Cat Proofing the Sign Planter

This year was the worst. Because of the drought the sign planter stayed unplanted from November through January, and the cats noticed, notably Liam. There’s nothing worse than standing out front, helping a customer and seeing your cat, out of the corner of your eye, doing his business…ohhhhhh it was getting more and more agravating.

I didn’t want to plant pansies, simply because I wanted to have as many as possible for our customers. So, when some iceland poppies in cell pack flats became available, I grabbed a flat and planted them in the offending spot.

I wish I could say Liam took the hint. He did not. So, this past Saturday I took matters into my hands again, vowing to do all I could to keep him out. I’d already snatched him up repeatedly, toting him to the back of the greenhouse where the two litter boxes (cleaned religiously for them) resided. He would only hop out, give me a baleful look, and avoid me the rest of the day.

I had figured out my strategy the day before, and, on a sunny but cool Saturday morning, I got to work. Bert gathered pine cones from the side garden (I told him I needed a lot of them.). I pulled some tall, loose stems of the red twig dogwood and cut them to various lengths. There was a pot of washed pea gravel in the greenhouse, and I brought that outside too.

Bert began placing the pine cones between the tiny poppy plants, clustering them in various spots. When he had placed them all, I began arranging the red twig dogwood throughout the planter. This will fix him, I thought. Once the stems were in place, the pea gravel was distributed between the pinecones and branches, and, finally, a few faux fern fiddleheads were placed on either end.

Voila!!! A (hopefully) cat-proof planter. I will report back on how it worked.

By Kris Blevons

Catching Up In The New Year

It’s been a while since the last blog post, so this will be a catch up entry to give you an idea of what’s been going on the last couple of months. January and February are usually pretty quiet, and, to be honest, we’re glad of it. Aside from a big shipment of garden planters and statuary, it’s a time for planning and rejuvenating.

The garden is quiet too, though early blooming shrubs and perennials are beginning to put on their show, and cutting stems of forsythia, quince, and spiraea for early bloom indoors help stave off the winter doldrums.

In December Ben got the ‘Better Late than Never’ garden across the street cleaned up and ready for winter. Angie laid fresh pinestraw in the paths in January, and now we’re seeing larkspur and bachelor buttons appearing..self sown seedlings from last winter’s plants. I sowed lots of poppies a few weeks ago in hopes that they’ll be abundant this year too. We shall see.

Our spring/summer seeds from Botanical Interests have already come in, though we’re still eyeing the winter options of lettuce and other cool season veggies and flowers. Jamie sowed a colander full of spinach seeds and is going to try them inside. It’s fun to experiment, and seeds are a small investment to make.

It’s a good thing the spring seeds arrived when they did. Yesterday a woman came in looking for zinnias, sunflowers and more summer bloomers, so we let her look through the boxes that weren’t unpacked yet. She mentioned last year she’d been disappointed, coming in too late to get any and was so happy this year to have first pick.

It’s hard to believe Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. We’ve got our orders in for the most beautiful blooming plants we can find. Orchids, hydrangeas, cyclamen, calla lilies, azaleas, and more – all plants, not cut flowers, so they’ll last longer.

In fact, every picture I post on our Instagram account of our planted arrangements has the hashtag #plantsnotcut. I love cut flowers as much as the next person, but it’s nice to have a gift that lasts a bit longer.

The cats of the shop, Tacca, Liam, Ozzie and Spooky, like the late winter quiet too, though they probably get the most visitors coming in looking just for them. There were at least 7 children in the other day squealing with delight and so happy to follow Tacca and Liam around. Spooky and Ozzie are too shy (Or smart?) to make friends, content to watch from a safe distance.

The cork bark planter inspiration continues. A couple weeks ago we planted three for a party with blooming blue anemones, ranunculus, and pansies. They really were striking, and since they’re planted to last will only get better as they grow.

The pussy willow branches are abundant now. I’m not sure what stage they are when cut, I only know they’re perfect when they arrive here. I still remember my Dad cutting way back the huge pussy willow shrub in our back yard in Wisconsin and all the beautiful stems that it produced.

Those pussy willow branches were one of our earliest harbingers of spring in the dead of late winter – the catkins shining in the sunlight on days the drip,drip,drip of melting snow filled the air and puddles materialized on every flat surface.

Here in the south we use them as accents in orchid arrangements and with other spring flowers. Their fleeting availability makes them all the more special.

In the winter the nursery area out front can be very deceiving, and, if you take just a few more steps and enter the greenhouse, you’ll see all sorts of colorful blooming flowers and houseplants.

We stay busy maintaining the many plants, creating beautiful container gardens and arrangements for parties, and taking pictures of everything for our Facebook and Instagram social media accounts. Our goal this year is to create more video content to better communicate the joys of what we do.

Here’s looking ahead to spring, but ’til then enjoy these late winter days and appreciate the beauty of this quiet season.

And, if you need a beautiful respite from the world’s cares, stop in and stroll through the greenhouse, either here or somewhere near you. It’s bound to make you smile.

By Kris Blevons

Holiday Happiness

The holidays snuck up on us this year. Summer drifted into fall, with record-breaking warm temperatures and drought conditions throwing all gardening activities out of kilter.

We breathed again when the calendar finally turned to November. Surely this month, after an October of lackluster activity as landscapes wilted, would bring us the rain we desperately needed.

The days passed, and customers began coming in to get our help with their Thanksgiving festivities and holiday tables.

At the same time, we were methodically clearing the nursery of every plant, table, container, and accessory to make every bit of space for the 750 Fraser fir Christmas trees arriving the day before Thanksgiving.

Our bow-making class had more participants than the year before, and we knew the holidays were coming even if it didn’t quite feel like it.

