Entries from March 2009

March 30, 2009

A whopping bed of bleeding hearts almost made me drive off the side of the road

POSTED BY KIM — I was driving my kids to school this morning and almost drove off the side of the road.  I’m not exaggerating.  This HUGE bed of old-fashioned bleeding hearts (dicentra spectabalis) must have popped up overnight – the bed is about 7 feet long by 3 feet wide.
I stopped the car in the middle of the street, [...]

March 29, 2009

Housing Market Offers Affordable Homes at Unbelievable Prices

POSTED BY PEGGY:  Affordable housing can be found everywhere these days: Florida, Las Vegas and even Sugar Creek Gardens.
Fairys, elves, trolls and even toads in need of a new home, have a wide selection of floor plans to choose from. 
Starter homes are available as low as $9.99.  Medium size abodes are selling in the $17.99 to $$19.99.  Deluxe models [...]

March 28, 2009

NPK demystified

POSTED BY KIM — When you’re ready to start fertilizing your annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, or lawn, choose the right fertilizer for the job.  To do that, it’s important to understand the NPK levels in each fertilizer –  nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. You’ll probably need a different fertilizer for your lawn — say, something high [...]

March 27, 2009

Some shrubs need hard pruning in the spring

POSTED BY KIM — We’ve been getting a lot of calls at the nursery about how to prune certain shrubs this time of year.  Here’s a quick list of shrubs that blooom on new wood, so they should be pruned hard in the spring (meaning, you can cut down the shrub, leaving only 6-8″ of [...]

March 26, 2009

Can you smell that heliotrope?

POSTED BY KIM — This is a picture of annual heliotrope that is currently blooming its head off in my garage under some fluorescent lights.  I saw a picture in a book last fall of someone in California who had grown a heliotrope plant for several years and pruned it as a standard.  Gorgeous!

At the [...]

March 25, 2009

Hello, Pulmonaria!

POSTED BY KIM — I looked out my second-story bathroom window this morning and could see the pulmonaria blooming below.  WOW.  Pulmonaria, or sometimes called lungwort, is one of my all-time favorite perennials for the shade or morning sun, because you get vibrant blooms in the spring, then you enjoy the interesting spotted foliage the rest [...]

March 24, 2009

Please Save Me From Myself: Phlox Peppermint Twist Has Arrived

POSTED BY PEGGY: I’ve seen a lot off great plants that come into the nursery here at Sugar Creek. But none pull my heart strings quite like the lovely ‘Peppermint Twist’ tall smmer Phlox. I planted one last year. She bloomed her little heart out for months. Her blooms were modest for her first appearance, [...]

March 24, 2009

Chloe visits Kim; naps, walks, eats

POSTED BY KIM — Former long-time employee Chloe Cronin had a sleepover at my house this weekend.  For those of you who don’t know Chloe, she worked at Sugar Creek for years before finally retiring to a life of luxury last season.  Many of us who worked with her really miss her!  Every few months, [...]

March 22, 2009

I’ve Been Caught Cheating.

POSTED BY PEGGY:  The Tower Grove South Garden Club recently visited my house and garden.  I was showing off my beautiful broccoli, collards and lettuce plants. One of my gardening friends was quite surprised by the size of some of my veggies.
What was my secret she wanted to know? Was it my composty soil mix, [...]

March 22, 2009

Free poppy seeds

POSTED BY KIM –  If you’re going to sow poppy seeds in your garden this year, NOW is the time to do it. They need a little cool weather before the heat sets in to germinate, and they do better if sown directly in the soil outside.  The roots don’t like to be disturbed, making [...]