Customer Appreciation is this Saturday, Oct 4th. Join us in celebrating our 21st anniversary and save 25% off our entire inventory. The Master Gardener Help Desk will be here, and we will have a drawing for a big wind chime and gift certificates. There will be a kids’ activity and refreshments. Bring the family.
What can you save on this Saturday, the 4th? Well, we have a great assortment of cool-season vegetable starts and seeds. We have cover crop seed and some erosion control seed. We have onion sets and garlic. Our 2025 offering of spring-blooming bulbs is in stock. (For gardening novices, that means plant tulip and daffodil bulbs now.) We have natives, grasses, succulents, shrubs, and trees. We still have some fruit trees and several varieties of roses. We have benches, trellises, arches, plant stakes, and cages. We have pottery and alternative plant containers. We have houseplants and soils. Lots of organic fertilizers and amendments. Fairy garden figures and bonsai miniatures to set the scene. Something for just about everybody. Plus, we have one of the coolest locations going in a unique setting with lots of plant diversity to choose from.
The seasons are definitely changing, and this is a reminder that we switch to our 10-4 winter hours in November and watch for 10-4 rain days this month. October is really the transition month and prime planting time for just about everything, including starting a lawn from seed. Winter’s annual flowers like primrose, cyclamen, poppies, pansies, violas, calendula, and ornamental cabbages are available now and at the nursery. This is also a time to look at colorful foliage and texture in your containers, as a lot of these flowering cool-season annuals are stubborn about flowering in the dead of winter.
One of my pistache trees is already showing a little color, and here is where I remind folks of the trees and shrubs that have the potential for showing some really nice fall colors before they drop their leaves for winter.
My favorite is Chinese Pistache. Seedling-grown ones are variable on when they turn and if they are orange, gold, or red, sometimes a combo of all three colors. The non-seed-producing variety called Keith Davey has the potential to be red, but as with all trees, color can vary year to year depending on nighttime temperatures. Maples are always a good bet for yellows or reds. If you want red, October Glory is a good choice. Ginkgo turns a beautiful gold. Raywood Ashes turn a very dark red, hence the common name Claret Ash. Lindens and Mulberries turn a nice yellow. Hawthorns turn a bronzy red. Persimmons are a reliable orange. Crape Myrtles are another good one for fall color, as long as the leaves turn before the freeze. We have had years where they turn brown and crisp before they turn. Needless to say, it’s very disappointing when that happens.
Many deciduous shrubs get nice fall foliage, too. Spireas and Barberry come to mind quickly. Deciduous Viburnums and Lilacs are good too. Euonymous alata, aka Burning Bush, can turn a fiery red. Oakleaf Hydrangeas often hold their purple leaves into winter here. Pomegranates turn gold, and Smoke Trees turn red along with Dogwoods. Blueberries can be quite colorful as winter approaches. Don’t forget how colorful the local vineyards become, so add grapes to the list as well. I believe a well-planned garden will have interest in every season, and there is nothing like fall foliage colors to mark the arrival of autumn.
As the holidays approach, we want to confirm that our living potted Christmas trees should be here by mid-November. We will have wreaths and cut trees for Thanksgiving weekend and into December. Lots of Cyclamen, potted evergreens, Poinsettias, and Christmas Cactus will be available too. Our 2026 order of berries and figs in liner pots usually show up sometime next month, but bareroot trees come mid-January and roses at the end of Jan/first of Feb.
So what should your garden chores be? Things are cooling down, and you should adjust how many days you are watering. No need to have it coming on every day, as the days are cooler and most plants are slowing way down as far as needs go, as they prepare for their winter nap. It is probably time to start bringing in any houseplants you have outside for the summer. Make sure to check them for any pests and deal with them before you bring them inside. For spring fruiting and flowering, October is the month to apply 0-10-10 EBS Bloom food. This is a special food to promote better bloom, fruiting, and disease resistance in your fruit trees and early spring flowering shrubs like lilacs, wisteria, quince, spireas, and forsythia. If it is a spring-blooming ornamental and you have been disappointed with the flowering, then by all means do the 0-10-10 this fall. It won’t hurt. We fed our roses their regular feeding one last time, especially since the heat is over and we can get some really nice flower production in October and into November. Now is a great time to sow wildflower seeds, and as I mentioned before, for growing a lawn from seed. A good practice is to overseed your existing lawn, too, introducing some new stock into your old lawn. However, this is a good time to reduce the size of your lawn or remove it to save on water and create more natural habitat for our disappearing beneficial insects and birds. Lawns are a lot of work, and you could be spending more time relaxing in your outdoor space and less time pushing a lawn mower.
As the leaves start to fall, you might want to consider leaving them where they fall if appropriate and as a winter mulch for your beds. They do provide a benefit for your plant roots and other beneficials. They can keep heavy rainfall from doing as much damage and mud splashing onto your plants. They also cut down on spring weeds. I have a few oak trees in the front of the house, and I just load up my beds with a lot of them. If you are worried about the fire hazard they could be then clean them up and out in the spring.
Fall is prime planting time in our climate.
Customer Appreciation Day
One Day Only, Save 25% off our entire inventory
Saturday, Oct 4th, Open 9-5
October Specials 20% Off
- Fairy garden figures and houses
- Deciduous fruit trees
- Citronella geraniums
- Grasses
- Roses