The traditional Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves display was changed up too – this year they’re relaxing at the beach. Why wouldn’t they be with the warm weather? We joked that when the Christmas trees came so would the rains, and hopefully cooler temperatures too, and darned if that isn’t exactly what happened!

The long soaking rains might have slowed down Christmas tree sales, but really we can’t complain. We’re busy enough again, with plants and planters, and that is a great thing. Here’s hoping you all enjoy the holidays, but mostly enjoy the rainy days, any day.

By Kris Blevons

October 2016…A Few Words On Water and Dealing With Drought

Well, here we are again. Though we’ve been fortunate in the Birmingham area and southeast the past years to have sufficient rainfall for our landscapes, this summer has been a different story. Warmer than normal temperatures and lack of measurable precipitation spell worsening drought conditions and the need for water conservation.

So, what does this mean for you? Well, trees and shrubs that have been planted less than a year are the most susceptible and may be lost due to stress from lack of rain. If your landscape is established with plants that have been well placed and are healthy, drought conditions hopefully won’t have as much of an impact – though if these conditions persist that may change too.

A good practice under normal conditions is to water no more than twice a week in any one area. With Birmingham Water Works Stage 3 watering restrictions in place, hand watering is allowed twice a week and irrigation systems allowed once a week for one hour between 8pm and 8am.

Assess your landscape and prioritize which perennials, shrubs, and trees require the most attention. Add mulch to existing plantings to conserve moisture. Hold off on doing any activity that will push growth (i.e. fertilizing and pruning) until rains come. Deadhead plants with old blooms, especially hydrangeas, and strip leaves from stems if they’re not too large. Set out soaker hoses.

Conserve water in your home as well. When water is heating up for showers, collect it in a bucket for watering plants. It’s amazing how much water you can get from this simple step. Don’t let water run when hand washing dishes or brushing teeth, and run the dishwasher and do laundry only when there are full loads.

You’ve no doubt seen the symptoms of drought stress on shrubs and trees as leaves wilt, curl, and eventually drop. Evergreens show signs by turning brown at the tips, eventually moving into the center of the plant. Injury to trees can be sudden or may take up to two years to be revealed, so even after this drought ends it will be important to monitor the health of our landscapes.

One thing is certain. Even after the rains return, we must be mindful of the way we use water for our landscapes and in our homes, continuing to be good stewards of our environment, now and in the future.

By Kris Blevons

Some helpful links:

https://www.bwwb.org/sites/default/files/docs/doc-dmpsummary.pdf

https://birminghamgardeningtoday.com/water-conservation-now/

http://www.aces.edu/urban/metronews/vol6no4/gardens.html

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2016/06/dealing_with_a_dry_spell_garde_2.html

Decorated Pumpkins

It all began with my Mother’s 85th birthday in early October. She has macular degeneration and would rather stay close to home now.

Since I am in Birmingham and she is in Wisconsin, unfortunately, with this a busy time in the garden shop business, getting together on her birthday doesn’t happen anymore.

But she is on Facebook. I decided a couple of years ago to get her a Nook that she could use to listen to audio books, thinking it would be a perfect way to open her world. It also allows her, through Facebook, to see pictures of the garden shop and my garden. It has been a joy for her, and I’m thrilled!

So, with this in mind, I decided to decorate a pumpkin for her birthday and put a picture of me holding it on her timeline as her birthday gift from me. I’d seen lots of pictures of succulents on pumpkins (more on that later), but I wanted something bright and happy from me to her on her milestone day.

I chose a bright orange jack-o-lantern pumpkin, glued some cut flowers of gomphrena and mums to it along with a couple of okra pods, added a few succulents, and tucked moss around the edge. I even cut a couple of tiny hosta leaves. Voila, the birthday pumpkin was born.

A few days later a customer came in with a picture of the aforementioned succulent topped pumpkins. They’ve been everywhere the last few years, in magazines and various places on line.

Easy to do but requiring lots of cut succulents, I’d stayed clear of getting into the making of them. I dutifully tried to emulate the white pumpkins in her picture with the succulents we had on hand.

When they were finished, I set them on the display steps up front, where people could see them, and decided to make a few more. Here’s how they turned out. We had a few more orders that day as people saw them!

if you’d like to make a succulent topped pumpkin, choose a pumpkin and have fun! Any kind of moss can be used. I chose green sheet moss, gluing it to the top of the pumpkin.

Purchase or take cuttings from succulents you might have growing in your garden or pots and simply glue them to the moss. Succulent experts advise misting the cuttings once a week.

It’s also fun to add other decorative elements like the okra pods I used on my Mom’s pumpkin. Try tiny pinecones, acorns, and more to add interest. It’s only limited by your imagination!

If you’re in the area, and would like us to decorate a pumpkin for you, stop in and place an order!

By Kris Blevons

Decorating For Fall With Pumpkins And Gourds

Even if the temperatures have been slow to reflect fall, we are determined to celebrate a change of season.

The arrival of so many pumpkins and gourds in all sizes, shapes, and colors spur us on in our quest for the perfect choices for arranging in containers or to artfully stack at the front door.

Each year begins the same, with the first shipment unloaded and carefully placed, separated by variety. Long Island Cheese, Jharadales, Lumina, Fairytale and Cinderella pumpkins, Turk’s Turbans and the wonderfully bumpy Lunch Lady gourds (Yes, they’re really called lunch ladies!) and more, all neatly set out.

Soon though, usually beginning with the second large delivery, all semblance of order gets tossed out the window, as we place pumpkin after pumpkin wherever we can find a spot.

That’s really how I like it best, with piles of orange, green, blue, cream, and white pumpkins creating a jumble of chaotic color in all shapes and sizes. It’s difficult to choose just one!

