Farmers can keep it pretty simple and straight....

This old Farmer's Advice was forwarded to me by a nursery friend. I thought some were pearls of wisdom every gardener should consider, especially as we think about New Years resolutions.

• Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.


• Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.


• A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.


• Words that soak into your ears are whispered....not yelled.


• Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.


• You cannot unsay a cruel word.


• Every path has a few puddles.


• When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.


• Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.


• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.


• Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.


• Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.


• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.


• The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.


• Always drink upstream for the herd.


• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.


• Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.


• If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

Holiday Gift Idea: $7 YGP Tickets at Dennis’ Seven Dees

Ticket prices for Yard, Garden & Patio Show have never been so low! It’s the perfect holiday gift for the special gardener on your list. Regularly priced at $11, if you stop by a Dennis’ Seven Dees’ garden center, you can purchase YGP tickets for only $7 (the only place you’ll find $7 tickets for the 2010 show).



Find $7 tickets at these Dennis’ Seven Dees locations:
Cedar Hills – 10455 SW Butner Rd., Portland
Powell Blvd – 6025 SE Powell Blvd, Portland
Lake Oswego – 1090 McVey Ave., Lake Oswego
Seaside – 84794 Highway 101 S, Seaside

For Random Acts of Gardening Readers Only!

Readers suggested we offer special activities to our Random Acts of Gardening (RAG) community. We listened and now you’re in for another* treat.

The Oregon Association of Nurseries produces the Yard, Garden & Patio Show (YGP). In fact, this will be the 23rd year the nursery industry has kicked off spring for northwest gardeners and families with the show. We’d like to give you a first-in-the-history-of-the-show behind-the-scenes peek at how the beautiful display gardens are created in just four days. Join us on Wednesday, February 10 at 4-6pm to see the display gardens as works in progress. Space is limited.

You’ll have a birds-eye view of the show floor and the gardens from the VIP lounge on the mezzanine floor of the Oregon Convention Center. Soft drinks and snacks will be served. Designers, contractors and others will share their designs, construction strategies and YGP show features. We hope the sneak peek will entice you back Feb. 12-14 during the show to see the finished gardens and enjoy the many other features the show has to offer. Because…LIFE IS GOOD IN THE GARDEN!

Click here and let us know that you’d like to join us for the “For RAG Readers Only” party.

*Our first RAG event was a personal tour of the 2009 Farwest Show in August.

Welcome

Our gardens often offer an invitation to enjoy what we’ve created, to share an important part of who we are. I consider my garden to be an intensely personal space; it’s a reflection of myself and what’s important to me. Every time I walk by these garden entrances (see photos) on my daily walks with Barney, I feel like each is an invitation to explore. Although I’ve never ventured into either garden, I’m intrigued nonetheless, and look to these and many more gardens for inspiration for my own yard.

We’d like to invite you into a beautiful space…actually many beautiful spaces…at the 2010 Yard, Garden & Patio Show presented by Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping & Garden Centers, February 12-14, at the Oregon Convention Center. The show is built around our belief that LIFE IS GOOD IN THE GARDEN, which includes having fun, relaxing, sharing space with friends and family, and living, playing and dining in the garden.



The display gardens and plants sales are the most often mentioned reasons people attend the show. Three designers/contractors are new to the 2010 gardens (Sean Hogan/Cistus Nursery, Hughes Water Gardens, and All Oregon Landscaping) and five more are returning from last year (All Natural Landscape, Autumn Leaf Landscaping/Green Leaf Design, Classic Garden Creations, Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping, and Matt Sanders Landscaping). Each garden will be unique. And each garden will offer ideas for our own yards.

Stay tuned for more inspiration, including outdoor cooking classes, lawn bowling, wine and beer beverage gardens, live music, garden artists, more designed spaces from landscape designers and many educational seminars, including—you heard it here first!—Dan Hinkley (thanks to Monrovia).

Our new website will be live the week of December 7. Check it out at www.ygpshow.com.

December Plant Pick

Moana Nursery, a wholesale nursery in Canby, just sent this photo to me. It made me gasp it was so beautiful I wanted to share it with you. Just so happens birds (and apparently deer) love the fruit.

Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite' (also known as 'Nana' or 'Compacta')

• Zones 3 to 9
  
• Full sun to partial shade
  
• Typically slow growing to 2-3 feet tall and wide
  
• Needs acidic, organically-enriched, moist to wet soils, but it is somewhat adaptable to soils that are occasionally dry (if female plants are sited in relatively dry soils, berry size will be maximized by irrigation during dry periods in July and August; excellent tolerance for wet conditions)
  
• One male plant (of the appropriate flowering time) planted in close proximity to three to five female plants is needed to ensure good pollination and fruit set
  
• Immature berries emerge on female shrubs in early summer, maturing to red berries in late August to early September; berries persist (if not eaten by wildlife) and are very showy due to their red coloration on the bare stems
  
• Root suckering with maturity, forming colonies (this is an asset in naturalized sites, or where erosion control is desired)
  
• No serious disease or insect problems

Tell us about your favorite berry-producing plant, include photos if you have one.

