Category Archives: Spring

Promise In A Packet…Seeds!

If you’ve been in recently you may have noticed the colorful seed display behind the counters.


Oh the promise of seeds – those tantalizing pictures and mouthwatering descriptions of vegetables, flowers and herbs…all in a magical seed packet.

Maybe you’ve never tried to grow anything from seed. That’s ok, there’s a first time for everything!  Here are some easy flowers to grow by direct sowing them right where you want them to come up  in your garden: zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos, marigolds, tithonia (Mexican sunflower) and gomphrena are a few.

It's planted with lots of help but...

Seed planting is a fun project for the little ones!

Since you will be sowing these directly into the ground, you need to be sure the soil is warm enough for them, May is the perfect month to plant these. Here you can see Billy planting seeds in the garden with some little helpers in the community garden across the street last spring. Below you can see we have veggie seeds too – and plenty to choose from as you plan your summer garden!

Warm season vegetable seeds...eggplant, peppers, melons and more!

Warm season vegetable seeds…eggplant, peppers, melons and more!

Make Someone Happy With A Blooming Basket!

We’ve had recent posts showing pictures of gerbera daisies – well, here they are in action as the focal point of a pretty combination basket – this one went out to someone as part of a birthday celebration…

Pretty gerbera daisies in a mixed basket

Pretty gerbera daisies in a mixed basket

We added a sweet primrose with a touch of foliage – using maidenhair fern and pink fittonia to round out the composition. Add a bow and voila! a lovely gift for some lucky someone! The primroses are also a bright  and seasonal addition to arrangements, but keep in mind they  are available only for a short time early in the year since it will get too hot for them as we get into spring and the warmer months. (Primroses are native to cool, moist climates – while we might have the moist part covered, we certainly aren’t cool!)

Forced bulbs, add bright blooms in this container...

Forced bulbs, add bright blooms in this container…

Here’s another example of some of the seasonal flowers available now – this container shows forced bulbs of tulips, hyacinths, and narcissus, as well as a pure white hydrangea and willow branches to add even more drama…these forced bulbs are, like the primroses, usually available in the early portion of the year. You can plant the narcissus in your garden once they’re done blooming – we’ll talk about that in a later post.