Early Spring in the Gardens....
Umm... I love this time of year. The season is shaking off the winter blues and bursting into high spring glory. The gardens are just waking with splashes of winter bulbs, camellias here and there and the kitchen cottage garden in the parking lot is full of tasty winter fare as well as the promise of spring flowers to come soon.
A walk through the orchard is an eye opening experience as to how to prune fruit trees correctly, John Melton has done a wonderful job of shaping the trees for a good crop this coming year.
It's still not too late to prune your fruit trees, come by and get a look and we'll give you some last minute pointers.
We're loading the retail nursery with more and more spring flowers every week. Zinnias, New Guinea impatiens and marigolds are here. The citrus trees coming from our greenhouses are loaded with blooms and a walk through the retail citrus area is filled with a heavenly scent. You've just got to smell it to believe it.
Just Fruits Grown Veggies....
We've been busy planting seed all winter and now have a great collection of heirloom and cool varieties of veggie sets. This year's line up includes some of the most interesting....
TOMATOES Black from Tula and Cherokee Purple are back. Stupice and Jetsetter for early harvest, Sungold and Sungella, the best of the cherry tomatoes, Tigerella, Big Rainbow and Mr. Stripey for heirloom striped tomatoes, and more.....
PEPPERS Orange Sun, Red Knight, and Sweet Pickle for gourmet bell peppers. Fish and Ancho for a little spice, and Habenaro and Jalapeno for lots of spice.
SQUASH and MELONS We're offering two great heirloom squash this year; Seminole Squash and Italian Trombone. Stars and Moon watermelons, Baby Round Zucchini, plus others.
CUCUMBERS Muncher and Spacemaker. We'll have odd and strange ones like White Wonders and Poona Kheera coming. Phoona Kheera is a variety from India, its pure white in the gerkin stage. When mature looks like a russet potato. The flesh remains hard and crunchy in all stages.
We've still Got a Great Selection of Fruit Trees...
Time is flying, and so are the fruit trees that are leaving the nursery. We're still stocked up on a great selection of blueberries , satsumas , peaches and berries . We've ended our mail order shipping season but still have a good supply of unique fruits if you visit the nursery. You can always find out what's available at the nursery by visiting the website justfruitsandexotics.com.
Remember to check the walk in retail price sheet where you'll find our trees are less expensive when bought at the nursery. If you can't make the trip soon, you can always have your trees held, just call or email in your order.
Check out the photo, that's Pakistan mulberry, it's over 4 inches long!
It's Time to Order Papaya Plants
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If you've ever visited our gardens in the summer and admired our papaya trees heavily loaded with fruit, now is the time to get them. Every year we order in a load of good size plants close to flowering. Planting these trees early in spring will insure a great harvest of green papaya for salads and a few ripe fruits before frost. We'll have Solo and Waymeolo this year. Call or email for details and to place your order.
Florida Wildflowers.....
We are developing a passion for the wild. This year's collection of Dan Miller's wildflowers has grown. Indian Pinks, Fringed campion, Native phlox, Liatris, native Purple Coneflowers are just a few of the rare plants available. We also carry Florida native wildflower seed packets for seeding larger areas. These are all great butterfly and pollinator attractors.
Cleaning out the Growing Field..
Every year about this time, we go through the growing field and find some things that must go. If you're a crazed plant collector like we are, we change passions every few years, or just move on to something more interesting and in the wake leave some cool plants. This is the year the collection of Louisiana Iris and hybrid Daylilies must go. These are very interesting varieties that we've collected from breeders, the plants are full and sure to make a super splash in your gardens.
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DAYLILIES If you like big flowers, doubles and good repeaters you'll love this group. Many are from local breeders, and are one of a kind varieties.
LOUSIANA IRIS These are collector varieties with colors not usually found in nature. Large flowers beautiful foliage.
ODDS AND ENDS We're bringing out the last of the mystery fruit trees, things that have lost their tags or just not up to our retail grade. Last chance to get some super cheap trees for the orchard..
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