The cats soon discover new places to nap underneath and In the shade of the raised platforms we use for display of this beautiful fall harvest, coming out only when little ones spy them at eye level.

Long, vining stems of bittersweet hang above, another decorative staple of the season. For over 25 years they’ve been hand cut for us from our North Carolina supplier high in the mountains.

Mini pumpkins and tiny gourds find homes in all manner of containers, nestled in beds of moss and angel vine, or carefully arranged to look as though they were casually placed.

Usually these designs come together easily, but sometimes it takes more than a few tries to get it just right. We are all perfectionists!

Please stop in and celebrate the season with us. Even if you just come to look, we usually have something fun to see that we’re either working on or have completed in our design area right up front. Know someone that needs a pick me up? Bring them along!

If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook you’ve probably seen a new series of shop videos – if not, follow us and check them out! They’re also on our YouTube channel under Oak Street Garden Shop – if you’d like to see more, subscribe!

By Kris Blevons

Pumpkins, Gourds and our Annual Fall Festival

The temperatures are still summerlike, but the pumpkins that need harvesting don’t know that, and what a harvest it’s been! We get the most beautiful pumpkins and gourds from a small farmer in Tennessee, and when he calls letting us know the harvest is ready, we make room for bin after bin of familiar and unusual varieties.

We have to get creative with our small space when so many come in at one time; but last year Billy came up with a method using sails to shade them from our hot southern sun, and Bert built platforms to keep them off the sometimes wet asphalt. Even so, we’ve commandeered table space too! It seems wherever you look there are pumpkins and pumpkin stacks!

Saturday, October 8th we’ll be offering the orange jack-o-lanterns for carving and pie pumpkins for the little ones to decorate during our annual fall festival. Then they can check out the bounce house – it’s all free! This year we’re contributing a portion of the proceeds to Studio By The Tracks, and owner Billy Angell will be braving a dunk tank for donations. Our friends from SBTT will be here with art work, artists painting, and merchandise from the studio as well. If you’re in the neighborhood, come on by!

By Kris Blevons

Kris’ Gardening Tips (From the September 2016 Issue of Alabama Gardener Magazine)

Have you seen the September issue of “Alabama Gardener” magazine? Well, if you haven’t, I’ll just tell you that the Blevons garden is in it!

Now, I’ll be the first to say this is a plant person’s garden. We could use a windfall in cash to take care of issues with retaining walls, steps, and other hardscape details that “finish” a well designed garden. But I hope the huge, ancient moss-covered rock outcrop makes up for it…and well-placed, interesting plants.

The fun thing about being in the issue of the magazine was that writer Peggy Hill let me contribute my thoughts on gardening tips for readers. Here they are, since the article isn’t online yet and I’d like them available for anyone to read.

- A great garden with healthy plants begins with the soil. Get a soil test, add amendments, and start a compost pile.
- Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Studies have shown that gardening can be an anti-depressant. It’s good for the body and the mind!
- Be careful with your plant selections, especially groundcovers. Our mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus), planted by the previous owner to prevent water runoff, threatens to overrun nearby plants, and keeping it in check consumes almost as much time as dealing with the neighbor’s bamboo. (!!)
- Do a little bit in the garden each day. If you see weeds on a walk through the garden, pull as many as you have time for – they multiply fast!
- Groom and deadhead plants regularly.
- Find a good independent garden shop and frequent them for healthy plants and advice.
- Plants are great! Try something new or unknown just for fun, and research everything you can about your new acquisition.
- It’s okay to start small. That shrub in a one gallon pot will grow just as well as one much larger, and your reward is tending it and seeing it mature. While small shrubs and trees are growing, add annuals to fill space and provide additional color.

Provide for and protect wildlife in the garden.
Limit pesticide use as much as possible and, if needed, start with the least toxic option.
Educate yourself. There’s so much to learn and more ways than ever to get information. Take classes, consult botanical garden and university websites, follow favorite gardening bloggers, and read books about gardening. There’s a wealth of knowledge out there!
Be observant in your own garden space.
Gardening takes some work, but try not to let it overwhelm you. Don’t fret if things don’t get done exactly when the books or experts say. You’ll be forgiven. Spend time strolling through the space, enjoying what you’ve accomplished so far.

By Kris Blevons

It’s Blooming! The ‘Better Late Than Never’ Pollinator Garden

Kris - Better Late Than Never Garden Summer Prep 2016

Preparing the beds…

The pretty but very shy bright yellow goldfinches that have found the ‘Better Late Than Never’ Pollinator Garden across from the shop were still coming to the last of the bachelor buttons, larkspur, and some sunflowers that had seeded from last year’s plants when Bert and I began prepping the four beds for a new season mid-June.

So, rather than pull every bachelor button and larkspur out to make way for new, I left what had been the prettiest colors of both, including a lovely lavender larkspur. Who knows, maybe some seeds of it will return in next year’s spring garden…

The beds needed some additional organic matter, and we added bag after bag of topsoil, soil conditioner, and PlantTone to each.

Front beds, early July

Bert and I took turns with my heavy pick axe, each strike of the tool working the amendments in without turning the soil, since that would only turn up buried weed seeds to the light where they’d happily germinate and grow. Then I took a garden fork and loosened it even more.

Any good garden begins with this all important work. Remember this in your own and always add more to your soil before replanting for the new season. We usually have bags of soil conditioner and topsoil in stock, and the PlantTone is a great organic amendment that adds nutrients too.

Finally the beds were ready for planting. After raking the beds smooth, it was time to sow the zinnia seeds in the two front beds. I also added lots of plants.

