nursery, Johnnye Merle, had growing in her garden. I remember her telling me about how she’d always have to remind the gardeners that came to cut the lawn underneath her giant Magnolia tree to leave the little patch of dirt where their seeds lay hidden alone; she loved that you could “mistreat ‘em, ignore ‘em, even forget to water ‘em”, but year after year, those seeds would germinate, come to life with a shower of bright blue color. So I too now plant them, and even though she has since past away, I feel connected to her from these seeds that stay the same, that give me the same plant she herself had grown some fifty years before and enjoyed. And in turn, I hope to share that story, that legacy, with the next generations of our family. On her birthday this year, I made a small donation to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in her memory, doing a small part to keep the legacy of wildflowers of my grandmother’s Texas youth alive. I could think of no better way to remember her than with living flowers for generations to come!

When I am in the garden, in many ways, I am also reflecting the many lessons and tips picked up from so many people over the years, appreciating all that I have been taught as I care for my plants. When I plant heirloom plants and seeds, I am also connecting to the past; there is a huge ‘movement’ of gardeners that cultivate and save heirloom plants for this very reason. It is quite remarkable to think that you are growing the same plant that someone grew hundreds of years ago, eating a vegetable that has not been modified or changed since that time! These plants, handed down from generation to generation, are a direct link to our past, and are also important to our environment: they are usually naturally resistant to many pests and problems and weather extremes, provide a diversity that is critical to maintaining genetic diversity, and are generally always organic, grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. In the after school program I run (www.living-histories.org), we often create gardens with our students with this idea in mind, growing plants that relate to individual student’s unique heritage and ancestry, providing them with a ‘living history’ of where they come from, and what people have done for generations to live, while also teaching important lessons about the environment, botany, and science.

We will be remembering our friend Faith, who we lost this month, in our gardens at Country Roads this spring. Creating something that is living, vibrant, full of color and that contributes to the environment around it is the best way we can think of to pay tribute to someone who embodied all of those things. Gardens provide us with a unique opportunity to remember, to connect to our past in a meaningful way; every time we get our hands dirty and work with the soil below our feet, we are contributing to our future while also remembering where we came from.

Quick garden tips:

*Heirloom seeds will be in this March at Johnnye Merles! March is a GREAT time to start your seeds.

*For those of you who aren’t into waiting and starting seeds on your own, we’ll also have heirloom veggie plants available, along with all sorts of great annuals and perennials for early spring planting.

*We’ll be celebrating spring this March with a garden party! Visit our website for more information.

*Spring is also a great time to start revamping your garden; if you need some help with design, take advantage of our garden design services!

Scented geraniums, herbs, and leafy greens!

2011-03-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

Super quick update before I head out to the garden today!

We got some new herbs, scented geraniums, salvias and veggies in - come check ‘em out and get planting this weekend!

Scented Geraniums are easy to grow and smell wonderful! Edible - used for flavoring, in teas, etc.
Wonderful plants for flower gardens or pots!

Full sun, low water. If they get too unruly, cut them waaaay back and they’ll grow back nice and full!

Check out all of the fun ‘flavors’ that we have in stock.

Green smoothies - blending green leaf veggies & herbs like spinach, kale, parsley, chard, collard greens, lettuce, arugula, dandelion, etc. - is a GREAT way to live healthier and get nutrition that is often missed.

Growing your own ‘smoothie’ is even better! Check out our selection of super easy to grow leafy greens to get yourself started. All they need is some sun and water and you are set - they can even be grown in pots!

Salvias, or sages, are a HUGE plant family.
They are known for having an amazing selection of bloom colors, and being very easy to grow!

Most take full sun, and average to low water. When they get to big or unruly, just cut them back and they’ll look better than ever.
A great addition to any garden!

We also have a great selection of thyme, mint, oregano and basil in!

Come see us soon!

-Brande

A perfect weekend for planting!

2011-03-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

The weather is suppose to get up into the mid 70's today in Southern California, clear & sunny and everything fresh from recent rains. All of that adds up to a PERFECT weekend to spend some time in your garden!

AND, to add to your bounty of happiness, we JUST got some new plants in from Annie's Annuals late yesterday! They'll be out and displayed and ready to go home with you by this afternoon. You can also visit with Darcy and I then - we'll be working away and planting, while also dispensing advice, as needed, about gardening, compost, beer and love.

Stop in and see us!
-Brande

Time to start planting!

2011-02-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

Spring might still be a month away, but as southern California starts to warm up - and we get needed rain like we have this past week - it's getting to be that time to start planting! And it is most definitely time to get your cool season plants into the ground: sweet peas, nasturtiums, early veggies and the like. We have all of them and more in stock right now!

And, as an added bonus, as part of Old Town Orange's Antique Affair Weekend, all plants are 10% Feb 19 - 21st! So you REALLY have to come in and see us!

Last week we also got some more plants from Annies Annuals, one of our favorite growers, in the shop. You'll find some great variety out there right now; in addition to the plants mentioned above, there are some succulents, California poppies and some really unusual annuals and perennials waiting to go home with you! Plus, some of plants we have started from seed this year, including some unusual sweet pea varieties, are just about ready to go as well.

The rain is due to clear out later on today - making this weekend a PERFECT time to plant. Come in and see us!

Happy Birthday Grandma Johnnye!

2011-02-04T09:50:00.001-08:00

Today would have been Grandma Johnnye's 84th birthday! Since she is the namesake of our little garden, we always like to give her a shout out on her big day.

My tradition is to remember her on her birthday by making a small donation in her name. This year, the donation went to support something close to her heart, wildflowers in her home state of Texas! The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a really cool resource for preserving native plants, run through the University of Texas; check it out!

Happy birthday Grandma! We'll be working in the garden today thinking of you!

Some winter herbs and veggies

2011-01-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

We got some new plants in today, having paid a visit to one of our very favorite herb and veggie growers! Some neat cool season veggies - unusual kale, spinach, bok choy, you can grow your own stir fry! - and some herbs as well.

A few highlights:

Pine Geranium - a scented geranium that actually looks like a little mini pine tree! Very cool, you totally need to come check it out!

Samphire/Sea Fennel: Rare plant to find & even more difficult to research. Native to British cliffs where it has long been used as a salt substitute and an essential ingredient for pickles. Blue-green, highly dissected fleshy succulent looks really.... WEIRD!

Balm of Gilead - has a cool Eucalyptus like aroma, beautiful pink/mauve flowers and wide variety of uses.

Wood Betony is a really striking looking herb, interesting foliage and shoots of pink flowers, and also a wide variety of herbal uses.

Mace yarrow - I had never heard of this plant before; the cut foliage on it is really interesting though, and apparently it can be used in soups and other cooking!

We also have several varieties of salvia/sage in right now - a great plant to work into your garden this time of year for some added color.

And the winter veggies are not to be missed; what better way to get yourself eating healthy then by growing some chard, spinach, kale, cauliflower and peas that you can then cook up in all sorts of great ways?

Working in the garden today after the store had closed, I was accompanied by two very large gray and white cats. Judging by their girth and their tameness - they seemed more annoyed that I was ruining their garden party by being there then anything else! - I have no doubt that these cats have homes in the neighborhood, and that our garden is their evening playhouse. I also now know why all of the catnip we had for sale was destroyed within two days! Given Grandma Johnnye’s life long love of cats - she always had at least two or three living with her at any given time - I think it’s only appropriate that we share our garden with some neighborhood felines; grandma would certainly approve!

The weather is looking beautiful - come see us this weekend!

New Annie's just in!

2011-01-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

We just got a really awesome batch of new plants in Friday from Annie’s Annuals and Perennials, one of our very favorite growers!

Here are a few highlights of what we just got in; click on the link of each plant name for more descriptions.

Aeonium hierrense is a really cool aeonium; it gets tall, about three feet, and can get that wide, a really cool accent to your garden! Forgot to take a photo, but come in and check it out, it’s really unique!

Crassula erosula 'Campfire' has got some awesome color to it!

Brugmansia "Scarlet Angel's Trumpet - such a cool bloom on this one, Brugmansia in general are just a great addition to any garden, can grow into a small 6-8 foot tree.

Malcomia maritima "Virgina Stock" - really really easy to grow, lots of great early spring/late winter color, goes great in bulb gardens!

Lots more in besides just these! Come in and see us soon!

Urban seeds

2011-01-14T16:18:00.001-08:00

Read a great article today from our good friend Celia Alario: seed gumballs!

Check out the article for the full description, but in essence, it's a vending machine that sells 'seedbombs' that can be tossed on vacant spots to liven' 'em up with some botanical color. The company that produces them can even have them fine tuned for the region that they are placed in! One more simple way to make things a little greener; I had a friend in high school who used to like to toss sunflower and cosmo seeds in vacant areas to bring a little happiness to blighted spots, she would love to see this!

More info: http://thecommonstudio.com/

Winter Gardens

2011-01-13T12:02:00.001-08:00

Some shots from our garden this past weekend - we are enjoying these cool winter days - even doing some planting! - are you?

Finding inspriation in your garden!

2010-11-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

Growing a garden is much more than just landscaping your home. A garden is a form of self expression, it’s an artistic endeavor, and it’s an act that can bring inspiration to many other parts of your life. Recently, we’ve been reflecting on all the different ways that gardening can influence ones approach to living.

Growing a garden can help you eat better. Once you start growing some of your own food - veggies, fruit and herbs - an amazing things often happens: you want to eat it! Barbara Kingsolver wrote a fantastic book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, that captures a year she and her family spent eating only food they grew or raised, or that was grown and raised locally. Her descriptions of the food they grew and the processes they went through to do so are incredibly beautiful, and you can really appreciate how the act of gardening, of farming, really inspired a significant lifestyle shift for her entire family. You don’t need to run out and get a huge plot of farm land to make this happen; growing just a few cool season veggies (spinach, broccoli, eggplant and chard just to name a few) in pots on your patio can be all the inspiration it takes to get you cooking more, eating healthier, and feeling more connected in general.

Growing a garden can inspire you. I am a firm believer that creativity comes in all forms, shapes and sizes; when stuck on a certain aspect of a work or art related project, I’ll often go work in my own garden, trimming, pruning, cleaning, planting - there is something in that motion, in that act of creating that really helps one work through other parts of their life where they might feel a bit ‘stuck’. Gardening is a creative act, much as cooking, knitting and so many other things we take for granted are as well. The process of designing a garden can seem intimidating, but really, its no different than doing some sketching or painting in a worn notebook: yes, a few pages might not turn out all that great, but you can always go back and fix it, change it up, add to it, amend it. Nature is remarkably forgiving! Figuring out what plant will good next other plants, playing with color and texture and shape and even fragrances is an incredibly creative process that can inspire and influence many other aspects of life.

Growing a garden can lead to new hobbies. I was reading the blog of the author Susan Tomlinson recently: thebikegarden.com. It’s a fabulous blog centered around her garden, but is really more about her teaching, her bikes, her travels and her writing - all of which spring from what she creates in her garden. She has written a fantastic book, How to Keep a Naturalists Notebook, which is full of reflections and observations on nature, sketches and the like, all of which, again, came from this passion for gardens. Recently, a friend and I were out on an early morning bike ride on the path in Long Beach, when we encountered a large group of people standing together with cameras with telephoto lenses. We asked them what they were up to, and they excitedly told us about the rare seagull they were hoping to catch that morning. We were struck by the passion they had for what they were doing, and the appreciation they had for the beauty of this bird they seemed to covet. Bird watching might not be your thing, but there is something to be said about living a life with your eyes open, noticing what happens all around you. Gardens are great places to figure out how to do that, as they change every day, with subtle hints given to those that look closely.

Often times, we overlook those opportunities that lie right before us. I like to apply this philosophy to my physical surroundings as well: what opportunities are in the ground, in little plots of land waiting to be planted, to act as a spring board for creativity, or to grow food or to inspire? Somewhere, we all have a garden that is waiting to be planted!

PS: for those of you who live in Southern California, check out the art classes I'll be offering this winter!

Haven Gastropub and growing your own herbs and veggies

2010-11-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

I paid a visit to our friends at Haven Gastropub in Old Town Orange the other day. Earlier this year, we built them a few very cool planter boxes that are arranged behind the restaurant, where they are growing a variety of herbs that are used in their daily preparations. It’s very cool and rewarding to see a client getting so much use from what we helped them create! According the Chef Greg, they use the basil, thyme, and parsley pretty much daily in a variety of dishes (and, apparently deserts - he says they make candied basil!), and the mojito mint (one of my personal favorites) gets quite a bit of use as well, both in the kitchen and the bar! They also have rosemary and dill growing that gets used often too.

