Who doesn’t love houseplants? Here a few that make perfect gifts.
Ceropegia woodii ‘Variegata’ (Variegated String of Hearts). The heart shaped leaves boast greens, creams, and blushy pinks. While this plant may look delicate, it’s hardy, needing bright indirect light, and little water. Let it dry out completely between waterings. This variegated version of the “String of Hearts” vine displays beautifully cascading in a hanging basket. Its petite heart-shaped leaves boast greens, creams, and blush pinks, along with small mauve pipe-shaped flowers. While this wonderful Valentine’s day gift looks delicate, the care is quite easy. It requires bright indirect light and because String of Hearts is a succulent, let it dry out completely between waterings, generally about 2-3 weeks during the growing season and every 4 weeks during the dormant season. Make sure the pot has plenty of drainage so the roots don’t rot.
Stromanthe ‘Triostar’ (Triostar Stromanthe). This striking tropical plant’s long leaves are green and cream, with magenta undersides. The leaves change position throughout the day. They prefer to have more consistent water, generally water thoroughly when the top inch or two of soil is dry. An occasional misting benefits this plant as it helps mimics its natural jungle-like habitat.
Ficus ‘Ruby’ (Ruby Rubber Tree). This pink-tinged variety of the standard Rubber Tree adds an interesting splash of color to any space. They typically grow with multiple stems each with multi-colored leathery leaves, with the newest growth showing the most intense red/pink coloring. The Ruby Rubber Tree prefers bright indirect light with moderate moisture. Generally, they prefer a thorough watering when the top 2 inches of soil is dry.
Grocery prices are projected to rise even more this summer. You can save, by planting your own veggies for storage. These delicious, hardy varieties are some of the longest-storing, and can be enjoyed for most of the winter, and even into spring.
Solidago ptarmicoides
Rosa nutkana
PEPPER
These are native plants that we often have for sale during the growing season. Availability does change every year, but we grow and buy a wide variety of natives because they are so successful in our gardens.
With the disruption and confusion over our national health care system this month, we’re more committed than ever to sharing information on how to create your own home ‘farm-acy’. Watch our class schedule for expanded home herb garden and herbal healing classes during the growing season.
Sometimes we overdo heavier food and drink during the holidays, and our stomach suffers.
One of the beautiful alternatives to a standard, water-thirsty, solid green, mowed Kentucky Bluegrass lawn is a naturalistic meadow composed of low-water clumping grasses and wildflowers.
We cut, dig and store our dahlia tubers just after the first frost. Our friends at Arrowhead Dahlias have easy instructions.
We still have Lavender (Munstead, Buena Vista, Hidcote and Grosso), and if you want to plant them this season, get them this week on sale for 20% off! Any plants left after that will be potted up for next year. Because it is evergreen, newly planted lavender is more sensitive to hard frost than many other hardy perennials, so to give them a chance to establish before very cold weather arrives, plant them NOW. If you garden at an elevation higher than 6,000’, we recommend waiting to plant lavender next spring.
Your Fall Vegetable Garden Starts Here!
We finally got a chance to bring out our excellent and unique selection of Native Conifers! Most of them are special dwarf forms that can easily fit in a home garden. These accent plants can give structure and winter interest to elevate your garden design in all seasons.
Right now, we have our biggest selection of highly desirable plants for the season. Some of them are unusual and available in limited quantities. This includes a number of very choice native perennials that are very hard to find and will sell out fast, like:
XERISCAPE TREES AND SHRUBS for SUN
HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS 2025 TOMATO STARTS
Fall is among the best times to plant perennials. While we may begin to wilt from late summer heat, many plants rise to the occasion and burst into bloom! As days begin to grow shorter, perennials spend the next few months developing root systems or taproots that delve well below the hot, dry surface soil. Pollinators depend on finding pollen and nectar sources through the entire summer, so it’s important to include late-summer and autumn bloomers in your garden. 
from Mitten Lowe at 
