A Grower Perspective

It’s always exciting to learn something new about a plant. We all know that flowering cherries are gorgeous while they are blooming in the spring time, but who knew that they can be adorned with teeny-tiny cherries in the summer for the birds to enjoy? I certainly didn’t know that, but I noticed it this morning while out in the nursery. The beautiful ‘Snow Fountain’ (Prunus serrulata ‘Snow Fountain’) blooms white in the early spring on weeping branches that sweep to the ground. Right now, in late June, the bright green leaves set the stage for darling miniature, ornamental cherries that are ripening to deep red. The tree eventually grows to 15 feet tall, making it an ideal choice for small gardens. Plant one in your yard and enjoy the year-round beauty of this unique tree.

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Now is a good time to prune and deadhead Rhododendrons. After the plants have finished blooming, deadhead the spent blossoms and prune the plant, if necessary. It’s also a good time to fertilize them too.

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It's so great to work in a nursery sometimes! All you have to do is step outside to be surrounded by beauty and inspiration. Here's a great plant combination for today: Sedum spurium 'Atropurpureum' and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Massachusetts' (Kinnikinnick). Each of these plants make a wonderful groundcover on their own, but when they are together they are something really special.

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Yesterday we hosted a field trip here at the nursery. The pre-kindergarten students from O'Hara Catholic School came to visit- 42 kids in all, 4 to 5 years old. It was so much fun! We toured them all around the nursery and luckily it didn’t rain while they were here. It was great to see them interested in plants- one boy told us that the succulents are from the desert and they don’t need very much water. One of the other children wanted to know where we get our sunshine from to help the plants grow. With this rainy and gray spring- we are wondering that ourselves!

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We have a special connection to lavender here at Pleasant Hill Nursery. Nancy Blum, our horticulturalist (and frequent writer on this blog) spent many years growing lavender at the Sawmill Ballroom Lavender Farm. She is an expert in all things lavender. In fact, her husband, Joey Blum, wrote a book on how to grow lavender. Nancy’s love of lavender inspires us here to love it too. Just today, a reporter from the local paper, The Register Guard, came out to visit our nursery and talk with Nancy about growing lavender and the culinary uses of lavender. We grow several different varieties which are great for cooking, ‘Provence’, ‘Mustead’ and ‘Tuscan’.

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