Annie's Awesome Newsletter Archive

Learn the art of FREE PLANTS with propagation expert Susan Ashley on Saturday, July 6 at 11 am!

Come learn how to propagate your own menagerie of plants using a variety of tried and true methods with expert Susan Ashley on Saturday, July 6 at 11 am!

A longtime horticulture instructor with Merritt and Diablo Valley Colleges, Susan will show you how to propagate plants by cuttings, divisions, layering and stooling. Not only will you enhance your garden, you'll save money and have plenty to share with friends, too!

Towering up to 8' tall, these blousy-bloomed beauties are true cottage garden essentials! We use them extensively in our display beds and sample pots for their valuable verticality and massive blooms on multiple strongly erect flower spikes never fail to steal the show! All of our varieties are rust resistant and most are true perennials (not biennials), living five years or more and flowering extravagantly Summer thru Fall!

Understanding and improving soil health with Horticulturalist Ellyn Shea on June 22 at 11 am!

Grow healthier plants and use water more efficiently – no science degree necessary!

Come learn how to improve the tilth of your garden soil and grow a healthier garden with our favorite horticulturalist, arborist and gardener Ellyn Sheaon June 22 at 11am!

Right now is the perfect time to plant the quintessential bloom of Summer – the Sunflower! We plant them here in our gardens all Summer long – all the way until late-August – for an extended engagement of outrageous blooms to September and beyond!

We grow well over a dozen of THE BEST unusual and heirloom varieties – most of which are multi-branching for bigger, stronger plants and yielding a bounty of blooms, excellent for cutting. These bodacious beauties also provide a motherlode of nectar and pollen for bees of all kinds, and a nutritious food source for birds in the Fall.

Every decision we make in landscaping our gardens affects our water consumption – and here in parched California, every drop counts!

Come learn tips and techniques for efficient landscape watering with Tom Bressan, founder of The Urban Farmer Store on June 8 at 11 am! He'll cover how to plant well, how to consider your layout, and how to select the best, most appropriate delivery system for your needs. The importance of conserving and reusing greywater will also be discussed!

Watch our Summer SLIDESHOW and get inspired!

It's time to think about your SUMMER GARDEN!

As a thirst-tastically rainy Spring has slowly shifted toward a sunny Summer, we find ourselves unceremoniously ripping out our Spring annuals (so floriferous, they've been blooming their heads off since March) and replanting our demonstration gardens with big-bang-for-the-bloom Summer-to-Fall favorites that promise to evoke ooohs and aaahs from our visitors June all the way to September (and beyond!).

Spruce Up Your Sunny Borders and Beds!

We can't think of any other Summer bloomer that brings big time color and charm better than these old-fashioned MILDEW RESISTANT ZINNIAS. Super tall (to a proper 3'!) and ridiculously ruffled, they stand up in the garden to attract fluttering hordes of butterflies, bees and beneficial insects – you'll never go back to dwarfed box-store Zinnias again!

Learn to garden for native bees with biologist-designer Jamie Pawalek on May 25 at 11 am!

California has a rich diversity of native plants and a HUGE diversity of bees – 1,600 native species and counting!

Learn how to grow a garden designed for these little pollinating powerhouses with native bee biologist, educator and herbalist Jaime Pawelek on Saturday, May 25 at 11 am! Jaime will share her knowledge of pollinator-friendly gardening and teach you about the needs of native bees. She'll cover the best plants to attract native bees and how to plan or modify your existing garden to welcome them!

Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms Tells You How
on Day 1 of our Mother's Day Party!

Is there anything as delicious as a fresh-picked tomato?

No watery, hothouse-grown grocery-store tomato could ever hope to compare to the rich, earthy taste of a homegrown beauty. And here to tell you all about how to grow PERFECT tomatoes is our favorite tomato farmer – Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms – on Saturday, May 11, Day 1 of our Mother's Day Party!

Extra-long Blooming Beauties Fill in Fast!

You wouldn't think one of the most sought-after plants in the nursery would be a Basil   but this ain't no ordinary Basil! Lush purple-black foliage topped with zillions of 8" violet blooms make Basil herbalea 'Wild Magic' a stunning gardenworthy ornamental (to 18" tall x 24" wide), with the added benefit of being edible and delicious. We think its fruity, never-bitter flavor is similar to Thai Basil and we're happy to say that our first crop of the year is ready!