Sedums and Succulents

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!

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

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!

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!!!

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

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?

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!

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!