June to me really means one thing:  roses!  I love roses, and this past month I have been watching carefully as their flower buds have gotten fatter and more numerous.  As June gets closer I go out daily (yes, every day) to see if any have popped open, and yes, there are a few early bloomers which I admire and sniff.  What I’m really anticipating though, is the explosion of big, bright, and luxuriantly fragrant roses that happens in June.  I do the same thing here at the Nursery, where I’m lucky enough to have hundreds of varieties to ooh and ahh over as they come into bloom.

In the ornamental garden:

• Weed.  Yes, I’ve said it again.
• Stake perennials with tall flowering stalks (like delphinium, phlox, peonies and foxglove), especially if you live in a windy area.
• Pinch back tall late flowering perennials like sedums and asters.  This helps to create a bushy sturdy plant that can withstand wind and rain without staking.
• Now’s the time to prune your rhododendrons and azaleas if you think they need it.  If you prune them heavily, just remember that you may not get any flowers next season.  Now is a good time to fertilize them too.
• Continue to water any newly-planted plants.  Even though it’s been pretty rainy lately, you need to stay on top of the watering at least through this summer and probably through the next one as well.  This is especially true of new trees and shrubs, regardless of how drought tolerant they’re touted to be.
• It’s official.  This is a tent caterpillar year.  In fact, it seems to be a ‘caterpillars of all sorts’ kind of year.  The best thing to do is to prune out the nests while the caterpillars are still young.  Once they emerge as adults, then it’s a little too late.  Your next best defense is Bt, which is an organic pesticide that specifically tagets capterpillars of all types, or another product called spinosad, which targets more than just caterpillars.  Previously,  I was feeding the nests to my chickens, which they devoured.  However, now I’ve noticed that since the tent caterpillars are mature with their armor of black and orange fuzz, the chickens are no longer interested (which makes me think that not even wild birds will eat them).  Now I find them crawling around in every odd location and have resorted to hand picking and killing them swiftly with the toe of my boot.  Distasteful, but effective.  Good luck!
• On a happier note, pick a bouquet of the summer’s first roses to bring inside and enjoy.

In the edible garden:

• Snap the flower stalks off of your rhubarb.
• Check your strawberry patch regularly for the first ripening berries (as though you need reminding!) and pick them before the birds do.  They’re also closely monitoring your berry patch.
• Keep up on the slug bait, especially around new seedlings and strawberries.
• Thin the fruit on your fruit trees if you haven’t done so already.
• If you don’t have a greenhouse, then by now it should be safe to plant out basil starts.
• Protect ripening berry crops (like blueberries and raspberries) with netting to keep the birds out.  This works well to prevent deer browsing as well.
• Sow beans, sunflowers, nasturtiums, and other warm weather crops directly outside.
• Set out starts of tomatoes and squash (or sow directly) if you haven’t done so already.
• If you see your garlic starting to flower, snap off the flower stalks down low.  This makes sure that all the plants energy goes toward making a larger garlic bulb.  The flowers (called scapes) are edible, stalk and all.  Garlic scapes make a tasty, spicy pesto, or simply saute them in olive oil and enjoy.  I’ve even seen recipes for pickled garlic scapes!  Yummy!

Above all, enjoy the first of your strawberries and roses!

To download a printable copy of this article, click here

About the author:

Rachel has been gardening since childhood, thanks to her mom, and has been part of the team at Christianson’s since 2002.  She’s a Certified Professional Horticulturist with a passion for roses and vegetable gardening.  Rachel and her family enjoy gardening together and now share their urban garden with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, two cats, and a dog.    

This article was first published in the June 2013 issue of Garden Notes,  our monthly online newsletter. You can sign up for Garden Notes on the Newsletter page  of our website or sign up in person the next time you’re in the Garden Store at the Nursery.

Photo by John Holtman

May in the garden is a wonderful thing!  I long for this time when the new leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs are the perfect shade of spring, and even the shadows that they cast seem fuller and greener.  There is a fresh lushness all around that I forget about over the long lean days of winter.  Everything about this month feels like a celebration!  There’s new life, flowers, sunshine, renewed energy, and a sense of well being.  It’s no wonder that Mother’s Day falls in May – what better time of year to honor our mothers and revel in the glory that is spring!

