2013 04 07 – Coffee

It’s funny the coincidences that pop up in life now and again. Today, I had just finished placing an online order for some specialty coffees when I happened to go into my bedroom, where there are a lot of plants. Walking through the door, I was hit with this wonderful, different, yet somehow familiar fragrance.

The coffee tree, Coffea arabica, that I had snagged for myself last year when we got in a large shipment of more uncommon tropical fruit trees was in full bloom. The branches were covered in large white blooms with a fragrance similar to citrus blooms, but with a bit of spiciness to them. The fragrance was more subtle than the sometimes overpowering citrus blooms. I also noticed that my Key lime had a few flowers open, but because of the sheer number of flowers on the coffee tree, it was the dominant fragrance in the room. I had noticed last week while watering plants that the coffee tree was loaded with buds, but had since forgotten about it due to other work-related tasks occupying my brain.

What a wonderful surprise! And all of this coming from one of the easier plants to take care of in my tropical collection. There were a few times this winter when the indoor plants didn’t get watered for a couple of weeks at a time. During this time, I lost one of my two chocolate trees, a couple of hot peppers, and my basil. The eggplants and a couple of other plants had also suffered, but they’re slowly recovering.  I’ll definitely have to keep my eye out for coffee trees this summer, especially larger size ones.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be blessed with a crop of coffee beans. I haven’t grown a coffee tree before so this is all new to me. To a coffee addict such as myself (I currently have 27 different kinds of coffee, espresso, lattes, etc. in the house, eight flavoured syrups, and a large number of new coffees coming with the above-mentioned order), just the thought of getting my own coffee beans and roasting them myself is exhilarating. I think this might call for a Creme Caramel Cappuccino with raw sugar sprinkled on top to celebrate.

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There have been some changes at WordPress and it’s not resizing the pictures in my last post – sorry for the very large post. I’ve fixed the problem for the most part.

2012 12 03 – More Christmas Arrangements

After finishing up at the Urban Pantry, the next big job was at The Hobby Horse Arms. My part in BJ’s elaborate decorating plan (which included over 1000 lights), seemed very simple. In fact, it was, but it was time consuming. They had renovated the patio this past summer and wanted me to do something with the large planter boxes that lined the patio. Essentially, they are eight over-sized window boxes, each four feet long, and 15 inches deep and wide. They also have no soil, so the first thing I needed was 24 large pots to put in them so I had some soil to work in. My goal was to keep it simple and make it look as though each group of four planters were one long continuous box. I only have pictures of the one side because the other side was completed around 8:30pm, in the snow.

After that, there were plenty of containers to make for orders

and a few pairs just to have available to sell

While I was doing all of this, Judy was also busy, decorating over the garage, making swags and arrangements as well

Oliviah has also been making a number of containers as well as mesh wreaths

Yesterday, I was doing a little indoor decorating. After finding both pink and blue Christmas trees, I had to have them both. It was a lot of fun decorating them. Each tree has 98 ornaments on it, as well as 2 rolls of mesh and some garland.

Of course, I also have a more traditional tree, which is still a work in progress. It only has 92 balls so far, as well as a roll of mesh and 2 rolls of ribbon.

2012 11 22 – Urban Pantry

No surprise that it’s been a while since my last post. We were busy moving the plants to the back yard for the winter, and sinking other plants in the ground, plus trying to get set up for Christmas, then there was the IODE fundraiser where I made this blue and white container in a birch pot.

After that there was the Uxbridge Christmas Home Tour:

After that, we had a visit from the township By-Law Enforcement, letting us know that we had to take down the open sign and the promotional sign (that let’s people know that we have Christmas stuff in, as well as when we have a sale, when we open for the season, etc.) I was able to incorporate the open sign into the planter box sign, which is ok for now, although I’ll have to address council in January and hope that I get to keep it where it is. The real problem was letting people know that we had Christmas stuff in, so I decorated the planter box ad the trees at the side of the road.

The next big job was doing the outdoor decorating at the Urban Pantry in Uxbridge, which is where I’ve been for the last two days. Niki and her parents and all of the staff were so friendly and helpful. They brought me coffee regularly, made me an amazing burger for lunch, with thornloe cheddar, braised cabbage, and apple, grainy mustard. I was doing up their patio for the winter and wasn’t sure where to start. She had some tall lit birch branches from last year, but didn’t like how they weren’t full. I put all three into one container (after her dad and mom redid the lights as most of the strings weren’t working – I’m not great with lights – I don’t think I have the patience for them). I knew from talking to Niki that she liked the willow deer that I had and liked the idea of bringing nature in, but still wanted colour that would be visible from the road. That’s when I had the idea to have a small forest at one end of the patio, with a family of deer emerging from the forest and coming upon a series of differently coloured arrangements which were meant to represent Christmas presents.

Originally, the ‘presents’ were arranged in clusters of three, with the large red arrangement standing alone, but when looking from inside where the customers sit, there were gaps so the presents were spaced out more evenly. The Blue & White arrangement is Niki’s favourite and she claims that it has nothing to do with the colours of Greece’s flag.

