Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• There’s still time to plant summer vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers and corn will bear for you if you plant them now.

• Attract birds to your garden with a concrete bird bath. They come in many attractive styles and make good gifts.

• Attract hummingbirds to your patio this summer with hummingbird feeders, so you can enjoy their iridescent beauty and charm. The new Big Gulp™ holds 40 oz. and is easy to fill.

• New Guinea impatiens have variegated foliage and giant, impatiens flowers. These striking plants will take more sun than regular impatiens and will bloom all summer.

• Check roses for black spots on the leaves and treat immediately to prevent defoliation.

Father’s Day in the Garden

My father loved dahlias. He had a flower border that surrounded the little lawn in our backyard and in it he grew gorgeous dahlias and tall, colorful gladioli. There was also a big, beautiful apricot tree and a large bed of strawberries. He would deliver a big bowl of bright red strawberries to the kitchen with pride and anticipation for the strawberry shortcake that would appear after dinner. How we enjoyed the fresh fruit from his garden. He loved gardening and I loved being with him in the garden. I think the garden was his escape from the stresses of life.

Lots of dads enjoy gardening. Tomatoes and peppers are favorites with many of them. And dads like fruit trees. It gives them lots to master with the pruning and thinning and then the harvesting in the fall. There always seems to be room for one more fruit tree.

Grape and berry vines are easy to grow and so much fun to harvest. With just a few grapevines you can harvest enough fruit for delicious fresh grapes, grape juice, grape jelly or raisins. Plant early, mid-season and late varieties for an extended harvest. The sweet, ripe berries are loved by everyone.

Raspberries and blackberries are easy to grow in our climate. Raspberries come in a variety of colors: red, purple, black and yellow. From the classic dark red berries with rich raspberry flavor to the extra large Bababerries and the yellow Fall Gold, there is a wide variety of colors and flavors. With a little planning, you can have fresh raspberries from spring through fall. There is very little maintenance and you are rewarded with succulent berries year after year.

Blackberries are known by many names: boysenberry, nectarberry, loganberry or olallie berry to name a few. The berries range in color from jet black to red, from sweet to tart, and all have distinctive flavors.

Olallie berries are large, firm black berries 1.5 inches long. They are sweeter than others with some wild blackberry flavor. Marionberries have sweet, bright, shiny black berries with a faint wild blackberry flavor. They are excellent for fresh eating and desserts.

Loganberries are thought to be a wild cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry. Their large, light red berries do not darken when ripe. The unique, tart flavor is highly prized and loganberry wine and pies are enjoyed by many people. ‘Triple Crown’ blackberry is named for its three crowning attributes—flavor, productivity and vigor. In addition, it is thornless and produces very large berries.

Boysenberries, also called nectarberries, are extremely large, dark maroon berries up to two and a half inches long. They are soft and very juicy with a rich, tangy flavor. They come either thorny or thornless.

Gooseberries and currants almost never show up in the grocery store, so if you like a tasty gooseberry pie now and then, you better plant your own. They are very flavorful and can be eaten fresh or made into pies and jams.

Blueberries grow on bushes that produce bountiful crops in just a few years. There are many varieties and they ripen over a long season. The soil needs to be acidic and kept moist but with a little effort, you can harvest delicious blueberries all summer long.

Celebrate Dad this weekend with fruits and flowers and a day in the garden.

• Tomatoes can be set out with protection. “Season Starter” will protect them down to 20°F and will give them a warm environment during the day.

• Plant sunflowers now from seed or plants. Choose either the multi-stemmed kinds for cut flowers or the giants for edible seeds.

• Gladiolus bulbs come in every color of the rainbow. Plant them this month for summer flowers.

• New rose bushes may have been damaged by the cold weather last week. Prune back dead shoots and new growth will come out to replace it soon.

• Put up hummingbird feeders this month and enjoy these colorful and entertaining birds.

Dazzling Dahlias

Diverse and versatile, dahlias are prized for their bright-colored, summer blooms. They are one of the most varied of the summer flowering “bulbs” and are actually tubers. Although native to Mexico, dahlias are very adaptable.

They come in simple, daisy-like flowers; cactus flowers with rolled petals that give them a spiky look; smaller pompon flowers with many petaled, globe-shaped blooms; and decorative dahlias with large, fluffy blooms of many pointed and twisted petals. Flowers range from 2 inches to more than 8 inches across and come in a rainbow of colors. Plants range from 8 inches to 4½ feet tall, and bloom for months.

‘Harlequin’ Dahlias have small flowers, 2-3 inches across, with a single layer of outer petals and a burst of shorter inner petals that surround the eye. Their long-lasting blooms are bicolored or solid and come in many colors.

Bedding dahlias include ‘Figaro’ Mix with green leaves and ‘Redskin’ Mix with dark foliage. They are compact and uniform with double flowers that are ideal for borders as well as containers.

