Friday, May 15, 2009

We Have Heirloom, Organic, Locally Grown Vegetable Starts!

There is nothing better than a garden fresh tomato with all its summer sweetness. Now more than ever people are growing their own. Heirloom varieties, like the Green Zebra Tomato, offer more flavor and fruit through out the growing season.

We are lucky enough to have a wonderful organic farm, Regeneration CSA, down the road from us in High Falls. Sarah and Kevin grow heirloom seeds organically, and we're selling these great varieties:

Tomato Varieties - All Indeterminate

Brandywine- A favorite. Meaty with the perfect hint of tartness. Beefsteak fruits average 1 lb.

Rutgers- Famous New Jersey tomato. Outstanding slicing, cooking, and canning variety. Rich red fruit 5- 8 oz.

Green Zebra- Starts out green with dark green stripes, turns yellow when ripe. 4- 5 oz.



Garden Peach- 2 oz. yellow fruits, blush pink when ripe. Relatively early and prolific. Sweet, curious and delicious.

Fargo Yellow Pear- Yellow plum shaped fruit. Prolific!

Black Cherry- Sweet yet rich and complex fruit. Abundant, vigorous, tall plants.

Be My Baby - Red cherry tomatoes.

Principe Borghese- Small fruit will turn into sun dried tomatoes right on the vine! Perfect for the lazy gardener.

Paul Robeson - This famous tomato has almost a cult following among seed collectors and tomato connoisseurs. Sweet and smokey. 7-10 oz. fruit are a black-brick color.

Rose de Berne- Beautiful pink tomato. A favorite!

Mama Leone- Great tomato for canning and sauces.



Eggplant Varieties - These Varieties are well suited for areas like ours with a relatively short growing season.

Casper Eggplant- This delectable ivory-white skinned eggplant is a very early producer of 5-6 inch long fruit. Will provide you with lots of fruit.

Thai Green- Light green, long fruit. Light flavor, not bitter like the more common eggplant. Perfect in asin curries.

Ping Tung- Light Purple, long Chinese variety. Vigorous and stress tolerant. Harvest before full maturity. Sweet!

We also have beets, kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, sweet peppers and hot peppers, and we have more vegetable starts arriving weekly.

Vegetable starts are heirloom, organic and locally grown.

Mix-n-match 4-packs

for $3

3” pots $3

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Great Shade Perennial Combo



Most shade plants bloom in the spring, but you can still give even the darkest corners of your garden great color all summer. Pick plants with colorful foliage and contrasting textures. This combination is Trifolium 'Dark Dancer', Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' (Coral Bell), and Athyrium 'Ghost' (Ghost fern). Dark purples of the Heuchera and Trifolium contrast with the light green of the Ghost fern, plus the distinct textures of the leaves create a rich garden tapestry.



You can of course add flowering plants to the mix. This Aquilegia 'Swan Burgundy and White' is a perfect color match to the combo.

Trifolium and Athryium are both deer-resistant, but the Heuchera and the Aquilegia are not. A deer resistant substitution for the Heuchera could be Black Mondo grass.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Car Trunk Trees: Parrotia persecia (Persian Parrotia)

Here is another exciting installment of our Car Trunk Cars series. We are profiling some amazing trees, all of which we have in stock right now (in small 2 gallon containers, which will fit in the trunk of your car)!

And now is the perfect time to plant a tree. Arbor Day is one week away!

Parrotia persecia (Persian Parrotia)

Why we love it: Fireworks from spring to fall, plus stunning exfoliating bark.








Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
Height: 20 ft to 40 ft Spread: 15 ft to 30 ft
Form:
ascending branches
Type: deciduous tree
Annual Growth Rate: 6 to 12 inches
Flowers: Maroon Blooms Late March

Prefers full sun to partial shade. Likes acidic soil and is drought tolerant. Does not like wet feet. Flowers appear before the leaves in very early spring. Leaves emerge purple-bronze and then mature to a deep green. Unbelievable fall color: purple, orange, umber, and yellow.
A great cool region tree with brown, gray, green, and cream exfoliating bark that stands out in a winter garden.

This tree is a true individual. It can be trained to grow with one trunk, or it can have many stems. It is in the Witch hazel family, and blooms at the same time as many witch hazel varieties. A garden star all year long.

more info

Car trunk trees are what we are calling young trees in 2 to 3 gallon pots, small enough to bring home in the trunk of your car. There are many advantages to planting trees on your property: They can provide shade in the summer (trees can help keep your your house cool), trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen (cleaning the air and fighting global warming), well-chosen trees add value to your home.

If you are on our email list, you received our newsletter and our special secret sale. Car Trunk Trees are the small, easy to carry, easy to plant trees we have in stock.

