Newsletter September 2011

Petals from the Past Newsletter

September 2011 - January 2012

Camellias are one of the best reasons for gardening in the South. Limited by their cold hardiness to Zone 7 and south, they are the answer to so many gardener requests. They bloom in the shade. They are evergreen. You can even have flowers from October to March if you select carefully from the varieties available. Smaller leaved species such as sasanqua and vernallis are inclined to be more sun tolerant that the larger leaved japonicas. The flowers are all beautiful and come in so many shades of pink, red, white it's hard to choose even a few favorites. Best of all new varieties are being introduced such as the "Magic Series" which are shorter, tolerate more sun and generally fit into the landscape more easily. It's good to garden in the South.

Daffodil bulbs and other assorted bulbs often do better for us in the South if they are planted in October. This allows them to collect the maximum number of chilling hours we receive. When choosing bulbs to naturalize in your garden choose bulbs which indicate they bloom in early spring. Later flowering bulbs are often hidden by all the other plants and grasses which bloom mid and late spring.

Winter flowering bulbs are some of the most enjoyable plants around. Some are winter hardy and just seem to magically appear in the cold weather. Other are not winter hardy and need a bright windowsill to show off. Bulbs such as paperwhites, lachnelia, and velthiemia just naturally bloom when the days are shorter. Some hardy bulbs can be "forced" to bloom inside in the winter such as hyacinths, amaryllis and scilla. Try a few for a spot of color this winter.

It will soon be pansy and viola season. Hurray! These very tough little plants like to be planted while the soil is still warm so they have time to develop a nice root system before it gets to cool. To keep them flowering it is necessary to feed them even in the winter. Use a slow release fertilizer or better yet, compost (composted manure or mushroom compost) to keep them flowering through the winter. Mix in parsley, lettuces, kale, flowering cabbages, chard and mustards to provide even more winter color with foilage. Bonus: you can eat them!

Become a fan on Facebook to receive updates from Blake weekly about what's going on at the nursery.

As plants start settling in for the winter remember, keeping a garden clean is one of the best ways to control insects and disease. Pick up fallen fruit and leaves and compost them away from the trees they came from. Collect fallen twigs and dispose of them to control twig borers. Don't leave vegetables such as old squash in the garden especially if squash bugs were a problem this summer. Old squash fruit can provide a nice winter home with an attached pantry for squash boreres and squash bugs. Old leaves around roses make a nice humid winter home for many fungi, some of which make for unattractive spring spots and distorted flowers. So get out there and tidy up, Mom will be proud.

Before moving in all your plants for winter treat them with a clean up spray to get rid of insects. You can use malathion, immidocloprid, spinosad or neem oil. Just be certain the plants are completely dry before moving them in.

Jason's newest project (with plenty of idea help from Lacey) is a green roof over her newly expanded container area. We'll be planting it in September. It is going to be awesome. Come and check it out.

Larkspur , poppies, cornflower, baby blue eyes, four spot, coreposis, bishop flower, black-eyed susans and many other spring flowering annuals do best if planted in the fall. Don't forget to sprinkle some seed in your garden

Specials

September - 10% off seed
October - 20% off statuary and birdbaths
November - 20% off Landscape trees (fruit frees are NOT included)
December - Roses buy two, get the third one free (lesser or equal value)

The newsletter is on the web at www.petalsfromthepast.com. If you would like to receive the newsletter as email, please go the site and subscribe. Choose Subscribe to email newsletter and then open an account by filling in your name, address, email address and password, for any other fields just fill in zeros. Then add info@petalsfromthepast.com to your address book or it will be removed as span. While you are at the website please visit our online catalog and Jane's Garden Gossip. You can also visit us on Facebook. Blake keeps us upadted and lets you know what interesting things are happening at the nursery.

Time for winter vegetables. Brussel Sprouts do best planted early since they take about 100 days to be harvestable. Lettuce is good until the very hard frosts get it. Mustard greens, kales, Swiss chard, spincah, arugula broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and rapini generally make it through our winters and are harvestable all season. You can replant them all in February and March. Plant English peas, and sugar snap peas in January. Potatoes and asparagus in February. We all need to eat our veggies. Grow your own and you'll know what you're eating. Plus they'll taste better.

This year we're trying out new cover crops in the garden. We've used winter rye. This summer we tried a new notrogen fixing cover crop called Sunn Hemp. (aces.edu for info). This winter we will try mamoth red clover. Besides reducing winter weeds, cover crops also help i8mprove the soil so other crops do better, and some add nitrogen to the soil reducing the need for addes fertilizer.

Join us for Christmas Open House on December 3 and 4.

Dr. Powell and Blake have been busy trying out the new video recorder. Check out their new how-to segments on the website: petalsfromthepast.com. Let them know if you like them so they'll be inspired to keep on recording.

Sunday, October 2, 2011, 2:00pm, Walking tour of the Persimmons and Late Kiwi - Dr. Arlie Powell
Persimmons and Kiwi are easy to grow and require little care. Learn all about them and get to sample the ones that are growing in our display gardens. Dr. Powell will discuss care and maintenance as well as variety selection.

Sunday, October 9, 2011, 2:00, Container Gardening with Lacey Neely
3:30pm Afternoon Tea $15.00
Lacey is our nursery manager and a graduate of Auburn University with a degree in horticuluture. Let her show you how to plant and keep your containers looking beautiful through the winter.
3:30pm Afternoon Tea - Join us on the deck for afternoon tea. Please call the retail shop to make reservations for the tea. $15.00. No reservation needed for the container program.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 10:30am, Herbal Cooking Demo, Linda Franzo
Herban Chick! Easy and elegant egg dishes perfect for crazy weekday nights or a holiday brunch. Linda teaches kitchen and herb garden cooking classes at her restaurant, The Passionate Platter, in Slidell, Louisiana. Cooking demo and tasting $25.00. Please call the retail shop at 205-646-0069 to make your reservations. This class is limited to 30 so make your reservations early.

Sunday, October 23, 2011, 2:00pm, Walking Tour of the Citrus - Dr. Arlie Powell
Take a peek at our new Orangery where the citrus trees are planted in the ground! Dr. Powell will be discussing variety selection and care and maintenance. You will also be able to taste a variety of citrus from lemons to satsuma oranges.

Sunday, November 6, 2011 2:00pm, Basic Orchid Care - Shelley Powell
Shelley will teach you the basics of orchid care, fertilizing, repotting and watering.

Saturday, December 3, 9-5pm and Sunday, December 4th, 1-5pm Christmas Open House
Christmas Open House is our opportunity to thank you for shopping with us through out the year. There will be food, fellowship and lots of items on sale.

Saturday, January 14, 2012, Small Fruits in the Home Garden - Dr Arlie Powell
10:30 - 12:00-- Dr. Powell will discuss variety selection, care and maintenance of small fruit plants such as blackberries, blueberries and muscadines.
12:00 - Lunch - We offer a box lunch for $12.00 or you may bring your own. Advanced reservations are required. Please call the retail shop before 3:00pm on Friday January 13, to make your reservations.
12:30pm - Walking tour of Petals small fruit gardens - overview of pruning and training techniques

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