Salmon Safe Gardening

To put a smile on you face, watch Sal’s Journey. Sal may be making a special appearance at the Yard, Garden & Patio Show!

One Green World is making an encore appearance at the 2010 Yard, Garden & Patio Show. They are Oregon’s first Salmon Safe certified nursery, a reflection of their commitment to sustainability. To learn more about their commitment to a sustainable future, check out their Web site. To learn more about Salmon Safe Certification, visit www.salmonsafe.org.

One perennial favorite fruiting plant of owners Jim Gilbert and Lorraine Gardner is the columnar apple. These trees offer prolific fruit in a form that works for any garden, including container and balcony gardens.

In their words: We first saw Columnar Apples in Sweden and were struck by the unique, upright form and no branches. This seemed like a natural for the home gardener with little space and less time. Inspired, we did some research and discovered that the original Columnar Apple was a naturally mutated branch on a MacIntosh Apple tree in British Columbia, Canada. We also found out that some new varieties had been created in Canada and were waiting to be introduced to the gardening world. It is these varieties that we now offer in our One Green World catalog [Editor’s note: One Green World will offer the columnar apples for sale at the 2010 Yard, Garden & Patio Show.]

We're thrilled with our Columnar Apples; they are such fun to grow! Kids love picking the fruit that grows every year at their height. Our customers, folks who want healthy fruit, free of pesticides, rave about these varieties. They give lots of apples with little care and they are very resistant to Apple Scab, making them great choices for our wet climate. Our apples don't even have worms!

We love seeing these unique trees in early spring, when they are literally towers of flowers! People grow them on patios and decks or simply plant them in virtually any location in the yard or landscape. Quick to reward, we enjoy their large and delicious fruit the year after planting. Wonderful for those who want to grow their own food and great for the environment, these special apple trees make producing fruit easy and convenient for almost everyone.

Organic Christmas Trees

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us…

Does your retirement plan include acres of Christmas trees? Well, that’s exactly what OAN member Larry Arendt, owner of Arendt’s Christmas Tree Farm, decided to do with his property. And to differentiate himself from the many other U-Cut/We-Cut Christmas tree farms, he decided to leave his trees au naturel. I think I’m picky about my Christmas trees, but instead of tromping around to find one tree to satisfy my taste, at Arendt’s the hard part was choosing between so many beautiful unsheared trees. There’s grass between the trees to cut down on the mud and to attract beneficial insects. No spraying is done on the trees. The trees have lovely, open stiff branches, all the better to show off your collection of ornaments.

20757 Case Rd. NE, Aurora (4 miles west of exit 278 off I-5)
10,000 trees to choose from, from 4-ft. to 15-ft
Only $25
They cut or you cut (they provide the saw)
503/318-7977 (cell)

Christmas Tree industry facts:

• In 2008, 7.34 million trees were sold in Oregon (a decline in sales is expected in 2009)
  
• Oregon is the No. 1 producer of Christmas trees in the U.S.
  
• It takes 5-10 years for trees to mature for sale
  
• Christmas trees are a field crop, not unlike wheat or corn, and they are often grown in ground unsuitable for other types of crops
  
• More than 700 growers are licensed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Feather Reed Grass

By Carol Westergreen
Want an easy to grow, tall grass that gives almost year around interest? Then you’ve got to try Feather Reed Grass. Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' is a cool season clumping grass with a compact, erect growth habit. Airy pinkish flowers appear in Mid-May. The flowers mature to a bright wheat color and hold their form all season. Growing to 4-5 feet in height and 2 feet wide, the columnar habit of Feather Reed Grass makes a great plant for back of the border or an accent plant, screen, or living wall. Once the cold of fall and winter arrives, the foliage turns from dark green to tawny brown. Both flowers and foliage holds well into winter, often still looking good in late February/early March when the new growth starts and the old foliage needs to be cut back. For a contrast, try the variegated form 'Avalanche'. It has the same form and habit as 'Karl Foerster' but with a wide white stripe in the middle of the foliage. 'Avalanche' tends to grow about 6-8” shorter than 'Karl Foerster'. Both grow well in full to part sun and average water. Give them a try. You won’t regret it!

Thanks to Carol Westergreen, owner of Out in the Garden Nursery, for sharing this plant pick. Carol has 'Karl Foerster' and 'Avalanche' for sale. Please call ahead before visiting the nursery.

Out in the Garden Nursery
32483 S. Mathias Road
Molalla, OR 97038
503-829-4141
Carol@outinthegardennursery.com
http://www.outinthegardennursery.com/