If you are not on our email list, sign up! Send us an email with "Mailing list" in the subject heading, and you will receive notices of special sales and discounts all year long!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Car Trunk Trees: Oxydendrum arboreum (Sourwood)

We are profiling a series of fantastic trees we have in stock in small 2 gallon containers. Every Northern gardener should have one of these:

Oxydendrum arboreum (Sourwood)

Why we love it: This native tree blooms when no other tree is blooming in summer, and with the panicles still on the tree, the fall foliage will knock your socks off.






Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Height: 25 ft to 30 ft Spread: 20 ft to 25 ft
Form: pyramidal
Type: deciduous tree
Annual Growth Rate: 8 to 15 inches
Flowers: White Blooms Mid- to Late Summer

Prefers full sun to partial shade. Can grow in acidic, infertile soil..
The primary attraction of this small deciduous tree is the drooping clusters of fragrant, white blossoms are borne on 4" to 10" long panicles. Flowers open over a three to four week period, and then the panicles remain on the tree while the leaves turn yellow, orange and red for a spectacular fall show. The persistent fruit remains on the tree through winter.

more info


Car trunk trees are what we are calling young trees in 2 to 3 gallon pots, small enough to bring home in the trunk of your car. There are many advantages to planting trees on your property: They can provide shade in the summer (trees can help keep your your house cool), trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen (cleaning the air and fighting global warming), well-chosen trees add value to your home.

If you are on our email list, you received our newsletter and our special secret sale. Car Trunk Trees are the small, easy to carry, easy to plant trees we have in stock.

If you are not on our email list, sign up! Send us an email with "Mailing list" in the subject heading, and you will receive notices of special sales and discounts all year long!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Car Trunk Trees: Halesia carolina (Carolina Silverbell)

Number five in our "Car Trunk Trees" series is a showy, hard to find flowering tree that will grow in the shade. We have these hard-to-find beauties in stock in easy-to-carry, easy-to-plant, 2 gallon containers. Really, what more can you ask for?

Halesia carolina (Carolina Silverbell)

Why we love it: Striated bark, showy bell shaped flowers, AND it can grow in the shade!







Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8
Height: 30 ft to 40 ft Spread: 20 ft to 35 ft
Form: arching
Type: low branch profile with a rounded crown
Annual Growth Rate: 12 to 15 inches
Flowers: White Blooms April/May, seeds ripen in September/October

This tree grows in shade or sun. Prefers moist, well-drained, acidic soil. Dirr says the Halesia carolina makes "a great tree for understory planting along a stream, in the back of the shrub boarder, against a background of large conifers, or as a single specimen, yet [it is] not common anywhere in America."


Halesia carolina has striated exfoliating bark and bright yellow fruit in the fall. This tree is often confused with the Styrax japonicus fargesii (Japanese Snowbell) (profiled in the previous entry) because both have spring-blooming, white, downward-facing flowers, but the Halesia has the exfoliating bark and is more shade tolerant.

more info


If you are on our email list, you received our newsletter and our special secret sale. Car Trunk Trees are the small, easy to carry, easy to plant trees we have in stock.

If you are not on our email list, sign up! Send us an email with "Mailing list" in the subject heading, and you will receive notices of special sales and discounts all year long!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Car Trunk Trees: Stewatia pseudocamllia (Japanese Stewartia)

Here is the 2nd of our Car Trunk Tree Series

Stewatia pseudocamllia (Japanese Stewartia)

Why we love it: The dramatic exfoliating bark and great fall foliage.









Hardiness Zones: 4 to 7
Height: 20 ft to 40 ft Spread: 20 ft to 40 ft
Form: pyramidal/oval in youth - more rounded in maturity
Type: deciduous tree
Annual Growth Rate: 6 to 12 inches
Flowers: White with yellow center Blooms in July

Prefers full sun, but will tolerate partial shade. Soil should be moist and ideally acidic. Dry soil will limit this trees growth. The real appeal of this tree is its stunning exfoliating bark. When branches reach 2" or 3" in diameter, the gray, gold, and brown pealing bark is a real stand-out as a winter interest.
Plus the Stewartia has fantastic fall foliage.

more info

Car trunk trees are baby trees, small enough to bring home in the trunk of your car. There are many advantages to planting trees on your property, and whatever challenges you face on your property, we have so many different varieties that will stay small, grow large, flower, tolerate wet, etc.

If you are on our email list, you received our newsletter and our special secret sale.

If you are not on our email list, sign up! Send us an email with "Mailing list" in the subject heading, and you will receive notices of special sales and discounts all year long!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

New Japanese Garden Tools







A few years ago we had this really great claw tool, which disappeared off the market, and nothing like it was ever to be found again. Until now! These Japanese tools are exactly what we've been looking for.

The three pronged tools are great for planting, pulling weeds, or pulling sod. The smallest of the claw tools are nice and light, especially nice for women.

The Victoria Gardens Landscape crew is field testing these tools, and we'll keep you updated on how they survive the daily pummeling they are subjected to. They look very well made, so we have high hopes that they will hold up well.