In the ornamental garden:

• Cut away last years fern fronds from your evergreen ferns.  That way the graceful new fiddleheads are exposed when they are at their best.
• Dead head hellebores.  Some varieties may still look pretty, but some of the earlier bloomers are beginning to look old and tattered.  In my experience, aphids really like to congregate on the petals of old hellebore flowers, which is another good reason to get rid of them.  Plus, deadheading shows off the glossy new foliage as well.
• Dead head your tulips that have finished blooming.  Just like with daffodils, you don’t want the plant to waste energy creating a seed.  Instead, you want all that good energy to go towards feeding the bulb.  Just let the foliage wither and brown right where it is, and later you’ll easily be able to remove it.
• Keep on pulling weeds!  If you haven’t yet had a chance to spread a mulch for weed control and water conservation, you can still do so.  However it becomes a little more difficult as most perennials have emerged by now and trees and shrubs have their leaves.  It’s easier when the ground is a clean slate, but later is better than never.
• Put out slugbait.  Those slimy critters are out in force this time of year and once those hostas get nibbled you’ll have to live with those holey leaves for the rest of the summer.
• On the subject of critters in the garden, it looks as though this is going to be a nasty year for tent caterpillars.  You’ll notice first their dense white webbing in trees and shrubs, and on closer inspection you’ll see that nest teeming with wiggly brown worm-like creatures. It’s really quite amazing, but as you’re examining them just know that their sole purpose in life is to destroy your garden-seemingly overnight (at least, that’s how I look at it).  Quick action is called for.  If it’s possible, prune out the nests and dispose of them in the garbage, burn them, or if you have chickens, give them to the birds.  If pruning them out isn’t an option, there is a product called Bt that can be sprayed.  It’s an organic pesticide that is particularly effective against caterpillars of all sorts.
• Another critter to watch for: Aphids.  All this tender succulent, new growth all around is too much for aphids to resist.  Fortunately, they’re pretty easy to deal with.  Usually a strong stream of water will do the job, but there’s also a product called Safer Soap, or insecticidal soap, that can be sprayed.  There’s also just hand squishing them, which is the fastest if not the grossest method.
• Deadhead early flowering rhodies.  Some folks believe this helps the overall health of the plant, and others feel it makes no difference.  It certainly makes it look prettier and I always do it if for no other reason than that.  Of course, if your rhodie is one of those big, old, majestic beauties, then deadheading is unrealistic as it would take forever!
• It’s finally okay to set out hanging baskets and mixed containers of annuals.  Usually by Mother’s Day is the rule of thumb in our region – the time when night temperatures are warm enough to not cause damage to tender plants (although, with basil, I would still be cautious).

In the edible garden:

• You’ve probably noticed that any brassicas (i.e. cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts) that have overwintered in your garden are beginning to bolt or flower.  If you have the space to allow them to bloom, then let them go.  The bright yellow flowers are attractive to many pollinating insects that have emerged from a long winter and are looking for something to eat.  Hummingbirds are also attracted to them.  They’re pretty, and you can eat them – they’re a spicy and colorful addition to salad.
• It’s still a good time to sow outdoors, especially veggies like peas, lettuce, kale, beets, chard, radishes, and arugula.  It’s also safe to sow beans and corn outside.
• Sow calendula, nasturtium, and sunflowers outside.
• By the end of May, thin your fruit trees.  It’s better to thin them when the fruit is still tiny.  Choose the largest one per cluster and remove all else.  This ensures good uniform size, helps to encourage air circulation around the fruit and thus helps to prevent scab and other issues. It also lessens the weight load for the branches to support.
• Set out starts of tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and basil with caution.  Keep an eye on the weather, in particular the night time temperatures.  Most summer veggies prefer temps at least in the 50′s during the night in order to thrive.  It doesn’t take much to cause basil to wither and flowers to abort on tomatoes.  If you’re so fortunate as to have a greenhouse, then you’re already on your merry way to homegrown tomatoes, but the rest of us could benefit from the use of cloches at night to protect our babies.  (A cloche could be as simple as a gallon milk jug with the bottom cut out or as fancy as a tall graceful glass bell cloche).

