Wintherthur, a wonderful Garden to visit

Whenever we travel we ALWAYS try and find a Garden or Arboretum to explore. This one was from a 2010 trip to Philadelphia for the Master Nursery Garden Center Meeting (group of independent Nursery owners) We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Winterthur, even though it was August, super hot and to a native Oregonian the east coast is MUGGY!! lol Winterthur (pronounced “winter-tour”)  was founded by Henry Francis du Pont, it is a wonderful museum of  the du Pont family’s life and its 60-acre naturalistic garden is among the country’s best.

Such a fun Children's Garden too, this is the story of this part of the garden: there is an old saying, "Faerie folks are in old oaks." The woodland fairies are nature spirits who live on Oak Hill. The fairies watched over the children as they played. The children thought it was the wind whistling in their ears when Lark, the music fairy, sang for them. Blossom, the flower fairy, led them to a patch of lilies-of-the-valley so they could pick sweet-smelling bouquets for their mothers. Glimmer, the magician fairy, sometimes played tricks on them. If the children removed their hats and gloves, he would hide them in the strangest places (but he almost always let the children find their things before it was time to go home).

This is a very SMALL sampling of the beauty of Winterthur, a place well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in the area!

Beautiful Blooming Rhododendrons AKA Eye Candy!!

Oh the beauty of a Blooming Rhododendron, hard to beat this amazing shrub!

Here's some Eye Candy from the Nursery :)


September Song



Blue Jay

Cynthia

Cunningham's White

Golden Torch

Percy Wiseman

Jean Marie De Montague

Scintillation

Just a few of the beautiful blooming beauties!

Walla Walla Sweet Onions

We still have some Walla Walla Onions in ready to go into your garden.

These gems are unbeatable on a Burger or in Potato Salad for your Summer parties.

 Plus if you have ever dried your own minced onion these are totally FABULOUS for drying!

Seriously, I dried these last year at the end of the season because I am crazy and feel like I can NEVER get enough planted.

I had this HUGE pile of beautiful onions and was finished with all the pickled onions we would use for a year. So I decided to try drying them and WOW such amazing flavor to savor thru the Winter months!

This was 18 lbs of Walla Walla Onions, the last big crop of the year and yes I had left some of them a bit long but for drying they are pretty forgiving! ENJOY

Garden Art

We just got in some fun Garden Art that we ordered last Summer. It is always fun to open up these kinds of packages, sort of like Christmas at the Nursery in Spring!

Fairy People riding Dragonfly's

Woodland Gnomes and cute little Mushrooms

 

Fun Woodland Mushrooms

Plus we have Butterfly & Dragonfly wall art,

also some cool wire accents!

Beautiful Camellias

One of the first blooms to come and greet us in late Winter to early Spring are Camellias.

Camellias have such wonderful blooms that are also nice for bringing indoors

and make for a very long-lasting centerpiece!

They are great for floating in a bowl

or they are fabulous in an arrangement

(plus they are great just left on the bush!!) lol

Happy Easter!

'Fire Spinner' Ice Plant

WOW 'Fire Spinner' is a gorgeous newer variety of Ice plant, we just got these in and while of course they are not in bloom yet they will be certain to make a STUNNING display when they are in bloom!

Eye catching tri-colored flowers cover this, rapid spreading bright green mat of succulent evergreen foliage. With the heaviest flowering in Spring and repeat blooms throughout the Summer. With nice evergreen foliage throughout winter. This hardy and heat-loving ground cover is perfect for use in low water and Firesmart landscapes. 2" tall and spreading 12-18" wide. USDA Hardiness zones 5-9 (-20 - 30 F)

Something about the bright open flowers of this plant just makes me smile and be a bit happier :)

Hellebore / Lenten Rose

Pink Frost Hellebore

Prefers moist, well-drained soil. Mulch to maintain summer moisture.

Shelter from strong winter winds. 

Height 12-15 Inches   -   Spread 24 Inches

USDA Hardiness Zone 5  (-20)

DEER RESISTANT

 

I just love these beauties, they bloom for a long time and when not much else is blooming! There are so many varieties and this one is a favorite. We have these in stock right now and they are flying off the benches, I think everyone is ready for some color. Only a few days left till the official first day of SPRING, March 20, 2013.

Guerilla Gardener

We need to do more of this, truly sustainable gardening where we get young people excited about growing their own food. Ron Finley gets it going!

This gets me excited, sustainable not free or a hand out but working to make our lives healthier.

Transplanting Tomato Seedlings

Once your little green babies have their 1st set of real leaves you can begin the transplant process.

One of the great things about tomatoes are these lovely little fuzzies on the main stem. These will turn into roots if planted below the soil line.

You can see how deep I have planted them, they went from pretty tall to nice and compact. Those Long stems become a great base for strong roots and a healthy plant.

I use a mix of half Master Nursery Gardener’s Gold Potting soil and half Master Nursery Bumper Crop when I transplant these little ones. Tomatoes LOVE Bumper Crop but these guys are a little small for the straight stuff. Bumper Crop is a little to rich for the seedlings but when they go into the ground they will be ready to take it straight. :)

Happy Planting!

Winter Daphne

Daphne Odora is VERY Fragrant and blooms in Spring, in fact it is blooming right now and the cold-frame is scented with it's wonderful fragrance!

This is a Evergreen broadleaf moderate growing shrub with a Height of 3-4 ft with a Spread of 4-5 ft.

It must have afternoon shade here in our valley and well drained soil is another must.

They are Hardy to about 5 degrees and according to Oregon State, Sunset and Rutgers they are Deer Resistant.

We have deer here at the Nursery that seem to leave them alone but as always there is no such thing as Deer PROOF! :)

This was an amazing specimen easily 3.5 feet tall and almost 5 feet wide, but unfortunately it was destroyed in the Fire.

Guess we need to get another one planted!!

Spring Seed Starting

Easy Tomato Seed Starting
(or really any seed I am just crazy for tomatoes)

I feel a strong NEED to start seeds for my Garden. I guess it is something deep inside that yearns for getting my fingers in the dirt even before the weather allows. I just start a few as I know the Nursery will have plenty to choose from and I always have to try a couple of new varieties. Still there is something so rewarding about seeing those little green starts on my window sill. I am not hi-tech in my seed starting, just a clam shell I saved from some grapes, seed starting mix, seeds and some misting of water. Before you know it they look like this:

 

and will eventually produce this!

 

Yes this is my FAVORITE Green Tomato, big and beefy Aunt Ruby German Green.  

 

 

I am longing for a fresh tomato salad now :)  

From my Garden Last Summer, left to right

New Zealand Pink Pear, Pineapple & Black Krim!

What are your Favorite Tomato Varieties?