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Amaranth, Red Leaf

. Also known as Calaloo and Chinese Spinach. Related to Love Lies Bleeding and used as a spinach substitute in tropical regions.

Angelica

. Angelica archangelica. Biennial. Fragrant, light green flowers appear atop lobed, serrated leaves in second year. Deadheading before seed formation may extend plant life. Height can reach 6-8 feet when planted in a partly shaded area.

Angelonia

'Angelface Blue'. Annual. Also called summer snapdragon. Extra large, brilliant dark purple blooms. A beautiful annual plant that thrives in hot, humid conditions. Height 18-24 inches. Blooms all summer long.

Angelonia

'Angelface Pink'. Description not available at this time

Angelonia

'Angelface Wedgewood Blue'. Annual. Also called summer snapdragon. Extra large, vivid blue and white bicolor blooms. A beautiful annual plant that thrives in hot, humid conditions. Height 18-24 inches. Blooms all summer long.

Angelonia

'Angelface White'. Annual. Also called summer snapdragon. Extra large, brillant white blooms. A beautiful annual plant that thrives in hot, humid conditions. Height 18-24 inches. Blooms all summer long.

Anise Hyssop

. Agastache foeniculum. Perennial. Neither anise nor hyssop, this mint-appearing plant is tidy, tall, and highly ornamental. Possessed of a strong anise scent and flavor, its leaves are dried for tea and potpourri, and can be substituted for anise in baking. Although sometimes referred to as Anise mint or Korean mint, it does not spread from runners. Beautiful violet-tinged flower spikes are lovely dried. Bees love its nectar which gives a distinctive flavor to their honey. Does well in a shady spot where summers are hot.

Anise Hyssop, Wild

. Agastache cana 'Heather Queen'. Perennial, hardy to around 20°F. Similar to anise hyssop, Agastache foeniculum but with dark pink, long tubular flowers. Leaves are scented of bubblegum and camphor.

Artichoke

. Cynara scolymus 'Imperial Star'. 85 days. This is the first artichoke developed for the home gardener. Generally hardy in our area but may need some protection. Plants are easy to grow, reach 3 to 4 feet tall and produce 6 to 8 mature edible buds. Thomas Jefferson grew artichokes at his Montecello home.
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Asparagus

'Jersey Knight'. Full sun to part shade. Plants will produce best in full sun but will do fairly well in a partly shaded spot. Plant in the middle of a W shaped trench, add high phosphate starter fertilizer. Maintain with rich compost or aged manure applied every fall or early spring. Maintain pH to at least 7.0. Do not cut back the fern like foliage until it dies back naturally. Ready for moderate harvest second spring.
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• Before You Visit Us
  • This is not an availability list!
    Please call to check our supply before you visit.
    

    This catalog lists most of the varieties I am growing or plan to grow, however, it is not possible to list everything. Some plants are tricky to propagate; others are too new for me to describe in any detail. Demand for certain varieties is sometimes greater than I anticipated and we run out. Usually, during the Spring season, there is another crop on the way.

    
    

    I can guarantee the quality of our plants because we grow them ourselves. I cannot guarantee that every item listed will be available at any given time.
    
    

• About Our Veggies
  • About Our Veggies
    The strength of the vegetable garden is its ability to yield the freshest produce from superior varieties that are unobtainable in the supermarket. That philosophy carries over into what I select to offer you. The way my plants are grown also offers you benefits. All vegetable plants are sold in individual pots to permit you to select just the number you need when you need them. Plants in individual pots tend to be more vigorous, grow faster, and produce a larger harvest. For you this means better vegetables sooner. Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, and most other vegetable plants are $1.69 each. Lettuce, Italian and Asian greens are $1.29 unless otherwise specified.
• Growing Herbs Indoors
  • Growing Herbs Indoors
    In general, the rules for growing most house plants also apply to herbs indoors. If you are successful in skirting a few rules with your plants now, it is likely you can do the same with your herbs.

    • Air. Your herbs will thrive in a temperature between 65° to 70°F, about what is comfortable to you. Avoid rooms that are stuffy and have stale air. Herbs like fresh, moving air but not drafts; humidity is best around 50 percent.
    • Soil. For your container potting mix, forget about soil. A soil-less medium of one part sphagnum peat moss and one part perlite makes a good mixture for herbs. If you prepare your own mix, add 3 to 4 tablespoons of horticultural lime per quart of mix; peat can be quite acid and the lime sweetens the mix. Stir ingredients while dry and dampen the medium before planting. Soil-less media with natural ingredients, but without soil, have been tested on herbs and found to be superior to other potting soils. For years we have used Pro-Mix BX, a commercial soil-less medium, with excellent results.
    • Water. Watering is not as tricky and mysterious as you may have been led to believe. Here are a few general rules which might improve your green thumb: Don't let the pot sit in water and drown the herb's roots. During warm weather and rapid growth, plants are more tolerant of water. When the air is cool and light is poor, go easy with water and allow the surface of the soil to dry between watering. Water temperature should match air temperature. A fan moving air around and over your potted herbs will help dry the growing medium.
    • Pots. Containers come in many sizes, shapes, colors and materials. I like plastic because it is light and cheap. Plants do not dry as quickly in plastic as they do in clay pots which can be a disadvantage during winter. Don't worry about stones or broken crockery in the bottom when the pot has lots of drainage holes; the stones actually hinder drainage and are a bad idea. Pot your herbs in a container 2 inches larger than the one it is transplanted from. Don't put a small plant in a huge pot, the roots cannot use all that moisture and they are likely to rot quickly. Because plants grow at different rates, planters with several different types of herbs will need careful attention; it is sometimes better to use the planter to hold individual pots which can make individual transplanting easier. You can keep your plants smaller by leaving them in small pots, but this restriction of growth means less foliage and it can harm the plant. When roots begin to fill the pot and circle its sides, it is time to transplant. Yellowing leaves or shedding leaves sometimes indicates the plant is pot bound.
    • Light. Most herbs need 5 hours of full sun for optimum growth. Only a few herbs will grow well without direct sunlight. Don't despair if you lack a south facing, sunny window. Herbs will often adjust to less than the best conditions. A fluorescent light garden is one way to give your herbs and other plants near perfect light conditions. Commercially available 'Grow Lites' can be used but are more expensive. Fluorescent tubes should be no more than 3 to 5 inches above plant tops. Use 4 cool white tubes for each 10 inches of table width. Lights can be used to supplement natural sunlight. Use a timer to provide a total (sun and fluorescent) photo period of 12-14 hours.
    • Food. It's better to give your herbs a little food often (every week at half strength, for instance) than a lot all at once. A slow release fertilizer like Osmocote 14-14-14 works well. If your pots are small and you like liquid fertilizers, choose a 10-10-10 or a 20-10-20 formula. Keep in mind that when you water more often, you should also feed your plants more often. Organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion are excellent for soil-less potting media.
• Pruning Herb Plants
  • Pruning Herb Plants
    for Use and Health

