Timely Topics | Egan Gardens of Salem, Oregon

Dear fellow gardeners, customers and friends,
At last we have a spring that isn’t following a horrific winter, even though we’ve had a hard freeze at the end of February. No 20-year freeze, no crushing snow and ice storm. It’s nice to look at undamaged Daphnes budded up and early Camellias already popping big blooms open. My resilient shrubs have covered over the damage of the two previous years – and life goes on. I’m hoping we also have a nicer spring and summer than last year. In case you don’t remember it, here’s

The Tomato Report
I usually talk about flowers, but vegetables deserve their turn. The summer and fall of 2010 were difficult for vegetable gardens, tomatoes in particular – one of those “Green Tomato Years” we old-timers refer to. It would not warm up in May enough to plant. It did not warm up in July to set fruit and begin to ripen it. August started to give us a break and then torrential rains came in mid September and again in October, weakening the plants just as they would have hit peak production. For the first time ever in my garden we had Late Blight Phytophthora, which killed the plants gradually and ruined the fruit while it was still green.

What did I observe and learn from all that? It appeared that small-fruited cherry, grape and Italian paste type tomatoes were the last affected by the Late Blight, although it could have been a coincidence of where they were planted. Definitely the most fruit production and the ripest fruit were from the small-fruit kinds. Finally there was conclusive evidence that the grape variety we grow, Sugary, was vastly more crack-resistant after heavy rain than Sweet Million, the cherry variety. I had to throw away handfuls of rotten Sweet Millions after every shower, but could salvage most of the Sugarys if I picked right away. Most of the larger varieties I grew, Celebrity, Jet Setter, Moreton, and Big Beef were moderately cracked. The Brandywines are always furrowed and cracked at the top no matter what, and of course the rain and rot got into all those cracks. The Romas hardly cracked at all, but I didn’t really like the flavor and texture so I’ll be changing to a different Italian paste type this year.

As for what to do about the diseases, potassium bicarbonate, sold as GreenCure Fungicide is a safe prevention for many tomato problems, and also for the pesky powdery mildew on cucumbers and squashes. Safer Garden Fungicide is sulfur-based and the two products used alternately would give better protection than just one of them. I’m also considering rigging up a little tent framework that I can throw a sheet of plastic over to keep the rain off one or two choice plants, whichever have the most ripe, ready-to-burst fruit when a big storm threatens. Live and learn. I think I’ll also use more Wall ‘o’ Waters, the little solar collectors, in the early stages of my tomatoes’ lives.

In our growing of vegetable starter plants we’ve used the paper-wrapped ellepots or “Earthpots” the past two years. This year instead we’ll be experimenting with a coir (coconut fiber) pot instead. Like the ellepots, they can be planted directly into the ground and the plants can root right out through the coir - no time spent unpotting, no pot to throw away. Some manufacturers are really trying to come up with trash- and pollution-reducing products. I’d love to hear your reactions to them.

Attention Facebook Fans! Having trouble accessing our business page? A strange technical difficulty closed our page last November, and we’ve had to open a new one, which you’ll find under the name Egan Gardens - We Do Flowers. Vance vows to keep it interesting with pictures and brief garden/nature commentary. Only the Egan Gardens page will be active; I’m afraid I’m just not into this stuff personally, so please don’t bother “friending” the Ellen Egan profile page. I do want to be your friend, just not that way. You understand, don’t you?

What’s New for 2011
Plant seekers just love to discover new plants. Plant breeders just love to breed new varieties. Plant growers, like me, just love to grow new plants for you. Fortunately, many of you, dear readers, are gardeners who just love to try new plants in your gardens so that there’s some purpose to all that love that went before. Here are a few of our new plants for this year.

Amsonia is this year’s Perennial Plant of the Year, which means it’s going to be a good plant. It’s a perennial that’s not new to the world, but it is to us. Sky blue flowers cluster on top of 2-3 ft tall stems, a lot like tall Phlox. The foliage turns brilliant yellow in fall before dying down for winter. It can handle dry conditions and it’s unappealing to deer. We’ll be growing two kinds, Amsonia hubrechtii and Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’. It blooms in June and July, and they will be just tiny babies on opening weekend, so I hope you’ll remember them in June. I hope you’ll also remember last year’s Plant of the Year, Baptisia, since it should finally bloom this year. Please buy them.