There is a tradition I have and I’m not sure how it began.  Perhaps it’s from something in my childhood, picking flowers from my mother’s gardens and giving them to anyone that cared (or sometimes, for those who didn’t seem to care).  Anyway, every year on May Day (May 1), I get up way too early and pick six bouquets from my garden, tie them up with ribbon, and deliver them in the wee hours to six random front stoops.  I’d love to know what people’s reactions are, as I believe they are probably mystified.  But I hope my bouquets at least bring a smile to their faces and set them up to have a good day.

To download a printable copy of this article, click here

About the author:

Rachel has been gardening since childhood, thanks to her mom, and has been part of the team at Christianson’s since 2002.  She’s a Certified Professional Horticulturist with a passion for roses and vegetable gardening.  Rachel and her family enjoy gardening together and now share their urban garden with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, two cats, and a dog.    

 This article was first published in the May 2013 issue of Garden Notes,
our monthly online newsletter.  You can sign up for Garden Notes
on the Newsletter page of our website or sign up in person
the next time you’re in the Garden Store at the Nursery.

First Place:          R. Yunnanense from Lori Bayes  (middle in photo below)
Second Place:     President Roosevelt from Lynn Torset (left in photo below)
Third Place:        Rebel from Jerry Rock (right in photo below)

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated in this wonderful show!

If you are interested in learning more about the Komo Kulshan Chapter of the ARS, please visit their website.

Saturday, June 1
11 a.m. – noon
reservations required     (class fee: $5)

Fancy leaves, Martha Washingtons (Regals), ivy type, scented-leaf type…join us in an exploration of Pelargonium (the genus name for what we commonly call geraniums). These beauties, native to South Africa, reward us with steady blooms and great fragrance. Kevin Jones of Jordan Nursery Greenhouses in Stanwood will discuss the selection and care of specialty geraniums, inspiring us with great choices for hanging baskets, potpourri gardens and window boxes.

For reservations, please visit the Nursery or call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200

Your Herb Garden: An Inviting Home for Beneficial Insects
Saturday, June 8
11 a.m. – noon
reservations required     (class fee: $5)

Herbs are among the best plants for attracting beneficial insects to aid in the health of your entire garden. Alison Kutz has been an owner/operator of Cascade Cuts nursery in Bellingham for more than 30 years and is dedicated to growing in the least toxic way possible. She consults and supports biological approaches for the green industry through Sound Horticulture, and will share ideas with you for making your herb garden an “insectary” – a habitat for the good bugs that are a dynamic part of a healthy ecology.

For reservations, please visit the Nursery or call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200

June Bloom Walk with John Christianson
Saturday, June 15
1 p.m.
reservations requested     (complimentary)

With summer just around the corner, join John Christianson on a stroll among the flowering trees, late-season rhododendrons and early roses at the 11-acre English Garden of La Conner Flats, adjacent to our Nursery. The walk begins in our Schoolhouse garden; from there you’ll meander next door to discover the highlights of the season.

For reservations, please visit the Nursery or call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200

Dan Hinkley: A Plant Explorer’s Passion
Saturday, June 22
1 p.m.
reservations required     (class fee: $5)

We are thrilled once again to welcome renowned plantsman Dan Hinkley to our Nursery, in partnership with Monrovia. We’ll be setting up a big tent on the lawn behind our Schoolhouse and have plenty of seating, but please call soon for your reservations!

Dan will be talking about “New and Exciting Plants for the Pacific Northwest” and we’ll have a great selection of The Dan Hinkley Collection of plants from Monrovia available for sale.  Dan has traveled the globe to find new plants. In 1987, he founded Heronswood Nursery with Robert Jones on the Kitsap Peninsula, and it quickly became the “must-go” destination for gardeners looking for the unique and wonderful. Heronswood, a nursery no longer, now has a fascinating future ahead for it with its new owners, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Since 2009, Dan has been consulting with Monrovia on trialing and evaluating new introductions from his many expeditions.