Malabar Spinach…

Tall cutting marigolds from a small grower north of Birmingham, tall purple and red gomphrena, a beautiful deep purple salvia and peach porterweed for the hummingbirds, angelonia, pentas, purslane, ornamental okra just for fun, pink mandevilla and malabar spinach vines on the two arbors, as well as seeds of moonvine and hyacinth bean to climb them too.

A few weeks later the last of the bachelor buttons and larkspur were pulled out, and the back two beds were planted with lots of sunflowers and tithonia, the orange flower the monarchs loved last year. I noticed that a yellow lantana and perennial butterflyweed had come back from last year also.

Of course the old fashioned Cleome, or spiderflower, had reseeded, but I also added another, shorter variety and a few more perennials this year, including coneflowers and caryopteris on each corner of the two back beds.

Coneflowers…

Just as plantings change and evolve with the years, so do structures in the garden. Pinkie painted the back fencing white this year, and we added a trellis piece painted a beautiful blue. I think we should try to grow sweet peas on it this fall, though I’ll have to tie string onto it for them to climb on.

The days have passed. It’s now August and the true heat has settled in; the zinnias love it and are in a riot of bloom: California Giants, Cactus, Peppermint Stripe, Northern Lights – beauties every one.

Watering, pulling stray weeds, and deadheading are the important chores on hot summer days, but sometimes I have to stop and simply watch. I see tiny skipper butterflies, bees, and even a garden spider weaving its web near the arbor and bench.

The sunflowers and tithonia will be blooming soon. They were planted a few weeks after the zinnias. I look forward to these towering bee and goldfinch magnets, in every color from pale yellow to deep red, and the brilliant orange flowers of the tithonia too. And, just the other day I threw out some seed of tall yellow cosmos, another butterfly flower.

The garden will reach its exuberant crescendo in the coming month before beginning a slow descent into fall. The zinnias will most certainly get mildewed leaves, and the heavy sunflower seed heads will droop on sturdy stems. But for now, it’s summer, and the garden is glorious.

By Kris Blevons

High Summer In The Garden

Last year about this time I wrote about the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. I hope at least some of you are also participating, either formally or simply by planting some nectar rich flowers and providing for wildlife in your landscape.

High summer here in Birmingham brings sizzling heat and lots of it, along with the welcome abundance of life in pollinator gardens. In mine the perennial summer phlox, coreopsis, coneflowers, butterfly weed, salvias, rudbeckias, and daylilys are abuzz.

Annuals, especially those in the sun, are also capturing bee, butterfly and hummingbird attention, and I try to plant a variety for each in my sunniest beds. Angelonia, gomphrena, zinnias, batface cuphea, Mexican heather, purslane, and more jockey for space.

I take walks through my landscape early in the morning before leaving for work (And the heat builds.), deadheading, weeding, and simply admiring too.

This is the tail end of daylily season, and on summer evenings I pull off unsightly yellow leaves, faded blooms that might be hanging on, and then cut spent scapes to the ground.

After they’re completely through blooming, if foliage looks rough, I’ll grab a handful, twist it, and cut it completely off. It will reflush with more sightly looking leaves lasting until the end of the season. Remember, you see foliage more of the year than flowers on most perennials. Plan for that when deciding where to plant them or if you’re dividing and/or moving them.

If it’s been very dry, the early morning hours are spent watering any plants that look wilted. If they’re left without water too often, the stress will weaken them and they’ll be more susceptible to disease and insect attacks.

I’ve noticed some of the small white gomphrena that I planted quite late are struggling. I don’t think they’re getting enough sun, and they’ve gotten parched more than a few times. I’ll be keeping an eye on them.

The summer phlox and coreopsis are in full bloom and the bees love them. I watch tiny skipper butterflys light on the coreopsis; they move so fast! When these two play out I’ll cut the faded flowers off the phlox and wait for a second, smaller display.

The coreopsis will be sheared back since there are too many small flowers and not enough hours in the day to deadhead each one.

As with most summer blooming perennials, I’ll cut stems back completely to neaten the garden and give late blooming plants room to shine when the weather finally cools.

Honestly, though, it’s really too hot to do much more than water, deadhead, and pull opportunistic weeds that seem to come out of nowhere. Even as I water I’m dreaming of my vacation north to see family and friends. I know my garden will be here when I return, grown even more lush with high summer’s heat and, hopefully enough rain too.

By Kris Blevons

A Flag For The Fourth

Last year’s massive “Botanical Fireworks” Fourth of July project was pretty hard to top. This year we went a little smaller, and had some fun creating this tabletop botanical “flag”. So far it’s made its way onto Facebook and Instagram, and after this post publishes I’ll put it on Pinterest too. How did we manage years ago without all this social media? They were simpler times, that’s for sure.

Ingredients for our flag project included blooms cut from the bleeding heart vine (Clerodendron) growing around our entrance, kalanchoe, vinca, dipladenia, euphorbia, and geranium petals, cotton bolls and blueberries (We couldn’t resist eating some!)

Happy Fourth of July!!

By Kris Blevons

Cork Bark Planters for Shady Summer Spots

A number of years ago a customer, seeing some of our cork bark plantings, decided she’d like to have one. The space she envisioned it living was on a hearth of a covered terrace, a beautiful outdoor seating and dining area.

That year, and each summer since, a large cork piece has become home to various houseplants that like the shade and summer humidity this spot offers. An experienced gardener, she appreciates and takes exceptional care of this design and others. It’s such a pleasure creating something that only gets better as the summer goes on!

With this season’s planting, the original cork piece finally had to be replaced, and it’s now one large piece with a second smaller one added to create planting pockets. Wired netting and sheet moss contains the potting soil and plants.

It’s gratifying to see the ‘Bantel’s Sensation’ Sanseveria and fantail willow in context, creating the “flame” look I was hoping for on the hearth. I hope you can see it too.