Haven is a great example of small steps businesses and people can take towards sustainability. Herbs and veggies are incredibly easy to grow, and by doing so, you sort of shift yourself towards a healthier lifestyle overall - check out my earlier blog post about how growing certain foods can inspire you to cook - action creates more action, and by growing some of your own food and herbs, you become more in sync with concepts connected to eating locally, eating seasonally, gardening and the ecology of your home environment. A great book, btw, on this subject, is Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life, we recommend it highly!

We’ll be replenishing the Haven boxes in the weeks to come; in southern California, there is never a ‘wrong’ time (well, maybe when it’s a 105 degrees out!) to start and herb and veggie garden. We have a LOT of cool season herbs and veggies in right now - stop by and check them out, or email us for help and ideas in starting your own small ‘good food garden’, we’d love to help you out!

And, if you do pay us a visit, give yourself some extra time and stop by Haven as well - great food and drinks, and good people!

Fall colors

2010-10-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

Some photos I took earlier this week - fall is in effect at Johnnye Merle's!

Happy Saturday - new plants!

2010-10-23T10:31:00.001-07:00

A great fall Saturday awaits us - waiting for this lovely light rain to clear so we can get on our bikes, then get in the garden later on this afternoon!

We got some new plants in last week too; some really cool stuff, check it out:

Erica carnea 'Ann Sparkes". Erica is a type of ‘heath’; Heaths have fine, short, needle-like evergreen leaves that vary from deep green to silver, gold, or chartreuse. Tiny, urn-shaped flowers sparkle like hoarfrost, in shades from white to pinks and rosy purples. Though most floriferous in winter and early spring. A beacon of dazzling color, the low-to-the-ground mat is cloaked in distinctive needle-like foliage set aglow with gilded yellow hues and bronzy red tips.

Correa - Australian native, and we LOVE our Australian plants because they are hardy, drought and wind tolerant, and always look so cool and unusual!

Echeveria imbricata. This popular and vigorous succulent has 4 to 8 inches wide, tight rosettes of flat grey-green leaves that, when mature, forms offsets freely to form large solid clumps 4 to 6 inches tall. It has a branched arching inflorescence bearing clusters of red and yellow flowers in the spring and early summer. Plant in full sun, even in hotter inland garden, to part sun/light shade in a well drained soil and water occasionally to very little. It is one of the hardier of the Echeveria, tolerating short duration temperatures down to 20 degrees F. GREAT color, excellent addition to any garden! Looks great in pots too - perfect way to add some interest and diversity to your garden!

Corokia and Solidago - look at how awesome that yellow and black looks together! Corokia cotoneaster is a plant we LOVE! Has the COOLEST look to it; tiny little leaves on awesome dark dark colored branches, with tiny, bright yellow flowers in the spring! Such a great ‘accent’ plant to add interest to you garden - they look cool in pots too! Solidago rugosa "Fireworks" is another favorite. The bloom you see here is just the start! 3-4' tall, 'Fireworks' is more compact than most of the species and flowers more heavily. A lacy dome of golden flowers looks like exploding fireworks providing nectar and pollen for bees and butterflies in early fall. It’s also a great plant for the environment: seeds are used by all sorts of species of birds, plant is clump forming so it won't spread like some other species, migrating butterflies use the nectar to fuel their fall migration, and bees rely on the pollen and nectar to build up winter stores. Great cut flower too - grows best in a sunny, moist, well drained site. We only have a few of each, so get them soon!

Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon'. Look at that color! Variegated Houttuynia cordata is called the Chameleon Herb. It is a very primitive "paleoherb" upon which dinosaurs once nibbled. Multicolored red, yellow and green, heart-shaped foliage distinguishes this vigorous, rapidly spreading groundcover. Likes moisture; can be grown in standing water as aquatic. It can become invasive; consider planting in a container or a raised bed where it can be kept under control. Grows to about 8 inches to a foot high - GREAT plant o add a pop of color to a shady area!

Gunnera chilensis. So this plant, this crazy dinosaur (yes, we have now referenced 'dinosaurs' twice in this blog post, don't judge us!) looking thing, is quite possibly one of our most favorite plants EVER! We love it! It is a plant species native to southern Chile and neighbor zones in Argentina, and is known as ‘Chilean rhubarb’; you can see the resemblance in the seed cone if forms. Likes to be really moist - so great for that weird, damp area of your yard; we find it does best in shade, burns easily in the sun here, you might be okay with some sun in coastal areas. These massive, leafy plants were recently dubbed Dinosaur Food because of their prehistoric look. Although club-shaped flowers may be hidden at the base of the plant, its the awesome, huge leaves this plant is grown for! If you plant it in a spot where it can be the center of attention and give it plenty of room, Gunnera will be a real conversation piece. Do not mix with other big plants. For maximum size, feed when growth starts in the spring and then twice more during the year. This is one of the few plants that benefits from overhead watering, at least in dry, windy areas or where humidity is low.

Samphire/Sea Fennel. Rare plant to find & even more difficult to research. Native to British cliffs where it has long been used as a salt substitute and an essential ingredient for pickles. Blue-green, highly dissected fleshy succulent looks really.... WEIRD! We can't wait to plant one in our own garden!

Salvia africana-lutea is an aromatic, hardy shrub with unusually colored flowers borne over a long period. It is fairly fast-growing, up to 5-6 feet, and very attractive to wildlife. Flowering begins in early spring, and the bright yellow flowers soon fade to rusty-orange and then reddish brown. After the petals fall, the saucer-like calyx, which becomes papery with age, remains as an added attraction. The flowers are both attractive and a curiosity; REALLY unusual! Salvia’s are a huge family and great addition to any garden - they attract lots of butterflies and bees, good things for your garden! Apart from attracting wildlife, brown sage makes an excellent tea for coughs, colds, bronchitis and the like (google directions!). The leaves are lovely for use in potpourri as they retain their shape, color and much of their fragrance, and mix well with other ingredients. Beautiful plant! Full sun, average to low water. We have nice big ones in five gallon containers right now at a great price!

LOOK at those berries!!!! 'Profusion' Beautyberry has a largely upright twiggy appearance that can become a vase-shaped shrub in time. Small lilac or purpley-pink flowers occur July & August. These blooms are small & sometimes described as unimportant, but really they're quite pleasing, merely very close to the branches & therefore easily lost amidst the large green leaves. They form clusters of green berries by September, however, it is the tiny fruit that ripen in October that make this a stand-out among ornamental shrubs! When the deciduous leaves have fallen, the Beautyberry fruits cling to the branches in gorgeous clusters. An adaptable shrub, it tolerates wet or dry, sun or part shade, rich or depleted soil, but here in the Northwest, to maximize berry production, it is best placed in full sun with humousy acidic well-drained soil. Great for birds too!

Cool season veggies! And these eggplants already got a head start for you too! Even if you don't like eggplant, totally worth growing them just for the color, and you can give away the actual veggie!

Euphorbia Blackbird. We love Euphorbias as Johnnye Merle’s; easy to grow, they add an interesting element to any type of garden, with their unique looking foliage, unusual blooms and cool colors - we are especially fond of these dark colored specimens! Full sun to part shade, likes well drained soil. Buy one, you need it!

Anemone is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones. Greek anemōnē means "daughter of the wind", which is a cool random thing to impress your friends with. Anemones grow best in a loamy soil, enriched with well-rotted manure, which should be dug in below the tubers. These may be planted in October, and for succession in January, the autumn-planted ones being protected by a covering of leaves or or compost. We find they do best in part shade in Southern California; they are great for a ‘woodland’ garden look, and once in the ground will spread out, taking on a very ‘naturalized’ appearance. They are one of our very favorite plants - the way they look in containers just doesn’t do them justice, wait until you get them in the ground!

So, plenty of plants to choose from - come pay a visit to Country Roads this weekend, stick your head out in the garden out back and bring home some new friends!

New herbs just in!

2010-10-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

We got a great selection of herbs in this past week - some really cool stuff!

October is a great time to plant - our winters are mild enough that we don't have to worry about bad cold snaps, and nothing is better for a newly planted garden than some rain! We have some great varieties of the 'standards' that every herb garden needs: basil, oregano, thyme, dill, cilantro and chamomile, just to name a few. We also go in some cool season veggies - yes, you can grow veggies this time of year! - including broccoli, artichoke, eggplant and spinach - nothing beats having some fresh veggies from your own garden in late winter!

We also got in about six different varieties of scented geraniums, and if you know anything about us, you know we looooooove our scented geraniums! They are super easy to grow, can be used in baking and teas and they small fabulous! We have some of our favorite varieties in right now, including peppermint and apple.

And of course, some unusual plants were included in this order too; check out a few examples below:

Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), a native of India, is widely used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Lemon grass is a perennial, which means once you plant it, the grass comes back year after year. Depending on the area you live in the plant will go dormant in the winter. This aromatic herb is used in Caribbean and many types of Asian cooking and has become very popular in the United States. This is a very pungent herb and is normally used in small amounts. The entire stalk of the grass can be used. The grass blade can be sliced very fine and added to soups. The bulb can be bruised and minced for use in a variety of recipes. The light lemon flavor of this grass blends well with garlic, chilies, and cilantro. The herb is frequently used in curries as well as in seafood soups. It is also used to make tea.

Heal All is a perennial herb found throughout Europe, Asia, Japan and the
U.S., and most temperate climates. Its origin seems to be European. Heal-All thrives in any damp soil in full sun or in light shade. Heal-All is edible and medicinal, can be used in salads, soups, stews, or boiled as a pot herb. Used as an alternative medicine for centuries on just about every continent in the world, and for just about every ailment known to man.

If you've never rubbed a leaf of lemon verbena it's impossible to explain its lovely scent. Yes, it's lemon, but yet it's also a captivating fragrance that almost instantly relaxes you. To me, it's the ultimate in aromatherapy. If you grow just one lemon scented herb it should be lemon verbena. Although to grow just one lemon herb would be a shame, since they are all so wonderful! Lemon verbena, aloysia triphylla, is a native of Chile and Peru. Unlike some herbs, lemon verbena will retain its scent for years when dried, which is why it's not only a popular culinary herb, but also a potpourri ingredient. You can use lemon verbena in place of lemon zest in recipes. Virtually any fruit salad can be enhanced with its finely chopped leaves. Bury 6 lemon verbena leaves in a cup of sugar that has been placed in a covered jar or container. Use this sugar to top muffins, fruit, or sprinkle on the top of muffin batter before baking.

Curry Plant looks very similar to a Lavender in its leaf stage. But, as the picture to the right shows, it looks totally different in bloom. Curry Plant likes it warm and dry. It is native to Turkey and thrives on sunny slopes where it attracts beneficial insects to its unusual flowers. While not very tasty, Curry Plant smells strongly like Curry spices. But, Curry Plant is not where Curry Seasoning comes from. Curry is actually a blend of many different herbs. The herbs used in real Curry vary from region to region. When Curry Plant is mentioned with food, it is always used sparingly, a few leaves in a mayonnaise or a sprig tucked in a cavity of a chicken. The flavor is not Curry but is strong. It is also difficult to describe. However, trimming Curry Plant in the garden will leave you pleasantly reeking like an Indian restaurant the rest of the day.

Moujean Tea is a native of West Indian scrublands that grows fairly slowly to about three feet. It produces clusters of creamy white flowers that in warmer zones are followed by tiny dimpled orange fruits. Both leaves and fruits are scented of vanilla which is released when the tea is made. The tiny leaves and fruits may be used fresh or dried. They are quite tough so it is necessary to steep the tea for a longer period of time for fresh use and it is nice to grind or pulverize for dried use. This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. Flowers are fragrant. Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater. Requires consistently moist soil; do not let dry out between waterings. Full sun to part shade, can grow up to 6-8 feet, but easily contained with pruning.

These are just a few of the interesting plants we have in stock right now - come in and see them for yourself!

New plants to help you garden this Labor Day weekend!

2010-09-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

A quick post before I head out to spend the day at Country Roads working the International Street Fair!

We got some AWESOME new plants in yesterday, with two of our favorite growers, Native Sons and Annie’s Annuals, paying us a visit. A more detailed blog will follow tonight, but some quick picks below - come in and check us out, garden is looking fresh and full right now and we’d love to see you!

-Brande

Lots of new plants!

New sedums, succulents and crassula! Great colors and drought tolerant!

Echinacea and verbena - two of our favorites!

Phlomis - SUCH great color on this one!

Black violas are back! Just in time for Halloween!

Lots of new, colorful euphorbias and other drought tolerant plants are in!

Summer sale ends soon!

2010-08-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder to get in and check out some great buys at our big SUMMER SALE! All plants are 20% off right now as we clear out and make room for new stuff; stop by and see us soon, as they sale ends September 1st!