Hinkley has been bestowed with many honors and lifetime achievement awards from the most prestigious horticulture organizations, including the prestigious Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society and Liberty Hyde Bailey Award from the American Horticultural Society for a lifetime of achievement in education, writing and plant exploration. He was named Garden Communicator of the Year by the American Nursery and Landscape Association.

For reservations, please visit the Nursery or call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200

Karen Chapman: Container Creations
Sunday, June 23
1 p.m.
reservations required     (class fee: $5)

Are you looking for ways to bring pizazz to your pots with plant combinations that keep delighting throughout the seasons? Make the most of your container gardens with the exciting ideas of Karen Chapman, co-author with Christina Salwitz of the new book, Fine Foliage. Karen will do a fun mix-and-match with a wide variety of plants while demonstrating two container gardens during the class – one for shade, one for sun. You’ll leave with great ideas, ready to plant!

Born in England, Karen Chapman grew up with an appreciation for the beauty of nature and the wonders of gardening. She has her own design company, Le Jardinet, and teaches container design at Edmonds Community College Horticulture program. You can start drooling over some of her design ideas at fine-foliage.com.

For reservations, please visit the Nursery or call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200

Maeve, Jonelle and Rachel, Spring 2013

Spring has sprung and boy is it glorious!  I always have this internal sense of euphoria, as though this is the first spring I’ve ever experienced, and then it all bubbles out and I find myself saying things like “Oh my gosh! Look at how green the grass is!” or “Look at the sky! It’s so blue!”  It’s as though I’m seeing it all for the first time, and yet this happens every year when the season turns.  It’s so hard not to get excited about the simplest things and I’m not embarrassed to admit that.  These things are what make me smile and want to turn to my neighbor and say, “Do you see that?  Isn’t it marvelous?”  Such is the beauty of spring and the charm of Mother Nature.  Oh sure, it’ll turn all grey and rainy at the drop of a hat.  But even the rain has a gentleness to it this time of year, and I love that too!

In the ornamental garden:

• Pull weeds.  I know.  It feels like I’m always saying that, but hey.  Weeds are a constant part of gardening and to expect a weed free garden is (I believe) unrealistic.  However, we must do our best to be sure that they don’t completely overrun us, or our gardens.  I think my favorite tool for weeding is a Hori-Hori knife. If you are not a proud owner of one, I highly recommend you buy one.
• If you haven’t pruned your roses and fruit trees, time is of the essence.  If you wait too long with your roses, they will bloom later than usual and you’ll be wondering why everyone else has roses and you don’t.
• Fertilize roses if you haven’t already.
• Early spring is a good time to spread mulch.  Whatever material you choose to use, it will help you immensely when it comes to weed control and will help to retain moisture in the soil, reducing your need to water during the driest months.
• Once the flowers have faded from your daffodils, you can remove the flower but leave the foliage until it dies back.  You’ll be really tempted to cut them back to the ground because, honestly, they don’t look so pretty.  But by leaving the foliage, the bulb is fed (via photosynthesis) and a new flower is formed in the bulb for the next year.  Some people like to fertilize their bulbs at this time with bone meal, and that is entirely up to you.  I’ve had excellent success without it.
• Plant dahlia tubers and lily bulbs.  Usually by now the soil has warmed and dried out enough so they don’t just sit there and rot.  If your soil is still super soggy, wait a bit longer or consider planting in pots.
• By the end of the month, it should be safe to directly sow sunflowers.
• Put out slugbait!  All this tender juicy new growth is very tempting to slugs and snails.
• Stop by the Nursery and stroll the aisles.  We’ve got so many new and fresh plants right now that you’d probably be wise to pack a lunch and plan on spending some serious time.
• Earth Day is April 22 and Arbor Day is April 26.  Plant something special in their honor!

