My California Poppies

As I mentioned in my seedling post in December, I sown some California Poppies. I actually sown two types of California Poppies:

• California Poppy Watermelon Heaven
• California Poppy  Sunset Mix

Both seeds are from Burpee, and I bought at a local garden center.

Here is how they look now.

Violas and Pansies

It is the time of the year to plant pansies and violas. My violas are volunteers from plants that I bought several years ago, may be around four years ago. However, I went to the garden and could not see any growing now.

May be it is a hint to go to the Nursery and buy some :-)

Thanks for dropping by,

Luiza

Barefoot is the name. Buying now is the game.

Oh... I love to buy barefoot plants. Several of the plants in my yard, I bought barefoot.
Last year I bought the rose that won the AARS award, Easy does it. I bought it at Costco, and it comes with two roses. The other one was a yellow rose called ....

My new grape is from a barefoot plant. My apple is from a barefoot plant. All my blueberries are from barefoot plants that I bought.

Most plants do very well. I had very good luck with them. I do soak them in water before planting.

Here is one my favorite roses, which I mentioned in several posts:

Here is another rose, Julia Child,  that I bought bare root:

Thanks for dropping by,

Luiza

Spray, spray, spray

It is a great time of the year to spray your plants. This can prevent lots of headaches later in the year.

To control insects and diseases, it is a good time to use lime-sulphur on most trees and roses.

For Apricots and Peaches, it is a good time to spray with liquid copper . I actually tend to apply lime-sulphur on my peach tree to control leaf curl.

It is also a good idea to combine horticultural oil (dormant oil) with both sprays to not only increase their effectiveness but to act as insect control. The primary way horticultural oil kills insects is by suffocating them.


Horticultural oils target several insects: adelgids, aphids, caterpillar eggs, leafhoppers, mealybug, mites, scale, spider mites, thrips and whiteflies. They can also be effective against powdery mildew.

And, according to About,  since horticultural oil is effective against aphids, which spread viruses by feeding on plants, horticultural oil is also something of a virus control.

Thanks for dropping by,

Luiza

Pruning Time

It is this time of the year... Pruning at its best.

The leaves are gone... Nothing is in the way for you to analyse what should stay and what should go.

Many summer and fall flowering trees, shrubs and some perennials can be pruned now. However, do not prune plants that flower on old wood.  As a general rule, plants that flower in old wood are best pruned after they are done flowering (most hydrangeas are in this category).

 I  prune my peach tree a little. It still need a little bit more cleaning up.

The apple is too young to prune.

I need to clean up the blueberries.

Thanks for dropping by,

Luiza

Seed Catalogs

Oh... it is that time of the year!!! I love to get the seed catalogs in the mail, and check the new seeds.
Don't get me wrong: I do go to the local nurseries and check out the plants. But the catalogs have several unusual vegetables and flowers that you will not get to buy locally, even in the seed section of the local stores.
I receive catalogs from:

• Seed Savers - the first time I ordered the catalog was 2 years ago. I started to get very interested in the Heirloom tomatoes.
• Thompson and Morgan - Talk about beautiful flowers!!! I  love this catalog. They have the most amazing seeds for flowers.
• Johnny Seeds - I started getting these after Martha Stewart mentioned in one of her shows several years ago.
• Burpee - who does not know Burpee... Unfortunately, the first time I ordered some seeds from them, I did not succeed. It could be the seed, but most likely I lack any experience at that time. I browse the tomato section a lot.
• Park Seed - love to see the flowers, and some of the special tomatoes.
• Renee's Garden - I love her seeds. I been having a very successful rate germinating them. The  Sweet Peas that I planted are from her company.

So, which catalogs to you receive? Which ones have you ordered from?

Here is a pick at some of the things I am already growing:

California Poppies

Sweet Peas

Thyme and Rosemary

Thanks,

Luiza