Happy planting!

Summer Sale!

2010-08-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hey there garden nerds - wanted to let you all know we are having a big summer sale from now until August 31st!

All plants are 20% off!!!!

We've got some great stuff from Annies Annuals in right now, as well as a solid selection of natives, drought tolerant plants, sedums and succulents - stop in while they are still around!

We're having the sale to make some space for some light remodeling, and most importantly, our big fall selections, so you should also make a note to come see us Labor Day weekend when a whole bunch of new plants will be in!

Getting rid of the lawn

2010-08-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

A great blog post by one of my favorite bloggers, Susan J. Tweit, on lawns and why we should get rid of 'em! Check it out!

Direct link: http://susanjtweit.typepad.com/walkingnaturehome/2010/08/lighten-up-revolutionize-your-lawn.html

And of course, if you need some help designing your lawnless yard, get in touch with us!

Heirloom seeds!

2010-04-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been in lately, you might have missed on of our newest products:
Baker Creek Heirloom seeds!

We don't know of any other retailers in Orange County that have these seeds in stock - such a cool product! We've started growing things like "Tomato Great White", "Connecticut Pumpkin", "Eggplant Rosas Bianca" "Squash Red Kuri" and "Watermelon Moon and Stars" - they are suuuuch cool plants!

Come in and check them out - they are right in the front display when you come the the store. We'll be getting some new varieties in later in the summer.

And if seeds aren't your thing, we have plenty of heirloom veggies already started and ready to go home with you!

Spring is on and new stuff is in - heirloom tomatoes!

2010-04-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates - been super busy out in the garden and working on our garden design projects lately!

This week - lots and lots and lots of new stuff!

Heirloom tomatoes! You've all been asking, and we finally have them back in - they go fast, so stop in and see us ASAP! We have lots of different varieties in right now - some we'd never even heard of!

Plus, lots of other new plants too:

HUUUUUGE selection of cool and unusual veggies and herbs:

About a dozen different varieties of scented geraniums, one of our very favorite plants:

Happy Spring!

2010-03-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

BUNCHES and BUNCHES of new plants in this week in advance of one of our very favorite days of the whole year: the first day of spring!

Come by and see us soon - lots of great treasures to be taken home...

Gardening Classes for this Spring!

2010-02-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

GARDENING CLASSES!

Johnnye Merle’s is excited to be offering very cool gardening classes for the burgeoning gardener, homesteader and composter in us all! Classes are typically 1 - 2 hours and on Saturday’s in our garden. We ask for pre-registration by calling or emailing us, so we can make sure we have enough seating and materials for all attendees, and so that we can let you know of any changes.

Email: classes@johnnyemerles.com
Or call: 562.296.5700 (please leave a message if you get our voicemail!)

Composting
1pm - 2pm
Saturday March 6th
$15

Learn about composting: what to compost, what not to compost, how to build a fashionably cool compost out of stuff lying around your home or other salvage items, how to use composted materials in your garden, and compost resources! All of our classes also include lots of hand out resources as well as a 10% discount coupon to Johnnye Merle’s!

Building a Terrarium
1pm - 3pm
Saturday March 13th
$30 (includes materials for building a terrarium)

Terrariums did not die with the 1970’s - they are back and cooler than ever!!! This hands on class will have you building your own cool terrarium with either moss or succulents while learning about what terrariums need to thrive, cool ideas for materials and more. All of our classes also include lots of hand out resources as well as a 10% discount coupon to Johnnye Merle’s!

Growing Your Own Food
1pm - 2:30pm
Saturday March 27th
$15

Learn about how to grow your own fruits and vegetables in smart ways that make use of your space, and look good! We’ll be talking about what veggies, herbs and fruit trees need to grow, timing your plantings, harvesting, growing organically, finding unique heirloom varieties of veggies and also providing one on one consulting and advice for your gardening questions. All of our classes also include lots of hand out resources as well as a 10% discount coupon to Johnnye Merle’s!

Email us to get more info and sign up!

Winter Garden shots

2010-02-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

A few recent photos from our gardens after the recent rains.

New plants coming in this week, some very cool seeds coming in later this month, and we are starting our veggies soon, they'll be ready for sale in a few weeks. Spring is around the corner, we can feel it!

Pieris Japonica, 'Flaming Silver'

Some driftwood I collected after our recent rains - makes great display/accent pieces!

Some of our winter veggies, looking awesome!

Small Pinus variety.

Home Economics Fridays

2010-02-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

I harvested some of my broccoli and spinach from my garden yesterday, quite lovely specimens:

The thrill of growing things that you can then eat never goes away. Well, it probably would if you have been a farmer your whole life, I suppose, so I guess there is a sort of privilege in having the luxury of growing some of your own food for your own interest and reasons and not necessity. But I think it’s a healthy trend, the way more and more people are learning crafts of the past, how to do things like grow fruits and vegetables and what not. It generates an overall healthier lifestyle; I’m working on a partnership for the small non-profit I lead, Living Histories, that would have us creating a community garden for a housing project in North Long Beach, the idea being that the youth of the community would learn about gardening and ecology and all the writing and art projects we’d conduct connected to the garden, and in turn, it would help promote healthier eating habits for them and their families. It’s a subtle thing, but it works; I eat pretty well overall, and in the past year have really gotten into cooking, but my dinner of broccoli and spinach (and an excellent baked portabella mushroom from a recipe my friend Sumner gave me. Again, my point in action: Sumner is a few years younger than me, a good friend I first met while working on the Warped Tour. And we share recipes. Home economics is hot across the board...) was a decision definitely made in reaction to my excitement over my harvest.

The rains of the last few weeks really made my gardens pop, makes me wonder how bad the water we use day in and out really is. It’s always crazy how much better the plants look after a good rain; I know part of the issue is the good saturation that happens, but there is also a leeching that occurs, impurities run away. I’ve created rain barrels this year, to try to use less water overall and capture and reuse more of the good water coming from the sky. Anyhow, yesterday morning, after reading about my friends on the east coast digging out of snow banks the height of a toddler, I was out clipping away in my garden ahead of the rains that have since come in, bringing in my first harvest of this year, which I proudly showed everyone as though it was new jewelry. I’ve always loved that Emma Goldman line; “I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”

For the record, I have some lovely fresh roses on my desk as I write this as well.

I also made what I am calling my ‘Holy Hell’ apple cinnamon muffins, because they are so good that one reacts with a ‘holy hell!’. I had apples going bad, not so bad that they couldn’t be used, but not really the type of apple you’d want to eat as it was. I’m a big fan of taking mushy fruit that isn’t quite at its prime anymore and making muffins and bread out of it. I got the recipe and inspiration from Smitten Kitchen a great website, check it out!

Winter Gardens

2009-12-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest perks of living in Southern California is the fact that we can garden all year long. I must admit, I gloat a little tiny bit when I read Facebook status updates from my friends filled with tales of snow shovels and frigid temperatures as I work away in our nursery! I’ll trade my shot at a white Christmas for a chance to garden year round any time.

It’s easy to go into hibernation mode during these chillier months - but winter is a great time to be working on your yard, and it can help to keep you in shape and aligned with those New Years Resolution goals as well.

There are all sorts of things that can be planted: cool season vegetables like beets, carrots and lettuces can go into the ground now, and can even be started by seed. I planted some of these seeds in our gardens at the nursery during the first week of December and have already seen some fast growth. We are going to have some really cool seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for sale in the nursery in the beginning of February; we expect to have a great selection of unusual vegetable and fruit seeds available at that time, which we are really excited about. Planting these cool weather veggies now is great prep for your bigger spring gardens, and nothing will satisfy a severe case of spring fever like some early season veggies ready to be prepped and cooked!

You can still have color in your garden as well. Winters at our nursery are known for nasturtium and larkspur all coming back to life; it never fails to amaze me how these little plants come back after disappearing for the previous nine months! Pansies, violas, primrose and snapdragons are some other annual color that you can depend on during cooler months. Create your own new winter tradition in your yard and plant some sweet pea seeds, there are tons of varieties and color available, both in our nursery and via online resources.

Besides planting, there are all sorts of ways to occupy your time in the garden during the winter: start a compost pile, build a mini greenhouse or ‘hot house’ frame and start your seedlings, check out seed catalogs, build some new raised beds...the list goes on and on!

If anything, the winter months seems to make us appreciate the season more than any other time of the year. I’ve also come to really appreciate the look of deciduous trees in the winter, their bare branches almost become a type of sculpture in the garden. Winter makes me slow down and pay closer attention; those bare branches will one day yield bright green and yellow leaves again, and if you watch close enough, you can see it happen, day by day. That, too me, is what winter gardening is all about - appreciating what we have, patterns of growth, cycles of life, and the promise of a green spring.

What's in the garden right now...

2009-12-08T11:30:00.001-08:00

As all my friends have been updating their Facebook pages with talks of snow and ice, I’ve been working away in the garden! Our traffic might leave a bit to be desired, but the weather in Southern California can’t be beat for gardening. I spent a good chunk of last weekend getting ready for the rainstorms this week: planting, feeding, cleaning. Now I’m letting the rain do its thing...

Once we dry up a bit, you can do the same! Here’s a quick look at some of the super cool plants we have in stock right now that are looking to go home to your garden...

Black Aloe

I love the color of this plant - sort of a varigated tone, a minty green almost. And I love that most aloe’s boom in our cool winter months.

Sea Holly

One of my most favorite plants of favorite plants - and this particular variety has awesome color - a total sucker punch to your garden design, looks great this time of year!

Euryops Sunshine Silver

A cheery little daisy in bloom right now.

Scented Geraniums

All sorts of great scented geraniums in right now - lemon, nutmeg and (my fav) even a coconut scent. I grow these in my kitchen in pots (use them for flavoring and garnishes) but they do well outdoors, requiring very little water.

Lavender

Every garden needs it. You can’t go wrong!

Papaya

Only a few of these little 4” trees in stock - I planted one in our garden and consequently am a little bit obsessed with it now. Growing papaya is not only cool, but it LOOKS cool!

Come by and say hi - lots of great stuff in stock right now!

Fall gardens

2009-11-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

Our gardens are looking soooo good right now! Lots of new stuff, we've been planting for fall and winter, moving stuff around - stop by and see us!

We'll profile specific plants soon - we just got a truck load of VERY cool herbs in today...

New stuff!

2009-09-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

More details to come shortly, but wanted to post a quick update. Last week saw several truck loads of plants come our way! New awesome plants are in right now, including about 25 different things from Annies Annuals, one of our very favorites.

Stop in and see us - we are getting our fall displays up right now too!

Fall displays full of new plants!

New stuff!

Lavender, million bells and campanula.

Plant sale!!!!

2009-09-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Johnnye Merle's Annual

END OF SUMMER SALE!

It's that time of year again!

From now through Labor Day Monday, Sep 7th, all plants - including plants already marked down! - are 20% off!

We have got some HUGE plans for fall: new plants, new displays, Saturday AM classes, new garden accessories and much more. But, we gotta make room for all of our new stuff, so, as has been our tradition, we are offering some great end of summer deals.

ALL plants in our gardens, even those already on sale or marked down, are 20% off for this special week. It's a win win - you get some great plants at a great price, and we get to make space for all the awesome new stuff we have coming in!

Stop by and see us soon! Sale ends on Monday the 7th.

More new plants

2009-08-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some featured items that we have new in the garden right now:

Chocolate cosmos - always a favorite, great color, a fun, low growing perennial. Lots of blooms!

Hollyhocks are always a favorite! We have them in color packs right now: pink, yellow, and the awesome black!

Million Bells provide great perennial color to pots, borders and hanging baskets. These things are almost always blooming!

These nasturtiums are very cool - a red flower, and darker colored leaf than you normally see. They are displayed here next to some very cool new echeveria we got in that are just about to bloom!

Duranta Geisha Girl is another favorite - we are big fans of Duranta in general, and this particular variety has a stunning bloom to it!

Cordyline Ruby - SUCH cool red/pink color! This is a must have!

We are down to our last few Brugsmania - don't worry, we will get more soon! - but the white bloom on this is truly stunning! Pictured in the background is Imperata Red Baron, one of our all time favorite ornamental grasses!

Come in and see us soon! We have all sorts of fun stuff available to make your summer gardening fun, and we'll be gearing up on our fall inventory real soon as well!

More design work...

2009-08-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded some photos from another recent design project. This residence is in Corona Del Mar; the homeowner, Jenny, is a long time client - we first worked with her sometime back in '03 or '04, we think, but the years get a little blurry!