Rounding out the planting are a philodendron, trailing pothos and pilea, and a few air plants on the outer portion of the cork, all easily grown and not needing extra care if the family is away for an extended period of time.

The second piece was a project on a slow, hot, summer’s day. Designed for a shady nook, it’s three pieces of cork filled with a rex begonia, fittonia, and peacock selaginella.

This pretty planting will also get larger and fuller as the season goes on and the inevitable heat of summer builds. Rex begonias are under-utilized, very beautiful, colorful additions to shade planters and well worth growing.

By Kris Blevons

We just received a new shipment of cork bark pieces. Stop in and take a look if you’d like us to create a planting for you, or if you’d like to make your own!

The Heat is On…Be Snake Smart

A very good snake to have, this is a non- venomous black rat snake.

The other day I got into a long discussion with some gardening friends (These are horticulturists, growers, and garden writers, who I respect immensely.) about snakes in the landscape. In fact, we’d just taken walks through each other’s respective gardens, along wooded paths, pine straw mulched areas, rock outcrops, and generally everywhere a snake could theoretically be encountered.

Soon we were swapping snake stories, including our encounters, our pet dog encounters with snakes, and various tales we’d heard from others. So many stories, in fact, that I emailed one of them that evening saying I thought I was really tempting fate by not having seen a snake yet (And it’s high summer!) and felt certain I was now due for the “big one.”

In response, the next day (wonderful friend that she is) she sent me this link to the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. It has some really good information on the identification of snakes, and, even though it is for Georgia and South Carolina, the maps also include Alabama. Take a look at the link, which has a lot of pictures and information, and follow the advice.

I’m hoping you resolve not to kill every snake you see. Just like people, there are good and bad snakes, and, really, it seems they just want to be left alone. After all, they don’t want to mess with us; we’re a whole lot bigger than they are.

By Kris Blevons

This is a repost from a couple of years ago. However, I felt it was worth running again since snakes are always a hot topic, especially as the weather begins to heat up and they’re more active. Be careful when working in your garden or any over grown areas of your landscape. Don’t put your hand anywhere you can’t see it, and be alert. The pictures are of my woodland garden where I’ve seen non-venomous rat snakes that I’m happy to have because all the experts say they are territorial and keep poisonous copperheads away.

From Seed – The ‘Better Late Than Never’ Garden Puts On A Show!

I’ll be honest, my hopes for a beautiful spring show in the ‘Better Late Than Never’ garden weren’t that great. Weather and time last fall seemed to conspire against me – no beautiful transplants of pansies, snapdragons, or foxgloves were put in the little plot across the street, even as everyone else was planning and planting their home gardens September through December. The summer garden went to seed and was finally pulled out with Ben’s help, in November.

Sometimes, though, nature helps us along. Walking to my car at the end of early winter days I’d glance at the garden, its four beds seemingly lifeless plots of earth. If I had time I’d walk through, looking to see if any seedlings were emerging. There were, zinnias and sunflowers mostly, seeds dropped from fading blooms, germinating in the still warm soil. But I knew these were destined to freeze in the upcoming winter chill. Oh well, I thought, maybe I can get something in after the holidays.

The weeks of late summer through fall had passed quickly. We held Molly’s wedding at the shop, and autumn plants and loads of pumpkins arrived and went. The days flew by during the frenetic holiday season that ended as suddenly as it started. January, and a new year, had arrived.

I finally had more time to concentrate on the little garden across the street with the apt name. I’d noticed, on the few December days I had a moment to look, that there were tiny bachelor button plants everywhere in 3 of the beds. I couldn’t do more than try to thin them out, though, with what little time I had.

They’d bloomed in the garden the spring prior and had most definitely reseeded, but with barely any thinning were carpeting 3 of the beds quite thickly. I watched them fill in with some alarm. Would they smother themselves out because they were too close together? I decided to let well enough be and see what would happen.

Spotting that bit of growth in the garden energized me. Even as the bachelor buttons were putting on their amazing growth spurt through January and February, I was tossing out seeds of larkspur in all shades.

I’d choose a few Botanical Interests seed packets off the rack, larkspur in shades of blue or mixes of blues, pinks, and whites. Eyeing the beds, I imagined perfect color combinations, letting the seed slip through my fingers onto the uneven soil.

I scanned the garden each morning, hoping to see some spots of green. Impatient, I would scatter more seeds – packets of sweet alyssum, oriental poppies, mixed colors of larkspur – willing an abundance of flowers for spring.

Finally I saw the ferny foliage of the larkspur here and there between the crowded bachelor buttons and the distinctive blue-green foliage of the oriental poppies appeared too.

Each day as the plants grew, more and more people asked what was growing in the garden. I’d explain, smiling, about plants reseeding and seeds thrown onto the ground on cold winters days. Most people looked incredulous. From seed? Yes, I’d answer, seeds, and a prayer for spring.

By Kris Blevons

Spring To Summer In The Garden – It Happens So Fast!

A southern garden, not unlike like gardens elsewhere, is in constant change one day to the next, a living work of art subtly shifting in quiet or awe-inspiring ways. But here in Birmingham, Alabama, we’re also able to revel in every season…each spring, summer, fall, and even winter, since, for better or worse, there’s no real down time, no blanket of snow to envelope the garden in silence. Each season slides easily into the next, with the appropriate and perfect accompaniment of plants.

The mental transition from spring to summer is the hardest for me though. I want the perfect spring days to go on and on and wish the peonies, poppies, pansies, bachelor buttons, Japanese roof iris, and foxglove could bloom forever. But I know the relentless heat will soon arrive to stay for good and the earliest of the garden bloomers will go as the temperatures and the humidity rise.