In the edible garden:

• Remove old unproductive raspberry canes.  By now they’ve pushed growth and it’s easy to tell which ones are dead and which are still productive.
• Prune out the oldest wood on blueberries, currants, and gooseberries.  This makes way for fresh, new productive wood.
• It should be safe to sow all kinds of veggie seeds directly out in the garden: carrots, cilantro, radishes, broccoli, beets, spinach, kale, swill chard, peas…shall I go on?
• Sow tomatoes and peppers and other warm season veggies indoors. These can be planted out later, usually after Mother’s Day in May.
• It’s also a great time to sow edible flowers like nasturtiums, calendula, and borage. Borage, by the way, is very attractive to many beneficial insects, including many types of bees, which are a very good thing to have in the garden.
• Have I mentioned slugbait?  There’s nothing more infuriating than stepping out one morning to find that your pea seedlings have been devoured overnight by slugs and/or snails.  There’s usually nothing left but a shimmery trail of slime and an empty seed row.
• Peek around the asparagus bed.  Are they up yet?
• Fertilize garlic.  Side-dress with an organic, slow release fertilizer.
• Enjoy the anticipation that comes with waiting for seeds to germinate and the excitement when they finally have.

Take a few moments (at least!) to enjoy the return of the song birds, the smell of freshly cut grass, the longer days, the warmer temperatures, the frog song in the evenings, the push of new growth in your garden and beyond.  You know.  Spring!

To download a printable copy of this article, click here

About the author:

Rachel has been gardening since childhood, thanks to her mom, and has been part of the team at Christianson’s since 2002.  She’s a Certified Professional Horticulturist with a passion for roses and vegetable gardening.  Rachel and her family enjoy gardening together and now share their urban garden with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, two cats, and a dog.    

 This article was first published in the April 2013 issue of Garden Notes,
our monthly online newsletter.  You can sign up for Garden Notes
on the Newsletter page of our website or sign up in person
the next time you’re in the Garden Store at the Nursery.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

1st place: “Frosty Hip” by Daria Schubert of Redmond

2nd place: “Another Day in Paradise” by John Holtman of La Conner

3rd place: “Cool Pond” by Susan Denham of Burlington

Honorable mention: “Shade House” by John Holtman of La Conner

Yup.  It’s still cold and it’s still gray.  As I write this, a stiff wind is blowing icy cold and the clouds are marching in as though to permanently occupy the sky.  But, as I observe my garden from the cozy comfort of my living room chair, I see signs of spring all around.  Crocus and Iris reticulata have been blooming for a week now, and the daffodils are up, perky and budded.  The birds have begun to return and their song is already cheering the bleary mornings.  Yup.  The days are mostly still painfully gray, but I know,  just as all gardeners know, that the days are lengthening, buds are swelling, and spring is on its merry way.

In the ornamental garden:

• If you haven’t already ventured out to remove the old stalks of perennials, then on the next goodish day make time to do so.  This very simple task really helps to banish the bare wintery look and give a sense of tidiness and a good fresh start to the season.  Think of it as spring cleaning for the garden.
• On the subject of spring cleaning, pull any weeds that have had the audacity to grow and thrive over the winter.  Some weeds (especially the ones I call pop-weeds because of the seeds’ ability to pop explosively throughout the garden-and into your eyes if your hovering nearby) have no problem growing through the winter.  Also, dandelions are already showing up with tight little flower buds nestled in the crown.  Oh boy.  Weeding season.  Yea.
• Fertilize Rhododendrons,  especially if they’re fairly new to your garden.  Use a specific rhododendron/azalea fertilizer which helps to provide the right PH level. If you know your soil is acidic or slightly so already, then an all purpose slow release fertilizer is just fine.  If you don’t know the PH level of your soil where your rhodies are planted, then test your soil.  The Nursery carries an easy to use test kit, or you could send a soil sample to a lab to have a complete analysis.  Generally, with rhododendrons you want to fertilize in early spring when the flower buds begin to swell, and again at leaf emergence-usually late May early June depending on the variety.  Not sure how to identify a flower bud vs. a leaf bud?  A flower bud is big and fat and full of flowery potential.  A leaf bud is slim and narrow, full of…leafy potential.  Or, you could ask one of us at the Nursery to show you the difference.
• March is the last call for bare root trees, shrubs, and berries.  At the beginning of April we pot them all up and the prices go up, so seize the day and buy bare root in March!
• Wrap up your fruit tree and rose pruning.
• Shear your hedge.  If you’ve got a row of yew or boxwood or emerald greens planted as a hedge, now is a great time to prune or shear them to keep their dense uniformity.
• Our spring bulbs are in at the Nursery.  That means dahlias, lilies, gladiolas, begonias, and more!  We also have organic seed potatoes, garlic, and shallots.
• There are a few tough annuals that can be directly sown into the garden, such as calendula, sweet alyssum, breadseed poppies, larkspur, love-in-a-mist, and sweet peas.  Don’t forget the sweet peas!

