There are lots of interesting gardens in modesto. Some of them because of an interesting tree or focal point. some because of the different use of plants.Others because of the interesting use of hardscaping materials.

Here is a garden that is interesting use of the lawn. Few people would think that planting bulbs in a lawn would make any scense. In fact I would include myself in that group. Several years ago I saw a front lawn on Rumble Ave. that was interesting. Just a few days ago I drove down Rumble and saw it again.

If you have not been by take a drive between McHenry and College Ave. You can't miss it.

 It is in a hybrid bermuda lawn that goes dormant in the winter so it does not need to be mowed during the winter and early spring. Hybrid bermuda grows thick enough I would gues they do not need to use Ween n' Feed type products and I looks like they come back year after year.

It looks like wild flowers in a dormant medow.

What makes it a flower is obvious when you see the show going on now. It is tough, likes the shade and comes back reliably forever.

What makes it a weed is that it is tough, likes the shade and comes back reliably for years. In addition it spreads if you ever move soil form an infested area to a clean area. In addition in addition it is very difficult to get rid of.  In many older gardens it has taken over. You see it especially in gardens that date back to the 20's and the 30's. It is common in the downtown area in the number and letter streets on both sides of the freeway. You also see it in the Graceda park area over to the old John Muir school site.I also see a lot of it at the old farmsteads out in the country.

As a kid, I remember sucking on the flower stocks for the sour taste.  I still can appreciate the early spring show in other people's yards. Is it a weed? Is it a flower? The answer is YES!

Just the other day before a storm came in I was looking out from a second story window and noticed Sprinklers running. 

Oops!

One of the things i have noticed over the years as people moved from watering lawns and shrubs with hoses and hand sprinklers to sprinkler systems to automatic systems is the massive increase in over watering.

Back in the good old days the problem was getting people to put enough water on the ground to get the entire plant root system moist. Now days it is getting people to give the roots time to breath between waterings. 

Most of us know about rain switches on our timers. Many of don't use them. I am constantly going out to peoples gardens and seeing that they are still watering once or twice a week. I installed a new sod lawn in the fall. I have needed to water it ONCE since. 

I watered the complete system once this winter. The only exception to this is those plants that are protected from the rains. This includes plants under eaves and under evergreen trees often. Those you need to keep an eye on occasionall. As the plants start to show new growth I will start watering weekly and progress from there. Established shrubs and trees generally do not need water more than weekly. Lawns two to three times a week in hot weather. 

People talk about reducing water use in our gardens. The easiest thing to do is to only water when your garden needs water.

I think that the automatic systems have made us all unaware of what is actually going on in the garden. I encourage everyone to get out and just look around your garden and keep in touch with your plants. 

This is the time snails and Slugs start becoming active in our climate. In my visits to clients gardens I am seeing them starting to attack pansies, violas, primroses and bulbs like daffodils and tulips. Soon they will be out in full force. One of the prices we pay for our mild climate is the early spring snail wars.

You want to start getting them under control now before they start laying eggs and new ones hatch. I use Sluggo which is a safer snail control than the regular baits. Even though it is not COMPLETLY safe You have a lot less to worry about. The worst problem with metaldehyde baits is the lack of an antidote if a pet gets some.

Sluggo and Sluggo Plus contains Iron Phosphate which is approved by OMRI listed as an organic pest control product. The difference is Sluggo Plus contains Iron Phosphate and Spinosad a new organic insect control for earwigs and other insects. 

It takes just takes a lightl sprinkling around plants you want to protect and in areas where they hide. This cool and wet weather is what they love.and they can destroy your flower! Sluggo has become our Number One selling snail control.

Now you can control snails and slugs and feel good about it.

Perennials are a wonderful addition to most gardens. They allow you to get seasonal color without having to plant each season.

Perennial means they come back more than one year. Annuals germinate, grow, bloom and die in one year. By the official definition, perennials include things like maple trees, redwoods, roses as well as what we as gardeners think of as perennials.

As gardeners we consider perennials things that do not have a permanent woody structure.

Yarrow, cone flower, black eyed Susan, brachyscome, Tapien verbena and mission bells are some of the perennials I use at home and I see in my visits to our Garden Crew clients. The problem I see is that people hear perennial and think permanent. They keep them in even when it is obvious they are not performing for you.

