Annie's Awesome Newsletter Archive

Delicate and compact, densely bushy, fuzzy, hardy, even tree-like, Lupines are a diverse lot with over 200 wild species and many more hybrids to choose from – we can honestly say there's a Lupine for everyone! With attractive palmate leaves that seem especially designed to catch the morning dew and make it sparkle, Lupines are just as enchanting in the garden as they are in the wild. We grow a hearty variety of captivating California native Lupines, as well as the best-of-the-best mildew-resistant and reliably long-lived hybrids. Unparalleled for bringing romance and a cottagey feel to the garden, they're also bee and butterfly magnets of the highest order! Tap-rooted, the perennial varieties can handle short periods of drought, but are so much happier and robust with regular water and a healthy dose of compost. Deer and rabbit resistant!

All Your Fruit Tree Questions Answered!

No matter what size your garden, there's room for fruit trees!

January is the perfect time for us Bay Area gardeners to plant bare-root fruit trees and that's why we are always dang pleased to welcome back our dedicated and beloved FRUIT TREE GENIUS, Phil Pursel of Dave Wilson Nursery on Jan. 25 at 11 am to give us all the info we need to select, plant, prune and protect new and established trees!

With their lust for life and big bang-for-the-buck, these frost-tolerant toughies pooh-pooh our cool, wet Winter weather (USDA zones 8 and up), sending their roots far and wide and building momentum for a spectacular bloom-at-the-same-time garden extravaganza come April. They're some of the showiest bloomers in all of the gardening world – blooming their hearts out all Spring long if you plant them when they're young and deadhead faded blooms once they start blooming.

Get your roses ready and rarin' to go with expert Cristin Fusano on Sat., January 11 at 11 am!

New Year's Greetings Garden Friends! It's time for our annual Rosarian cram session with our favorite rose expert, Horticulturalist Cristin Fusano on Saturday, January 11 at 11 am! And you definitely don't want to miss it because NOW is the perfect time to prune and prep for a stellar Spring!

We're planting our favorite old-fashioned FRAGRANT Sweet Peas right now - and you should, too!

Everyone knows old-fashioned Sweet Peas, right? One of the first flowers we learn about and love, their sweet fragrance reminds so many of us of childhood afternoons spent in grandma's garden. But did you know NOW is the BEST time to plant these beloved hardy annuals in temperate climates like ours? Planting in Fall gives them plenty of time to go to town underground, growing a robust network of roots all Winter long for their star turn come Spring. You can be cutting flowers for bouquets as early as February with our earliest bloomers 'Nuance' and 'Cupani' – and collecting bushels of blooms well before May Day with the rest!

If you garden in temperate climes like ours, from now until December you can – no wait – you MUST plant biennials, perennials and even some hardy annuals in order to have a spectacular and bloomiferous garden come Spring. With rain expected in the coming week here in the Bay Area and beyond, the time couldn't be better for getting plants in the ground so they'll have the Winter months to establish their roots. Bonus: We've got some crazy special cool ONE CROP WONDERS ready right now, they're limited in supply so grab them while you can!

We're getting a jump on Spring – you can, too!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program of gorgeous gardens in bloom to show you what our demonstration beds REALLY look like this time of year. Annuals – done for the season – have been ripped out, perennials have been cut back and the beds have been top-dressed with a fluffy and nourishing 1" layer of organic grapeseed compost. Maybe it isn't glamorous now, but it will be come Spring! So what's next? Why, the fun part!

Smart gardeners plant bare-root bulbs in Fall!

Our hand-picked selection of Spring blooming bulbs are here! And planting these bodacious bulbs in the Fall is a super-duper value, seasonally appropriate and EASY as pie!

Our most popular bare-root bulbs are ready!

It's that time of year folks! Our fab collection of first-class Freesias are ready for you – as bare-root bulbs!

Easy to grow, DEER RESISTANT and low-maintenance, masses of bodacious blooms appear on branching stems held well above the fresh green sword shaped leaves. At 10 bulbs per bag (depending on variety), they're super economical, too!

With horticulturalist & CRFG expert John Valenzuela on Saturday, October 26 at 11 am!

Asian Pears? Chilean Guava? Jujubes? Many varieties of unusual fruit are perfectly adapted to the Bay Area! Come learn what they are and how to grow them with horticulturalist and educator John Valenzuela of Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens on Sat. October 26 at 11 am!