In the veggie garden:

• Remove straw mulch from asparagus and garlic.  Look for the beginnings of asparagus spears and the tips of garlic.  At this point, the straw will only harbor slugs and snails, which nobody needs.
• Prune and thin out unproductive raspberry canes.
• Sow peas and other cool crop veggies if you haven’t already done so.  Plants like radish, arugula, parsley, cilantro, spinach, kale, and swiss chard can all be sown directly into the garden in March.
• Plant potatoes.  St. Patrick’s day is a good general rule of thumb for us in the Pacific Northwest.
• Sow seed indoors for tomatoes and peppers.  With supplemental heat and light, they’ll be ready to plant out in May assuming the weather is good.

There’s an awful lot to be excited about this time of year and the anticipation is perhaps the most delicious part of it all.  I find myself taking slow walks around the garden, looking for points of new growth on herbaceous perennials and swelling flower buds on shrubs and trees, looking most of all for the signs that tell me that a new emergence is happening and that a new season is upon us.

To download a printable copy of this article, click here

About the author:

Rachel has been gardening since childhood, thanks to her mom, and has been part of the team at Christianson’s since 2002.  She’s a Certified Professional Horticulturist with a passion for roses and vegetable gardening.  Rachel and her family enjoy gardening together and now share their urban garden with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, two cats, and a dog.    

 This article was first published in the March 2013 issue of Garden Notes,
our monthly online newsletter.  You can sign up for Garden Notes
on the Newsletter page of our website or sign up in person
the next time you’re in the Garden Store at the Nursery.

• Entries should be 5” x 7” photos of a winter garden scene or a single plant and mounted on black mat board with a 2” to 3” border.
• The contest entry form should be affixed to the back of each mounted photograph.  Please print clearly.
• Entries must be received at Christianson’s Nursery no later than Monday, February 25, 2013, at 4:30 pm.

Entry form

All entries will be exhibited in Christianson’s Schoolhouse during the weekend of our Winter Festival, March 2 – 3, 2013.  All entries will be professionally judged and the winning entries will be announced on March 2, with prizes awarded to the first, second, and third place winners.

Here are just a few of the winning images from past years:

‘Reflection of Winter’ by Carol Worrell

‘Ice Stairs’ by John F. Parks

‘Frosty Leaves’ by Anne Elkins

‘Hydrangea Skeletons’ by John Holtman

‘Snowgeese & Blueberries’ by David Smith

February can delight and dismay at the drop of a hat.  Its fickle weather toys with our emotions – at one moment sunny and warmish, and then comes the dark, ice and rain bearing clouds to make us scurry for cover and a cup of hopefully uplifting tea (or maybe something stronger).  I love and hate February because of this, and yet it never entirely diminishes my optimism and excitement for a new season.