The front entrance box is where they grow a lot of herbs for fresh use. It already had the birch logs in place, so I simply went from there.

There’s a window just inside the entrance with a window box outside. The shades have always been drawn here because if you open them, you get a great view of the dumpster. I filled it with tall dogwood and white branches – no greenery. This is something I do with my own containers on my deck. Niki’s going to hang a bird feeder above and the birds will regularly perch on the branches, waiting for their turn at the feeder, in full view of the customers. You can still see the dumpster through the branches, but it’s not so glaringly obvious and your eye is drawn towards the branches.

Tomorrow, I’ll be working on the hobby Horse Arms decorations and will post afterwards. Judy and Oliviah have also made up a number of containers and I’ll get them up as well.

12 10 28 – Fall Pruning

Most of the leaves have fallen and it’s time to start thinking about fall chores. This usually presents a conundrum for most people; should I do it now or should I wait until the spring. Where possible, I prefer to leave most tasks until the spring. I still have quite a bit of planting to do, as well as putting the nursery to bed for the winter so the less I do now, the better.

When it comes to pruning trees, most trees should be pruned in the early spring. Of course, there are exceptions. Maples and birch trees have sap that runs freely in the early spring so you are better off to prune them now. Having said that, I prefer to prune Japanese maples in the late spring, after their leaves are completely out, just because they are a little more tender for us and if we have a hard winter, there will be less die back if you wait until late spring. I use the same logic with roses. A hard winter will cause the canes to die back a bit on the less hardy roses, like hybrid teas and floribundas. If you prune your roses heavily in the fall and then we get a hard winter, you’ll have even less to work with in the spring and can lose entire canes.

It is also a good idea to prune elms and oaks at this time. This lessens their chance of getting Dutch elm disease and oak wilt. Oak wilt is not yet a problem in Canada, but it is getting closer. It’s very much like Dutch elm disease in how it attacks the tree, but the beetles that carry the fungus need an open wound to pass it along so pruning when it’s too cold for the beetles is a good habit to get into. Similarly, ash trees should be pruned now to lessen the chances of emerald ash borers getting into the tree.

If you have any Viburnums, especially European snowballs (V. opulus), highbush cranberries (V. trilobum) or arrowwood (V. dentatum), now is a good time to look for Viburnum leaf beetle eggs. With the leaves off, they’re much easier to find. Look at this year’s growth; if you find a series of small raised bumps in a straight line, these are the eggs. Prune off the sections with the eggs and burn the infected stems. I used to do this in the spring, but with the increasing warm spells in the late winter and early spring, I’ve started making it a fall task.

I know that a lot of people like to cut back their perennials now so that their gardens are nice and neat come the spring, but I personally cut very little back in the fall. By leaving them up, you’re providing birds with food for the winter and nesting materials come spring. However, if you’ve had any powdery mildew or other fungus problems, cut those perennials to the ground now, collect the fallen leaves and burn them.

2012 10 27 – Amaryllis

Thought I’d post pictures (compliments of Florissa’s Bulbs) of the Amaryllis varieties we have in.

The following are available in mammoth sizes. These will usually produce 6-7 bloom stalks with up to 7 flowers per bloom.

There are also large sizes, which will usually produce 3-4 bloom stalks. There is one additional variety, Hercules, which is a solid pink, that I don’t have a photo for.

The following are available in regular sizes that usually produce 1-2 bloom stalks:

And of course we have some doubles:

Next is the Santa’s Little Helper Series. These bulbs have been preconditioned, so that they bloom in 4-6 weeks.

12 10 19 – Lespedeza Gibraltar

Ok so it took a little longer than a couple of days to get this up. The end of season sale has been a lot busier than we expected. Even with everything being 50-70% off, the first week was the fourth highest sales week of the year. I’ve also spent a fair bit of time working on next year’s orders. There’s some very cool (and rare) plants booked already, especially in the conifers. I’ve also finally signed off on the paperwork to get someone to put together the website, www.johnsgarden.ca.  It’ll take a little while to see some changes, but this should start happening in the next couple of weeks.

taken September 13, 2012

This shrub is just a wonderful addition to any garden.  It’s called Lespedeza thunbergii ‘Gibraltar’ or bush clover. In my Canada Zone 5 garden, it dies to the ground each winter and I cut it to the ground in the spring, much like butterfly bush. Each year it gets to be five feet tall, and stands up straight all summer. Then in September, when a lot of plants have finished blooming for the year, it gets covered in pink buds. As the buds open, the sheer weight of all of the flowers causes the branches to arch over and you get this gorgeous fountain of pink that lasts well into October. Even with our first frost coming weeks early on September 15, it kept blooming and looking amazing until a very hard frost/freeze did it in a week ago.

It is very drought tolerant, which was a godsend this year. Mine is planted in sand, with good soil added when it was planted eight years ago. It wasn’t watered once this year, as evidenced by the very yellow grass that you can see in the first picture. All plants in my gardens have to fend for themselves. There’s just no time for coddling (or watering, or fertilizing, or weeding, or any of that stuff that most gardeners do to keep everything looking its best). There’s also the added benefit that since it’s a legume, it’s a great nitrogen fixer.