Wrong!

Because perennials do not develop a woody structure they are more susceptible to various diseases after a few years. When they start struggling it’s time to make a change. You are not a bad person or even a bad gardener when perennials start to go bad. If you want your garden to look it’s best don’t be afraid to replace your perennials.

Usually I replace them with something different.  If I am replacing verbena I will replace with mission bells or bidens. If I am replacing cone flower I replace with a tall yarrow. I also look to see if conditions have changed and replace with something I think might do better with the new conditions.

In any case perennials are a great addition to the garden.

This is the time people get out into the garden and would like to see something besides green foliage and brown dirt. The Gardener that is on top of thing has already planted bulbs and annuals like pansies, Snaps and Iceland Poppies. If you happen to be one of those that forgot or just didn't get around to i, you can still catch up. 

We carry potted daffodils and tulips and Ranunculus for you to pop-in for some early spring color and you can still get the annuals in. Yes, if you put them in in the fall they would be well established and already blooming, but if you plant now you can still get a great show.

This picture if from my garden last spring. It contains Iceland Poppies with a few patches of Snaps at the back against the rocks with some pansies up out of sight on the fill.

To get the best results you need to do it right. That means getting the soil in condition with Masters PaydirtMaster Start before you plant at the rate of one bag per flat of flowers and an early start with at planting and Rose and Flower Food every two weeks three or four times. You don't have time to waste so do it right the first time. 

Prevention is the best method of keeping weeds out of the garden and lawn.

One of the reasons I I like mulching is mulch's ability to prevent weeds. It does it in two ways. First it keeps sunlight off the ground and this prevents a lot of weeds from germinating. It also keeps the ground cool which does the same thing In addition it makes getting rid of any weeds that di come up easier. A one or two inch layer of much does a lot of good things to your garden

In lawn a good thick turf does much the same thing as a mulch does. Remember to get a thick turf you need to water correctly, mow the lawn high (in most cases 2” or more) and keep it well fertilized. If you spend a little time doing these things right it shows up in a lot fewer weeds to fight

.

In both cases if you have a weed control problem we carry Pre-emergent products that prevent weeds from germinating chemically.For planting areas like shrub beds we recommend a product called Weed Impede which is a spray on material that does a great job preventing weed germination. A granular product that we use is called Amaze. This contains the same ingredient as Weed impede, Surflan, as one of the ingredients.

Pre-emergents , as an organic gardener wan-a-be, are one of the few chemical pest controsl I allow myself.

Camellias are some of the most versatile evergreen shrubs. Especially if you combine the traditional camellias or Japanese Camellias and the Sasanqua Camellias. I have talked about the versatility of the sasanquas before.   To recapitulate the advantages sasanquas have: Their winter blooming time 2) Their ability to take shade as well as fairly hot sun 3) Their growing habit is generally not stiff and you can choose varieties that grow as a 1 1/2 ft ground cover to shrubs  8 or 10 ft tall. They do have small flowers but in profusion over 2 or three months depending on the weather

.   

Japanese camellias are the traditional camellias most people think of when we say Camellia. They have large flowers in shades of red, pink to white including some beautiful multi colored varieties. The flower form varies from almost singles like Magnoliaflora (my personal favorite) to full peony form like debutante and Kramer's Supreme to formal double like Nuccio’s Gem.  Japanese camellias prefer protection from the hot summer sun and grow and bloom into a fair amount of shade. You need to get them started by planting in a very high organic soil like Masters Planting mix and DO NOT keep too moist. I think that the #1 problem I see in customers gardens is too much water. The sasanquas are finishing blooming and most of the Japanese camellias are just starting. For lots of wonderful winter and spring color a multitude of camellias are just the thing.

 Don’t forget about the  Camellia culture talk given by Harlan Smith from the Modesto Camellia society. on February 21, 2009 at 11:am here at Scenic Nursery.