In the ornamental garden:

• February means rose pruning time, and the rule of thumb in our region is to get started around President’s Day.  However, it’s okay if you prune a bit earlier than that, assuming the weather is cooperating.  Make sure not to prune in freezing weather.  If you didn’t mulch your roses in the fall, then do it after you prune this February.
• It’s also a good time to prune fruit trees and other dormant shrubs.  Take care when pruning flowering shrubs, and note which are spring bloomers and which are summer bloomers, and whether they bloom on old wood or new wood, or both.  Confused?  We’ve got a great line up of pruning classes this month and into March if you’d like a bit of help.  Sign up early, though, because these classes are popular and fill up quickly.
• February is still a good time to apply a dormant spray (lime-sulfur, copper) on most fruit trees and roses.  Wait for a calm, dry day that isn’t below freezing.  If it happens to rain within 24 hours of spraying you may want to reapply.  Remember to read and follow the directions on the container and, if you’re in doubt, then do a bit of research for information that specifically caters to your types of trees and types of problems. We are here to help if you have questions!
• Plant bare root trees and shrubs, including lilacs, hydrangeas, flowering plums and cherries, and shade trees.
• Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate than to sow a patch of sweet peas?  These seeds are quite tough and can tolerate wet weather and freezing temperatures, and yet still eagerly emerge despite it all.  Watch for nibbling critters when the seedlings come up, and maybe put out a bit of slug bait just in case.
• If you’ve got ornamental grasses in your garden, you may have noticed that they’re beginning to fall apart and look messy.  Miscanthus is especially guilty of this.  Normally I like to wait until I see the beginnings of green new growth to cut back my grasses (which is usually around the start of March). However, if their messiness is driving you nuts, then go ahead and cut them down as low as you can go, ideally leaving 4 inches or so of stubble.  If you still love the way they look and appreciate their presence, then leave them be for now.  If you have chickens, the tops of grasses make excellent bedding in their coop (but maybe chop it up a bit if the grass was especially tall).
• Cut back evergreen varieties of Epimedium to best show off the flowers which will soon be uncurling from the ground.
• Cut back the tops of herbaceous perennials (if last year’s foliage hasn’t already disintegrated on it’s own) to make room for the newly emerging foliage of a fresh new season.
• If you’ve overwintered fuchsias, begonias, or geraniums indoors or in a greenhouse, don’t forget to peek in on them and make sure they haven’t completely dried out.  If they’ve been allowed to go dormant, then there may be a trace of new foliage by now.  Move your plant to a brighter location and fertilize with a liquid fertilizer at half strength.
• Cut a few branches for forcing indoors.  Some easy favorites are flowering plum, forsythia, flowering currant, and pussy willow.

In the vegetable garden:

• Before you go too crazy with planting, take note of the condition of your soil.  We’ve had a lot of rain these past few months and the soil may be too wet to work with.  I like to do what I call the ‘ball test’ which goes like this:  dig down a few inches and scoop out a handful of soil.  Roll it into a ball and then toss it gently up into the air and catch it in your palm.  If the soil holds it’s shape, then it’s too wet to work.  If the soil ball falls apart in your hands, then you’re good to go.  If the soil is too wet, wait for a few days of dry weather and try the test again.  Sometimes just a few days is all you need.
• Plant bare root rhubarb, asparagus, artichokes, horseradish, strawberries, cane berries, blueberries, and grapes.
• Plant bare root fruit trees. We’ve got our best selection in at the nursery right now.
• In late February, you can directly sow outdoors things like snow peas, snap peas, and fava beans.  These tough plants can tolerate cold, wet soil better than some, but if we have a stretch of freezing weather, they may just bide their time until conditions seem favorable.  If the weather is especially soggy over a long period, there is a chance they will rot, so keep an eye on the weather and your soil.  Replant if necessary.  Make sure to protect your freshly sown seeds from birds (they love pea seeds for some reason) by covering the row with a strip of chicken wire or other deterrent.  Also protect emerging seedlings from slugs.
• Other hardy veggies that can be directly sown into the garden include arugula, radishes, shallots, and onions (for green onions).
• If you didn’t plant garlic in the fall, then February is a good time to get it in the ground for a fall harvest.
• If you have a greenhouse or a well-lit room inside your house (either natural or artificial light), many things can be sown indoors for transplanting out into the garden come April or May, depending on the conditions and the type of plants sown.

