Come in and spend your Caras Bucks the first full weekend in September! Valid Saturday, September 3rd and Sunday, September 4th only. See store for details.

Fresh shipment of Perennials available!

http://my.missoulian.com/businesses/Caras_Nursery__Landscape_Llc/blog

The exhibit showcases original outdoor sculpture by  Montana artists.  The Exhibit runs through October 30 with new sculpture arrivals each
month.

About a month ago, I purchased several plants and was asked to “try” out 3 plants to see if they were deer resistant up here in the Rattlesnake.

Solenopsis Blue Star — the morning after I planted, I noticed two stems were chewed off; but deer or rabbits left it alone after that.
Astilbe — Deer or rabbits love these!  Something is eating the buds/blossoms and leaves. So, I keep them netted.
Nicotiana — They are great!  Nothing’s bothered them.
Lantana (an annual)– I purchased two of these plants.  The morning after I planted them, “something” chewed off two of the flowers on two different stems on the same plant AND pulled the plant out of the ground!  The other plant they left alone, and have left them alone since.
Snapdragons — Nothing’s bothered them.
Tweedia Blue (an annual) – Nothing’s bothered it.

2011 Caras Nursery Hanging Baskets

2011 Caras Nursery Deck Pots

I love setting up the outdoor sales area; trying to build it to look like a garden but with an underlying order that enables employees and customers alike to sort through the hundreds of plant varieties in a myriad of categories.  Add to this the multiple sizes of nearly every selection, the daily maintenance and external challenges (weather, pests) and there’s a lot to manage. Sometimes I long for a simpler “widget” type profession but, ultimately, I’m a plant nut and the seemingly limitless subject matter that constitutes “plant knowledge” still stimulates me.

The indoor sales area consists of our garden store and a pretty significant square footage of greenhouses. In the greenhouses the rules are a little different than the outdoors. An artificial climate is created and “crops” are grown based on the anticipated time it will take to bring seeds/seedlings to a finished, saleable size. Further, the “finished” time needs to match up with an appropriate planting outside date. Thus, a geranium   which takes three months to grow and should be planted in the yard around the third week of May needs to be started in the greenhouse about the third week of February.

Like gardening, greenhouse growing can be very challenging with the vagaries of plant nutrition, pH, daily maintenance and pest control all factored in. The end game, however, is exciting-benches of healthy, colorful plants ready for placement in the landscape.

Missoula’s gardeners do face many challenges but, hopefully, find the rewards far outweigh any setbacks. Indeed, the occasional failure usually leads to greater future success in the yard as long as one sticks with it. Everyone, absolutely everyone, can succeed with plants and the choices of what types of gardening to specialize in are numerous- from simple but effective container gardens to entire outdoor lifestyle spaces. There are vegetable gardens, rose gardens, rock gardens, water gardens, cutting (flowers) gardens and a very long list of other types of gardens all of which are enjoyable, interesting, therapeutic and, definitely, rewarding. Too busy? Low maintenance yet high aesthetic is easy to accomplish. Want to make gardening a central feature of your lifestyle? There’s really no better avocation.

So here I stand, mid spring, observing daffodils and forsythia making their annual statement. Leaves are emerging, seeds are germinating. The nursery is set up but, none the less, requires constant revision to keep time with western Montana’s spring progression.  The weather, so far, has been pretty dreadful but there have been rays of hope. When the sun does show for a few days in a row, look out. People and plants are more than ready for the upcoming season. The one thing is……..aw, dang it, what is what I was thinking of?  

So, it snowed in April. No big deal for plants and gardens. Snow actually protects foliage, flowers, etc. from the air which can be much colder and, thus, more damaging than frozen water. Besides, most everything is still dormant and waiting for warmer temperatures.

Things are happening though. Grass is greening up, buds are swelling (particularly lilacs) and seeds are germinating (particularly weeds). Crocuses are up and, in warmer spots, already blooming. Hidden amongst the crocus are dwarf Iris which have similar color, height and bloom time. Other fall bulbs (tulips, daffodils) have grown handsome foliage and will be in color soon.

Less common bloomers showing off right now are hellebores (shade lovers) and Snowdrops. Snowdrops are fall planted bulbs (like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocuses) which, I believe, are underutilized as they bloom early and reliably every year. The green foliage and drooping white flowers borne on six inch high stems appear in March and are a great pick me up after a long winter.

Otherwise, Aspen have started to bloom but their brown hanging flowers are not particularly showy. At some point this late fall or winter my Witch Hazel bloomed but I totally missed it and can only see the spent flowers. I have observed the emergence of small leaves close to the ground on some shrubs and expect things will begin happening quickly as soon as Mother Nature puts together a sustained string of warm days.

When this happens, soils will warm rapidly and the time for planting leafy and root vegetables will be upon us. Sans frost protection devices (of which there are a number) fruiting edibles (tomato, squash, cucumber, eggplant, etc.) have to wait till frost danger is past (usually late May). Peas go in early spring, beans late.

April is a good time for planting lots of other things provided they are frost acclimated. If the weather is cold and rainy, root and/or shoot growth will be slower but this is not necessarily a bad thing as plants will be less susceptible to hard frosts. In other words, plants will develop in tune with the temperatures we’re experiencing and will be off to the races when favorable conditions occur.

There is also some winter burn showing up on evergreens (mainly Alberta Spruce but there are others) which is primarily due to desiccation as a result of light (from the sun) reflecting off the snow. In many cases, the needles (leaves) are “burned” but the wood and buds are fine and, once new growth occurs in May and June, the plant will look good again. Sometimes, however, the aesthetic damage is too great and the plant may have to be replaced.

So, what am I seeing the most of this early spring in western Montana? The answer-people anxious for sunshine! To them I say, “Take heart, the season has begun and is coming along normally”. Soon enough, we’ll be complaining about the heat. And remember, an occasional dusting of snow in early spring is a welcome event for plants even though we humans may mutter “not again”.  

Caras Nursery and Landscape will have an informational table setup at the event.  Please stop by to say hi and receive a chance to win some great prizes!

More info may be found by clicking the graphic below: