Big Year End Clearance Sale
Nov. 30- Dec. 24
Just about everything 25-50% off
25% off soil, fertilizer, spray, house plants, frost protection, weed cloth, all pottery and containers, wind chimes, garden art, benches, fences, arches, baskets, seeds, selected evergreens, olives, citrus, loquats, fig and blueberry liner pots, birdbaths…
25% off gift certificates
50% off annuals, perennials, deciduous and broad leaf shrubs, deciduous shade and fruit trees, vines and berries not already mentioned, spring blooming bulbs…
Selected holiday items like Christmas Trees, wreaths, garland and some holiday plants are not included.
Newly arrived potatoes are not included.
Holiday Hours
Star Gardens will close at 2 pm on Christmas Eve
Annual winter closing
Dec 25 thru Jan 17, 2014
December Newsletter
Happy Holidays, everyone. First I want to thank all off our loyal shoppers and newsletter subscribers for your continued support this year. We have already placed many of our spring orders for next year and some have already arrived-the bamboo wind chimes, fig liners and blueberries. I have a pallet of birdbaths due to arrive this week in case anyone needs one and wants to take advantage of our annual year end sale. This year dry goods (pottery, iron, garden art, soils fertilizers, sprays and indoor plants will be 25% off. I will discount the new figs and blueberries along with a few selected plants at 25% also. The rest of our outdoor plants will be 50% off to make room for new. There will be a few exceptions like Christmas trees, wreaths, garland, etc. We will be offering Gift Certificates at 25% off and many off you like to buy these now to save 25% on future purchases. ($75 dollars spent now gets you $100 in the spring on your certificate.) The sale runs Nov. 30 thru December 24.
We will not be sending out a newsletter in Jan as we are closed from Dec 25 thru Jan 17. (You can still schedule an appointment if necessary.) We will reopen a little earlier this year than normal so I do not expect to have bare root trees in for another week or so after re-opening but you never know. We will be updating the tree and rose list for 2014 on the website and probably make a few other changes as well. I will plan to get the Feb. Newsletter out early.
I have heard that this could be a cold, dry winter so I will again mention a few things about winter protection. I usually shut the water off to my irrigation valves and bleed the valves to prevent them freezing and breaking because there is water inside. All battery timers are not to be left out in freezing temperature. Here is the draw back. If we have lots of cold dry weather spells, your plants are going to require irrigation to keep the cold damage from desiccation (drying) to a minimum, so you might have to run the system and drain again. Lots of evergreens would also benefit from an application of anti-transpirant. It is a protective coating that gives them several more degrees of cold tolerance. As I have mentioned before we spray all our citrus, olives and oleander with this so we still have a salable product come spring. (27 degrees here this morning as I write this and it will get even colder here.) It also keeps your cut trees and greens from dying out as fast so I highly recommend it for you holiday trees and wreaths.
Time to get busy, while the weather is dry, pruning and dormant spraying your fruit trees and roses. Simplified you first remove dead, weak and crossing branches then reduce and shape, cutting just above outward growing buds. Dormant spray when there is a 36 hour window after application. Oil is to kill overwintering insects on the trees and shrubs and copper is for disease like peach leaf curl. Beneficial nematodes are another way to kill off borers and other insects overwintering in the ground around your trees and roses. We stock them in our refrigerator and they will also be 25% off this month.
The most cold hardy annuals for this time of year are pansies, violas and ornamental cabbage and kale for sun and primrose for shade. I have had good success with the cabbage in a shady spot also. Cyclamen are nice to but you have to keep them from freezing. Snaps, winter daisies and stock will take frost and a limited amount of freezing too. Bulbs are 50% off this month so you should consider planting those before it is too late. We still have a good selection of Amaryllis bulbs and potted up they make nice gifts. As usual we have lots of cyclamen and Christmas Cactus in stock and Poinsettias will be in the first week of December along with our cut Christmas Trees. Potted Trees are already here.
Happy Holidays,
Tanya