From the American Camellia Society

It is with great excitement and anticipation that we look forward to presenting the Camellia
Society of Modesto’s 48th Annual Camellia Cavalcade, Saturday, March 21 and Sunday March 22, 2009.  This year is indeed very special:  It is our great honor to have been selected by the American Camellia Society to hold the National Show in conjunction with our Modesto Cavalcade.  In 1977 the Camellia Society of Modesto last hosted the National Show under the direction of Ron Kellogg and Pete Grosso.  Pete Grosso was a long standing and respected Gallo employee who supervised Gallo’s warehouse operations.  It was under Pete Grosso’s direction that the original Gallo Camellia Garden was started.  That original small garden has expanded and now has more than 1000 plants.  It continues to grow, flourish and expand to the current time.  Just this year more than 200 plants have been added. 

For the past forty-five years the Gallo Winery has graciously donated the use of their facilities for the Camellia Society of Modesto’s annual Cavalcade.  As in the past, the event will be staged at the Gallo Administration Building located off Yosemite Boulevard, Modesto, CA.  The dedicated and hard working Harlan Smith, Past President and Honorary Lifetime Member is again our show Chairman.

Annie's Annuals is a small specialist grower in the Bay Area.  Our customers hve enjoyed the variety they allow us to offer. We just received our first shipment for the year.The company name is Annie's annuals but a lot of the material are perennials.

 We received several kinds of poppies Oriental and Shirly Poppies, Mimulis, Nigellia, unusual Primroses and Penstemon. You have to come in regularly to be sure you see what we bring in. Often they grow small crops and we can get only one shipment

Donna and I planted some Fragrant Sarcococca under a window in the front of our house. It is a basic deep green shrub that stays under 3' tall and wide. Small insignificant white flowers. Likes partial shade and not too much water. Really not an imposing plant. You don't see it written up in the magazines. We don't put it up in our main displays. – until it is in bloom.

The fragrance is wonderful. I  can smell the fragrance as i drive up and all the way into the house. As I mentioned, it likes part shade and not too much water. if you give it this it is easy to grow and the reward in the early spring...

 pronounced SAR CO CO CA

I’m not sure about you, but I am loving this rain and we have definitely needed it! The spring weather we had really got things buzzing around the nursery. We have been working hard to prepare for what I predict is going to be a fabulous spring! If you haven’t been in lately then you haven’t seen the changes we’ve made to the store. I think it’s a lot more shopper friendly and we’ve received positive feedback from many of our customers. Drop in and let us know what you think. 

The selection of specialty tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers has been made and I must say, I think you are going to be impressed! I decided to focus more on tomatoes this year and narrowed it down to 26 varieties in all. I started with 40, but due to space restrictions I had to be reasonable. Quantities will be limited on the specialty items, so check back here often as I will post a new blog when they arrive. It should be sometime in March. Here are a few of the varieties we will be carrying, all of which I will be growing in my garden this season.

Todd County Amish ~ A wonderful heirloom beefsteak that was handed down from an Amish family living in Minnesota. It is a big, luscious dark pink tomato that slices into pure heaven on a plate. The flavor is rich and sweet and the plants are extremely productive. YUM!!!

 Virginia Sweets ~ An heirloom variety of stunningly beautiful red-gold bicolor tomatoes weighing in at least 1 lb. each. The flavor is sweet and rich and harvests are abundant. These are gorgeous!

Giant Belgium ~ A giant dark pink tomato that weighs anywhere from 2-5 lbs. That’s right, 2-5 lbs!!! Super meaty and bursting with sweet rich flavor. How can you not want to try this one?

We have a complete list of all the varieties we will be carrying in the store, so I encourage you to stop by and reserve your favorites today. They will go fast!

Here is our January Newsletter.

januarynewsletter2009

Come join us as Jungle Jim talks about proper pruning of roses and fruit trees. The dates are:

Roses

Sat. January 10th @ 2pm
Sun. January 11th @ 2pm
Sat. January 17th @ 10am

Fruit Trees

Sat. Jan 17th @ 2pm
Sun. January 18th @ 2pm 
Sat. January 31st @ 10am

We'll see you here... 