For Jenny's home, we provide a maintenance, going in about two or three times a year with new, fresh plants, helping with pruning and planting and sprucing things up in general. Her landscape is one that is fairly mature - again, some of the plantings we brought in are six or seven years old now - but a little 'fluff' a few times a year keeps a garden interesting and looking its best.

Jenny's landscape started out very English/traditional cottage when we first planted it. In the years since, we've incorporated more and more drought tolerant succulents, some fun tropical specimens, and a small veggie and herb garden for her four year old son.

These type of landscape projects are always fun for us. It's really rewarding to get to see a garden design mature and age and to be able to maintain and tweak it over time, not to mention the fun in keeping long lasting relationships with clients!

If your yard need a 'fluff' or a makeover, please don't hesitate to contact us. And don't forget, we also have a Garden Design Special this month, so if you have been thinking about recruiting some help planning your garden, now is the time to do it!

Our garden helper Harrison. The garden itself is about twice as old as this four year old!

Front walk way headed to the front door, which is planted with a mix of perennials, succulents, annual color and background height such as phormiums, cestrum and acacia.

Close up of some plantings - echeveria, sedums, euphorbia and a varigated iris in the background.

Another close up: geum, lavender, aeoniums, rosemary, euphorbia and loropetulum all live happily together!

One of my favorite spots in the garden: a semi-shady area where ferns, grasses, anemones and hydrangeas fill up the landscape!

Need some help?

2009-08-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

We've been super busy out in the garden lately - it's been a great summer so far! We are excited to offer a design special this month. In addition to having great plants available, Johnnye Merle's also offers some great garden design services. Check out what we have available for this summer...

JOHNNYE MERLE’S
SUMMER DESIGN SPECIAL!
Feeling overwhelmed by all the different cool plants to choose from?

Let us help!

Johnnye Merle’s Gardens is offering a design special this August!

For plant orders of $250 or more, we can do the following:

1. Visit your home/project site to help you design your garden*
2. Select the plants you need for your project and make soil recommendations
3. Sell you our awesome plants at our discounted design rate to save you $
4. Deliver them to your home & set them up exactly where they go
5. You plant them and live happily ever after with an awesome garden**
*limited to a 30 mile radius of Orange; for projects outside of that range, a small fee applies
**or, for an additional cost, we can plant them for you!

Interested?
Working with a garden designer can save you time and money, and help you finally get your dream garden.

We are here to help you, with over ten years of garden design experience and excellent plant knowledge! We can put your project together quickly, are reliable, and focused on helping you create a garden you’ll enjoy!

CONTACT US:
Email Us!
Or call and leave us a message: 562.296.5700

New stuff...

2009-08-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

So, we got LOTS of new plants in this Friday. As in, seriously, a LOT. I wasn't in when the trucks arrived late Friday, so you can imagine my surprise (dismay?) when I got the nursery Saturday AM and discovered this waiting for my attention:

All those plants on the ground for as far as the eye can see? All new. Five hours later, I finished pricing and displaying everything...but it was worth the effort, as we have some intensely cool stuff out in our gardens right now. I'll post some specifics later, but trust me, it's well worth your time to pay us a visit soon!

We've been doing a lot of garden design lately too. If you feel overwhelmed about what to get for your garden and how to set it up, shoot us an EMAIL and we can help. We have a special going on this month, for plant orders over $250, we'll come out to your house to see what you need, pick out plants for you, give you a discount on the cost of plants, deliver them, and set them up/place them exactly where they should be planted. You pay for the cost of the (discounted!) plants and take care of planting them, we take care of the design, delivery and placement.

It's the deal of the century! Well, at least the deal of this month...

Echeveria

2009-08-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Echeveria are one of our very favorite plant families here at Johnnye Merles. There are versatile, easy to grow, and look awesome year round and mixed into virtually any garden design style.

They are technically a succulent, though we find them to be much more hardy than the tender succulents you might be familiar with. Native to Mexico through Central American into northwester South America, they seem do do particularly well here in Southern California as well. Cool fact? They were named after an 18th century Mexican botanical artist, Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy. They are low water/drought tolerant plants, making them a perfect choice for your water conscious gardens and pots. Even better though, is that based on our experience, many of them are able to tolerate a certain amount of shade and even some frost, making them even more versatile!

When designing with Echeveria, you have a lot to work with: versatile growing conditions, an amazing array of colors and blooms, and a cool, ‘architectural’ quality to their leaves and structure. I’ve worked them into garden designs of all types, with much success: native/drought tolerant plantings, ‘minimalist’ landscapes using a lot of grasses and succulents, as well as classic cottage and English style gardens. Care is very easy; clean out dead leaves, and I like to prune back the dead stalk once they are done flowering. Even though they are drought tolerant, occasional deep watering and fertilizing will get an even better performance out of them if you are able to do so.

I took a few photos of some of the Echeveria we have in stock right now at Johnnye Merles - check out the variety and diversity of these plants, and of course, be sure to stop in and take one home!

Echeveria Pul-Oliver

Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy’

Echeveria 'Afterglow’

Echeveria 'Shaviana'

Echeveria 'Perle Von Nürnberg’

Echeveria haagai tolimanensis

Design project

2009-08-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

In addition to offering a great, diverse selection of plants, Johnnye Merle’s also provides top notch garden design services. Below is a project we just worked on this past week.

Above is the ‘before’ photo. For this project, the client wanted to help with a big area she recently had stone and brick laid out in. Having lived in the home for only a year now, this was one of her big ‘pet peeve’ areas; before the stone, it was a strange, elevated ‘platform’ featuring weeds and dirt! As it sits below a giant avocado tree and is in the direct line of sight from the other outdoor sitting area, we suggested she have it paved or set in stone, and turn it into a fun seating area with pots, a water feature and fire pit. Once she had the hardscape completed, she reached out to us for help with selecting pots and plants, placing and planting them, designing and building the water feature, and picking out garden furniture and accessories.

This is still a work in progress, but you can see from the photos below how much we were able to accomplish in one day! Last week, we helped her pick out a selection of pots that accented her garden and reflected her own design tastes, purchased wine barrels for the water feature, and we put together a plant selection for her as well.

Then, we put it all together - utilizing existing stones, bricks and random flagstone pieces, we created ‘risers’ for the pots, grouping them in interesting little vignettes. We are very big on using existing materials that a client might have - the previous homeowners left behind a huge selection of random stone pieces, so it was great to put those into use. The wine barrel water fountain also features lots of 'found' objects.

We also cleaned up and planted to flower bed areas that are adjacent to the patio area. We planted the pots using plants that are primarily drought tolerant and ‘architecturally interesting’, proving year round diversity in color and foliage structure. For the bedded areas, which are shaded and damp, we went with shade loving plants that could deal with the run off of water that happens because of the slope of the deck. Same goes for the water feature plants, which are in a shady corner that tends to stay moist.

(It was getting dark as we took photos - we’ll post better ones soon!)

'After photo'; not the best shot, sorry!

Water feature - we built this using wine barrels, a galvanized tub, some rain gutter pieces and a small water pump. We love how it turned out!

Potted plant design

More potted plants - notice how we utilized existing stone materials to give the pots more height and to 'polish off' the groupings.

In addition to providing the design work and plant selection, partnering with Johnnye Merles on a garden design project can also SAVE you money. For this project, for example, the client was able to purchase pots at a wholesale price, saving considerable money, and likewise the cost of plants was discounted since she was also utilizing our design services. Plus, collaborating with a garden designer can help to avoid mistakes - small and large - than can sometimes cost money as well!

We’ll post more photos once the plants take root and fill out a bit more, and we find the perfect benches and chairs for our client...

If you are interested in our design services, please feel free to email us for more information!

A nice shout out...

2009-07-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

Johnnye Merle's got a nice little blurb in this months edition of Orange Coast Magazine. We were listed along with eight great other Orange County nurseries as a resource for drought tolerant and native plants - something we are very proud of! Having designed gardens in LA and OC for over ten years now, I take great pride in our unusual selection of plants that look great AND are eco-friendly!

As always, we have a great selection of plants in stock right now, and we are even getting an early start on prepping our gardens for fall plantings - be sure to stop in and see us soon!

Thanks to our friends at Orange Coast for the mention - you can check it out here.

Some of our new plants...

2009-07-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

We have gotten lot and lots and lots of new plants in over the last few weeks. This summer has been nice and mild - outside of a few brutal days, granted! - meaning more time for gardening! Check out some of our favorites below.

As always, we have a great mix of drought tolerant and natives mixed in with some very hard to find and super unusual perennials, all lookin' for a home!

SHADE PLANTS:

Colocasia esculenta 'Fontanesii', commonly called 'Black Taro', is one of my personal favorites. It's a tender perennial - won't take a freeze or a drought, but is awesome and perfect for your damp, shady spots. It's basically a water plant, so though it doesn't need to be in water - so long as the soil stays moist and it's in shade life will be good - it can be submerged in up to a foot of water. I'm designing a funky water feature for a client right now, and we are going to be using these for sure!

Still need more stuff for a wet, shaded area? Read on to my next favorite:

Meet Gunnera chilensis! I did not mean to include my foot in the photo, but I'm kinda glad I did, because you can get a sense of scale because of it. Why does this plant rule? Because it clearly is what you use for your 'dinosaur garden' - the thing looks prehistoric! It can get up to 8 - 10 feet wide and tall, though from my experience, it rarely gets that big, and is easy to cut back to keep it more moderate. It is an awesome plant though, to use in a shady corner that you need to add some drama to. I always keep at least two in stock because I love them so much! They seem to be happiest here in Orange with moderate to heavy shade and consistently moist soil - they are drama queens and their leaves will tell you when they want more water! The size, shape and texture of the leaves are amazing! Whenever I sell at a plant show or show potential plants to a garden design client, these are always the traffic stopper plants! We have them in stock right now in five gallons sizes.

Grown by Annies Annuals & Perennials, one of our very favorite growers, Centradenia floribunda “Trailing Princess Flower” is sort of a groundcover, but not really. It gets about 18" tall and has a spread of up to 6 feet. We've been keeping it in moderate shade here at the nursery, but it can take full sun in coastal areas and is perfect for filling in edges or bare spots. Gets awesome purple flowers, though the foliage alone - dark leaves and bright ruby stems - is reason enough to take one home! We have them in 4" containers right now.

FULL SUN/LOW TO MODERATE WATER:

I love the color on Russelia equisetiformis 'Flamingo Park', or Pink Coral Plant . Native to central America, you also see Russelia growing all over Hawaii, more often in red, which is more common. The plant can take full sun AND shade, and has average water requirements; from my experience, they tend to do okay with minimal water once they are established, so I'd include them in a low water garden. Plant is meant to be in YOUR yard for several reasons: 1. the flowers are AMAZING - cool little tubes that flower all over and seemingly all year, they pretty much only stop once it gets cold. 2. The stems are equally fascinating; the 'equisetiformis' in the name means it's actually related to this plant (which we also have in stock right now!) - the stems on 'Flamingo Park' are almost like little tubes, with brackets up and down, almost mechanical looking, very cool. And the final reason you should own it is 3. because it blends in well with nearly any landscape style - making it a great plant to use to add both color and 'structural interest' with it's unusual stems.

Chorizema 'Bush Flame', Flame Pea . The flowers on this plant are soooo cool! This is an evergreen plant with arching to semi erect sprays of brilliant orange and pink pea flowers with some bloom almost the year around and peak flowering from fall through early spring. It grows to 2 to 3 feet tall and about 3 feet wide or wider and has bright green heart shaped leaves. You can plant it in full sun to light shade, and it only needs moderate water. Would work great as one of your 'specimen' plants in a landscape, or would be great in a pot.

Another great plant from Annies - Jordaaniella dubia is a rare plant native to South Africa. A drought tolerant ground cover, it has really interesting looking succulent like foliage, but the deal maker on this plant is its HUGE bright yellow flowers. Check out the picture here. Very unusual - you won't find this one very often!

Obviously, we have waaaay more plants than this in stock. Stop by and see us, and feel free to email us with any questions, requests, or for garden design help.

Have You Seen Our Gardens Lately???

2009-07-12T13:13:00.001-07:00

Have you been by lately to see what's new at Johnnye Merle Gardens? If not, I just thought I'd share a few picturs with you. After all, pictures say so much more than words ever can when it comes to gardening and flowers!

Stop by and see us soon, something new is blooming every day!!

July Garden Tips

2009-07-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe we are already well into July. Luckily, this mild summer has meant we can stay out working in the garden later than normal. Below are some tips inspired by the Better Homes and Gardens website.

* As the weather gets warmer, schedule your gardening for early morning and late afternoon when the air is cooler and the sun not so intense. Keep in mind too that pruning and planting in extreme heat can stress plants out and damage or even kill them; in the midst of an intense heatwave, hold off on gardening. Otherwise, in the summer, I find it best to do pruning either in early AM hours, or even better, in the evening ahead of of a cool(er) night.