So, I’m mindful each day to appreciate the spires of foxglove and blooms of colorful snapdragons I planted on cool fall days last October and that are blooming now, even as I tuck in my usual summer annuals of zinnias, lantana, gomphrena, and more in my hot, sunny front bed. As I plant I pull out many spent pansies and tired poppies, choosing to leave those that are still adding color.

Many customers I see each day have completely pulled out their scraggly pansies and are ready to move on. They walk out of Oak Street Garden Shop loaded up with top soil or soil conditioner to loosen the soil, PlantTone to feed it, and lots and lots of plants. They gather perennials that will come back each year, annuals for lots of continuous color, and herbs and vegetables to harvest through the summer.

This year I’ve decided to add a new tall salvia selection called ‘Amistad’. I’ve fallen in love with its beautiful rich purple blooms and think it will be the perfect compliment for the yellow day lilies and other hot colors I usually use in this spot.

African blue basil is another addition this year that I’m planting for the honeybees. On an arbor I’ve decided to put a Malabar spinach plant, a fast growing and beautiful vine whose tender new leaves are edible. Trying new plants, and even different selections of those I’ve used before, makes each season a little different and a lot of fun.

It was a hot day today. I survey the garden as I water my new plantings in, eying a spot previously occupied by yellow violas. Yes, some bat face cuphea would look just right there, and I think the hummingbirds would like it too.

By Kris Blevons

Our New Work/Design Space – Change is Good!

Taking the hard goods area apart…

Last year I recounted some of the changes Oak Street Garden Shop has been a part of, or witness to, in the “25 Years, …A Look Back” blog posts, observing that years ago we didn’t have the luxury of camera phones to help us easily document events of importance for our little garden shop in the heart of Crestline Village in Mountain Brook, Alabama. How far technology (and we) have come!

Our website and blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all allow us to be “out there” and connected, for better or worse. So, here’s the story, in almost real time, of the big switcharoo of hard goods area into design area and vice versa.

Getting worse before getting better…

Last fall, when Pinkie, Jamie, and Molly brought up the idea of moving our work area from the far end of the greenhouse to behind the cash-out area right up front, I was immediately on board. We’d been idly discussing on and off for about two years how uninviting it looked behind the cash registers.

In a space dark and hard to get to, our sales of fertilizer and other hard goods were steadily declining. Add to that the fact that our present design area was far from customers and we couldn’t always see if people needed help (Owner Billy Angell was never happy about that.), switching the two areas made perfect sense.

The plan…

I knew Billy would be pleasantly surprised that we wanted to make this move, and, after discussing what we would like, he came up with a plan in January, 2016, and we were ready to go.

We all decided that a light color would open up the space and would be a welcome change from the dark brown and eggplant shades. Jamie, Molly, Pinkie, Angie, and Danielle spent countless January hours painting the ceiling structure, posts, and everything in between a lovely blue (When they were finally finished in March, none of them wanted to lay eyes on another paintbrush!).

Thank goodness that January and February are relatively slow months, because we continued to work in the old design area even as it was being dismantled and packed up. Boxes and boxes of burlap rolls, florist picks and wire, ribbon, scissors, rock and pebbles for terrariums, moss, glue guns and glue sticks, sold tags, Sharpies…it felt like nothing was where it used to be and everything I needed was somewhere else. This obviously went on for weeks as the new work area was slowly transformed from dingy and dark to light and open, becoming a welcoming entrance to the greenhouse.

Potting Bench and Storage - New Work Area

New potting bench and storage…

Bert began building the steps that would display finished arrangements and serve as end caps to the two work tables, two potting benches to anchor the far ends of the design area, and storage shelves for moss boxes, ribbon and other materials.

Taking A Break From Painting - Molly, Jamie, Danielle

Molly, Jamie, and Danielle taking a break..

Angie, Jamie, and Molly picked up their paintbrushes again. Danielle wasn’t out of the woods on painting either, spending countless days covering the shelves that were moved into the new hard goods area. It was coming together slowly but surely.

Pinkie has great organizational skills, so I asked her to get whatever she thought would work best for our new space. Since we would be right up front, I wanted to be sure all of our work items were organized and easily accessible.

Billy and friend Pratt…

The electrician adding more light…

She measured all the storage areas, decided what we needed, and made shopping trip after shopping trip to start us out right with a clean, neat, and organized design area. I’ve said over and over that one of my favorite things are the baskets she found that an entire box of sheet moss fits in (No more ugly moss boxes everywhere!!) and that slide onto the back shelf within easy reach.

We needed more light, and everyone wanted fans to keep us as cool as possible, especially in the summertime heat. The old fans we were using were barely working, and we wanted something better.

We love our new design area!

Our electrician, Ken, installed new lighting and plugs, and Billy order two brand new wall mounted fans that caused a lot of excitement when they arrived. Finally, with the two fans mounted, our new design area was complete. What a transformation!

The new hard goods area looks so much different too, in what used to be our work/design area. It’s now home to all the fertilizer, potting soil, samples of mulch, topsoil, soil conditioner and topsoil, tools, children’s tools, gloves, pruners, organic products, chemicals, mache liners, and some of our light weight pots, and is shaded too. Billy and Pinkie took charge of organizing it, and it’s much more inviting by a country mile!

With the busy spring season upon us, we hope you’ll stop in to browse the nursery for any plants you need for the garden or planters. And, when you come in the greenhouse, be sure to take a look at our new layout too!

By Kris Blevons

Planting for Shade – Don’t Forget About Begonias!!

The white iron hanging basket was one of the last in stock, and I’d planted it last year with ferns and begonias. It had looked beautiful through the growing season – until it dried out a couple of times too many. It happens to the best of us!

