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Pink Lemonade Blueberry

A hot new item this year is--get this--a pink blueberry. That's right! It's called "Pink Lemonade" and it really does have pink fruit. If you're interested in what "Pink Lemonade" is all about, here's some information on it, courtesy of Briggs Nursery (one of the growers for retail nurseries):

Pink Lemonade offers four seasons of color. The pinkish-white showy flowers are bell-shaped in spring. The fruit are pale greenish at first, then dappled pink, and finally turning to deep pink on ripening. Leaves are glossy green and lanceolate. Leaf surface texture is smooth, very similar to that of Vaccinium ashei. In fall, leaves turn golden yellow then bright orange. Wintertime twigs are dusky reddish-brown. Wintertime fruit encourages song birds and other wildlife in the garden. 

The ideal adaption of 'Pink Lemonade' is unknown, but its background suggests that it might perform equally well or better in milder climates including areas where rabbiteye cultivars can be grown. Mid-late to late-season ripening, with moderate yields of medium-sized, glossy fruit, bright pink fruit color, mild, pleasant flavor, and good firmness. 

Requires high light levels and well drained acid soil, high in organic material. Moisture content should be adequate and even. 

'Pink Lemonade' is ideally suited for borders, beds or in a mass planting mixed in with other ornamentals or perennials.

At Vander Giessen Nursery, we're proud to debut this beautiful new variety of blueberry. It's truly a unique introduction in the world of fruit! 

You know it's spring when...

This evening after work I decided to take advantage of the extra hour of daylight and do some work around the yard. After I finished up, I took a few minutes to wander around and admire what was popping up and leafing out.

My roses have been leafed out for a month already, so I thought maybe it was time to look for the first rosebud of the season...hey, it doesn't hurt to dream, does it? Well, I found it! Honest, it's there--if it was still light out, I'd take a picture to prove it.

But here's the problem: covering that one rosebud was a host of aphids. Yuck! I'm afraid that this year, I won't be the only one battling bugs in my garden. After an incredibly mild winter, it could shape up to be a bad year for insect problems. Normally, I wouldn't even have to dream of aphids this early, but it looks like it's time to take action.

If you're concerned about bug problems on your roses this year, I challenge you to try a product you may not have used before--Bayer All-in-One Rose and Flower Care. It's the only product I trust for managing insects and diseases on my roses, and it's an excellent fertilizer as well. The best part of this relatively new product is the ease of use--it's a systemic, meaning no more spraying! Simply mix up the liquid in a quart of water, pour at the base of the plant, and it protects your roses for 6 weeks.

Maybe you're already a believer in Bayer All-in-One--many of my customers are. But if you haven't used it yet, give it a try. You're sure to like it!

Start the Spring Checklist!

Check out my column each month in the Country Life section of the Lynden Tribune! In case you missed it, here's this month's column.

I like to consider myself an optimist. To me, the glass is half full, and a typical gray day in Washington is partly sunny, not mostly cloudy. The warm weather this winter, however, leaves me cautious. While I’d like to believe that spring is here to stay, history has proven otherwise. So, as a gardener, what can you start working on outside that will satiate your desire to work in the dirt without getting ahead of schedule?

This year, spring has come incredibly early—especially compared with last winter! While you may not yet have started a list of projects to tackle this spring, you likely have had to mow your lawn already. In case you haven’t noticed, this winter has provided ideal conditions for moss to grow in lawns and garden beds. Before you get too eager to start other projects, you need to address any moss issues.

Properly eliminating moss in your yard will take several steps. First, you need to kill any significant moss growth with a targeted moss killer like Moss Out. Once the moss has died, you may need to rake it out of your lawn so that grass can grow more freely.

A second step to killing moss is to feed your lawn with a high-iron fertilizer. Scotts Turf Builder with Moss Control helps to eliminate moss while providing a good dose of nitrogen to feed your grass.

A third and often-overlooked step in moss control is to prevent moss from growing back. Since moss thrives on acidic soil, you can prevent its return by balancing the pH or “sweetening” the soil with lime. In its natural form, lime takes months or even years to break down, so I recommend a product called Super Sweet for quick results. This form of lime has been ground into a powder and then pelletized for easy application with your fertilizer spreader. The pellets break down and absorb into the soil in a matter of weeks, allowing grass to thrive and preventing moss from returning.

If you don’t have any moss issues in your yard—or if you’re eager to start on other outside projects—now is a great time to prune many of your shrubs and trees. While it’s already too late to prune some plants in your garden and too early to prune others, it’s good to take note of what needs a trim.

At the nursery, I’ve had several calls from customers concerned about their roses. Usually, late February or early March is the ideal time to do spring pruning on roses. This year, however, many roses budded and leafed out much earlier than normal, catching many gardeners by surprise. My advice if you’re worried it’s too late to prune: better late than never! While I don’t recommend that approach for all shrubs, roses are very tough plants, and pruning them a few weeks too late will only set them back temporarily, if at all.

Spring is a beautiful time of year, and thus far, we’ve been treated to an especially nice start to the season. As you start to work in your yard, enjoy the color palette spring has to offer, from the golden flowers of forsythia to the soft pinks of heather and flowering cherry or plum. Now is a great time to visit your local independent nursery to shop for shrubs and trees and in a month or so you can start to put pots of annuals outdoors. Now, go find your gardening gloves and hope for a “glass half full” kind of spring—not of rain, that is!

Another big week

This time of year, every week is a big week--between receiving shipments, planting annuals, designing and building plant displays and helping customers (of course!), the pace really picks up. And we love it, so don't think I'm complaining!

If you're driving by this week, you'll see that our shrub and tree orders are arriving. We have a great selection of blooming shrubs and trees, many of them budded and ready to start blooming in the next few weeks (or in bloom already). I'll try to get some pictures up soon of the shrubs that are currently in bloom--or, if you have a minute, stop by and see for yourself!

This year we're also proud to have a broader selection of edibles, many of which have already arrived! From apple and cherry trees to raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and grapes, we're off to a good start--and as the season progresses, expect us to have the veggie starts and herbs for your garden as well. If you're looking for seed, we have a great selection of Ed Hume seeds selected specifically for our climate.

As the days get longer and you start to work in your garden, stop by Vander Giessen's to see what you could use to bring some early spring color to your flowerbeds. As always, we look forward to serving you!