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Exciting news! Two of the
Buddleias that will be offered in our new
Spring Catalog have placed
first and second in the 2008 Buddleia Trials from the UK's Royal
Horticultural Society (RHS)! Miss Ruby and Lo &Behold Blue Chip, both Proven
Winners Colorchoice varieties, placed first and second,
respectively in the trials. They were up a few really strong
contenders this year, like the favorite Pink Delight. The general public was asked to vote on over 77 varieties and Miss Ruby came away with 17% of the votes and Blue Chip getting 8%.

The Royal Horticultural Society is the United Kingdom's leading gardening
charity dedicated to advancing horticulture and promoting good
gardening.

If you’ve got a poinsettia or amaryllis sitting in your home, making it look festive and bright for the holidays, don’t send those beautiful plants to the landfill with that dried up Christmas Tree. They are perfectly healthy and can be made to bloom year after year.

Many people buy Amaryllis
for holiday decorating–the huge, brightly colored blooms have become a
familiar centerpiece in many homes. But Amaryllis require lots of light and
water, and may be difficult to maintain indoors indefinitely. The solution?
Move your Amaryllis to the patio when the weather warms up. Or think completely
outside the box—or porch, as the case may be—and transplant your holiday
Amaryllis into your garden, where you can enjoy it well beyond the holidays.

Bloom-happy Amaryllis is desirable in almost any garden, given the
various colors and shapes of its many cultivars. Amaryllis makes a great
landscape plant. Of course, these beauties are much easier to care for in a
garden if the climate and soil are right.

You can also train your poinsettia to be bright red again next year

Amaryllis in a decorative container are one of the most popular live holiday decorations. These plants are known for their bold colors, easy care, and tendency to thrive indoors. Actually, the plants that we purchase for the holidays are from the genus Hippeastrum, and are not actually Amaryllis. They are in the same family, but there is only one species of actual Amaryllis, Amaryllis Belladonna, a native of South Africa.

If you are planning on getting any Amaryllis for Holiday decorating, you should order them now. They take about 6 weeks to bloom. If you wait too much longer, it will be too late to have your Amaryllis holiday display bloom through the holiday season. After they bloom they should continue flowering for another seven to ten weeks.

Given the proper care and timing, you should have a beautiful display through the holiday season. Nothing creates that cozy feel in your home like live decorations–the huge star-shaped amaryllis flowers will illuminate your holiday decor.

Just in time for Halloween–it’s Amaryllis Zombie.

Don’t let the gruesome monicker fool you! These ivory colored blooms with salmon and pink stripes Are far from ghastly. Their looks will surely catch your attention if the name doesn’t do the trick. Rarely growing above a foot high, these minitiatures have a one-of-a-kind look to go with their super unique name.

This year’s selection of amaryllises is really stunning. With favorites like ‘Apricot Beauty’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ in the line-up you really can’t lose.

To protect your roses this winter:

1. Begin at the end of fall by mounding soil or a good mulch around stems about 1 foot deep.  Remove the mound gradually with your garden hose as new growth starts in the spring. 
2. Feed your roses with a handful of a complete fertilizer per bush. 
3. Water thoroughly, and  Mulch with hay, straw, or bark to conserve moisture and hold down weeds which will give your roses a better chance to bounce back as the weather warms. 
4. Fertilize monthly during the active growing season until mid-summer to make your plant stronger and ready for the next hard winter.

Roses are naturally hardy vigorous plants, with some wild climbing varieties reaching 60 feet or higher and thriving in the harshest conditions. And, since the introduction of the Knock Out Rose in 2000, breeders have focused on bringing out the innate strength of roses, making some of the hardiest disease resistant roses ever seem. But, there are some conditions that even the strongest plants struggle to surmount. If you are a rose gardener in a colder area, you know how hard it can be for roses to thrive in the spring following a hard winter.

Fall is the best time for planting those lovely flowering shrubs–it ensures that your will have an excellent show in your garden next spring. One of the showiest garden favorites is hydrangea. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planting yours this fall.

1. Planting your hydrangea early in the fall would be ideal, if you plant them in the summer, they will need a lot more water in the beginning to establish the root system.
2. Most varieties will thrive in full sun to part shade as long as they are planted in moist, rich soil. So choose a nice spot in your garden with good soil, or amend if you must.
3. Water deeply once a week, and maybe more, if the weather is particularly hot or dry. Hydrangeas love moist soil, but just like most of the plants in your garden, watering too much will cause root rot.
4. Fertilization of hydrangea could vary greatly depending on your intentions because certain elements of the fertilizer will effect the soil pH, which is a major determinant of bloom color in the pink/blue Hydrangea varieties, but a good all-purpose slow release fertilizer is always a good idea.
5. Always do research about your particular variety before doing anything. There are so many different varieties hydrangea that have different needs for things like pruning, light, moisture, and nutriment.

Good luck with all of your fall planting! Check out two of my favorite Hydrangeas, Hydrangea Annabelle and the ever-popular Endless Summer Hydrangea.