What's Happening in Souther California - Garden Edition January 2012

As always, I want to remind you to shop local, and get the freshest produce around by heading out to the local Farmer’s Markets in Santa Clarita:

Sundays 8:00am – noon
College of The Canyons Parking Lot
Don’t forget to visit my friend Sarah from Worldwide Exotics

Please don’t visit on January 1st (this Sunday) they won’t be open.

There is also another great Farmer’s Market:
Thursdays in Old Town Newhall from 3-7pm.

Keep your eyes and ears open, I'll be announcing a new Complimentary Telecall early this month. You'll want to sign up for this one!

Roses, roses, roses. There are a lot of rose events this month!

Green Thumb Christmas Clearance Sale
Pick up some amazing deals on the beautiful ornaments and décor that might not have been swooped up during the holidays. Things will still be on sale including big discounts on discontinued items. Get there before it’s all gone or packed up! Green Thumb is located at: 23734 Newhall Avenue in Newhall, CA 91321 (661) 259-1071



Sat Jan 7, 2012 – Rose Care University at Otto & Sons 10 am – 12 noon (repeated each Saturday this month) 1835 E. Guiberson Road Filmore, Ca. 93015 (805) 524-2123 MUST RSVP for reservation – cost $15.00 – lots of giveaways, home made cookies and… Learn the fundamentals. Rose pruning, soil management, watering, feeding, Eco-Gardening, and What’s Bugging You?


Sun Jan 8, 2012 – Free Rose Care Seminar - 2:30 – 4:30
The Santa Clarita Valley Rose Society is hosting their 20th Annual Free Rose Care Seminar at the SCV Senior Center, 22900 Market Street, Newhall.

The seminar will feature Master Rosarians Bob Belendez, Kitty Belendez, and Steve Jones who will demonstrate how to properly prune various types of roses. The Master Rosarians will also explain how to plant bareroot roses, how to rejuvenate roses grown in containers, and how to fertilize and mulch. You will be rewarded with beautiful blooms when you practice these techniques on your own roses. The club will also have a door prize, rose raffle, and refreshments after the seminar. There is no cost to attend, and the public is invited. New members who join the rose society (annual dues are $20 per family) will receive a year’s subscription to the club’s award-winning newsletter “Rose Ecstasy” and a 10% annual discount card good at Green Thumb Nursery all year. For more information contact Kitty Belendez at (661) 296-5033, or e-mail rosextckb@aol.com. Please RSVP so that we can provide sufficient seating, handout materials, and refreshments. Visit the Santa Clarita Valley Rose Society web site at www.scvrs.homestead.com.



Sat Jan 14, 2012 – Orchard & Winter Fruit Tree Care at Otto & Sons 10 am – 12 noon (repeated each Saturday this month) 1835 E. Guiberson Road Filmore, Ca. 93015 (805) 524-2123 MUST RSVP for reservation – cost $15.00 – lots of giveaways, home made cookies and… Topics include: Fruit tree selection, Pruning, watering, feeding, pest control mulching. Also – Tom Spellman of Dave Wilson Nursery will demonstrate how to have fruit almost year round and explain how to control the size of your trees.



Sat Jan 14, 2012 – Rose Care University at Otto & Sons 2-4 pm (repeated each Saturday this month) 1835 E. Guiberson Road Filmore, Ca. 93015 (805) 524-2123 MUST RSVP for reservation – cost $15.00 – lots of giveaways, home made cookies and… Learn the fundamentals. Rose pruning, soil management, watering, feeding, Eco-Gardening, and What’s Bugging You?

Saturday January 21, 2012 9 am - 12 noon CLWA – Landscape Education Class
Making the Cut – Proper Rose Pruning Techniques at Castaic Lake Water Agency on the hill above Central Park. Please RSVP to (661) 513-1230.

Sat Jan 21, 2012 – Rose Care University at Otto & Sons 10 am – 12 noon (repeated each Saturday this month) 1835 E. Guiberson Road Filmore, Ca. 93015 (805) 524-2123 MUST RSVP for reservation – cost $15.00 – lots of giveaways, home made cookies and… Learn the fundamentals. Rose pruning, soil management, watering, feeding, Eco-Gardening, and What’s Bugging You?



Sat Jan 28, 2012 – Rose Care University at Otto & Sons 10 am – 12 noon (repeated each Saturday this month) 1835 E. Guiberson Road Filmore, Ca. 93015 (805) 524-2123 MUST RSVP for reservation – cost $15.00 – lots of giveaways, home made cookies and… Learn the fundamentals. Rose pruning, soil management, watering, feeding, Eco-Gardening, and What’s Bugging You?