The larger dahlias are particularly showy in the garden. The cactus dahlia, ‘Playa Blanca,’ produces an endless supply of white, 4 inch flowers all summer long. The cactus dahlia ‘Purple Gem’ produces excellent 4-6″ cut flowers in a rich purple from midsummer to mid-autumn.

‘Kelvin Floodlight’ is a bright yellow dinnerplate dahlia with flowers up to 8”-10” across on a four foot bush. ‘Garden Wonder,’ a bright red dinnerplate dahlia, has huge 8”-10” flowers that create an eye-catching summer show and bloom until the first frost.

‘Rosella’ is a decorative dahlia that has vivid magenta, double blooms on a 3-4 foot bush from July to frost. They are excellent for cut flowers and borders.

Dahlia tubers are planted in spring after the air and soil have warmed. They grow in full sun on the coast but need shade during the hottest part of the day, inland.

Dahlias like well-drained, fertile soil. Space roots of larger dahlias 2 to 2 feet apart, smaller types, 12 inches apart. Mix in some composted manure at planting time.

For tall varieties, drive a 6-foot stake into the hole just off center, then plant the root next to it. Place the root horizontally about 2 inches from the stake with the growth eye pointing up, and cover with 3 inches of soil. Water well to settle the soil. When the sprouts show up, in about three weeks, top-dress with fertilizer. Use as a background screen or hedge plants for a striking accent.

As the plants grow, tie each stalk loosely to the stake with soft tie material. Dahlias begin blooming two to three months from planting and continue until frost. Pinch tall-growing plants at 4 to 6 inches to encourage branching.

Dahlia’s are ideal for cut flowers, borders and containers. Their fancy flowers with their wide variety of shapes and colors will add a burst of color and life to your summer garden and home decor.

• Petunias can be planted now. Their bright flowers will bloom all summer in hot, sunny locations and they will take a light frost.

• Tomatoes and peppers can be set out now, but be ready to cover them if cold weather returns.

• Fertilize established roses now and begin spraying them for insect and disease problems. Neem oil is a very effective, less toxic spray that works against both insects and diseases.

• Bleeding hearts are charming perennials for the shade garden. Look for them now for a special accent.

• The average date of the last frost in Willits is May 12. So protect young flowers and vegetables on clear, cold nights.

Dazzling Dahlias

Diverse and versatile, dahlias are prized for their bright-colored, summer blooms. They are one of the most varied of the summer flowering “bulbs”, and are actually tubers. Although native to Mexico, dahlias are very adaptable.

They come in simple, daisy-like flowers; cactus flowers with rolled petals that give them a spiky look; smaller pompon flowers with many petaled, globe-shaped blooms; and decorative dahlias with large, fluffy blooms of many pointed and twisted petals. Flowers range from 2 inches to more than 8 inches across and come in a rainbow of colors. Plants range from 8 inches to 4½ feet tall, and bloom for months.

‘Harlequin’ Dahlias have small flowers, 2-3 inches across, with a single layer of outer petals and a burst of shorter inner petals that surround the eye. Their long-lasting blooms are bicolored or solid and come in many colors.

Bedding dahlias include ’Figaro’ Mix with green leaves and ‘Redskin’ Mix with dark foliage. They are compact and uniform with double flowers that are ideal for borders as well as containers.

The larger dahlias are particularly showy in the garden. The cactus dahlia, ‘My Love’, produces an endless supply of white, 6 inch flowers all summer long. ‘Kevin Floodlight’ is a bright yellow dinnerplate dahlia with flowers up to 8”-10” across on a four foot bush. ‘Thomas Edison’, a deep purple dinnerplate, is a heavy bloomer, with up to 15 huge flowers per plant.

The tubers are planted in spring after the air and soil have warmed. They grow in full sun on the coast but need shade during the hottest part of the day, inland.

Dahlias like well-drained, fertile soil. Space roots of larger dahlias 3 to 4 feet apart, smaller types, 12 inches apart. Mix in some composted steer manure at planting time.

For tall varieties, drive a 6-foot stake into the hole just off center, then plant the root next to it. Place the root horizontally about 2 inches from the stake with the growth eye pointing up, and cover with 3 inches of soil. Water well to settle the soil. When the sprouts show up, in about three weeks, top-dress with fertilizer. Use as a background screen or hedge plants for a striking accent.

As the plants grow, tie each stalk loosely to the stake with soft tie material. Dahlias begin blooming two to three months from planting and continue until frost. Pinch tall-growing plants at 4 to 6 inches to encourage branching.

Dahlia’s are ideal for cut flowers, borders and containers. Their fancy flowers with their wide variety of shapes and colors will add a burst of color and life to your summer garden and home decor.