So I decided to replant it with the remaining ‘Escargot’ begonia, a beautiful blue-green patterned begonia that, yes, has the perfect name. I lined the entire basket with green sheet moss, replaced all of the potting soil, and added some Osmocote slow-release fertilizer.

Next I added a couple of purple shamrock, a bit of fern, and the beautiful and foolproof pilea glauca ‘Aquamarine’ to trail…and, voila, it was finished. It’s happily growing in the greenhouse and hopefully will find a home this spring.

While some might turn up their nose at the plain old bedding plant begonias, those and other members of this family of plants are undemanding and useful flowering beauties perfect for containers in our hot and humid climate.

The patterned leaved begonias are best used in shade plantings or in some filtered sun. All on their own they are stunning in a container or mixed with some ferns and the addition of trailing torenia, angelvine, and/or creeping jenny. Many more beautiful combinations can be made playing off the foliage color.

Those with the prettiest leaves are the rex and rhizomatous begonias. They can grow to substantial proportions and will need even moisture through the season, though they do not like soggy soil.

There are now plants sporting much larger blooms and leaves too. These have names like Whopper begonias, Dragonwing Begonias, and a smaller variety (and a favorite of mine), Baby Wing begonias.

Easy to grow and a winner for our climate, don’t pass them up on your next plant shopping trip!

Begonias are heat lovers. Wait until at least mid-April before planting bedding plants in garden beds, and take care not to over- water young transplants.

By Kris Blevons

Gardening For Pollinators

I like to feel I’m doing a good job of gardening to attract pollinators. At any rate, my home garden and the ‘Better Late Than Never’ garden across the street from Oak Street Garden Shop seem to have lots of bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies, so I must be doing something right, right??!!??

Swallowtail Butterfly on Parsley Hawthorne

Researching pollinator gardening information for a garden talk and workshop recently, in the midst of wading through article after article (There are a lot of posts on honeybees and their decline, and numerous writings on attracting hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden.), I came to the conclusion that it basically boils down to this:

Your home and yard, garden, landscape, whatever you call the space that surrounds your home, is your personal ecosystem. The health of it and the pollinators that visit it depend on how you build your soil, what you plant, and how you choose to maintain it.

So my choices have been to try to have as diverse a plant pallette as possible (I admit, I’m a plantaholic. Who knew that would play right into gardening for pollinators?) and to eliminate pesticide use almost entirely. I’m gratified when I hear of others that are trying to do the same thing.

Bees love snapdragons!

I use organic soil amendments like PlantTone and Annie Haven’s Moo Poo Tea, have learned to live with a few holes in leaves, let the ladybugs eat aphids (If they really get too bad, I wash them off with some soapy water.), and practice patience, knowing that most of the time an infestation of insects doesn’t last forever. I take great joy in bopping Japanese beetles off of my roses into a bucket of soapy water early in the morning when they’re most sluggish. I know each year they’ll be back – it’s just part of the garden’s cycle.

If you feel you have a large problem and must spray, start with the least toxic form of chemical control, and understand that even products labeled organic can be harmful to good bugs as well as bad. ***Always read the label and follow directions carefully!

I’ve learned that planting large swaths of color will attract bees, and that they prefer blue, purple, white, and yellow. I’ve learned to grow a wide variety of plants, including plants with a scent, herbs in particular. I’ve learned that while double blooms on flowers are attractive to us, they’re not especially useful for pollinators, and that they much prefer single, simple blooms. I’ve learned that flowers that come back from seed that drops in the garden (zinnias, sunflowers, bachelor buttons, larkspur to name a few), perennials, and any of our native shrubs, trees, and wildflowers are preferable also.

Chionanthus virginicus – Fringe Tree

Most importantly, I’ve learned that it’s not that hard, and actually quite a bit easier, to garden naturally. I have some clover in my grass. And you know what? It’s okay, because I have bees foraging it. Somewhere there’s some great honey in the making!

Our last average frost date is mid-April. In the coming weeks we’ll be stocking more and more plants for your pollinator gardens. Here are a few suggestions:

For Butterflies: Zinnias, Gomphrena, Pentas, Marigolds, Verbena, Asters, Yarrow, Butterfly Weed

For Bees: Purslane, Mexican Heather, Pentas, Sweet allysum, Bee Balm, Asters, Rudbeckia, Coneflower, Zinnia, Snapdragon, Sage, Basil, Rosemary, Agastache

For Hummingbirds: Cigar Plant, Salvias, Heat tolerant Fuschias, Agastache, Petunia, Hamelia, Lobelia, Bee Balm, Penstemon, Nasturtiums

Host Plants For Caterpillars: Fennel, Parsley, Dill, Carrots, Zinnias, Viburnum, Oak Trees, Cosmos, Milkweed, hollyhocks

These lists are by no means exhaustive, but are meant to be a starting point for your pollinator garden. Some of these plants are best planted in the fall, while others are more heat tolerant.

*** Alabama’s watersheds, rich in animal and plant life, absorb the brunt of chemical and fertilizer runoff from homeowner and commercial pesticide and fertilizer application. Be mindful that what you (and your neighbors) put in the landscape can adversely affect these areas and the life in them.

By Kris Blevons

It’s Time to Prune & Fertilize Roses…

Flower Carpet ‘Amber’

Many knowledgeable rose folks in Birmingham say that President’s Day in mid- February is the optimum time to prune roses. Others say we should “prune roses when the forsythia blooms.” Well, here we are at the beginning of March, the forsythia is (almost) blooming, and life has gotten in the way of my rose duties…

Flower Carpet ‘Amber’ rose before pruning

If you haven’t pruned your roses yet, it’s not the end of the world. They’ll be just fine if they’re not pruned exactly on President’s Day. (Trust me on this; I generally miss this date each year.) So, on the next nice day, put it on your list of to-dos. My plan each spring is to clean out any old mulch in the perennial/annual beds that my roses are in before pruning. When I’m done pruning and cleaning out the beds, I’ll remulch everything. This helps cut down on any old, diseased material in the garden.

