Now is the time everyone knows you are supposed to do all the heavy pruning. In fact it is the time to get your roses pruned back so they can start over, it's time to shape deciduous fruit trees and prune lots of other things. But, what I want to talk about is not what you should do now but what you should do all year long.

Our Garden maintenance business focuses on what we call natural pruning. As you drive around older neighborhoods what you see is primarily lots of plants chopped into balls, tear drop shapes, boxes and trapazoids. You see things that are or at least should be pruned back so you can use the walk or things pruned back so the lawn mower can get by.

This what is called box pruning. Many things that were chosen for texture, arching growth or interesting shape are all turned into much the same thing. While I have nothing against boxwood or privet hedge in the right spot, I do object to making everything in the backyard look like boxwood. How often have you gone into your yard or a friends yard and seen the fence line plantings all topped off at the fence height and pruned back to follow the mowing strip whether or not it is square or curved.

This is solvable by correct pruning and correct plant choice. The typical planting and maintenance basically turns the fence green ( or mixed colors) and moves it in about 3 or 4 ft . Is this what you want? If so I can't or don't need to help you. Over the next few weeks I will be posting pictures of what not to do and give you ideas about how to solve the proble.

A few years ago I was in the back yard of someone tht wanted more privacy from the side neighbor. He had Terxas Privet pruned to the top of the fence. All he needed to do was quit pruning.

If you look at interesting yards there are plants of differentg sizes, textures, and colors that are designed to stand out and create a design that lets your eye move through the yard.

Natural pruning is intended to let the natural shape and beauty of the plants in your garden stand out, let the design stand our and reduce the time you spend weekly in the garden. By pruning periodicaly during the year you can guide the plants and actualy spend less time.

How can you lose!

If you can see parts of the garden from inside where it is warm it is important to make them attractive in the winter.

How, you ask?

Well, the easiest way is with winter annuals. Pansies, Snapdragons, and Ornamental Cabbage are time honored ways to bring color to the winter garden. In many cases though the annual planting beds aren't in areas that you can see from inside. When that happnes, containers are a great way to get the annuals into where they can be enjoyed.

Here is a small sampling of pottery

One of the reasons container gardening is so popular is because you are able to bring seasonal interest to places that you can't any other way. Containers, especially larger ones, are easy to care for and make it easy to provide color and interest all year long.

Our selection of containers is the best in town and we have lots of interesting pots from all over the world. You also can come in and see what we have already made up either to take home are for ideas for your own container.

In addition to the best selection of pottery we also carry a large amount of plants for winter interest.

Have you met our new member on our staff. Sandy is around roaming all over the nursery. You can see her in the bedding department, the shrub department and greeting customers at the register.

You will recognize her by the ever present fur coat she wears. Her primary responsibility is as fittness trainer for the cats and the many birds that visit.

Ask for her by name at the register and introduce yourself.

One of the best ways to bring color close to you in the winter is container gardening.

You have the benefit of an attractive container plus colorful plants and flowers. Containers also allow you to bring the color where you want it.

At Scenic, in addition to our directly importing pots, we buy from a number of other importers that allow us to expand our selection for you. We have a terrific selection for you to check out right now.

We also have a wonderful selection of pre-planted containers designed by our own staff. Amy does most of the containers but all of us get a chance to help. This gives you something to take home today to enjoy or just get ideas for you to use at home.

We keep a selection of shrubs, perennials and annuals that make for unusual and interesting container gardens.

Come in and talk to one of us for ideas and help developing some container gardens for yourself.

Have you been by the fountain at the beginning of Scenic this summer? The plantings are making some progress. I have especially enjoyed the landscape roses Starry Night. This single white rose has been in bloom all summer long. The trick is regular fertilizer. The tree, Arbutus Marina, is starting to grow and in a few years it will start to become an impressive addition to the trees of Modesto.
We also planted some Cotoneaster lactea there. This is the arching grey foliaged plant near the fountain. I used it here to contrast what a natural growing Cotoneaster looks like against the poor butchered ones on the Briggsmore canal. It seems as soon as they start to look OK someone comes by to butcher them again.
One of the primary missions of THE GARDEN CREW, our garden maintenance service, is giving people the option of natural pruning. This is the technique of allowing plants to look the way they looked as they were developing. It does requires hand pruning and thinning and an eye to what the plant is supposed to look like.
At home I planted some Iceland Poppies for winter color and they are already starting to bloom. My pansies were planted 3 weeks later and are now just starting to develop. I have already fertilized the poppies lightly three times and boy have they responded. Use Masters Rose and Flower Food lightly every 1 to 2 weeks.
In addition my Sasanqua Camellias are in bloom and my landscape roses and climbing roses are just ready for their last bloom. I have lots of color this fall. Do I enjoy gardening in California. Pity the poor people in Boston. I saw them bundled up during the World Series. Way to go Red Sox

I have to say that often nurserymen know what to do in their garden but ...

Well I'll just say "do what we say, not what we do."

Often that is the case with Jim and fertilizer and flowers. Getting flowers off to a good start is especially improtant because they don't have years to recover from initial mistakes.

This summer I planted Vinca at home and Donna, my wife, complained that I didn't plant them close enough. What I did wrong is not fertilizing them in the beginning. About 6 weeks after I planted them I started fertilizing and eventually they started to grow and bloom. But, by that time the weather started to cool down and they never did what they were supposed to.

This fall I planted a bunch of Iceland Poppies, mixed in soil conditioner and started fertilizing them after about a week with Master's Rose and Flower Food. This time I didn't get complaints. They exploded out of the ground. They would be in full bloom except we have a 4 year old Granddaughter living with us and she loves to pick the long stems of the Iceland Poppies.

In any case the moral of this story is do what the nurseryprofessionals say to do.

Not always what we actually do do.

We recently received our shipment of living christmas trees from Oregon. We have a nice selection of Colorado Spruce in both green and blue forms. these trees are pre-potted to make the transition between oregon and California easier. They can be used indoors for about a week but you need to pick out yours before the best ones get chosen.

In addition we have sheared redwoods that make a wonderful tree in the garden after Christmas.

The onion plants just arrived. We have the Stockton Red, Italian Red Torpedo, Walla Walla White and yellow onions. These are the bundles of approx 100 @ $4.50