* Deadheading 101 -- Keep deadheading. For the most flowers and tidiest garden, deadhead daily. Some gardeners take a few minutes each morning, making it part of their daily routine.

* Keep up with watering chores. While you're at it, give your trees, shrubs, and perennials an occasional hosing down from top to bottom to wash off dust and pests.

* Keep new plantings well-watered. As we always tell our customers, even your natives and drought tolerant plants need to be watered until they are well established. Any plant in a container needs to be checked regularly in hot weather.

* When annuals or perennials get leggy or scraggly, consider cutting them back by one-third or more. With some plants, this not only makes them look neater, but it also often encourages a fresh flush of growth and/or bloom. We are a big believer in 'hacking away' here at Johnnye Merles! It's always a little scary, but in most cases, pruning back always makes your garden come back nice and full. Remember though, again, watch weather conditions before doing so. You have a few more weeks from now to still get away with it, but once August comes along, I'd hold off till cooler fall months.

* Fertilize any acid-loving plants and any that may be showing an iron deficiency; for example, young leaves may appear yellow-green with dark green leaves. Acid-loving plants include azaleas, gardenias blueberries, and camellias. Fertilize containers. Constant watering flushes out nutrients. Fertilizing does NOT have to mean scary looking colored powders - you can fertilize organically; we'll post a whole article on that soon, but to get started, check out these resources:

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/fertilizeguide.html
http://www.the-organic-gardener.com/organic-fertilizer.html

* Harvesting Vegetables -- Keep up with the harvest from your vegetable garden. Be sure to pick small and often. Tiny filet green beans, for example, need picking daily. And be sure to remove rotting or diseased produce from the garden. They act as disease magnets. Harvest veggies to keep them producing, same as when you dead head flowers!

* Plant late-summer flowering annuals and perennials, as well as heat-loving tropical and sub-tropical plants. You can still plant veggies and herbs too! The beauty of SoCal gardening is that it is year round!

* Enjoy! One of my favorite things to do is sit down on one of our (nearly rotted...) benches in the nursery after working a full day and just take in all the awesome plants, bugs, and lately, even cats that our nursery has! I love watering for that same reason - it's my time to zone out and notice what's blooming, what's growing, etc. I even discovered a huge nest of baby grasshoppers the other day! Have you ever seen baby grasshoppers? They are super tiny and bright green and jump all over the place if you water them on accident - I had no idea! Point is, the whole idea of a garden is to relax, learn, and enjoy, so take the time in the summer months to do it.

Growing What you Eat

2009-06-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of emphasis on growing edible plants in recent months. From the new, organic veggie garden planted on the White House lawn this spring, to millions of patios and porches across the country flush with tomatoes and beans, there seems to be a definite trend nationwide of people returning to a sort of ‘do it yourself’ mentality. An emphasis on the home. On tactile, hand created objects. On growing your own food. Maybe it’s the economy, maybe it’s a correction from having strayed so far from knowing how to do the things our grandparents did day in and day out (I’ve been thinking lately about the afghan knitted by my grandmother that sits on my couch, and how I have no clue as to how to go about making one...), or maybe it’s a desire to feel self sufficient and in control. I was not expecting to be as busy as we have been in the nursery this year - I’ve seen first hand a shift as people put more emphasis on the home, on nurturing and using the soil and land around them. One of the most popular requests this spring? Veggies and herbs.

Growing your own food is amazing on so many different levels. Yes, it can in fact save you money - you’d be surprised how much food even a few plants can yield. But more than that, it’s about a connection with the soil, with the land you live on, a bit of self empowerment almost - ‘yes, I CAN grow this!’ By growing food, you can learn first hand what it means to ‘go organic’. It will make you cook, and on some level, eat better. It’s an awesome thing to do with kids. I recently read a great article by David King (www.beautifulfoodgarden.com) about growing your own food, in which he wrote, ‘there’s an affirmation here, growing your own food, even if it’s a small portion of what you eat, makes a very direct statement, to you and the world, of your intentional love of yourself.” Or, as our friend and Johnnye Merle’s gardner Darcy put it, ‘you know, I pretty much just want to to go hide somewhere and start a farm!’

If you are anything like me, your first thought might be that you can grown your own mint for mojitos. Some food can be for drinking!

The biggest issue most people face when it comes to growing fruit, vegetables and herbs is space, and feeling like they don’t have the room. The reason for this is that we have a sort of preconceived idea that veggies and herbs have to be in their own special, designated area, with nothing around them and lots of space, hidden in the back yard because ‘they aren’t attractive’. While this is one style of veggie gardening, it’s not a hard fast rule by any means. Plants are versatile, and like you and me, they want to live! They can put up with much more than you’d expect. Your tomato plants don’t have to be banished off to a corner somewhere, but rather, can be integrated into your landscape. Have you seen a tomato plant bloom? There is no reason it can’t be worked into your larger garden design, offering a unique contrast to your other plant materials. If you are still not believing me, thinking that tomatoes and roses can’t touch or the world will end, look at it this way: all plants ‘fruit’ one way or another. We just don’t eat them all. Let go of the idea that it’s ‘weird’ to have your edible plants mixed in with your non-edible ones. Once you do, you’ll find you have lots more room to grow your own food than you thought you did!

True story: my first solo foray into gardening happened in about the third grade, when, unbeknownst to anyone else, I planted corn seeds outside my bedroom window, in the flower bed in front of our house, in the midst of my mom’s rose bushes. It was BIG corn, as it turned out, and the neighbors thought it a bit odd, but we left it there. It was a little funky in terms of plant combinations, admittedly, but it worked - we got lots of corn and the roses had friends. I suppose this experiment left quite an impact on me; now, if you visit my nursery, you’ll find a raised planter with delphiniums, Drosanthemum speciosum, tomatoes, sedums, poppies, lemon verbena and soy beans all growing happily together. Another bed features a massive, beautiful Green Globe artichoke, bright colored kale, rosemary and an assortment of mints happily mixed in with a lovely Iceberg rose, an out of control Black Eyed Susan vine and some plumbago. One of my favorites styles of garden design is what I call a ‘Frank Lloyd Wright prairie look’ - it goes great for clients with mid-century modern homes and features a lot of native and ornamental grasses, phormiums, a few specimen plants. And I always try to get them to add in my beloved corn in the back, with some sunflowers. Point is, you would never look at any of these gardens and think ‘vegetable garden’, yet in essence, they are, and they yield a ton of food.

So, the first step in starting to grow your own food is to be willing to ‘mix it up’. Some general tips on this front: be conscious of your placement of your food plants, you want to be able to get in there and harvest them. And you DO have to be aware of sun and water requirements, and grouping your edible and non-edible plants with that in mind. A lot of gardening is trial and error, but a garden designer can help you with this process as well.

What if you don’t have ANY space for planting directly in the ground? Containers! Yes, edible plants can grow in containers, and they can grow in just about any type of container. Be conscious though, of the materials that the containers are made of leaching into the soil your plants grow in - if possible, stay away from plastics. Yes, they are cheap, and they will work, so if that’s what you have, go for it. But plastic is thin, so it won’t retain moisture the way clay does, and it heats up pretty fast as well, something to consider if you are in a hot, inland area - the roots of your plants can get too hot and start to kill the plant. I am also a big fan of found objects - recycling at its finest! - old buckets are favorite, but, provided that there is adequate drainage and the above mentioned heating issue isn’t a factor, you can grow your plants in just about anything.

Getting back to the design issue, you can also plant non-edibles with your veggies in containers too - just make sure you aren’t overpacking the container itself. All sorts of cool annuals and perennials can be grown happily in a big pot with your edibles, giving you a patio or deck that is functional and looks good as well, maximizing your space.

Gardeners limited to containers usually also face an issue with light, as many are working on balconies, patios or deck spaces that might be limited. It is true that veggies aren’t going to fare too well in heavy shade, but keep in mind that ‘root plants’ like carrots and radishes are fairly forgiving in terms of light requirements, as are artichokes and lettuce. Eggplants and tomatoes and the like come in somewhere in the middle of light needs, while things like corn and beans need lots of it. Keep in mind too that you can create (and from reflections off of buildings around you, might already be getting) more light. It takes experimentation, but some cool decorating with mirrors, gazing balls and other reflective surfaces can in fact increase the amount of light an area gets.

Fruit trees, are of course awesome, but do take up space. Keep yourself open to dwarf varieties though, or check out vining berries that might fit into your landscape. Both could be grown in a pot as well. Herbs are perhaps the most versatile and forgiving of all edibles - great in pots, in the ground, mixed in with your other plants - with enough sun, they can grow just about anywhere. Personal favorites of mine are mints (my ‘mojito mint’ grows in a pot in my kitchen), lemon verbena, salvias and oregano. Veggies too, can be exotic and unusual - at Johnnye Merle’s, we stock unusual and heirloom tomatoes, edamame (soybean) plants, unusual squashes and cucumber, pumpkins and artichokes.

Growing your own food might not save you thousands, but it can in fact cut your grocery bill a bit. It can influence your cooking - you’ll find yourself searching out recipes for your harvest. Most importantly, perhaps, it will reconnect you to your land and yourself. You don’t need a farm to grow edibles - they can be integrated into the landscape of a large yard, or on the smallest of patios. Be creative and open minded, and the possibilities are endless.

Be sure to visit our nursery for some ideas, free advice and cool plants! We also offer garden design services if you feel you need a little extra help - our garden design style has an emphasis on the ‘DIY’ mentality, so we keep it affordable, and no project is too small. Check out our website for more information.

Have You Stopped By Our Gardens Lately?

2009-06-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

Our gardens look better than I've seen them in a long time. Everything in our demonstrative gardens is growing rapidly, everything is blooming and the backdrop is just rustic and warm. If you haven't stopped by lately, I just thought you might like to see what I'm talking about. I put together a little slideshow for you, so sit back and enjoy! I hope to see you all soon at both Johnnye Merle's Garden & Nursery as well as Country Roads. After all, its all about family!! Sue

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Kitten Update

2009-05-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

The little kitties went to a wonderful rescue group that came out and picked them up along with two of the other kittens from the first litter. And on a really exciting note, we caught the mommy cat that has been having litters. Yes, it cost me about $80 but it was well worth every penny. She has been spayed, two shots, and two nights at the hospital. I just hope people will continue to remember the importance of being responsible pet owners. I can't even tell you how many cats and kittens we've rescued at Country Roads! But hey, if it makes a difference in finding them a good home it was well worth it.

We also grow kittens...

2009-05-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

In addition to having 'weird plants', we also apparently are the home to some organically grown kittens. We discovered these guys today hanging out in one of our planted areas, near the infamous 'gross green pond'. After several hours of trying, we caught two out of the three; the third one outsmarted us, but we are hoping to join him/her with the rest of the team tomorrow.

Meanwhile, these two are living a sad life in an old animal cage with some lousy liquor store cat food, and would love to come home with you. Do it for Memorial Day! Stop by or call Country Roads (714.532.3041) to make one (or all!) yours, or for more info.

New plants

2009-05-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

Check out all the new stuff we've gotten in over the last two weeks: a huge selection of herbs, veggies and scented geraniums, cool trees, even cooler succulents and sedums, and another order of unusual stuff from Annies Annuals! Stop by this Memorial Day weekend before we get cleaned out!

Sedum - super cool color!

Big Blue Sea Holly (Eryngium) - one of our favorites!

Gaillardia - blanket flower

Echeveria Afterglow and lavender make a perfect color combo, and actually have similar growing conditions. Instant garden design!

Sunflowers and scented geraniums

Some of our new Annies Annuals!

2009-05-07T18:38:00.001-07:00

As you probably know, one of our favorite growers is Oakland based Annies Annuals. We've been getting plants shipped down almost weekly this spring, and for good reason, as Annie's (and despite the name, it's annuals AND perennials!) grows some of the coolest stuff we have ever seen! We are proud to be one of only a handful of Orange County nurseries that carry their products. Below you'll find just a few of the very cool selections of Annie's products that we have available - we have more in stock, more on the way next week, and you can always place a special order as well!

Coreopsis stillmanii "Golden Fleece" is one of our favorites right now. We love love LOVE coreposis in general, and this variety is awesome! It bears brilliant golden-yellow flowers 2” across on long stems, is 2’ tall, and is a good cut flower.

Gorteria diffusia "Beetle Daisy" is soooo cool. It gets it's name because it looks like it has a bug on the flower - it doesn't, rather, the flower has this unusual blue/black spotting. We are really into orange right now - don't ask, we just are! - and this plant fits our current obsession perfectly! Long blooming from June thru October, it bears bright orange daisies, some with two purply-black dots that look like eyes. Low and spreading, 4" x 15", it's drought tolerant and naturally grows in clay soil but does just as well in regular garden soil.