Preventing disease problems by providing better air circulation through your shrub or climbing rose is the primary reason for pruning them, along with encouraging new growth and better flowering. When you’re finished, your roses should also generally be more open and a better shape than when you started.

Always use clean, sharp pruners and, if the canes are large, loppers and wear long sleeves and gauntlet gloves. It’s good pruning practice to also wipe the cutting surface of your pruners with either rubbing alcohol or a 10% bleach solution to avoid the spread of disease.

The center is more open, but there’s more to do…

Begin by taking a look at the rose. Do you see gray, dead canes? Cut those out first. Depending on the winter, there may be quite a few dead canes or there might not be many at all. This is always the first place to start with any pruning task.

Take a look at the base of the shrub. Do you see “suckers” – green shoots coming straight up from the very base of the shrub? Cut those out next.

Okay, you’ve removed dead branches and suckers. Next, cut out any weak or twiggy branches thinner than a pencil. What you’re trying to do is thin out the entire shrub, improving air circulation which should help in reducing common disease problems.

Flower Carpet “Amber’ rose – pruning complete

Step back and take another look. The shrub should be looking a bit smaller. Now select 4-6 of the remaining canes and cut them back to a height of 1′-4′. Look closely at the stems before you cut and you’ll see buds. Make your cut at a 45 degree angle, just above (about 1/4″) an outward facing bud. This is important to remember because, once again, the goal is to create outward growth for better air circulation through the plant. It’s all about preventing disease problems. What you’re left with when you’re done should be a well shaped, open shrub.

Rosarians also say that climbing roses need minimal pruning at this time of year. So, if you have any climbing roses, prune to remove dead or winter damaged canes; then prune them lightly after their initial spring bloom to control their size.

Rosea chinensis ‘Butterfly’

Many of you have the antique shrub roses such as Rosea chinensis ‘Mutabilis’ Butterfly Rose. These old fashioned roses need a light trimming; prune about 1/3 of the growth in the spring and then lightly groom them throughout the growing season.

For all of you who have the ubiquitous ‘Knockout’ roses, they are incredibly vigorous growers. They can easily be cut back by half or more after doing the usual pruning out of dead canes and twiggy growth.

Yellow Knockout prior to any pruning

The pictures here show a yellow ‘Knockout’ rose that I really need to move out of this bed; but, since it seems to still be here (Life got in the way of moving it too.), I have decided to cut it back quite severely. I bet by the end of summer it will still be enormous! (As a side note, I clearly remember, when the ‘Knockout’ series of roses came out, the height given at maturity was 3 feet. How wrong that was!) Here you see the before and after pictures.

This yellow Knockout rose will grow to tremendous proportions in a season!

Now that the roses are pruned, I will mix up some Haven Moo Poo Tea (We’ve just started carrying it.) for a good organic boost. Then the fresh layer of shredded bark mulch is added to finish the beds.

Another excellent link on pruning roses can be found in this article from the Jefferson County Extension Service. See it HERE.

This is one of those garden tasks that takes a bit of time but, in the end, is well worth the effort!

Privet – Pull Seedlings Now!

They’re easy to pull at this size…

Every time I take a walk through my garden in February I’m on the lookout for tiny Chinese privet seedlings that appear in my natural areas. More than likely these invasive shrubs are in your neighborhood and can easily muscle out more desirable plantings if you’re not careful.

Look HERE at a comprehensive post from Mississippi State on controlling this noxious invasive and resolve to keep it out of your landscape!

Unfortunately, privet is just one of the invasive plants that lurk just beyond my property line. We’ve learned to spot the tiny seedlings in the late winter and early spring, before they get large, and pull them then to keep it in check since we can’t completely get rid of them from the surrounding areas. Birds eat the seeds and drop them indiscriminately, so it’s a never ending battle.

Running bamboo, kudzu (That scourge of the south!), and Chinese wisteria, Wisteria sinensis, are also all along the edge of my property, and we monitor them religiously since they’ll take advantage of any little opening. I can tell you from long experience that running bamboo’s worst month here in Birmingham is May, when shoots appear daily, and are cut down just as quickly.

Of course, knowledge is power. You know now not to let privet gain a foothold; so monitor your landscape like I do mine, and let all your beautiful and desirable plantings take center stage instead!

By Kris Blevons

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Oak Street Garden Shop and Local Market

Voted "Best Garden Shop in Birmingham" for quality plants, creativity, and excellent customer service

Cat Proofing the Sign Planter

Catching Up In The New Year

Holiday Happiness

October 2016…A Few Words On Water and Dealing With Drought

Decorating For Fall With Pumpkins And Gourds

Pumpkins, Gourds and our Annual Fall Festival

Kris’ Gardening Tips (From the September 2016 Issue of Alabama Gardener Magazine)

It’s Blooming! The ‘Better Late Than Never’ Pollinator Garden

High Summer In The Garden

A Flag For The Fourth

Cork Bark Planters for Shady Summer Spots

The Heat is On…Be Snake Smart

From Seed – The ‘Better Late Than Never’ Garden Puts On A Show!

Spring To Summer In The Garden – It Happens So Fast!

Our New Work/Design Space – Change is Good!

Planting for Shade – Don’t Forget About Begonias!!

Gardening For Pollinators

It’s Time to Prune & Fertilize Roses…

Privet – Pull Seedlings Now!