Plant of the Month
Lilac-Syringa
Lilac Syringa vulgari
Lake County gets the chill hours to grow beautiful Lilac shrubs for spring flowers and fragrance. Best known is common lilac, Syringa vulgaris and its many hybrids but we also have S. persica and S. meyeri ‘Palibin’.
Many think the plain lavender colored common lilac has the best fragrance but others prefer the color and form of the many hybrid varieties. You can get single or double flowers in colors of pink, magenta, blue and purple. The shrub gets quite large-up to 20ft. The Persian Lilac is more open and graceful to 6’ with fragrant pale violet flowers. ‘Palibin’ is dense and twiggy growing to 5’ with fragrant pale lavender. Some have trouble getting the common lilac to bloom (it can sometimes take up to 8 years) but the other mentioned varieties have no trouble blooming at a young age.
Persian-Lilac
Lilacs require sun but can take some light shade in hot climates. I suggest a good winter sun location if you want good flowering but okay if it gets a little shade in the summer. They like well-drained soil that is neutral to slightly alkaline so many plant with lime and apply a little on a yearly basis. Prune after flowering in late spring or early summer as next springs flowers start forming now. If you prune in winter you will not get the flowers you are hoping for. To rejuvenate cut larger old branches all the way to the ground. Most pick up some nice fall color before the leaves fall off.
Lilacs are on the deer resistant list but with all plants you should protect from those critters when you first plant. They take regular water but older established shrubs are quite drought resistant.
October Specials
- 30% OFF all deciduous fruit.
- 30% OFF all roses
- 20% OFF all four inch size annuals, perennials and grasses
- 20 % OFF the Plant of the Month- Lilac
- Green-All 2 c.f . Organic Potting Soil- Buy 3 bags and get the 4th FREE
Subscriber Coupon:
20% OFF both sizes of E.B. Stone Ultra Bloom (0-10-10) or E.B. Stone Camellia, Rhodie, Azalea, Gardenia (Acid Food)
October Newsletter
Just back from the fun trade show up in Reno. No snow on the way home like last year. Deb went with me for the first time. People ask “Did you gamble?”. I say yes but not at the casino. We were betting on what would sell next spring!
Looks like we are finally cooling off for some perfect fall planting weather. If you plan a winter vegetable garden do not delay. You want to get it planted while the weather is still nice enough to get them established and growing so you will have sizeable plants that can produce through the colder months as opposed to small plants that just sit there till spring to grow.
White and yellow onions bulbs, garlic and shallots are here. We were shorted the reds but hope to get some still and plan to order the 6 packs of starts of the red torpedo. We have CA. Early, Elephant, Italian Purple and Purple Glazer garlic along with French Red shallots.
Vegetables are not the only thing to plant now. Cold hardy trees and shrubs planted in fall will be twice the size by the end of next year compared to ones planted in spring. Our spring blooming bulbs are here along with sweet peas, ornamental cabbage and kales, pansies and violas, poppies and calendula. Primroses are just starting along with cyclamen. No reason not to have a little color in your life.
We expect to get our pumpkins and gourds for decoration and sale on the 12th. Orange is one of my favorite colors so I just love the look the nursery gets with all those bright squashes, purple cabbages and great ornamental grasses.
October is also a perfect month for over-seeding or starting a lawn from seed. We have a good all fescue (the best type for our area) blend of grass seed for you to use. Top dress with our Green-All Firmulch or make a mix of seed and mulch. Remember to keep moist.
Time to do a last summer prune on your fruit trees and feed with 0-10-10. What I mean by this is thin out and cut back a lot of this years growth. If you prune now you will not be cutting out next years fruiting wood that will be starting to develop over winter and you will not have as much work to do in the cold and wet. The reason you feed with bloom food now is that it takes a while to break down into a form the trees or shrubs can use. If you apply in spring it is of no use to next springs flowers.
Time to feed all your spring blooming shrubs like Lilacs, Rhodies, Azaleas. Camellias, Quince and the like also. If it is a spring bloomer-feed it.
Last month to get in your fruit tree special orders. Otherwise your selection will be limited to what we are purchasing for stock. Availability is already limited on shade trees so if you are going to want more than one or two of a kind of shade tree you better let me know so I can get them ordered.
Happy Gardening,
Tanya