Happy New Year everyone. I am feeling pretty positive about the coming year in spite of everything. It might have something to do with our abundant sunshine and I am not letting the fear of too warm and dry get to me. That is a big change from the overwhelmed feeling I was experiencing just a few days ago. You would think that after our break I would be raring to go, but as usual I felt I left too much undone during the ‘vacation’. The nursery still came first and I did all I needed to do paperwork and inventory wise on the business end but did not finish my personal ‘need to do’ list.
If the weather stays this fine business will start picking up, which, when you have your own business is a good thing. Bare root trees arrived Thursday. People are coming in to get them. I ordered a lot less fruit than last year as we still have lots of mulberries, peaches, plums and apricots left in pots. Those 2024 trees are being offered at 30% off thru February. I also ordered less in shade trees since our professional grower/ suppliers do a better job than we do overall in that department. You can see the list on a Facebook post, the Dave Wilson website or the link on our website, www.stargardens.biz
Our first ‘restocking for spring’ order will be coming next week. It is mostly winter/spring blooming shrubs and perennials like Quince, Hellebores, Pacific Coast Iris, deciduous Magnolias and Persian Lilacs. I am working on getting a minimum order together from another supplier to fill some special orders for Thuja Green Giant and Olives. That will most likely be the week after but may be as soon as this coming week. A big order of small glazed pots is due the first of Feb., along with warm season seeds and our Weeks Rose order.
We have been growing a lot of cool season vegetable starts ourselves. These are organically grown of course. The veggie table is full and we are fully stocked on soils, manures and worm castings to get those tired beds up to speed. You might want to take advantage of the dry weather to get your prep work done. No telling if the rains are going to return with a vengeance and go on for days at a time. If the weather stays this nice I am sure we will be getting people asking about tomatoes and basil but the nursery is still way too cold at night to even think about getting summer vegetables in. We usually do not start til March and even so are not in full swing til at least mid-April and May. February often brings night temps into the 20’s here.
Some inquire about chill hours for fruit trees. Different varieties of fruit have different chill hour requirements to get a crop. These are the number of hours between 32 and 45 degrees that accumulate over the dormant season. Some trees have a requirement as low as 150-200 hours. These are good for our warmer climes like LA and San Diego. Some tress have chill requirements over 1000. Most of our trees are somewhere between 400 and 800. When it is warm like this I begin to worry we won’t get our 1000 plus hours, but so far it has not been an issue on the valley floor. If you live in an area that stays warmer at night than I do, you might want to buy varieties with the lower chill hour requirements. As you can see on the chill hour map our band is well over 1000 hours in normal years. If gophers or ground squirrels are an issue then plant in cages. It is also important that you wrap or paint the trunks of young fruit trees until their canopy is big enough to shade the trunk in the summer.
Have you pruned your fruit trees yet? Shaped your young shade trees? Pruned your summer blooming shrubs? Cut back your dormant perennials and grasses? Take advantage of the dry weather and warm days and get them done. Continue to treat your Hydrangeas with GreenAll True Blue if you want blue flowers. Get at least one spray of dormant oil and fungicide on your fruit trees, roses and any other shrubs or perennials that had problems last year. Top dress with manure or GreenAll Firmulch, including your containers to keep that soil level high and avoid your plantings sinking down in the pots as the organic matter decomposes.
Need some more color in your life? Pansies and Violas are an excellent choice this time of year. Other cool season flowers are Winter Daisies, Iceland Poppies, Anemones, Cyclamen and Primrose. Spring blooming bulbs are half off and the window for planting them is closing fast. The Daphne is budded and the Hellebores are in bud and bloom. Our carnations have been blooming all winter. The early Camellias are starting to bloom and a lot of them are budded.
Thanks to all of you who voted in ‘The Best of Lake and Mendocino County.’ We took Silver this year! Considering how many nurseries there are in Mendocino County, we did good.
Jan/Feb Specials
2024 Potted Fruit Trees 30% off
Bare Root Quantity Discounts: 5 or more 10%,
10 or more 15%, 20 or more 20%
Gopher Cages and Firmulch 20% off with purchase
of Bare Root
Bulbs half off while supply lasts
2024 seeds $1.00
