Greetings!

Every government agency has to earn their keep.  The folks in charge of our water supply must keep warning us about our dependency upon a continuously shrinking supply of water.  Of course we all know that our supply is just a matter of economics.  There's plenty of water if we wish to pay for it and if the water district, cities and states will commit to deliver.  We just need more reservoirs, more pipelines, more aqueducts, more recycling facilities and more desalinization plants.  Our cities, especially our paved roads, have to be re-engineered to capture and clean the rainwater that we receive.   

Anyway, we and the California farmers need a few more good storms this winter to get the water district's OK to cultivate all the arable land (plant our backyard gardens) for the 2011 season.   

How can we get more wet weather without damaging what we have already planted and what is currently blooming?

Anyone notice that the heavy rains of 2005 pretty much wiped out our bumble bee population.  This is because they nest underground.  The 30+ inches that year pretty much drowned them.  I have seen very few bumble bees since then.  Bumble bees are the best pollinators of cucurbit (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins) flowers.  Without them we've had to hand pollinate to avoid crop failures.  This involves taking the male flowers and brushing the male anthers against the pistil of the female flowers.  Last year there were many squash, cucumber and pumpkin failures where the developing fruit aborts when just partially grown.  You've got to be the bee. 

Bare Root Season Continues

Bare Root Season generally lasts from January to early March.  Since I don't (and have never had) a big walk-in refrigerator, we can't force the trees to remain dormant.  The end of dormancy and the bare root selling season is very dependent upon the temperature.  A prolonged warm spell makes all the merchandise leaf out and require immediate planting.   

We can put strawberry plants in our refrigerator so we didn't mind ordering 500 more.  At 40 cents apiece, you can plant a huge crop.  Each plant can produce about a basket of fruit per year.  At our home we have several multi-tiered pots, a large, medium and small pot stacked to save space and keep ground dwelling bugs from damaging the fruit.  See some examples at our farmers market booth.  We'll have the plants, the soil, and the pots available.  Strawberry plants can be productive for 3-4 years.   

We decided to carry a few ornamental trees among our bare root offerings.   

One of our all-time favorites, the MEXICAN REDBUD TREE, is a small blooming tree that does well in partial shade or sun with glossy, sea-green, foliage that is quite reminiscent of the Silver Sheen Pittosporum.  This tree blooms for 3 weeks in March with clusters of tiny, rose-blushed flowers.  The small, heart-shaped leaves create a dappled shade.  Expect upright growth to 18' tall and 10' wide.  This tree is native to eastern Mexico, just south of Texas.  The specimens we have are multi-trunk and $44. 

We couldn't pass up a new introduction, the CHAIN FLOWERED REDBUD TREE.  This western China native blooms in early spring with 2-4" long racemes of up to 40 small light pink flowers.  Heart-shaped, bright green leaves emerge after the bloom.  The rounded, spreading crown can reach 20-25' tall and wide.  The specimens we have are single-trunked and $34.   

Generally, Redbud trees can adapt to full sun or fairly shady conditions.  They are adaptable to fairly wet and fairly dry environments.  They have attractive leaves, spectacular flowers and decent fall foliage color.  They remain small trees that don't threaten pavement.  

We are offering one additional variety of fruit.

FUJI APPLE TREES.  This variety needs no introduction as it is one of the top, if not the top-selling commercial variety.  This sweet apple with great shelf life is a reliable local producer.   All of our bare root apples are $25.   

We have restocked a couple of fast sellers.

Pink Lady apple and Izu-Fuyu persimmon are back in stock. 

Bedding Plant Selection

Due to the prediction of nasty weather this week, we didn't restock our selection of Tomatoes and Peppers.  We still have a good selection of herbs and an excellent selection of succulents.  

Indoor Plants

We are now carrying a small selection of house plants that include many different selections of Ivy, Orchids, African Violets, Bromeliads, Hoyas and more.

Bagged Products

We remain fully stocked with our ACID MIX & TROPICAL POTTING SOIL and our corn glutein fertilizer.  

We plan to be at our farmers market locations this week, WEATHER PERMITTING!

EVERY FRIDAY 1pm-6pm

Santa Margarita Farmers Market

(Big Lot's parking lot at El Portal X Avenida de las Flores)

EVERY SUNDAY 10am-2pm

Great Park Farmers Market

(Irvine at the Great Park Balloon parking lot on Marine Way)

Hope to see you there,

Gary Matsuoka

LAGUNA HILLS NURSERY