As you’re dodging the icy rain drops this month and yearning for better times to come, remember there really is beauty in all of this and sometimes all it takes is one bright green seedling emerging victorious from the cold, damp earth to remind us that we too can weather the storm.

About the author:
Rachel has been gardening since childhood, thanks to her mom, and has been part of the team at Christianson’s since 2002.  She’s a Certified Professional Horticulturist with a passion for roses and vegetable gardening.  Rachel and her family enjoy gardening together and now share their urban garden with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, two cats, and a dog.

This article was first published in the February 2013 issue of Garden Notes, our monthly e-newsletter.

February 2013 issue of Garden Notes
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Garden in February PDF

Here it is, a new year again!  January is a great time to begin your planning for the coming growing season. Plant and seed catalogs are beginning to appear in mailboxes, tantalizing you with the latest and greatest in new varieties of just about everything.  I always get sucked into the vegetable section of seed catalogs, with promises of bigger yields and more delicious flavor with less effort.  Amazing!  Every year I try something new in the veggie garden and sometimes it’s successful and sometimes not so much.  (Tomatoes usually fall into the not so much category-I like to blame it on the weather rather than take full responsibility).  My space is limited, so when something doesn’t work out it’s pretty disappointing. But at least I’ve learned something!  Just thinking about the new season ahead with its promise of lush green growing things, and sunshine and gentle spring rain and songbirds singing their hearts out and…and…I just can’t wait!

In the ornamental garden:

• The boughs from your Christmas tree make a great mulch.  Prune them off and either spread them out whole or chop them up into smaller pieces and spread them around.  We always save the remaining trunk over the year and then on Christmas Eve, saw it up and use it as our Yule Log.
• Remove the older leaves from your hellebores to better show off the emerging flowers.  In the spring, do the opposite and remove the spent flowers to allow the new leaves to grow unimpeded.
• Take advantage of any calm and dry days to spray a dormant spray, like Lime Sulphur, on your fruit trees and roses.  Dormant sprays help with the control of some insect pests and some fungal issues like scab on apples and black spot on roses.  Be sure to fully read and follow the directions on the packaging and always wear protective clothing.  And be prepared for the possibility of smelling like a rotten egg afterwards.  Again, calm days are key!
• It’s the beginning of the pruning season, and if you’re unsure how to take care of your fruit trees, roses, or other shrubs, take advantage of the several amazing pruning classes that we have lined up this year.  If you have a garden that has suddenly (or not so suddenly) gotten out of control, check out Cass Turnbull’s class.  She’s a real pruning know it all-in a very good way.  Remember to always call ahead to reserve your spot in any class as they fill up quickly.
• January marks the beginning of the bare root fruit tree, ornamental, and shrub season.  We’ve got an excellent selection right now.  Bare root trees are usually less expensive than potted or balled and burlapped, and they’re lighter and easier to handle.  This is when we have our absolute best selecion of fruit trees, and some varieties are limited so hurry in if you’re looking for something specific.
• It’s also rose season.  We’ll have our best selection of roses in stock this month, including tons of exciting varieties for 2013.  Check out our 2013 Rose List to see what’s new.

In the vegetable garden:

• Make plans!
• Consider creating a garden journal that includes a to scale drawing of your veggie beds. Make copies of your drawing and pencil in what you might like to plant where, and consider crop rotations too.  Rotating crops even in small spaces helps to prevent disease and insect problems.

Happy New Year and happy planning!  We’ve got a ways to go before we can do anything in earnest, but there’s no harm in getting excited and looking forward to another great growing season.

About the author:
Rachel has been gardening since childhood, thanks to her mom, and has been part of the team at Christianson’s since 2002.  She’s a Certified Professional Horticulturist with a passion for roses and vegetable gardening.  Rachel and her family enjoy gardening together and now share their urban garden with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, two cats, and a dog.

This article was first published in the January 2013 issue of Garden Notes,
our monthly e-newsletter.

January issue of Garden Notes
Directory of all past issues of Garden Notes
Sign up for Garden Notes

Click here to download a printable version of this article – The Garden in January (PDF)