Matthiola tricuspidata is another cool, unusual Annie's Annuals selection. Native to the Mediterranean coast, this night-scented member of the stock family bears striking, silvery-wavy, almost fern-shaped, deeply lobed leaves covered with a soft, white, fuzz. Growing to 2’ tall, it sent up spikes of pretty, single, four-petaled, lavender flowers with white centers. Does particularly well in coastal conditions.

Echium wildpretii "Tower of Jewels" is awesome!!! Rosy-red flowers in huge, tapered, conical clusters up to a foot thick (!) and 6-10' tall. It spends its first year as an attractive silver-gray rosette and then spikes its second year in mid-late Spring - we swear we've seen it bloom it's first year though. When all the countless little flowers have faded, the plant dies, leaving behind lots of seedlings which will flower the next year. Does well in POOR TO DRY SOIL (not clay), good at the seacoast.

These featured plants are only a handful out of the dozens of cool Annie's we have in stock right now - come in and check more of them out for yourself, and be sure to email us with any special requests!

Who Needs Words, When You've Got Pictures!

2009-05-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Johnnye Merle's Gardens is seriously overflowing with plants. We are continuing to get deliveries each week of new plants. Check back often to see what's new and would look great in your own gardens! Below are a few photos of the gardens we all love so much, named after my mom, Johnnye Merle!

Stop by Johnnye Merle's and see what's new this week. You may be surprised at what you just might find!

Sedums and Succulents

2009-04-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sedums and succulents are all the rage in garden design these days it seems. And for good reason: they are easy to grow, don’t take up much water and have such an amazing variety of colors and shapes and textures that they go well in any garden design.

When we think of sedums, a lot of times we envision a weed infested, rock strewn cactus garden. Using plants with low water needs does NOT mean your yard needs to resemble your great aunt Matilda’s Pomona lawn circa 1975! In fact, sedums, succulents, cacti, agave, aeoniums and countless other ‘cactus looking’ plants can easily be blended into low water landscape designs of a varitety of styles. They also go great in pots and other containers. We are firm believers in adding plants that bring an ‘architectural’ quality to a garden design; that is, plants that have something unique about their foliage or shape and structure that makes them not only a focal point, but create a visual contrast that brings your whole design together.

And, like we said, they grow easy. :)

Come in and check ‘em out – we always have a big selection on hand!

Been Watchin These Two!

2009-04-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

These are two Annie's Annuals I planted last year from JM Gardens & Nursery. They are called, I think Crown something or other. Brande will have to edit this and give you the correct name of the plants.
As you can see in this picture, these plants are ready to bloom any day now and I have NO idea what the flower will look like. I think that is why Spring is one of my favorite time of the year. Our gardens always have special little surprises waiting for us!

It's All About the Backdrop

2009-04-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

Johnnye Merle Gardens and Nursery is really a unique place to visit, whether you are into plants, or the story behind the creation of these gardens, or about the "backdrop". Just like the interior of Country Roads, we've created an environment with our gardens that is rustic and primitive and so different than any other you will find anywhere! I just wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures of our gardens.

As I said, these are just a few of the pictures I wanted to share with you. There are many more settings and vingettes in our gardens. We ARE different than any other nursery you'll visit. You can "feel" the love that has been put into our little piece of paradise! Hope to see you soon, and just stroll around out back and take a break of the hectic world we all live in today!

My Garden Filled With Johnnye Merle Plants!

2009-04-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Over the years, ever since the early years of Johnnye Merle Gardens and Nursery, I have filled my yard and flower beds from the plants I purchased at JM Gardens. Below, I put together a little slide show, nothing fancy, but just photos I took out in my front yard. The cool thing about Johnnye Merle's, besides being owned by my daughter, and named after my mom, is that the plants are DIFFERENT! Both Brande and I are working hard to keep this blog updated so you will see what plants have just arrive and also, by viewing this slideshow, you will see how healthy and beautiful these plants fit into any garden. Many of these plants that you see we've had shipped from Annie's Annuals in Northern Calif. They came in little 4 inch containers, but boy did they florish! They are totally awesome, coming back year after year!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

New plants!!!

2009-04-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

We've been hard at work out in the garden these past few weeks, and have lots and lots of new plants in right now! We wanted to share a few of our favorites with you.

Echeveria Topsy Turvy

If you've visited our nursery before, you know that in addition to cottage garden classics and unusual annuals and perennials from growers like Annies Annuals, we keep a HUGE stock of natives plants, low water plants and succulents in stock. We especially LOVE the echeveria family, and this particular variety has great color and such a cool shape to the leaf! Like most in its family, this can take full sun to partial shade, and though it is drought tolerant, it can actually take a modest amount of water, meaning it can go in your succulent/low water garden, OR provide great variety and texture to a garden with more traditional 'cottage' plants like lavender and daisies. The color and shape of this beauty make it a great specimen plant.

Osteospermum Nuanza Copper

You HAVE to see the color of this thing to appreciate how amazing it is. Copper, pink and brozne all at once. Osteospermum are a huge family, commonly known as "African Daisies' and they are super easy to grow: hardy, full sun to a little bit of shade, moderate watering, but from our experience they have been pretty tough and can take drier conditions. You can't beat the color, endless blooms and the fact that they are adaptable to nearly any landscape design - the daisy like blooms make them great for cottage style gardens, but they also look perfect in a tropical landscape, and their vivid colors and sharp shapes make them ideal for your 'architectural' landscapes as well. Oh, and bonus: they are usually cheap!

Clematis Montana 'Grandifolora'

Ah, Clematis, the classic of classic cottage garden vines. You gotta see this thing up close right now to appreciate just how many blooms it has. It's pretty incredible! Would look AMAZING on an arbor or trellis. They are a pretty easy vine to grow - give it regular water, sun to part shade (we've found that in warm conditions they do best with a little shade), Grandiflora is a particularly hardy variety. We have them in five gallons sizes right now, which means they'll be pretty well established when you plant them. Instant coverage for that bare spot on your wall or arbor!

Iris pallida Variegata

A variegated iris, beautiful! How can you not love irises? They are simple yet profound, and make a powerful statement in any garden. We have two types of the variegated iris in right now - Variegata is known for its unique yellow and green striped foliage, while Argentea Variegata has a very cool silvery tone to its variegation. Try them both out - they look awesome together, and look great planted with lavender, columbine, and white California poppies, all of which, btw, we have in stock right now! We love plants with variegated colorings - they 'break up' a landscape design, providing interest and color variations all year long.

Aloe plicatilis

The award for hands down coolest plant of the week goes to.....Aloe plicatilis! Seriously, just LOOK at this plant, how cool is that shape, that color, AND the fact that it grows up into this amazing Dr. Seuss looking tree! Not to mention the fact that it is, after all, an aloe, which means little work on your part, lazy gardener! Would looks super cool in a pot, in your low water or 'architectural' garden design.

These are just a few of the many very cool plants we have added to our nursery in recent weeks - be sure to stop in and see us soon!

And as always, feel free to email us with your plant questions or for help with garden design!

Bee's in the Rosebush

2009-04-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, Brande had stopped by my house and as we were talking, I glanced out the front window and saw a bunch of "something" flying around. As we walked outside, we soon discovered the things that were flying were bees! We went back inside to "google" (I google everything) bees. Apparently, bees start flying around until they find the Queen Bee. When we walked back outside many of them were on my picket fence but soon they all landed in the rosebush and were in the processing of making a hive that a couple of days later is even more condensed than in these pictures. Honeybees are becoming extinct, and I hate to kill anything. Anytime a bee goes into my pool, I get the big net and rescue it. I had remembered reading a recent article in the newspaper about these two girls that save the honeybees. You should visit their blog at: www.backyardbkeepers.blogspot.com They were kind of enough to e-mail me back and said that many times bee's will make hives where they had one before and sometimes move in a week. Actually, there was a beehive a year ago inside one of my birdhouses near the rosebush. I think it's pretty cool that these woman care enough to make sure our honeybees don't become extinct! Right after I posted this little bee story, I was going outside to get the mail, and the bees were flying again, swarming all over the place. And where did they land, just where the old hive use to be. The barn birdhouse use to be open, put I've been meaning to get rid of it so I wouldn't have anymore bees. It is amazing to me to observe nature at work and how those little bees went where they were supposed to be!

Who IS Johnnye Merle?

2009-04-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is an old picture of Johnnye Merle as a teenager in Temple, Texas. I've recently been added, by Brande, as one of the authors to this blog. My mom always loved gardening, and passed the love on to my own kids as well, especially Brande. My mom passed away a couple of years ago, but it was cool that she got to know that Brande named her business after my mom! Johnnye Merle Gardens & Nursery is in back of our family business, Country Roads. Brande is always got a thousand things going on at once, so I'm here to answer some of your questions or seeing if we have a certain plant you've been looking for. Please, if you have any questions, send me an email. And if I don't know the answer, I will be sure to find out for you. Brande and I both have some new plant photos to post. If you haven't been in lately, you need stop by and check out the "new" look of the garden. There's been a lot of Spring cleaning going on out there, and it's looking really good! Stop by and see us and all the new plants that have just arrived, including Annie's Annuals, a big favorite of many! Happy Gardening, Sue

Welcome to spring!

2009-04-04T20:13:00.001-07:00

We've been hard at work in the garden lately - lots of new plants, and we've pretty much re-arranged everything. Granted, we ARE biased, but it's looking pretty good out there right now...

Like you, we are very excited about spring! Be sure to stop in and see us soon, and check out all the wonderful plants we have growing right now!

Lots of new stuff!

2008-09-19T13:07:00.001-07:00

We've got a ton of new plants in to help you get your garden ready for fall, including lots of cool geraniums, succulents and California natives. Stop by and see us sometime soon!

Some featured plants...

2008-05-12T09:19:00.001-07:00

Aeonium 'Sunburst'
Originally uploaded by Johnnye Merle's Gardens

Our gardens are pretty much bursting at the seams right now with plants! Among the very cool and unusual things we have available right now, you'll find HUGE selection of sedums and succulents and other plants that have amazing color and foliage and don't require much water.

The Aeonium family contains some of our favorite types of plants right now. These specimens have unusual color, unique shapes and textures and can blend well in a variety of settings. Check out more info on them here.

We also just got two five gallon sized awesome looking specimens of Montanoa grandiflora in this past week. This plant can be grown as a large shrub or small tree, getting up to about 8 or 12 feet tall, and has AMAZING blooms, check out some photos and a write up here.

If you haven't stopped by in a while, do so ASAP - our gardens are looking pretty amazing right now and it's the PERFECT time of year to get back out into your yard!

See you soon!

johnnye merles gardens
gardening
nursery
aeonium sunburst
Montanoa grandiflora

We're lonely - come see us!

2008-05-02T15:10:00.001-07:00

Johnnye Merle's Gardens
Originally uploaded by Johnnye Merle's Gardens

If you haven't stopped in lately, now IS the time to do so - our gardens are exploding with new plants!!! Okay, so we're not really exploding, that would be messy, but we DO have a TON of very cool new plants in stock right now, plus lots of buckets and garden accessories to make your garden pop.

Stop by and say hi this weekend and get some of our very cool and weird plants while they are still in stock!

We've got Annie's Annuals back in stock!

2008-04-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

We've got Annie's Annuals back in stock!
Originally uploaded by Johnnye Merle's Gardens

We've got a nice variety of plants from one of our very favorite vendors, Oakland based Annie's Annuals, in stock right now. At just $4.00 each, they're also pretty darn cheap!

Annie's grows some of the weirdest stuff we can find - we're pretty excited to have their amazing plants back in stock. If you've never grown or tried Annie's, give them a shot - you'll be AMAZED at what these plants will do in your garden, WE constantly are! We've got a few cool things of theirs blooming in our own flower beds at the nursery right now, including
Echium wildprettii 'Tower of Jewels', which was also have for sale right now. Also in on this shipment of note: Ammi majus 'Bishops Flower', Coreopsis gigantea, Papaver 'Sugar Plum and Ferula communis glauca. In addition to those very cool specimens, we have about a dozen or so other varieties in - stop in and check 'em out!

Garden sale this weekend!

2008-04-25T17:56:00.001-07:00

New Johnnye Merle Logo
Originally uploaded by Johnnye Merle's Gardens

We have a completely ridiculous amount of new plants in this weekend - just in time for our nice spring weekend! If you stop by our garden display at South Coast Plaza and pick up a flyer, you can even get 10% off our plants!