We have finished getting our new 2009 roses ready for sale. This includes the new AARS winners. For those of you that do not know what is involved in winning an AARS award here is a run down

All the major growers are members of an association called the All American Rose Committee. They are entitled to enter any new varieties they have developed or are introducing into the US market. They support test gardens in all the climates in the US and they have well recognized rosarians that evaluate all the roses performance. At the end of a two year evaluation they choose the best of the best for awarding AARS awards.This delays the introduction for an additional two years over what is often 5 years already.

This year there are three award winners. Cinco de Mayo, Pink Promise and Carefree Spirit. 

Pink Promise is a large flowered Hybrid Tea that is a great cutting rose.

Cinco de Mayo is an unusual colored floribunda that is  heavy blooming on a compact bushy plant.

Carefree Spirit is a Single shrub rose. It is again very heavy blooming on a compact bushy plant. One ot the features of Carefree Spirit is the disease resistance.

 To see what else we have come in and take a look. We have a great selection of varieties that I have chosen for how they do in OUR climate.

Now that 2008 is over with, let's take a moment to breath slowly and relax a bit. I don't know about you, but I am ready for a new start! I know that 2009 is going to be a year of change and I'm confident that the change will be good for us all. 

The cold winter days have certainly set in and working outside at the nursery is hard at times but I wouldn't trade my job for any other. It's great to watch the trees change colors and drop their leaves, to see the winter flowers blooming despite the cold weather, and to watch the birds feeding on berries and hummingbirds seeking out nectar from the strangest of places. All these are pleasures that would be nearly impossible to witness from a warm cubicle. 

I invite you to come by (bring a coat) and take a stroll through the nursery. On the weekends, we have hot apple cider available to our customers to warm you on the inside and you'll also see the changes going on in our store. (please forgive the mess!) Bare root roses, berries, asparagus, horseradish and rhubarb are available now and bare root fruit trees will be arriving soon. 

I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

We recently hosted a class on making Christmas door swags using fresh garland and cuttings from plants throughout the nursery for the Hope Blooms Garden Club of Memorial Medical Center. Twelve people used their creativity and put together some amazing cedar swags to adorn their home this Christmas and they all had a great time! They turned out so well that we are going to be adding it to our holiday workshops for our customers next year.

Hope Blooms is a new addition to Memorial's program of complementary therapies, created in 2004 to enhance the lives of patients as they proceed through their journeys of coping, recovering or healing after a diagnosis of cancer. The Hope Blooms Garden Club provides a way for participants to experience the healing benefits of gardening in a supportive way.

Enrich your life with this program which includes a calendar of events and opportunities to choose from throughout the year.  Whether caring for a garden or exploring new gardening projects, this club will offer something for everyone who loves to garden. For more information or to join the club, contact Cheryl Casey at (209) 569-7743

Hope Blooms was involved in the planting of the new Pamela Monterosso Park across the street from the nursery. Sixty volunteers graciously gave their time to plants 75 trees and 4000 daffodil bulbs. What a job!!!

A dedication of the park will be sometime early spring when the daffodils start to bloom. I'll keep you posted...

*If you'd like more information on scheduling a class or tour for your group or organization here at the nursery, contact me (Kym) at 523-7978. I'll be happy to work with you on setting up a fun event.

I’ve had a lot of customers asking when our blueberries are coming. Well, today is the day. We received Chandler, Earliblue, Jersy, Misty, and O’Neal blueberries. To get the highest yielding crops of delicious berries, we recommend planting 2 different varieties 4 feet apart.  We have a limited supply of each variety so you better come in soon because they usually sell fast.

Also available are horseradish, Victoria Cherry Rhubarb, asparagus, artichokes, and several varieties of bare root berries all of which are in our lovely bedding department.

Take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and take a walk through the nursery to see what’s new. (And calm the nerves!) Who knows, you just might find the perfect Christmas gift for someone special.

Peace to you this holiday season... 

One of the common questions when we talk about fruit bush training is how much fruit can you get. Several years ago my parents, Sid and Mary,  planted a Fuyu Persimmon against a fence. Many years ago we had a Hachiya persimmon that put out several hundred persimmons that almost all went to waste. Because of that experience they wanted to limit the amount of wasted fruit so they espaliered it against the fence. 

It is pruned to about 6' every winter after the fruit is picked.What you see here is the fruit after only one years growth.  I don't know how many persimmons you need, but to me it seems enough for most anyone.

