Welcome to Rose Festival.  Actually, it is rose time even if you don’t live in Portland.  The roses are looking great and they are sure to be especially beautiful this year after our long cold winter.  We were out at Heirloom Roses (503-538-1576) this past week and the gardens are looking fantastic!  You should take a drive out to the display gardens with a picnic lunch and enjoy the color and fragrance.  Don’t just stop there!  Head down to the Schreiner Iris gardens (1-800-525-2367) and then stop at Adelman’s Peonies (503-393-6185).  What a great way to enjoy the weekend. 

This week we featured...

Adelman Peony Blooms

If it is right around Memorial Day you can bet that the peony fields are close to full bloom.  We stopped by Adelman Peony Gardens (503-393-6185) and found out it is true.  Carol Adelman welcomed us to the garden and showed off some of her favorites while she explained the differences in the styles of peonies you will find at your local garden center. Carol explained that there are many different styles of blooms and flowers.  There are singles, doubles, bomb-type, Japanese-type and full doubles in all different colors.  A couple varieties that we saw were ‘Salmon Dream’, ‘First Arrival’, ‘Hillary’, ‘Ruffled Sunset’, and ‘Hephaetos’.  She also talked about the differences in the varieties of plants including bush peonies, intersectionals and tree peonies.  If you are interested in seeing all the different types you can stop by and view the fields while they are in full bloom.  There are plants you can take home, cut flowers for your vases and order forms for planting in the fall.  You can also check out the first year plantings in their new display gardens.  You can stop by anytime until the 15th of June.

Dipping Strawberries

Spring is here and that means the strawberries are looking ripe and ready for picking.  You may enjoy strawberry shortcake and slicing strawberries over ice cream, but there are so many more ways to enjoy them.  William and Judy thought up some interesting combinations for dipping sauces for you to enjoy.  We featured ‘night and day’ which had strawberries in half white chocolate and half dark chocolate.  We also had ‘Coco-berry’ which was a dip into frosting with coconut flakes and ‘Crazy for Caramel’ which was just a dip into caramel.  All of them were delicious!  If you are looking for more ideas, check out this month’s Garden Time On-line magazine.  It is a free subscription and it comes to you in your e-mail box each month.   

Sprout Growers

In the quest to grow your own food comes two interesting new systems that help you grow your own salad.  We found these products at Larsen Farm Nursery (503-638-8600) and they are made by Thompson and Morgan, a seed company.  The first one was a sprout grower.  All you do is add one of the 12 different types (or flavors) of seeds that you can buy at the nursery and keep them moist by adding water.  After about a week you will have fresh sprouts that you can add to your salads and other dishes.  The other device was a Mini Green Grower.   This one has 6 different choices of mini greens that you can grow on your kitchen counter.  After a couple of days you can be enjoying fresh mini greens for table or even in a tasty smoothie.

Kindergarden – Sweet Pea Planters

You may think that Sweet Peas are just a spring time flowering plant.  But this weeks Kindergarden segment has your kids growing a variety that will perform any time of year.  Amy from Al’s Garden Center in Woodburn (503-981-1245 ) joined us with a couple of little helpers to show us how you can have your kids planting a nice little planter that they can enjoy all summer.  Amy picked a dwarf variety of sweet peas called ‘Little Sweetheart’.   This one is great for smaller containers. First you want to soak the seeds for at least a day.  It will soften the outer coat of the seed and help them to sprout.  Next you will want a pot that is full of clean potting soil.  Then you can start planting the seeds an inch deep or so (which was the second knuckle on these little helpers).   You then can make a simple trellis with short bamboo stakes and you are done.  It is a great project and one that the whole family can enjoy.

Green Stihl

Stihl tools are known as an industry leader in power equipment for the garden.  So we stopped by to visit with Wayne to hear what Stihl had in the way of power efficient and ‘Clean and Green’ power tools.  The first tool that we looked at was the Yard Boss tiller.  It has a new ‘Easy 2 Start’ system which is less wasteful with fuel during starting.  We then saw some of the new types of blowers.  Some cities have enacted laws that restrict the noise that a lawn blower makes.  The new Stihl blowers are great when it comes to being quiet. In fact they meet or beat any noise standard that we have.  They are also less polluting as well with a fraction of the exhaust that older models have produced.  We moved to the new Stihl chainsaw that has a new engine that is extremely clean, yet still produces an incredible amount of power.  We also saw some of the newer models of the Kombi system.  This is the popular interchangeable lawn tools kit.  These newer models are fuel efficient and they make sense for the home gardener.  Since you only use one engine and just change the power head, you can save money on gas and you only have one power tool to maintain.    Check out the full line at you local Stihl tool dealer

Water Saving Garden

Everyone wants to save water but you may think it is hard to do and still have a great lawn and garden.  We stopped by the newest water efficient garden to learn how we can do both.  The demonstration garden at the Tualatin Valley Water District has some great examples for you to follow if you are looking to reach a water saving goal.  Steve from TVWD gave Judy a tour of the demo garden.  We started at the kiosk at the front of the main office to pick up some free ‘take home’ material about water saving.  This kiosk also helps explain how to reach the 1-inch-a-week goal of watering your lawn.  It also talks about different types of plants and how the garden is designed.  The garden has some modified lawn areas, some ‘native’ plantings and even some great ‘mixed-plant’ areas where you can mix natives with other ornamental plants to achieve a great garden!  If you are looking for ideas on how to save water and still have a garden the neighbors will envy, check out the TVWD garden, or check out the wonderful tips at the Regional Water Providers Consortium website.