    Four types of pruning are often used on potted herb plants (particularly rosemary and lavender) to enhance appearance and health. Some knowledge of each will make cultivation more successful, especially if the herbs are grown in containers. Sharp pruning shears, knives, or scissors are used, depending on the thickness of the stems to be cut.

    • Pruning for shape. Some pruning will be required to keep any rosemary shapely, but the variety's growth habit dictates how much. Rosemary plants can be pruned to almost any shape but the most popular are globes and columns; the variety sometimes lends itself to one or the other shape, but rigorous pruning can overcome any plant's inclinations. The best time to prune for shape is when the plant is in full growth (in our area this is spring and summer); this will provide the plant enough time to recover before the rigors of winter. Remove the amount of stem necessary to create the shape you desire but try not to remove more than half the stem length. Leave some green leaves on the branch that is left. Pruning for shape is essential for rosemary grown into topiary forms. During periods of optimum growth such forms may need pruning every few weeks. When light levels are low indoors, pruning is useful to keep stems from becoming leggy.
    • Pruning for health. Winter damage and disease are another reasons to prune. Dead wood caused by winter cold should be removed in early spring. Cut damaged stems back to green leaves or if the stem is dead, remove it. Fungus disease sometimes attacks low-lying branches and the inside of the plant where air circulation and light are poor; this is a particular problem in humid climates or when there is an unusual amount of rain. Lower branches that have dead leaves on them should be removed so that air can circulate under and through the plant to dry dampness. A mulch of several inches of sand or pea gravel dries quickly and radiates drying heat into the plant and is helpful to control diseases.
    • Pruning for use. The most enjoyable pruning is for use. Snip branch tips to use when needed; no special method or procedure is necessary and it may be done at any time of year. Fresh growth, rather than hard, woody stems is best. Performed shrewdly, this pruning will shape your plant and keep it healthy.
    • Root pruning. Pruning the roots of container-grown plants is a last resort; it revives and reinvigorates root bound plants when larger pots are unavailable. Root pruning is best performed in mid-spring after the plant has been outside for several weeks and soft indoor winter growth has been removed or has stiffened. After the plant is knocked from the pot, take a sharp knife and remove the bottom third of the root ball; then slice several inches from the sides. Add fresh growing medium to the container and return the plant, being careful to work the medium around the edges of the root ball. The root-pruned plant is likely to show some stress in the form of wilting at this time. A protective spray of Wilt-Pruf will help less foliage dehydration. Keep the plant in a spot sheltered from direct sun for a week before returning it to a sunny exposure.
• Transplanting Herbs Outdoors
  • Transplanting Herbs Outdoors

    Your plants have been carefully grown in my greenhouses and selected for form and vigor. Before you transplant them to the garden they should be conditioned to ready them for outdoor survival by a process horticulturists call 'hardening off'.

    When you bring your plants home and outdoor temperatures are above 40°F, keep them outside in a partly sunny spot (direct sun can sometimes burn tender plant tissue) protected from wind. Bring the plants inside if temperatures are expected to drop below 40°F. After four to seven days of this regimen, the plants should be hardened enough to transplant outside. Less water should be given the plants during this treatment, but care should be taken to keep the plants from wilting. A weak solution of liquid fertilizer, applied to the plant at the time of transplanting, will also help get it off to a good start.

    Early transplanting calls for vigilance by the gardener and attention to weather forecast. Danger of a frost or freeze means measures must be taken to protect the young transplants. Poly spun row covers (like Reemay) will provide up to 4°F of protection. Wall O' Water is an excellent choice for protecting tender plants as well as warming the soil prior to planting. Properly installed, the Wall O' Water can give up to 10°F of protection. Both are available here at the nursery. Effective, home-made devices can be constructed from old plastic milk containers or styrofoam cups with the bottoms removed. An old sheet or blanket will also do in a pinch.

    Although no special equipment is necessary to harden off your plants, a cold frame will be helpful. A cold frame is nothing more than a protective structure with a glass or plastic top that will open and shut. Sides may be of wood, masonry, straw, bundled newspapers, or poly sheeting stapled to a wooden frame. The top is usually slanted (usually towards the south) so that it will catch the sun and drain rain water away from the structure. The cold frame protects young seedlings and transplants from the ravages of spring wind and unsettled cold weather. Seedlings are hardened off for a week or two in such a structure to stiffen their stems and adjust them to temperature fluctuations that did not exist indoors on your window sill, under your grow lights, or inside the greenhouse, where conditions are ideal and encourage soft growth.

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