Fuyu Persimmon

The maintenance is almost nothing. You can imagine the winter appearance every year in your garden. Yes, the flowers are not showy, but the fruit!

Any fruit tree trained as a fruit bush is capable of putting out similar quantities of fruit when established.  You can espalier your trees, plant them 3 or 5 trees in one hole or fruit bush hedge them. In any case the pay back is tremendous. 

The arrival of the beautiful poinsettias in our store signals to all of us the beginning of our holiday season. The most common color of poinsettia leaves are a bright red, but also come with white, pink and many bi-colored varieties. The leaves are often mistaken for flower petals. The true flower of the poinsettia is the small yellow cluster in the center of the leaves. In the wild, poinsettia plants grow as a large shrub or small tree. Although not poisonous, many people tend to develop a dermal reaction or minor skin rash when exposed to the sap of the plant. Poinsettia, with its beautiful star-shape, is a favored seasonal flower in the United States. It is known today as the “flame leaf” or “flower of the Holy Night” in Central America.

For beautiful blooming color, come by and check out our selection of poinsettia for the season.

We take a lot of pride in educating our community about gardening by hosting seminars and workshops throughout the year. If you haven’t been to one yet, you need to! We offer classes on just about anything we can think of that might be of interest to our customers. So far, this fall we have offered classes on Orchids, Organic Gardening, Indoor Container Gardening, and on Nov. 22nd we had a Thanksgiving Centerpiece Workshop. We had a great turnout and the centerpieces turned out fabulous. We have some pretty talented customers! With the help of Kara, 10 people created beautiful centerpieces to add to their Thanksgiving décor. Check out the pictures below:

We’ll keep you posted on upcoming events here on the website and in our e-newsletter that we will be starting to send out in December. If you’d like to sign up to receive it, you can email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Just send us your email address and note ‘newsletter’ in the subject line.

Coming up in January will be our rose & fruit tree pruning seminars. I'll be posting the dates and times later.  

Bare root berries and asparagus are available now at the nursery.  We have 3 varieties of thornless berries, plus Heritage Red Raspberry and Boysenberry. We recommend 10-12 plants to provide an abundance of berries for a family of 4. Asparagus is available for $6.49 a dozen. The recommended amount for a family of four is 3 dozen. Just think how much money you’ll save by growing your own berries and asparagus, plus straight out of the garden is so much tastier than store bought!!!

Fig trees and Pomegranates are planned to arrive on December 3rd. They should be available for sale on the 4th.

Stop by the nursery and we’ll make sure you have everything you need to get your garden off to a good start this winter.

Happy Holidays!!!

At Scenic Nursery we love to share our passion for gardening with the children in our community by offering a variety of events throughout the year for children. Amy, in our bedding department, is our children’s event coordinator and hosts the events as well. She puts a lot of creative thought into planning events that are fun and educational. The majority of the events are geared toward children 5 & up, but younger ones usually can have a little fun playing in the children’s garden here at the nursery. Below are some pictures taken at the Fairy Garden Event on Nov. 8th and the Recycled “Kids Stuff” Planting Party on Nov. 22nd. The kids had a great time!

 Coming up on December 13th we will be having our Kids Christmas Pajama Party.  It’s going to be a fun filled day from 10am-2pm with hot chocolate, cookie decorating, holiday arts & crafts, face painting and photo opportunities with Santa from 11-1. Of course, pajamas are encouraged and a good time is guaranteed! Can you tell I’m excited? The event is $5 and is for kids of all ages. Everyone is invited so pass the word around!

See you at the Nursery... 

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but it feels like Christmas at the nursery. In our bedding department the Cyclamen are in full bloom. In the store we've received a gorgeous shipment of Poinsettias and our new  Christmas tree ornaments are unique, some are even one of a kind. You really need to come check them out!  In the shrub department, the Nandinas are turning gorgeous shades of red and we recently received a new shipment of Dogwoods. (I would love to receive a Dogwood for a Christmas present, hint hint...)

Also, our Christmas greens are here. We have Cedar Garland, Mixed Garland, and fresh wreaths.

We can't wait to see you here...