Descanso Gardens:
Instead of roses, roses, roses Descanso Gardens is all about Camellias these next couple of months and let me tell you – their Camellias are spectacular! Here are a couple events you can attend:

Saturday & Sunday January 14 & 15, 2012 Pacific Camellia Society in Van de Kamp, Maple and Birch http://www.pacificcamellias.org/

Saturday & Sunday January 28 & 29, 2012 Southern California Camellia’s Two-day show includes a plant sale. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Van de Kamp, Maple and Birch.


Here is the link to Descanso’s calendar:




LA Arboretum
Of course there is a rose pruning class this month, and Lili Singer’s classes start up again on Thursdays (starting January 12th) plus there is a square foot gardening class and more!

For more about the upcoming events – check out this link.

Have a great time this month, there is a lot to do in Southern California.

For more about my designs, please visit my website

Wordless Wednesday - As the year ends

For more about my designs

My Favorite Christmas Song

Yes, I'm Jewish, and yes I know this has nothing to do with gardening, landscape or gardens but I wanted to share my favorite Christmas Song of all time. The Kinks - Father Christmas.

Father Christmas

Enjoy!

If you want to know more about my designs, take a look at my website.

Wordless Wednesday - Holiday Colors -Plant Edition

Agave lophantho 'Quadricolor' & Aloe plicatilis (San Marcos Growers)

Pink Flowered Oxalis!

Sticks of Fire & Loropetalum

To learn more about me and my designs check my website

Keeping Your Pets Safe at the Holidays - Plants & more

Scarlett by Marlana Smith

Recently we had a trauma in our household, our dogs ate chocolate. I had come home from a speaking event with four small brownies in one of the boxes of supplies I was carrying, as I arrived home I received one call after another, the first announcing the birth of my great grandnephew, the other a friend in need – so I was occupied with thoughts other than my packages. My son was very helpful, carrying things in for me but he did not know that there were brownies in my carrying case. Not good.

Hours later, I realized that I didn’t know where my son had put the box with the brownies; unfortunately they were placed on the ground which gave easy access to our Lhasa Apso and Yorkshire Terrier. Chocolate is a well-known poison to dogs, so off to the Emergency Veterinarian we went; because of course by this time it was 10pm on a Sunday night. I’m happy to say that the dogs are fine, but my son and I didn’t fare as well. We didn’t sleep much that night and it cost an arm and a leg!

The culprits after their ordeal

This incident made me realize that a blog post about items that are toxic to animals would be perfect for this time of the year. Many of the plants that are holiday gifts are toxic to both dogs and cats, and with some holiday food treat in the mix as well, it is important that you keep things safe for your furry family members.

Here is a(n incomplete) list of things to keep out of reach of your animals.

Plants:

• Amaryllis
• Cyclamen
• Kalanchoe
• Mistletoe
• Paper White Bulbs
• Poinsettia
• Flower arrangements that contain Lilies, Holly, most Ferns, Baby’s Breath, and Bird of Paradise to name a few.
• Items ON your Christmas tree such as tinsel, garlands, and small ornaments… including their hangers.

Now for the foods:

• Hanukkah Gelt (chocolate coins)
• Garlic (especially dried)
• Onion (ditto)
• Raisins, currants, raisins… think fruitcake
• Boxes of chocolate candy left on dog face level tables
• Coffee (chocolate covered espresso beans are especially lovely)
• Nicotine --- cigarettes and cigarette butts
• Sugarless gum or mints (xylitol)

For a complete list please check out petpoisonhelpline.com or your veterinarian.

Churchill by Marlana Smith

There are also plenty of plants for your garden that can be a hazard to dogs and especially cats. Sago palms, Hellebores, Angel’s Trumpet, Lantana, Lilies, Foxglove, Oleander, Hemlock, Nightshades, Nicotiana, Primrose, Daffodils, Aloes, Azaleas and many more plants can cause harm and even death to your pets. This means that it is very important to make sure that when you are designing your garden, you know what you are planting or you hire someone that does. One of my highest priorities is to make sure that your family, including both pets and children, are safe in their new sanctuary. Make sure that when you interview your landscape professional that you ask lots of questions to assess their knowledge of plant material as it relates to your furry friends!

For more about my designs, please visit my website

Wordless Wednesday - Some favorites

Aloe Flowers

Fremontodendron californica

Agave Moon

To learn more about me and my designs check my website

How To Care For Gaura

One of the shining stars of my front garden is my gaura – it is big, beautiful, and can be a real show stopper. The most important thing I’ve learned about planting these beauties, is to give them lots of room! They do get as big as they say, up to 3’x3’ depending on variety so they are definitely middle of the border perennials – NOT front of the border.

