Some fun stuff to check out...

Happy holidays, gardeners! We hope this first week of winter is treating you well.

Some cool garden related finds we wanted to share with you:

You Grow Girl - such a cool website! A gardening forum 'for the people' of sorts - do check it out, some great resources, photos, etc etc is on there.

The January issue of Martha Stewart Living has some great photos and an article about 'plant hunter' Daniel J. Hinkley and his amazing Washington garden. You can checkout another article on him here.

Speaking of Martha, the magazine also featured a great article on growing micro greens in your kitchen. I was quite inspired! Growing your own food one of the best ways to start to eat healthier, and timely, given those New Year resolutions that are just around the corner!

I've got a new Pinterest board just to get you inspired for winter gardening!

And, non-gardening related, but in the spirit of resolutions and simpler living, "28 Brilliant Tips for Living Life" from zenhabits.

Happy new year! We'll be open on New Years Day, and having a SALE to start your new year right, come by and see us and get your garden on!

'Tis the season in the garden...

Hope you are all enjoying this holiday season! 

Our gardens are looking festive and full of great plants right now!

Happy Thanksgiving - join us for our weekend sale!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!

As part of Country Roads' store wide sale this weekend, out back in Johnnye Merle's you'll find a great selection of plants on sale for 20% Friday - Sunday! Give a present to yourself, spruce up your garden, or give some plants as a gift - however you look at it, you can't go wrong saving some money on our awesome plant selection...

Some new finds that JUST came in:

Zaluxianskya 'Midnight Candy' - we LOVE this plant, such cool color and a great little flower!

Tigrida pavonia 'White' - we've never had this one in before, really unique and great bloom!

Papaver 'Thelma Crawford'  - this is also a new variety for us! Look at the ruffles on that flower...plus, we have lots and lots of other poppies in right now - it's time to start planting them!

Walenbergia 'Snowcap' - we have a total soft spot for start shaped flowers, like the one on this plant!

Nylandia scoparia - we think this plant deserves some serious 'OMG's! LOOK at that bloom! Beach people, this one is especially good for you! Enjoy!

Don't forget we also have a great selection of 'cottage garden favorites' right now as well: delphiniums, sweet peas, lupine and more!

Most of our plants are priced between just $3 and $6 AND don't forget, 20% Thanksgiving weekend too! 

Shop local, buy some plants, be happy, and give thanks. Have a great weekend!

Succulents!

We love the color and versatile nature of succulents - really, you can't go wrong! Check out the newest additions to our garden!

Garden looking borning? Stop by Johnnye Merle's and bring home some new treasues!

Just in this week:

Sweet peas! Yes, it's time to plant, and we have a good selection of some COOL varieties, including the new "Almost Black" from Annie's Annuals. It's pretty awesome, and only $3!!!

We've also got this cool plant in  - spooky for your post Halloween garden, and great texture! Cobweb Thistle is a great unusual addition to any garden, adding some spikes and great color!

Lots of salvias and other herbs; including Salvia Apiana, a California must have and scared plant for many Native American tribes.

We are very excited about this super cool, new addition - Elsholtzia sautonii 'Mint Shrub'. We LOVE the pink flower on this!  It's a pretty rare shrub, growing to about four feet or so, from northern China! Only $5 each!

Salvia argentea is another favorite - look at that foliage, those big, soft, gray leaves are amazing! And the bloom this salvia gets is impressive too! We have them in four inch containers for just $4!









Other awesome plants? FALL POPPIES! All sorts of cool ones, including some of our favorites, like "ladybird" poppy and Papaver "Black Swan" and "Naughty Nineties". Now is THE perfect time to plant poppies, ensuring you have some great late winter/early spring color.

All of our poppies - and most of our plants in general!  - are just $3 or $4 each!

We hope to see you this weekend! Keep your eye on next week too - we'll have a big order of cool succulents and sedums coming in!

Quick Saturday update

It looks like fall has finally come to Southern California! I was out working in the garden yesterday and couldn't get over how NICE it was at long last.

We just got some new treasures in from Annies Annuals. More info soon, but to encourage you to come out and see us this weekend, check out just a few of the awesome plants we have in:

Fall poppies! All sorts of lovely, wonderful poppies to give your yard some fun cottage charm! Plant
'em now while the weather is great. Papaver 'Lauren's Grape' and Papaver 'Lady Bird Poppy' are two of our favorites!

We also have pretty intense feelings for Geraniums. I know, it's a little weird, but check out Geranium 'Bill Wallis' and Geranium 'Ann Folkard' and you'll see what we mean!

We've also got all sorts of other fun plants in - some sweet peas to get you thinking about winter, Linaria 'Three Birds Flying' and much much more.

If you have any special requests, be sure to email us - we are happy to work hard and track down any plant you might be dreaming of!

Come see us soon....

-Brande

Some more planting ideas...

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

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

Read the blog here!

Fall Updates From Johnnye Merles

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

Fall Updates From Johnnye Merles:

Keeping Your Garden Fresh

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

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

Fall Plantings

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

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

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

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

Therapy

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

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

Garden events this weekend: Fullerton Arboretum

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

According to their website:

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

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


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

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

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

Labor Day SALE!!!

