Have you noticed? The brown spots in your lawn and the droopy plants in your garden, I mean. The heat of this summer has really done a number on your yard! We have noticed where the sprinklers are just not reaching some of the areas in our lawn and garden, and boy did the plants let us know! We now have brown spots in the grass and plants that look pretty sad. This is the time of year when you can tell which plants are unhappy and which ones may need to be moved. It is also a good time to check your sprinklers and make adjustments. Your plants will thank you!

This week we featured...

Hot Lips Soda

5 years ago we found a great new local product that featured the freshest in local fruit and berries. If you are hooked on ordinary fountain soda this is a product that you have to try. Hot Lips Pizza has always worked with local farmers to get the freshest products for their pizzas and they decided a few years ago that they wanted to create a fresh beverage and patronize local growers at the same time. Hot Lips Soda (503-224-2069) is that product! They use only fresh locally grown berries and fruit. It is probably the only soda that contains pulp (and fiber). Drinking it is like eating fresh fruit. David Yudkin joined us to give us an update on Hot Lips Soda, how they came to bottle it for everyone and what has changed in the last 5 years. Dave told us how they have continued to maintain the highest quality of product while they have increased production to meet the demand. They have 4 main flavors and have added special flavors as seasonal products have become available. One of the newest products is an organic ginger ale from a grower in Hawaii. Still most of their fruit comes from local farms like cranberries from Seaview Farms in Sixes, Oregon. They still continue to work to make the freshest, most flavorful soda they can. To learn where you can get some and for more information check out their website.

Who would have thought that you could go to a garden center for happy hour?!?! We stopped by French Prairie Gardens (503-633-8445) near St. Paul to have a cold brew and learn more about their happy hour. Stacy met with us to show us how they have taken some of their farm fresh produce and made some tasty treat for visitors. They have fresh produce from the garden in their vegetable and hummus plates and even fresh baked goods from the bakery. They also offer a wide selection of some great local brews and wines at special prices. You can also shop for plants if you like. They have some cool new perennials and they are offering 20 percent off all their shrubs and 50 percent off all their remaining hanging baskets. Their happy hours are Thursday and Friday from 3-6 and all day on Saturday and Sunday! Stop by and enjoy a happy hour in the country!

If you are looking for small plants for tight spaces then look no further than Mini Forest by SKY (503-632-3555)! They are dedicated to miniature and dwarf plants that are appropriate for small-scale use such as Garden Railroads, Rock Gardens, Bonsai, and Miniature Gardens. Their own Garden Railroad and Rock Garden, along with the displays of Bonsai, Saikei, and miniature Windowbox Scenes, are testing grounds for the mini plants they carry. We stopped by to visit with Sharon and learn about some of the great plants they carry. We started back at their train layout and looked at the plants they were using to recreate a homestead setting. For the grass they used a dwarf Irish moss and then used a dwarf boxwood to make a garden shrub. To make a small tree farm they used Chamecyparis thoides ‘Little Jamie’ which also grew up to be big display trees which were ‘limbed up’ to show off their wonderful bark. We then moved to the other side of the train layout to see how they used Picea glauca ‘Jeans Dilly’ to represent giant sequoias in their garden train display. They also had some great small plants like Picea glauca ‘Gnome’ and the Picea glauca ‘Hedgehog’ to make the display complete. Now what do you do when you don’t have the room for a large garden train? Sharon took us around to another garden where we saw Maddie and Emily working on small container fairy gardens. There are lots of different plant material you can use to make these wonderful tiny gardens including small mosses and ground covers in addition to all the dwarf tree varieties. If you would like to learn more about miniature plants or garden trains feel free to check out the Mini Forest website or call for an appointment for a visit.

Garden art is not all about bringing a hardscape element to the garden. For some art it can also add function to your landscape. We met with Lindsay Scott from Cowdawg Creations to look at her unique and functional art. If you have been to Gardenpalooza or any number of garden shows in the area you may have seen her copper art. The interesting thing about her art is that it can also function as a sprinkler, mister, bird feeder or rain chain. Lindsay took us into her shop to show us how she builds each piece. There’s a lot of hands-on workmanship in each piece. From the different cutting tools to the bending of each piece of metal, they are definitely a work of art. These pieces are so unique that the Garden Time crew bought a couple for our yards! Check out some of her up-coming shows or drop her an e-mail if you have anymore questions.