Your gaura will flower non-stop from April until the end of October and as I write this post starting the second week of December mine is still in bloom! This plant is great because it is drought tolerant and does not need a whole lot of care.


This photo shows how nicely Gaura works with other perennials like this Cuphea Starfire.

During the first year, you want to water your plant regularly, even keeping the soil somewhat moist during it’s first growing season. After that, you can water it only when it gets hot and dry (summer in Southern California). By low maintenance, I mean you don’t really need to do anything to it, however if you remove the dead flowers (dead head it) and remove seed heads during its blooming season you will increase the new blooms and prolong the blooming period. Fertilizing is also a good idea, try a nice balanced organic granular fertilizer monthly. Stop fertilizing when it gets cool (December) and start up again in spring.




To maintain the size and shape of your gaura you should cut the plant down to 10 inches in the spring of its second season then thinning each spring after that. Your plant will branch out and become more like a shrub (perfect for the middle border). Thinning should be accomplished by removing excess growth (crossing and errant branches first). At the end of the blooming season the only thing you need to do is prune out dead or diseased foliage – which will help prevent pests and diseases.

So, you don't need to do much now (December) but keep this in mind for the spring!

If you want to know more about me or my designs check out my website.

Wordless Wednesday - December Daze

What To Do In Your Southern California Garden In December

We are heading full throttle into the holiday season, and lucky Southern Californians still have gardening chores to do! Don’t complain, instead of shoveling snow, you are shoveling sunshine (and raking leaves).

Here is your monthly garden chore list for December, tack it to your fridge and plow through it or… have a cup of eggnog and leave it to next year – your choice!



1. Rake leaves – Keep those holiday decorations in view (and some of the beautiful plant we are lucky to be able to enjoy) by keeping up on those leaves. We always have some windy days this time of year, so they are going to pile up for sure! While the east coast is shoveling, we are raking and as a transplant I am thankful for that every year.



2. Plant winter blooming shrubs, perennials, and vines – Some of my favorites are Hardenbergis, Ceanothus, Clivia, Carolina Jessamine, Breath of Heavenm and Cyclamen. You can use the cyclamen as holiday décor and since they are bulbs and the weather here is mild, you’ll likely have them come back a few years in a row.



3. Water your living Christmas tree regularly – If you have a fresh cut tree you need to check it each day to make sure that it doesn’t dry out and start dropping needles. The heaters in our homes add to the drying effects and speed evaporation.

4. Start Patioscaping – It is time to update your container designs! I have pumpkins and squash adorning my harvest based planting designs, so it is time to cook them and replace them with white pumpkins, plastic icicles, and this year I’m adding strings of lights to the taller plants!

5. Add winter annuals for holiday décor – If you add some festive annuals to your perennial garden they will be the icing on your holiday decorating cake! Cyclamen (mentioned above) begonias, and pansies can be planted in swaths that will greet your guests as they arrive at your beautifully decorated entry!

6. Prune fall blooming shrubs & vines – Shrubs and vines that have bloomed can be trimmed back now in readiness for their next season.



7. Tis the season…for planting California natives - Continuing on through fall and winter. Timing is great because your plants will receive the winter water that comes around and they appreciate not to be planted in the hot, hot heat that we are sure to have come summer.



8. Feed flowering plants with high phosphorus fertilizer - Yes, I said it was getting cold for fertilizer utilization but if you have showy blooming plants like Plumeria which bloom June and later it is a good time to fertilize them. The phosphorus (second number on the label) is absorbed over time, so giving it six months to work on those blooms is a good idea.



9. Plant winter veggies - You can still plant leafy greens, bok choy, perennial & cool weather loving herbs (parsley, dill, & cilantro). Succession planting of the leafy greens is a great idea because you can harvest as you make salad and always have more for next week!

10. Keep your eyes open for bare root plants – You can keep an eye open for bare root plants, in California we can plant them right through February. Fruit trees, grapes, roses – keep a look out for your favorites and save money!



11. Watch for signs of frost – Read my blog post about the warning signs, pay attention to the weather and think about protecting your citrus trees by stringing some Christmas lights on them to keep the air warm around them, and they’ll be extra festive!

12. Mulch! If you didn’t throw that 3” blanket of mulch on your plants in November – now is a great time to do it. The mulch will keep them warm, discourage weeds, and help retain the winter rains.

I know it is a busy month, so I hope having this list helps you organize your garden time so you can spend some holiday time with the ones you love! Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions. If you want to see more of my designs take a look at my website.

Happy Gardening!
xo,
Julie