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!