Perhaps this year you would like to change the way your gardens look.  Then now is the time to think about changing the design of your gardens.  There are so many ideas available.  Searching the internet and  looking at Pinterest for ideas are good places to start. Also take a look at  Monrovia’s design trends. Just click on design 

If you would like to have more quality apples on your tree, then you need to prune your tree properly which will improve the quality of the fruit through better air flow and sun penetration.  It is recommended that you never remove more than 1/3 of the total canopy in a single year.  Click on the red text to see illustrations and learn more about pruning apple trees

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Midwest winters can be very hard on the birds that remain here. We can provide food and water for them, but planting plants that produce berries is welcomed by these birds.  These berry plants also add some color to our dull winter landscapes. The following is an article from Monrovia Nursery, but besides the plants that Monrovia lists, there are other plants that produce winter berries in our zone.   Just ask our staff for help.

Clicking on the following link takes you to Monrovia’s suggestions for winter berries.

https://www.monrovia.com/be-inspired/plant-a-berry-garden-for-winter-birds.html

July, in our area, is probably the highlight month of our gardens. The burst of spring blossoms is now behind us and summer color is popping all over. Gardens are blooming with coneflowers, lillies, roses, hydrangeas, and so many, many more. If your garden needs some color, consider stopping in as we carry over 30 different hydrangeas, over 25 varieties of roses, more then 20 varieties of coneflowers, and so much more. We may not always have every variety in stock, but we keep restocking every week. It is probably safe to say that we are the areas’s largest supplier of plants. Go to our home page and click on Plants and Products, then click on perennials, shrubs or whatever and you will be taken to a list of our plants. Note that this is not an all inclusive list as when new varieties are made available to us, we probably will stock them.

Summer is just days away. Monrovia has several plans for summer shade and sunny gardens that attract birds, bees, hummingbirds and pollinators in the summer. If you would like to see them, just click on the following link:

https://www.monrovia.com/backyard-habitat-guide

Bee A Winner and win free plants from Monrovia Nursery. Just click on the following image and it will take you to the entry page

 

 

 

IT IS CRUCIAL TO FEED THE POLLINATORS AFTER THEIR LONG JOURNEY.

Is your garden ready for them by having plants that will be blooming to provide food for their arrival?  It is SO important to feed these pollinators after their long journey as they are vital for producing crops and fruits along with the survival of plants.    Click on the red link below and you can read about these early blooming plants.

Best Early Spring Flowering Plants to Attract Pollinators

 

 

How about some gorgeous spring blooming bushes?  A couple that are outstanding due to their many blossoms are Rhododendrons and Azaleas.   Azaleas do best with morning sun and afternoon shade.  Their blooms are vibrant colors, i.e. oranges, yellows, pinks and reds, with a mild fragrance.  Plant a couple of these together and they will be showstoppers.

Rhododendrons are an elegant spring blooming shrub.   They will do ok in full sun but do nicely with afternoon shade.  The common one is PJM, a soft purple/lavender.   New varieties have sensational larger blossoms.   Both of these shrubs come in various sizes.  Click on the shrub name below to read more about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple Gem  Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Baileys Nursery

 

Witch hazel is a vase-like shrub that can grow to 15′ tall.  However, with pruning you can keep it shorter and shaped.  The spring and summer foliage is green.   In fall the leaves turn to a stunning yellow/gold and apricot.  Then in mid-October to mid-November (or later) the tree produces its spidery yellow spicy fragrant flowers.  This particular witch hazel (common) needs cooler weather before it blooms, tolerating 20 degrees.  Flowers are pollinated by flies, moths, bees, wind and also self-pollination. Even though the flowers were already pollinated in fall,  fertilization of the ovaries doesn’t occur until spring when fruits (brown capsules containing seeds that develop over summer)  are formed and then explode in early fall.   The seeds are consumed by wild turkeys, northern bobwhites, jays, chickadees, woodpeckers, titmice, nuthatches and others.  Interestingly, the forked stems of this plant has been used as “divining rods,” where the stems dip down when held over underground water.  This plant is a real stand out winner in fall.

 

 

 

If you like to try new plants, we have some new ones we hope you like.  They each have interesting characteristics. 

Achillea (yarrow) Desert Eve Terracotta is an early blooming yarrow with big clusters of tiny rusty orange/yellow flowers.  Butterflies are attracted to this plant.

Veronica Dark Blue has abundant, full spikes of violet-blue flowers that bloom continuously throughout summer.  Attracts butterflies and bees.

Hosta Fantasy Island is a dwarf hosta for planting in front of the shade garden.  There are only a few dwarf hostas so this is a welcome addition for our hosta gardeners.

See You Tomorrow daylily (hemerocallis) produces yellow clusters of blooms that last for FIVE days.   Daylily blooms only last for one day, hence the name daylily.

Dianthus American Pie Berry a’la Mode has large pure white flowers with a magenta center on sturdy stems.  Great cut flower.  Very eye appealing

Click on the italics plant name below for more information:

Achillea Desert Eve Terracotta

 

Veronica Dark Blue

 

Fantasy Island Hosta

See You Tomorrow Daylily

 

Dianthus American Pie Berry a’la Mode

Since “Spring is in the Air” here are two new, exciting plants that we fell in love with and that hummingbirds and butterflies will love, too.

If you are a delphinium fan, you are going to love this new variety “Red Lark”.  Instead of all the usual blue delphiniums, this one is coral red. It is gorgeous.  Red Lark will grow to about 30″ tall.

Buddleia True Blue (butterfly bush) is another plant that will bloom from early summer to a frost.  Butterflies, especially Monarchs, love butterfly bushes.  The foliage is silver green and will grow to about a height of 6′ in one season.  Most butterfly bushes will survive our winters but can be quite late emerging in spring.

To read more about these plants, click on the red links below.

Red Lark

True Blue