PS: if you don't get a chance to pickup a flyer, but DO read our website, just tell the front counter staff that you saw this posting and ask them for the 10% off of your plants. Sale is only good for THIS weekend, April 26th and 27th!

Our Spring Garden Show 2008 Display

2008-04-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Our 'Mid-century Palm Springs' inspired garden...
Originally uploaded by Johnnye Merle's Gardens

Johnnye Merle's Gardens is back at the Spring Garden show this year! We created a pretty rad 'Palm Springs mid century inspired' garden - come and check it out! The theme this year was green living - our garden features an awesome selection of agave's, sedums and succulents that don't require much water, and the landscape itself was constructed entirely from recycled materials - cinderblocks, old windows, and our infamous 'spaceship' 1950's umbrella!

Stop by and check us out!

Whole lot of new!

2007-10-29T11:23:00.001-07:00

We brought in a ton of new plants last weekend, and have been hard at work cleaning up from the summer heat and intense winds of last week!

Check out some of our favorite plants in right now:

Daliah Mystic Dream and Coleaus Giant Duckfoot look very impressive together - a nice color combo for this season too!

Clerodendron ugandense is one of our favorite plants right now - this photo doesn't really capture the very cool little blue and white flowers this plant gets, and we love its loose open structure as well.

We LOVE the gray foilage of Encelia farinosa, and the daisy looking yellow flowers are also a nice aspect to this plant! It's commonly called Brittlebush, and is a perennial that is also known as a wildflower in parts of the Arizona desert. If you are looking for a drought tolerant/low water garden plant, this is a great specimen!

Salix Flamingo is a very cool plant we just got in as well! You can't really see in from this photo, but the foliage of this plant is amazing - its leaf is light green and white, almost varigated, and it has a pink tinted stem that runs throughout. We've yet to see one bloom, but are told that it gets impressive pink blooms on it as well. We love it for the variety it adds to our garden - try it in your landscape as a contrast plant that will bring a little light to corners that are starting to look dense.

We are going to have a new website going up really soon - keep your eyes out for it! Be sure to come and visit us while all these new goodies are in stock - we're open at 10am every day, in the gardens of Country Roads at 204 W Chapman in Old Town Orange.

An all new look coming soon!

2007-10-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

We're wrapping up our big end of summer sale - clearing out our summer stock to make room for some changes for fall. Watch for a slight remodel and lots of new plants in the weeks to come!

New plants in this week

2007-07-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been in to see us recently, be sure to stop by - we've got some new plants in that are sure to add some color to your mid-summer landscape!

Gaillardia is one of our favorites - wonderful color, easy to care for, and it goes in just about any style of garden.

We love this new Oenothera - it's called African Sun, and you really need to see it up close and in person to appreciate how bright it's cheery little yellow flowers are!

Our schedule has finally freed up a bit and we have some space for some new garden design projects - if you'd like our help in make your yard all that it can be, be sure to call (714-744-4981) or email us!

Plant sale this weekend!

2007-07-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

To celebrate this holiday-ish weekend, we're having another weekend plant sale!

All plants are 15% off Friday, Saturday and Sunday July 6 - 8th! We've got some great stuff in right now too - be sure to stop in and see us, your garden will thank you...

See you soon!

Have you been in to see us lately?

2007-05-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our garden is looking pretty awesome, and we have lots of new plants: stop by and see us! We're starting to carry even more drought tolerant plants and natives too, and would be happy to help you get your own low water garden designed and in place!

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johnnye merle's gardens
Orange County
garden design

Thanks for visiting us this past weekend!

2007-05-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that stopped by to see us at the South Coast Garden show last weekend. It was great to see so many familiar and new faces, and we are excited to hopefully hear from many of you in regards to our garden design services in the weeks to come.

We came in third place in the garden design competition, in case you haven't heard, we are now totally famous too - check out our little write up in the OC Register!

Be sure to stop by and see us at the shop!

gardening
johnnye merle's gardens
South Coast Garden Show
Orange County
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Spring Garden Show is underway!

2007-04-27T14:29:00.001-07:00

If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to stop by the Spring Garden Show and check out our booth and our award winning garden design! We are very proud to have come in third place in the garden design competition! Stop by for some plants and ideas!

Our ‘Dr. Seuss Container Garden’ is on the first floor right at the base of the escalators by Macy’s, and our booth is on the 2nd floor in front of Villeroy and Boch and Baby Unique. Be sure to come see us – we have lots of great stuff including 21 flats of new Annie’s Annuals!

See you soon!

Spring Garden Show
Johnnye Merle’s Gardens
garden design

April updates!

2007-04-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to post a quick note on a few updates:

New stuff is coming in constantly to our gardens! Spring is in full swing, and our gardens are reflecting it! Be sure to stop in asap to check out some new treasures for your own garden.

Don't forget: we'll be at the Spring Garden Show at South Coast Plaza again this year! Dates are April 26 - 30. Check out the Garden Show website for more information! W

It is the season for garden design! We've been hard at work helping our fellow plant geeks get their gardens looking nice and tidy. Check out the photos below of a residence we recently did in Fullerton. Remember, if you are interested in having us help you design your garden, please feel free to emailus!

April Monthly Newsletter

2007-04-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Garden Geek Monthly
the newsletter of
Johnnye Merle’s Gardens
where we grow weird plants....

April News

It’s amazing how fast time seems to go by - 1/4 of the year is gone, but that also means it’s officially spring time!

New plants are coming in! We bring stuff in weekly during this time of year, so be sure to stop by and see what we’ve got available, and check out our own gardens that we are always replanting, providing new and cool design ideas!

Did we mention the Spring Garden show at South Coast Plaza? It’s almost here - stop by and see us, it’s A LOT of fun! Look for our booth that will be full of lots and lots of new, unusual and very cool plants and garden accessories. For the first time, we have entered the competition garden design! The competition gardens will be featured on the first floor of South Coast - you can’t miss ours, it’ll be the container garden done in the ‘Dr. Seuss’ theme! The Spring Garden Show runs April 26th through the 29th.
Visit www.springgardenshow.com for more information.

Our featured charity of this month is Tree People! Tree People is a Los Angeles based organization that we have long been a big supporter of. They plant trees all throughout Southern California - in parks, communities, schools and more. We’ll be donating a portion of our sales this month to them, and encourage you do think about supporting them as well. Check out their website at www.treepeople.org

April Garden Tips

*Color, color color! Shape, shape, shape! Foliage, foliage, foliage!
This is the prime time of year to be planting! Hit up the nurseries (especially ours...), check out what your neighbors are doing, get planting! Break out of your design rut and try new plants while you’re at it!

*Good plants for this time of year include your warmer season annuals, citrus trees, most perennials, and summer veggies. It’s also a good time of year to plant or replace your lawn, if you’ve been thinking about doing so...

*Don’t forget to pinch and prune! Deadheading (cutting off the dead blooms) is important to do this time of year to ensure that your perennials will continue to bloom throughout the year ahead.

*Feed your hungry plants! We always go organic here at Johnnye Merle’s - check out our great selection of organic fertilizers next time you are in, they are even on sale right now!

*Bring your garden indoors! We are big believers in having plants wherever we can, and that includes INSIDE of the home as well. Check out topiaries, start a kitchen herb garden or get some ‘carnivorous’ plants for the kids!

*Hit up the bookstore – garden design magazines are always full of great ideas and inspiration!

Watch for next months “Garden Geek” Newsletter in early May!

Don’t forget, Johnnye Merle’s is now designing gardens for our fellow garden geeks!
Leave a voicemail at 714-744-4981 or email us at johnnyemerle@yahoo.com for more info.

Check out our blog for weekly plant updates and garden advice:
www.purtyplants.com

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orange+county

New plants! Garden SALE! Happy early spring!

2007-03-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Our title says it all. New plants coming in tomorrow, a sale to celebrate spring and St. Patty's day, nice weather - seriously, what more could we possible give? Maybe cookies and lemonade, but that'll have to wait till next month.

Anyway, 10% off ALL plants this weekend, including our new stuff! Don't miss it!

March Garden News!

2007-03-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Garden Geek Monthly
March Garden News from Johnnye Merle’s Gardens!

March News

We can’t believe it’s already March!

New plants are coming in! We like to get a jump start on things, so we are already bringing in lots and lots of new and fun plants to liven up your garden this spring. We’ll be having a plant sale the weekend of March 17th – 18th, to celebrate St. Patricks Day– stop in and pick up some new treasures for your yard!

Did we mention the Spring Garden show at South Coast Plaza? We’re going to be there again this year, look for our booth that will be full of lots and lots of new, unusual and very cool plants and garden accessories. AND, as though things weren’t busy enough, we decided to also enter into the competition garden contest, just so we can show off more of our weird plants. Look for us on the ground floor of Crystal Court where we’ll have a very special garden! The Spring Garden Show runs April 26th through the 29th.

School gardens: we are finally getting to work on this project. We are looking for schools that are interested in starting or revamping a garden. We’ll be needing
volunteers to join us for this as well – if you are interested, please send us an email: johnnyemerle (at) yahoo.com.

March Garden Tips

*Start doing clean up and pruning! That cold snap in January left many plants looking less than great. Prune off dead branches, lightly fertilize and work to bring back some of your plant friends to life. We also like to go through and thin out overgrown plants during this time of year as well.

*Get some veggies in the ground! It’s southern California, you can plant vegetables whenever you want! Have you seen some of those artichoke’s we have growing in our garden? They look amazing – very cool! We’ve got them in right now, as well as corn, early tomatoes and a wide variety of other herbs and edible plants.

*Start planning your spring. Get a sense of how you want your garden to look – and remember, we always suggest that you try something new. Maybe this is the year you give sedums or native grasses a shot – we’ve always got them in stock, and are happy to answer any questions about them that you might have.

*Do some accessory shopping! If the conditions just aren’t right for planting, you can still get ideas for the non-living parts of your garden. This is a great time of year to get out and check out umbrellas, garden furniture, fun accessories and more!

*Bring your garden indoors! We are big believers in having plants wherever we can, and that includes INSIDE of the home as well. Check out topiaries, start a kitchen herb garden or get some ‘carnivorous’ plants for the kids!

*Hit up the bookstore – garden design magazines are always full of great ideas and inspiration!

Watch for next months “Garden Geek” Newsletter in early March!

Don’t forget, Johnnye Merle’s is now designing gardens for our fellow garden geeks!
Leave a voicemail at 714-744-4981 or email us at johnnyemerle@yahoo.com for more info.

Check out our blog for weekly plant updates and garden advice:
www.purtyplants.com

Guerrilla Gardening

2007-02-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

Happy rainy Monday, and a big thanks to all of you that came out and visited us this weekend! We sent off our plants to lots of new homes over this holiday, but we still have lots of new stuff to check out, and even more on the way!

We wanted to kick off this week with quick blog about a gardening movement that originated in the UK and is rapidly spreading across the world. We kept reading about these guys that go by the name Guerrilla Gardeners in gardening and art & culture magazines and finally got around to checking out their website. They are all about 'refurbishing urban blight' - going in and planting abandoned plots of land in urban areas...regardless if permission to do so is granted! Though it might be crossing a few public versus private land issues, we are really scratching our heads to come up with exactly what would be wrong with planting a garden in places that really need one.

Anyway, do take a second to check out their work and the network of gardeners/urban crusaders in their link section , and think about doing some urban guerrilla gardening of your own. If sneaking out into the night under cover with bulbs under arm is a bit much for you, keep in mind all the schools and community centers that always need some green thumbs to lend a hand. Us plant geeks need to unite and act on our ideals that gardening can indeed improve the world!

guerrilla gardening
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Big ole plant SALE this weekend!

2007-02-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

This weekend is President’s Day weekend, which means:

1. A lot of you have an extra few days off to work in your garden
2. We’ll be having a PLANT SALE!!!!

We brought in a TON of new plants to the garden this week! To kick off spring with style, and to celebrate the wonderful weather predicted for the week ahead, we’re having a plant sale!

10% ALL plants in the garden this weekend, Friday the 16 through Monday the 19th!

Plus, our gardeners will be on had to help you out with your gardening and design challenges all throughout the weekend.

If you haven’t stopped in to see us in a while, now is the time to do it!

See you this weekend!

New Plants are IN!

2007-02-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

The cold snap is gone, the weather is suppose to be perfect this weekend, and if your yard looks anything like our garden, you can probably use some new plants. And we’ve got you covered!

We’ve got some very new cool plants in this week – and more are on the way! – from our different growers. We wanted to spotlight a few cool ones we got from one of our favorite growers, Sommer’s Nursery.

We brough in more of last years favorite, Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Ice’. You HAVE to see this plant in person to appreciate just how cool this color is! We are not normally a huge fan of junipers in general, but we absolutlely love this speciman!

