January in the Garden

January is the month you see rows and rows of sticks in black nursery pots, what are these you may ask yourself as you wander thru Mission Hills Nursery. Many stone fruit trees and deciduous trees that are dormant come into nurseries as sticks without any clothing (leaves) or pants (pots). We plant them up so they can begin to wake up and expand their roots prior to putting on a spring show for you in your home garden.
If you have always wanted an orchard but are limited in space your garden is suitable for EZ-Pick fruit trees from L.E. Cooke. While the standard fruit trees grows 20-30' EZ-Pick fruit trees stay around 6-12' with most of the fruit being reachable in the 4-7' range. By having a smaller tree you are able to plant multiple varieties providing your family with different fruit throughout the year.

Two of the most unusual dormant trees we bring in are the Snow Fountains Flowering Cherry from L.E. Cooke and weeping Mulberry. Flowering Cherry says spring with a carpet of white blossoms while the Mulberry provides some very yummy edible fruit. Each are structurally artistic during the winter months and beautiful the rest of the year.

You also will see over 500 other pots with shorter sticks coming out of them, these are roses. Even though it is hard to buy a new rose without actually seeing and smelling the flower now is the best time to get them into your garden. We have been buying many of our roses year after year from Weeks Roses, they have been growing roses for over 73 years so they do know how to do it. For some good ideas which you can apply to your own garden please click over to their website and see what Ann has to say.

Today we saw the sun all day, first time in too long if you ask me. The plants are enjoying the warmth as much as we are. If you have been inside too long this winter this is the weekend you will want to get out in your garden. The soil is still soft from our rains making weed pulling and hole digging an easier task. Get dirty this weekend and we are open Monday in case you are one of the lucky ones who gets and extra day off.