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TRIBAL NOTES
Like that old Marvin Gay song… there ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.... We wait all year for this spring thing and it’s finally here. Hope you’re out enjoying as much of it as you can these days.. it’s a beautiful thing.
We’re all zipping around like wild bees around here. The spring flower season is in full swing. We’re getting truckloads of new plants every week and the nursery is looking dazzling! Flowers really are essence of happiness, food may feed the body, but flowers feed the soul.
The gardens are taking on a beautiful spring hue. The California Poppies we plant every year are just beginning to pop a few flowers. The orchard is lush with the cover crop of mustard in full bloom. Last week I waded through them to finish up the last of the pruning and ran into lady bugs everywhere, You go girls!!!
We’ve still got a great assortment of edibles, veggies and fruit trees for the gardens, The herb bench is loaded with cool summer basils , mints and more. You really will need time to wander....
Take some time and get out into the countryside, we’d love to see you…
NATIVE WILDFLOWERS
Great plants have a way of hanging in there. Purple Coneflowers are well loved, and there certainly has been a lot of breeding throughout the years to alter them, but the original Eastern Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea is a beautiful thing, long lived and able to reseed to glorify the wastelands it grows in. It thrives throughout the midwest but has become almost extinct in our neck of the woods. Joanne Booth of Salters Tree and Herb Farm in Madison Florida http://saltertreeandherbfarm.com/index.htm has worked to bring this almost lost native back to our gardens. We offer seedlings from the line of plants of the last known stand in Florida. 4 inch starter plants $2.49
BUTTERFLY AND POLLINATOR GARDENS
We all love hummingbirds and butterflies. Their graceful antics and colors are a delight in motion. But we mustn’t forget bees – those busy, workhorses of pollination without which many of our plants and trees would be fruitless.
All three need to sip flower nectar to survive and by planting right you can bring these wonderful pollinators to your garden and orchard. Start by choosing a variety of plants that will bloom as many months of the year as possible and pick the right plant for your spot. Read more...
Vines that Attract Hummingbirds
-Coral Vine
Lonicera sempervirens, Yellow or red flowers throughout summer.
-Purple Leaf Honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica Highly fragrant nectar laden light yellow flowers.
Shrubs for the butterfly garden
-Abelia
Abelia grandiflora or
Abelia sinensis A constant show of tiny white bells, probably the best flowering shrubs for nectar lovers.
-Firebush
Hamelia patens Florida native, tubular orange flowers, favorite of butterflies
Outstanding flowering perennials
- Blazing Star
Liatris spp Like magic purple magnetic butterfly wands. Plant these and butterflies will come!
-Cigar Plant
Cuphea ignea Tough as nails perennial, This is the plant most covered with butterflies in the nursery.
GET RID OF YOUR LAWN
Lawn grass can suck up a lot of time, space and fertilizer. Have you ever thought about trading in the lawn grass for something easier to maintain? Ecoturf Perennial Peanut is a groundcover with beautiful orange-yellow flowers. It maintains a low 2 to 3 inch profile so requires very little mowing. As a legume it creates its own nitrogen, is salt tolerant, thrives in poor soils and needs very little care once established. Its ease of care and its beautiful appearance has lead to its use in hard to mow highway meridians. Plants are easily established through sprigging. We love it because it's a pollinator friendly ground cover in orchards. To read more about here’s a link to an IFAS publication “ Guide to Using Rhizomal Perennial Peanut in the Urban Landscape”
Starter plants for dividing $5.99 per gallon pot.
Tomatoes, Peppers and Strange Squash
We've still got a great collection of off beat heirloom tomatoes, Purple Cherokee, Striped Roman, Brown Berry. Plenty of peppers green, orange yellow you name it's probably out there. Some interesting squash Seminole and Trombone to name just a few.
Find Some Great Stuff in the SALE AREA
Make sure you stop off at the sales area on your next visit as there is always some good deals to be found.
This week's collection includes:
PEACH, PLUM and PEAR these are some we grew too many of, our loss is your gain $11.99
LOOKING FOR A GOOD HOME FLOWERS These are some that have lost their bloom and are just kind of well.. sad looking. Gather them up and give them some love they'll be back up and blooming in no time. $1.00 to $3.50
CRINUM LILIES Busting out of their pots $6.99 these old fashion bulbs are tough and reliable, often the only thing that marks where an old homestead was
50% off selected perennials, cell pack veggies and ornamentals.
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