Libertia ‘Goldfinger’ is a perennial with slender grass-like foliage 18” high, bright green with golden-yellow stripes. It’s not a grass, though; it blooms with multitudes of small white flowers in spring, and after that it sets showy yellow berries in autumn. It keeps its foliage all winter, so it’s pretty all through the year. There will be plants looking good by the time we open in March.

Black Velvet Petunia – I’m sure I won’t be the only one talking about this velvety black semi-trailing petunia. A perfect combination with Diamond Frost Euphorbia, which is another of my favorite fairly-new plants. They will be available in May.

More Abutilons – I was so pleased with the sturdy growth and abundant blooms of these annual Hibiscus relatives that I’m growing more varieties this year. In addition to the Bella colors we did in ’10, there will be Kristen’s Pink and Fairy Coral. They will be available late April through June.

Hypnotica Dahlias are much bigger than our usual annual mix, but not huge and tall like old-fashioned “dinnerplate” or cutflower types. In other words, they’re just right for a lot of gardens. They’ll bloom all summer and fall, and live through most winters (dig tubers to be sure). The colors are wonderful, the plants easy to grow. They will be available in May.

New colors of Angelonias, new colors of Calibrachoas, new colors of Nemesias, new colors of Echinaceas…

Still fairly new: Egan Gardens’ custom mix potting soil. It doesn’t have a pretty, colorful bag, just plain white with black letters, but remember it’s what’s inside that counts. It’s the high quality professional product we grow in ourselves. Now you can have the same advantage in your planters and baskets. Growing in the best soil will help you grow the best plants.

Still fairly young: Fitzgerald, my youngest Scottie has grown from the little puppy in the playpen last spring to a rambunctious young dog nicknamed “Hellraiser”. When you see broken plastic pots and torn-up cardboard scattered around, please don’t think we’re slobs. We’re picking it all up as fast as we can, but Fitzgerald keeps finding more objects to shake, break and tear apart.

Another new furry friend, and good-bye to an old one: Casper, a friendly gray-striped kitten will be here to greet you instead of our lovely Jack with the two different-colored eyes. Jack got run over last fall. Please, everyone, when you’re driving on rural roads with a 55 mph speed limit, don’t drive like it’s the freeway. Please watch out for pets, children, and elderly people crossing the road.

Reminders

If you’d like to get this newsletter by e mail, and also receive Vance’s monthly briefs on what’s happening, what’s on sale, etc, please fill out the sign-up card next time you visit us. We’ll slip in a few deals for e-letter members only to make it worth your while.
Your Frequent Flower Card from last year is still good, so bring it with you if you can remember where you put it.
Your used plastic pots can be put in the bin in our driveway, behind the little well house. We reuse what we can, i.e. what came from us originally, and take the rest to Agri-Plas, a plastic recycling company just 2 miles from us on Waconda Road. If you’re cleaning the garage and have a whole bunch of pots from many years and many places, it’d be really nice if you’d take them directly to Agri-Plas.

In Conclusion
Being a dog lover as well as a plant lover, I like the bumper sticker that says “Wag more, bark less”. I want to have one that says something like “Garden more, text less”. This world is not just about humans talking to other humans. Pulling my eyes up away from the close focus on a screen and looking into the distance to see the light in the leaves way at the top of a tree, or the hummingbird on the fuchsia on the far side of the lawn is good exercise for the eyes and the mind. See the beauty and enjoy it – help create it.

Happy gardening,
Ellen Egan

What's Happening at Egan Gardens in 2011

	Sat. Oct.15, 2pm	Putting Your Roses to Bed for Winter Vance will tell you how to tuck in your roses safely so they wake up healthy next spring. Pruning, disease prevention, cold protection and any questions you’d like answered. No charge.
	Sun. Oct.16, 2 pm	Putting Your Perennials to Bed, too. On our last official day open for the year, Ellen will talk about what perennials need – or don’t need- in the way of cutting-back, feeding, mulching, etc. for good winter survival. No charge.

	Fri. Mar. 2, 2012	See you at our Grand Re-Opening Friday March 2, 2012.