Annie's Awesome Newsletter Archive

Days are long, nights are warm, and it's that perfect time of the year for feasting in the garden. Whether you're just barbequing for one, picnicking in the back yard with little ones, or enjoying a quiet cocktail for two in the evenings, we've got what you need to kick your flavors up a notch. I'm talkin' about herbs!

Let's talk about shrubs. Coming in a myriad of sizes, shapes, foliage and flower color, we grow almost 250 varieties of outstanding shrubs. So whether you garden for fragrance, hummingbirds, wildlife, cut flowers – or just need a big honkin' semi-permanent focal point to screen out an ugly wall or fence – we've got you covered!

It's that time of year, folks – late July means some of the juiciest and hardest to come by beauties are ready to take their turn on the catwalk. Some haven't been available yet this year and each one makes our hearts beat just a little faster when we can offer them for sale. So check out this Summer's dang cool offerings – and catch 'em while you can!

Summer is when some our most luscious bloomers come available. Easy to grow and quick to bloom, they add punch and punctuation to your Summer garden!

There's still plenty of time to plant for a bloomiferous late Summer and early Fall. With our longest days affording more precious minutes in the garden, you'll find yourself out enjoying the buzzing bees and cutting bouquets in your own Summer paradise ... that is IF you get a move on and plant some simple Summer season extenders soon!

As so many of us try and figure out what the heck we’re going to do for Summer vacation during a pandemic, let us suggest a relaxing week of Garden-cation! Instead of soaking up the sun on a tropical beach or paddling around on a mountain lake, you could be digging in the dirt and planting for fabulous late Summer bloom! OK, maybe that doesn’t sound quite as glamorous as an exotic getaway, but it’s way better than all the risky alternatives. And the payoff will be spectacular come August and September!

Lift your spirits with our SUMMER SLIDESHOW!

It's time to think about your SUMMER GARDEN!

As a totally surreal Spring has shifted toward a beautifully cool and sunny Summer, we find ourselves unceremoniously ripping out our Spring annuals (so floriferous, they've been blooming since March, oblivious to the pandemic-related chaos around them) and replanting our demonstration gardens with Summer-to-Fall favorites that promise to evoke ooohs and aaahs from June all the way to September (and beyond!).

Let's give a shout out to California! Anything that buoys the spirit is a good thing right now, and few floral displays are as pure as our state flower in bloom. Whether they're dotting the hillsides from afar, popping up on trails or even growing in highway medians, California poppies are here to bring cheer.

They are also the epitome of easy. Drought tolerant and deer resistant, adaptable to poor, dry soil, as well as rich, garden soil, they're the kind of over-achieving plants that look oh-so-good with minimal effort on your part. In fact, Cal Poppies live longer if you keep them on the dry side over the Summer and self-sow reliably for free plants. Super pollinator friendly, you'll often find bumblebees sleeping in the closed blooms if you get out into the garden early enough!

Harder to spell than to grow, Alstroemerias offer some of the best high gratification to low perspiration ratios around! Gloriously large flowered and TALL (to 3-4'), long, strong stems make them an iconic cut flower, lasting a couple of weeks in a vase. A hummingbird favorite, extra large flowers also boast showy nectar guides that lure bees and butterflies to their bounty.

Easy and carefree in almost any soil – although you'll get a crazy EXPLOSION of bloom in rich soil with regular water and adequate drainage – they'll spread to a 3-4' wide colony over time (or grow them in a large container if you don't have room for them to spread out). Long-blooming late Spring to Fall, they're heat tolerant, long-lived, disease and deer resistant and hardy to USDA zone 7. Maybe for the first time ever – all four of our favorite varieties are ready at once!

This week's combo is dedicated to the color GRAPE!

Now more than ever, we gardeners are retreating to our yards as a place of solace, cheer and hope – a safe haven from all the uncertainty and anxiety we experience every time we read the news or turn on the TV. We NEED our gardens more than ever to lift our spirits, keep us active and help us from going stir crazy while we safely shelter in place and limit our social interactions. Lucky for us, the season is still ripe for planting!

Plant some JOY with our wild and wonderful selection of Mediterranean climate lovin' bulbs!

We're super picky about our bulbs. We nurse and nurture many of them from seed, grow them out for a year (or two!) and then divide them, meaning they're time and space consuming and maybe not all that practical but hey ... who said gardening was entirely about practicality? Well-rooted and ready for prime-time, all bulbs are in active growth in 4" pots when we ship them out, ensuring they're alive and thriving, ready to be planted the minute they get to your garden.