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December 2011
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Vol 1, Issue 8
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Garden Notes

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Greetings from Christianson's Nursery! |

"When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things - not the great occasions - give off
the greatest glow of happiness."
~ Bob Hope
There must be a law of nature that goes something like this: everything is bigger in December. We have big newspapers, big crowds, big sales, big lines, big bills, big meals, big gatherings, big emotions, and big hearts. The days may be shorter, but they are still big, full days.
All of this relates to the second law of nature about December: it involves a lot of lists. Gift lists, grocery lists, project lists, mailing lists...the list goes on. The best lists, however, are the ones we usually don't write down. These are the lists of blessings, gratitude, and memories. When we've had a big, hard day, these are the lists that sustain us.
There is a website called '1000 Awesome Things' that highlights many of life's simple joys. Examples are things like laughing so hard you make no sound, getting help planting your bulbs, and the smell of freshly cut grass. If you visit the website, you'll see that there's a companion book called 'The Book of Awesome' by Neil Pasricha.
If we were to write our own book of awesome, here are just a few things from recent weeks that would be on our list:
- A rose hip wreath on a white wood door
- The smell of warm cider in the Garden Store when you've come in from the cold
- Customers helping other customers as they make their holiday wreaths
- Donating $757 to the La Conner Boys and Girls Club, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of everyone who attended our Holiday Tea on November 26
- Arriving in our parking lot just as the sun breaks through
- Customers raving about the scones and pumpkin bars served at the Holiday Tea (recipes are provided in this newsletter)
- Staff members and customers all humming the same songs as they walk through the greenhouses
- The sound of rain on the Conservatory roof
Thank you for coming to the Nursery this past year and being a part of it all. We hope you have enjoyed your time with us and that everything you have purchased is thriving and bringing you continued joy. From all of us to all of you, best wishes for many moments of 'awesome' this holiday season and into the New Year. Cheers! P.S. This month's newsletter is big. Take your time and read what you like. And rest assured, it won't be so big after December.
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Where to find us
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15806 Best Road
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
360-466-3821
1-800-585-8200
Winter Hours Open Daily: 9 am - 5 pm
Holiday Hours December 24: 9 am - 3 pm
December 31: 9 am - 3 pm
We will be closed on December 25 and January 1
NW Flower & Garden Show "People's Choice Award 2011"
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The Garden in December...with Ani Gurnee
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Staff member, Rachel, prepares roses for winter
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The year draws to a close. From the window, wrapped in the cozy glow of home, we look out on the garden. A great quietude seems to have settled in, but on closer inspection the garden is aflutter with multitudes of little birds hunting avidly among the twigs. The slugs have retreated to sleep out the cold, but the bunnies (their population greatly reduced from spring) are still sniffing through the leaves.
The garden is revealed in its most structural simplicity now, and inspires contemplation at that level. What an invitation to some major re-thinking and perhaps some sweeping adjustments. On the other hand, big changes are not always necessary. A much-loved, mature garden is a part of our history, rooting us to the earth we have nurtured with familiar memories.
The drawing in of winter is also a time of rest, reflection and celebration. We lay the table, give thanks, and set our sights forward toward the new gardening year.
- Rest! Do take a rest. Celebrate inertness! And enjoy also that mode of slow, aimless puttering. Clean the birdhouses. Drain the soaker hoses. Enjoy the privilege of moving slowly, taking in detail.
- Catalogs will be arriving, sparking our imagination. Note plants of interest. Draw diagrams of your garden beds so that you can plot a variety of different ideas. Do some additional reading. By the way, the Nursery carries a great selection of books, ranging from garden design and plant reference books, to cookbooks, children's books, and much more.
- Last week marked the arrival of the huge winter influx of new trees and shrubs at the Nursery. Fresh from the growing grounds, selections are at their max this month. Winter is excellent for getting these larger, major plants in the ground, giving them all winter to send out roots and adapt before the increased nutritional demands of spring and the dangers of soil dehydration. It is also a good time to assess areas on your site that become too wet in winter. Along the whole spectrum from bog to desert, every species has its preferred range of soil moisture fluctuations. There are appropriate choices for every soil situation, but reading up a little extra before making a purchase can save siting things poorly.
- This is a great time to attend to perennial vegetables. A good layer of straw on an asparagus bed will do wonders to prevent choking perennial grasses from taking over (same also applies to fall-planted garlic beds). In our mild winters, there are a host of hard-to-get-rid-of-weeds that see winter as an opportunity to get a foothold and expand their root systems while the competition is at a minimum. Artichokes are variable in their winter survival here. Straw mulch can help prevent winter damage to artichokes as well.
- Do you have trouble with mold in strawberries? Has your patch been in the same place for some years? Re-planting your existing plants onto mounded rows will lift the plants out of the humid congestion that promotes molds. And if you cover both mound and adjacent troughs with a thick layer of straw now, in spring all the new stems will elongate to rise above the straw, the leaves will stand high, and the berries will arch high and cascade over a light, dry cushion of straw out of the damp and the mold. Slugs will be more visible and easier to pick too. Note: If you are using straw for winter mulching, let it thin out over the summer to control slugs when they are reproducing.
- Did your rhubarb perform poorly? Rhubarb is a heavy feeder, requiring adequate moisture and lots of nitrogen for those long stems. Planting on a rich, fertile mound with lots of organic matter where it can draw ample moisture from below, and keeping the crown 6" to 12" above surrounding soil will help it thrive. Note: Fertilize again in March and make sure to keep all seed stalks cut out as soon as they appear through summer.
- If you haven't planted your bulbs yet, make sure to do it this month. They need these winter months to put out a root system to prepare them for the blooming season in the spring.
- Pruning season is coming. If possible, hold off until January, or even February, as most plants in our long mild falls have not yet gone fully dormant. Leaving last year's blooms on shrubs such as hydrangeas can hold snow as a protective blanket and give added protection from sudden severe weather. For some species this does not make a huge difference but for many it does.
We will cover the topic of pruning in more detail in January. Pruning classes at the Nursery will be starting at the end of January and this year the series will be broken into more specific topics. Consider attending the basic general classes if you plan on attending specialty classes, as all the basics will apply. The first class in the series - 'The Virtues of Bareroot' on Sunday, January 29 - will include a demonstration on pruning your new bareroot plants to get them off to a good start.
For now, rest up and enjoy the holidays!

