October at the Nursery...

Well, it's that time of year again!  The days are getting cooler and it's time to refresh your containers and flowerbeds for fall and winter.  The nursery is full of blooms and foliage again, with exciting selections for your garden around every corner.

For Autumn Displays     Mums in all sizes are budded and blooming, along with petunias, cosmos, ornamental peppers, rudbeckias and celosia.  Add in some colorful foliage with crotons, ferns and cabbage, and sprinkle in pumpkins and gourds around a hay bale or two, for an easy but beautiful fall display!

For Winter Color     Yes, pansies and violas have arrived! By the first weekend in October we will have a great selection of all of your favorite colors.  To pair with these, snapdragons, dianthus, and ornamental cabbage and kale are also in stock.

For the Winter Kitchen     Don't forget about all the delicious herbs and veggies that can be grown through winter.  Plant now so they can get a healthy headstart before temperatures get too chilly.  Winter herbs include parsley, rosemary, lavender, oregano and thyme.  Winter veggies include lettuce, swiss chard, pac choi, cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach.

For Fall Planting     Fall is the best time to plant trees, shrubs and groundcovers and we have a good selection of all of these.  New evergreens (including adorable small conifers for containers), Encore azaleas, boxwood and camellias have arrived, plus much more!

Sweeten Up the Autumn Garden
Ideas for Fall Fragrance

Make the autumn days spent in you garden even sweeter by including these fragrant bloomers in your landscape:

Tea Olive     This evergreen shrub boasts tiny white blooms in the spring as well as in the fall.  While they may not be particularly showy, their scent will float through your entire landscape.  Cut one or two branches and bring indoors for a sweetly fragrant arrangement. 

'August Beauty' Gardenia     This variety of the old southern favorite blooms later than others, from late summer into fall.  Enjoy this scent of summer in the autumn garden.

Confederate Jasmine     This evergreen vine blooms spring, summer and fall, and is well worth tucking into any garden space.  It can be trained as a vine or used as a groundcover, and its months of fragrance won't dissapoint.

How to Make Mums Last

• Trim dead blooms as often as possible to allow the buds underneath to open up.  This can extend their color by at least a couple of weeks.
• When watering a mum, pour the water in at the side of the pot instead of from the top into the middle of the plant.  Mums are brittle, and this can cause the plant to split, or fall apart, and lose its nice, round shape. 

• Did you know that caladium and dahlia bulbs can be saved and re-planted next spring? As soon as their foliage begins to look tired, cut plants down to the ground. Dig up the bulbs, allow them to dry out, place in a paper bag and store in a warm, dry place (an extra closet works well).  Next spring, plant after the threat of frost is past.