Pieris japonica variegata is one of our favs of the moment. Stunning colored foliage and branches, we love it’s dainty, drooping look. It takes full sun to partial shade, we are told it can take full shade but won’t bloom as much.

Also be sure to check out chaenomeles speciosa toyo nishiki – STUNNING blooms right now, and we love the structure of the plant itself. This too can take full sun to part shade, and will get to about 3 or 5 feet in height.

Speaking of structure, another favorite from last years Spring Garden Show is Corylus avellana 'Contorta'. It’s spindly branches and cool little acorn looking seeds make it an excellent choice as an accent plant in a pot or key spot in your garden.

Rounding out the weird plants for this week, we have Pinus wallichiana 'Zebrina'. We love this moderate to slow growing evergreen oddity that we are going to add it to the landscape we are designing for the Spring Garden Show! It gets an even cooler shape as it gets bigger, from what we are told, and takes sun to partial shade in well drained soil.

All of these plants are in stock right now (and, if we happen to sell out, we can always order them in for you!) – and, as an added bonus, Friday through Monday, for the Old Town Orange Antique Affair event this President’s Day Weekend, all plants will be 10% off!

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Plant of the Week February 12th

2007-02-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

Buddliea, Silver Anniversary
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

Plant of the week this week: Buddleia 'Silver Anniversary'. This plant has some AMAZING foliage - silvery white leaves and stems that branch out into beautiful little white buds. This buddleia is an excellent addition to any garden, it's a great accent piece, with it's silver/gray color really bringing in that needed contrast we are always talking about! Plus, it's a notorious hummingbird and butterfly target!

Here is what grower Native Son's has to say about the buddleia family in general:

"Butterfly bush or Summer lilac. Large grouping of evergreen or deciduous shrubs along with some trees and herbaceous perennials. Grown for their masses of often fragrant and nectar-rich flowers that attract birds and butterflies. Flowering usually occurs in summer and early autumn. Plant in full sun and fertile, well-drained soil. Plants may double in size when placed against a sunny wall. Ideal choice for rocky soils or near water courses. Cut back every year or two to maintain form and heavy flower production. Seasonal pruning will extend the flowering. Hardiness varies. Tropical and subtropical Asia, America."

We've got them in right now - stop by and pick one up for your garden!

Plant of the Week February 5th

2007-02-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Corokia, Frosted Chocolate
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

This week's plant of the week is Corokia 'Frosted Chocolate'. It's our plant of the week because, well, we love it!

It's has beautiful glossy foliage in a very cool brown/grey color, we love it's open, loose structure and the tiny yellow flowers it gets in the spring and summer. We include it on our list of plants that provide diversity to a landscape - its unique colored leaves make it a real standout in the garden. We recently used a bunch of these in a landscape design, and the colors worked wonderfully against the blue grey tone of the home.

Here is what grower Native Son's says about the Corokia family:

Evergreen shrubs noted for their twisting, wiry, interlacing branches. Tiny yellow star-like flowers appear from spring to summer and are followed, in ideal conditions, by small variously colored fruits. Stems are ash gray to black with diminutive, sparse foliage. Most Corokias generally prefer full sun and well-drained soils that do not hold copious moisture particularly in winter. The unusual form can be used to dramatic effect when backlit by night lighting in the evening garden. Hardy to 10F. Native to New Zealand.

We have them in stock right now - stop by and pick one up!

Gardening in Baghdad

2007-02-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

We just came across a great article about some other garden devotee's - those working in Iraq.

"Gardeners shed blood to beautify Baghdad
By Hannah Allam
McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — The flowers appear overnight, and in the unlikeliest of places: carnations near a checkpoint, roses behind razor wire, and gardenias in a square known for suicide bombings.

Sometimes, U.S. armored vehicles hop a median and mow down the myrtle, leaving Baghdad parks workers to fume and reach for their trowels. When insurgents poured kerosene over freshly planted seedlings, landscapers swore a revenge of ficus trees and olive groves.

It's all part of a stealthy campaign to turn the entire capital into a green zone.

Jaafar Hamid al Ali, the Baghdad parks supervisor, leads the offensive. He's got a multi-million-dollar budget, along with 1,500 intrepid employees and a host of formidable enemies. There's the fussy climate, salty soil, and nonstop violence that killed 30 of his workers in 2006. Every fallen gardener, Ali said, is a martyr in the struggle to beautify Baghdad.

"My principle is, for every drop of Iraqi blood, we must plant something green," he said. "One gives disappointment, the other gives hope." "

You can check out more of the article by clicking here. We always get inspired by those who fight all odds to make their community a better place in one way or another...

Still want CHEAP plants? Better stop in soon!

2007-01-31T08:25:00.000-08:00

Philadephus Virginalis 'Natchez'
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

Don't forget our 25% off ALL plant sale is ending soon! It was suppose to end today, but we're gonna keep it alive until Friday.

After Friday = no more store wide sale. For now.
HOWEVER, after Friday also = lots of NEW plants for those of you ready to start your spring garden, so we feel it's a fair exchange.

Hope to see you soon!

Plant of the Week January 29th

2007-01-29T12:49:00.000-08:00

Phormium Sundowner
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

Like all of our “Plants of the Month’ this January, we are picking those plants that have withstood those nasty cold snaps (believe us, our tropical plants are looking just as bad as yours are right now!) and still are providing us with some color. With that in mind, our plant of the week this week is Phormium ‘Sundowner’.

We are big fans of phormium, or ‘flax’ as they are commonly called, These New Zealand natives are a GREAT addition to any garden – their blade like leaf structure provides much needed contrast and interest to any landscape, and they come in some spectacular colors. We love Sundowner for its very awesome pink and green and brown shades – very trendy colors for all design this spring, we might add!

Phormium Sundowner takes full sun to part shade, little to moderate water and this giant variety (there are also ‘dwarf’ phormiums that only grow to two or three feet) can get up to 6 to 8 feet tall and another 3 to 4 feet wide, depending on where it is planted. And, as we said, it is cold hardy – the grower says it can withstand cold of 15 to 20 degrees, and it appears to have done fine in our garden during those nights early this month with the temperature dipped below freezing.

Plant it at the back of your garden for some spectacular looking color and foliage – and yes, we do have it in stock right now!!!!

Plant of the Week January 15th

2007-01-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

Scabiosa
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

This week's plant of the week is probably our favorite plant of all time: Scabiosa! Despite having a name that sounds like a gross skin infection, scabiosa, or 'pin cushion' plant as it is sometimes called, is a great addition to any garden. It's one of the few plants that you'll find blooming in our nursery right now - in fact, we've really never noticed a time when this perennial wasn't blooming!

Scabiosa takes full sun, though it seems to be okay with a little shade, average water, and when it's done blooming or just isn't looking so great, cut it way back and before you know it, it'll be looking better than ever!

There are purple, pink and 'bluish' varieties, and Native Sons, one of our favorite growers, also grows two unique varieties we frequently carry: one has a yellow flower, and the other has variegated foliage. Very cool!

Scabiosa
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

We like to plant scabiosa in nearly every garden setting you can image - it looks especially awesome with lavender and roses when you're going for an English or cottage garden look.

And yes, we do have them in stock right now - and they are even on sale this month, so stop in and give them a try!

scabiosa
gardening
orange+county

Did you say SALE?

2007-01-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

Annie's Annuals
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

Yep, we said SALE!

As in, our annual January sale, where we clean house to make room for all the nifty stuff we've got coming in this spring!

25% off of ALL plants ALL this month - only keep in mind that stuff goes fast! And we aren't talking weed-infested-half-dead plants here - no sir, we mean our finest and best, from the last season, in need of nothing more than a little pruning and a new place to call home.

Be sure to stop in to get some great deals and get your garden looking its finest!

Don't forget, Johnnye Merle's will also design your garden - call us at 714-744-4981 or send an email to johnnyemerle (at) yahoo.com for more information!

Happy planting!

Johnnye Merle's January Newsletter

2007-01-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

sedum 'dragons blood'
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

“Garden Geek Monthly”
the newsletter of
Johnnye Merle’s Gardens
where we grow weird plants....

January 2007

This month, we are proud to start the year off with some resolutions!

We did the work for you, our loyal fellow garden geeks, and came up with a list of New Years Garden Resolutions for the year to come!

RESOLUTION #1:
Enjoy your garden! This may seem obvious, but often times we are so busy pruning,
weeding and replanting that we forget to enjoy all that our gardens have to offer. Take some time to sit back and enjoy your garden space this year – add a comfortable seating area into your space so you can sit back, relax, and watch the flowers bloom!

RESOLUTION #2: Remember: color isn’t just limited to flowers! At Johnnye Merle’s, we are very big believers in the importance of utilizing uniquely colored foliage in one’s garden – it adds diversity and keeps your garden looking unique and interesting year round. Don’t pass up on plants that may not offer much •ower wise – they
probably have a lot to give when it comes to their foliage! And remember, flowers come and go, but foliage stays year round!

RESOLUTION #3
Break beyond your set garden preferences! Think you hate cactus plants? Try out some cool looking succulents this year! Not so into tropicals? Give some of our rare South American plants a try this year! The point is, one of the easiest and best ways to get out of a design ‘rut’ is to try something that you might normally have an aversion to – once you see it in the ground, mixed in with the rest of your garden, you might be shocked at what it can do! One of our biggest battles – and victories! - when working with our garden design clients is getting them to see beyond the boundaries they have set for themselves. Once we move past those assumptions and try new things, we always find that people begin to see their gardens and design taste in a whole new light!

RESOLUTION #4
Go native! There are so many great plants
native to California, and it’s a shame that they get overlooked! They have much to
offer – they’ll do better than any other ‘import’ you plant, they’ll usually not need as much care and water and they’ll be helping the
environment out in turn. Likewise, those
heavily pruned hedges and shrubs aren’t exactly what we would call ‘natural’ – let your garden take on it’s own natural shape, pruning with care only to keep plants manageable for the space they grow in. For more info on
pruning, check out our garden blog at
www.purtyplants.com, where we’ll be
featuring monthly gardening and design
advice.

RESOLUTION #5
Use your love of plants and gardening skills to do good! Plant a tree to improve air quality, donate to fight global warming, build a compost bin to help your household recycle, give your time and help your local school start a community garden: there are a million ways that gardeners can help out their community and world!

Watch for next months “Garden Geek” Newsletter in early February!
Don’t forget, Johnnye Merle’s is now designing gardens for our fellow garden geeks! Leave a voicemail at 714-744-4981 or email us at johnnyemerle (at) yahoo.com for more info. Check out our blog for weekly plant updates and garden advice:
www.purtyplants.com

new years resolutions
gardening
plants
nursery
orange county

Happy New Year!

2007-01-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

gaillardia
Originally uploaded by Brande Jackson.

Everyone here at Johnnye Merle’s is excited about what 2007 will bring us! As we enter our third ‘official’ year, we want to take a moment to thank all of you that have been supportive, AND we also want to let everyone know of some very cool changes that the year ahead will bring.

First big news: our annual January big spring cleanin’ sale is officially underway! All plants are now 25% off this month – we’re talking KILLER plants too, good stuff, but we’ve got it on sale so we can make room for all of the new product we are expecting. We’ll be replanting and remodeling the nursery all this month, so be sure to stop in and check out what we are up to.

We are, by popular demand, finally bringing back our garden design services! We’ve been designing gardens all throughout Southern California for some 10 years now – previously under the name Picket Fence – and we are excited to bring back affordable, innovative and unique design to our clients. If you are interested, call and leave us a voicemail at 714-744-4981, or send us an email: johnnyemerle (at) yahoo.com and we can get you more info. We’re real nice, easy going people, so don’t be afraid to contact us!

We’ll be the first to admit we’ve sucked at updating our blog – the garden takes up a lot of time! – but we’ve made a New Years resolution to start giving you all sorts of regular updates from here on out! We’ll be featuring weekly plant spotlights, gardening and design tips and more. Don’t want to miss anything? If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking that little orange button at the top of the left hand column. For more info on RSS feeds, check out this web page. Also, if you want to get on our email list – we sent out info on sales, and special email only coupons – send an email to johnnyemerle (at) yahoo.com with ‘Add me!’ as your header and we’ll, well, add you!

Also, mark your calendars – we’ll be at the 2007 Spring Garden Show this year. There are all SORTS of cool garden related things going on at South Coast that weekend – it’s definitely not to be missed!

We look forward to meeting even more devoted gardeners in the year to come. Feel free to call or email us at any time – we’d love to hear from you, and are happy to answer questions or give advice.

Happy New Year!

plants
gardening
orange county
johnnye merle gardens
garden design
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