Ani Gurnee is a popular and greatly-adored guest speaker at the nursery. Ani is the owner of Aulos Design and she can be reached at 360-445-2028. |
Winter Specials
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NEW ARRIVALS AT THE NURSERY Custom-made Wreaths
Our in-house designers have created beautiful botanical wreaths using traditional fresh greens as well as red twig dogwood, grasses, teasel, rose hips, cypress, and more.
Including 'Blue Arizona Fir' ~ John's favorite
Winter-flowering Heaths
2012 selections of balled and burlap specimen trees
magnolias, dogwoods, Japanese maples, and many more, and all at great prices
Bareroot roses are in!
SALES EVENTS
Christmas Holly - 20% off December 1 -31 traditional English Holly plus many rare and uncommon varieties 1 gallon to 6' sizes House & Conservatory Plants - 25% off January 1 -31 tropical plants for home or greenhouse (free repotting with plant and pot purchase)
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Holiday Gift Ideas
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Primrose Gift Shop
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Are you looking for a peaceful, enjoyable, and hassle-free holiday shopping experience? If so, come to the Nursery! We are a local, independently-owned business and our knowledgeable staff is here to assist you seven days a week. We carry only top-of-the-line plants and products, and offer a great selection of unique gift items. Here are just a few ideas to help inspire you: - Orchids - long blooming beauties that live forever (some books have described orchids as being immortal)
- Camellias - many wonderful varieties are at the Nursery now
- Double Hellebores - Hellebores develop buds in early winter and bloom until late spring. The perfect gift to warm a gardener's heart in winter!
- Wreaths - in addition to traditional holiday wreaths made with fresh greens, we carry a beautiful selection of botanical wreaths that can be displayed year-round. If you enjoy giving gifts you've made yourself, you can make your own wreath. Through December 24th we have wreath-making machines available for you to use every day from 9 am to 4 pm and our staff is here to help. Wire rings and greenery are available for purchase, or you can bring your own greens. Please call in advance to make reservations: 360-466-3821.
- Other plants that make great holiday and hostess gifts: Citrus plants, Topiaries, Christmas cactus, Poinsettias, and indoor bloomers such as Paperwhites and Amaryllis
- Garden Tools - staff favorites include Hori Hori knifes and Felco pruners
- Rain chains, garden art, and trellises
- Fancy rubber boots and gloves and ruffled umbrellas (which are beautiful AND useable)
- Books - the Nursery carries books on all sorts of subjects, including gardening, cooking, children's books, and more. For vegetable gardeners, a staff favorite is 'Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Natural Gardening' by Steve Solomon.
- Our Primrose gift shop is filled with a dazzling selection of antiques and embellishments for the home, garden, and kitchen, including candles, holiday ornaments and decorations, cooking items, picture frames, books, and whimsical home decor and antiques. We also carry a wonderful selection of personal gift items, such as jewelry, scarves, gloves, botanical perfumes, soaps, lotions, and so much more.
- How about tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show (in Seattle on February 8 -12, 2012)? Tickets will be available for sale at the Nursery starting December 15 and are $16 for early bird tickets and $20 during the dates of the show.
- You can also 'purchase' a seat on one of our 'Flower Buses', which will be heading to the Flower and Garden Show on February 8, 9, and 10. The cost of a combination show ticket and bus ride is $51 per person.
- And of course, every gardener on your list will love a gift certificate to Christianson's Nursery - the one-size-fits-all perennial favorite!
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Holiday Recipes
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Gingerbread with Caramel Pears
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In recent weeks we've had quite a few requests for some of our holiday recipes. For example, in the current issue of the Garden Gazette, Toni Christianson mentioned that she was contemplating a new recipe called ' Gingerbread with Caramel Pears' and as soon as that newsletter was published we started receiving requests for this recipe. We've also had a number of requests for some of the items we prepared and served at our 16th Annual Holiday Tea on November 26.
Maybe someday we'll have a 'Christianson's Nursery Cookbook' but in the mean time, here are three of our most frequently requested recipes from the past month. Happy baking!
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Winter Calendar
| To see full class descriptions, please visit the 'Classes & Events' page on our website
Saturday, December 10
Bellevue Botanical Gardens - Holiday Lights Tour
12:30 pm - 8: 30 am (reservations required - $40)
Saturday, January 14
Orchids Noon - 1 pm (reservations required - $5 class fee)
Saturday, January 21 There's a Deer in My Garden 11 am - noon (reservations required - $5 class fee)
Sunday, January 29
The Virtues of Bareroot
11 am - 12:30 pm (reservations required - $5 class fee)
For class reservations, call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200 To see full class descriptions, please visit the 'Classes & Events' page on our website |
Closing thought...
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"I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember. 'We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,' I heard a bird sing In the dark of December." - Oliver Herford
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Garden Notes Editor:
Eve Boe, Public Relations and Events Coordinator
Christianson's Nursery & Greenhouse
eve.christiansons@gmail.com
360-466-3821
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