Welcome
to June and Rose Festival time. As you can see, the
weather has gotten rainy… that means it is late spring or
early summer in the Willamette Valley! Good time to step
away from your garden and enjoy some of the wonderful
spring color and festivals! One of those wonderful places
that has both is Heirloom Roses, where this weekend they
are having their Rose Days festival. So, sit back enjoy
the show, then get out and enjoy the weekend!
This
week we featured...
Heirloom Roses
We paid
a visit to
Heirloom Roses (503-538-1576) for their Rose Days
event. Heirloom not only grows roses, they also hybridize
new varieties and this weekend you can get a sneak peak at
some of the thousands they have growing for the future.
In addition to the roses, you can catch seminars from
local gardening experts, enjoy the gift shop and stroll
the huge display gardens. One more reason for visiting
Heirloom has just been added. You can check out
John’s Small Garden Plants (503-538-8529). John
Clements, one of the owners, wanted to share his love for
small, dwarf and miniature plants so he opened up an area
that features over 300 varieties of these little
beauties! For more information, give them a call or check
out the web-sites.
Nichols
Herb Container
You can
grow more than a colorful flower in your deck and patio
planters. Rose Marie Nichols-McGee from
Nichols Garden Nursery (1-800-422-3985) joined Judy to
show her all the different kinds of herbs you can grow in
containers for use year-round. She brought 3 containers
to show the variety of plant material you can use. In her
largest planter she included nasturtiums, sage, dill,
basil, rosemary and a begonia (which have eatable flowers
and make a great garnish). In a small planter she had
planted tarragon. This plant usually doesn’t do well here
due to the cooler weather, but it loves the smaller,
warmer container. In her final pot she had a tomato
called Prudence Purple. This variety is similar to a
Brandywine, but performs much better in our climate. Rose
Marie is considered a local expert on container gardening
and has written a book about it. You can check out
Container Basics at your local bookstore or contact her at
the nursery.
Garden
Molds – Step Stones
Adding
hardscaping or step stones is not as tough or expensive as
you think. With some concrete and a
GardenMolds (1-800-588-7930) form you can make your
own garden accents. We met the creator of GardenMolds,
Catherine Failor, to learn how easy it is to do it
yourself. In just a few minutes we had mixed and poured a
brand new step stone. With GardenMolds you can also make
other things for your garden including edging stones,
totem stakes, planter feet and other plaques and
monuments. You can find the kits at selected garden
centers and on the GardenMolds website.
Maple
Accents
A lot of
us have plants in our garden that become signature
plants. Because they stand out it is hard to find plants
to accent them. We traveled to
Garland Nursery (1-800-296-6601) to check with Lee
Powell on his suggestions for one of those common plants,
the lace-leaf Japanese Maple. These plants are planted in
a lot of newer homes and they have a wonderful weeping
habit, but because they are so low to the ground they can
be hard to plant under. Lee found a few plants including
a dwarf azalea called ‘Gumpo Pink’ that has beautiful pink
flowers that will accent the red maple color. He also
showed us how grasses, hostas and mosses can create a nice
area in your landscape.
Hose
Issues
Our trip
to the tool shed this week finds William wrestling with a
pesky garden hose. As you pull stuff out for the coming
gardening season, check your hoses to see if they need
some work. Look for bad connectors, cracked latex and
other potential problems. If it is an expensive hose,
look to make the necessary repairs, but if it has seen
better days, take the time and replace it. You can find
repair parts and new hoses at most of your local
independent garden centers.