Happy Labor Day everyone!

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

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

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

Just in....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sale time!

Summer is drawing to a close...to make it a little easier on you, we've decided to have a sale!

Come in and see us - we've got a great selection of herbs and scented geraniums just in, some new Annie's Annuals coming in today, and to top it off, everything is on sale through Monday, September 3rd!

Plants of the Month Club!

We are very excited to announce Johnnye Merles 

"Plants of the Month Club" 

starting this September!

What is it?

Plain and simple: 10 plants delivered - that’s right, DELIVERED - to you each month!

We take the stress out of thinking, choosing, driving and planning! We’ll bring you a mix of unique and unusual plants each month that are picked for your garden, keeping your landscape looking fresh and lively!

Best of all? It’s only $75 a month!

The smart way to keep a garden looking fresh and full is to maintain it consistently, each month. By adding a few plants here and there, swapping out annuals as they die back, and so forth, you will save money by avoiding ‘big re-plantings’, and keep your garden looking fresh and interesting.

We’ll learn the specifics of your garden - your style, light (full sun or shade), water requirements, etc - and bring you a fun mix of plants each month to fill in those spots in your garden that need a little extra love. You can always email us with special requests that we will try to fill as well. 

Johnnye Merles is a unique nursery located in Old Town Orange, CA. We specialize in plants that are unique, unusual, drought tolerant and eco-friendly. We have been designing gardens in LA and Orange county for close to 15 years now! The “Plants of the Month Club” gives you the expertise of award winning design and plant knowledge at an affordable rate AND keeps your garden looking consistently good. We even have an option that takes ALL the work out of your garden for you too!


Options:

10 plants hand picked and delivered to your door, only $75 a month!*
10 plants hand picked, delivered and PLANTED for you, only $95 a month!*

 *For addresses within an approximate 25 mile range of Orange, CA. For locations 25-40 miles from Orange, please add $10. This program is for our customers local to Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside Counties.

More info:

Your monthly payment will be charged to a credit card number you provide, or you have the option of mailing in a check each month.

You can cancel your “Plants of the Month” membership at any point with 30 days notice.

Deliveries are typically made on the last two Friday’s of the month. A specific day (3rd or 4th Friday of the month, for example) will be planned out with you to best meet your needs.

How to sign up?

Email us for a membership form!

Sign up soon - deliveries are starting in September!

Garden shots!

 Dog days of summer have been here...but our gardens are still looking good!

New stuff!

Ah, summer! It's been so lovely that we haven't even been blogging lately....

We just got a bunch of new stuff in this week - photos soon, but check out some of our newest additions:

Angelica gigas - a great, dramatic addition to any garden!

Clematis tangutica - had no idea HOW COOL these clematis were until we got them in! Some are even in bloom. We are totally taking one for our own garden!

Vernonia altissima - great for woodland gardens, it attracts butterflies too.

Orphium frutescens 'Sea Rose' - we had this in earlier in the year, and it sold out quick! Really amazng blooms on this South African native.

Asarina scadens  - one of many great vines we have in stock right now!

These are just a few of the many great plants we have in right now. Take advantage of the lovely weather we are having this summer and bring home some new treasures for your garden!

See you soon!

New stuff makes everyone happy!

A sampling of plants that arrived yesterday....

Thunbergia alata 'Spanish Eyes'   - yes, we finally have black eyed Susan's in!!!! 

We have the  "Pure White" variety in as well!

Sisyrinchium hybrid 'Devon Skies' - a great plant, and always seems to be in demand!

Scleranthus biflorus "Australian Astroturf" - another popular one that we haven't had in a long time!

Phytolacca acinosa "Himalayan Pokeweed" - it's weird, it's cool, you should have it.

Orostachys iwarenge "Chinese Dunce Cap" - this is one of my most favorite plants ever...

Eucomis pallidiflora - what???? Giant pineapple lily. For reals. You should have this in your yard.

There are many many more unusual plants in our gardens just waiting to go home with you - stop in and see us soon!

Happy summer!

-Brande

In the garden this weekend...

Took a few quick shots this afternoon of just some of what we've got in the garden this weekend. These mild summer days are just begging us to get planting! A big order of Annie's Annuals came in yesterday too, stop by and check it out - some really cool stuff.... enjoy!

We heart euphorbias!

Sedums! Lots of 'em!

"Regal Lilly" - this one bloomed a little prematurely in the 4" container (!) but soooooo cool - come take one home and be wowed each spring!

We have lots of asclepias varieties in right now - great plant for butterflies!

Gunnera - one of our all time favorites!

Begonia Gene Daniels - we promise it will make you re-think begonias, it totally changed our mind!

Pretty asters!

Dicliptera suberecta  - we LOVE this one, have it growing i our own gardens!

Scleranthus biflorus. Australian Astroturf. You need this. Trust us. It attracts gnomes.

Echiums! Lots of fun varieties of them! Everyone should grow echiums!

Red leaf hibiscus. Really unusual. And awesome. Looooooooooooove.

Lovely rumex!