Friday, July 17, 2009

Plant A Garden, Feed a Bunny!



Bush Bunnies ate my plants!









Today is Friday, and what a gorgeous day it is here in Paradise! I prefer Goldy Locks' days..not too hot, not too cold...just right. And today really is a Goldy Locks' kind of day. TGIF doesn't mean much in a Real Estate Week. However, today was one of those lazy days of summer Fridays.


After a pretty light Broker Tour morning (with some gorgeous new listings to view), I stopped by my two favorite Nurseries on the north side of town: La Sumida Nursery and Terra Sol. They are located very close to each other but are quite different and are both wonderful in every way. Their employees love their jobs, their customers; and are very knowledgeable about plants. Their plants are healthy and beautiful. Both Nurseries have wonderful Mouser cats who are as friendly as their owners. The Big Box Nurseries just can't compete...no matter how much choice they have in their warehouse style stores.

La Sumida is one of the oldest Nurseries in town and is still owned and managed by the Sumida family. It is a terrific place for volume annuals, a variety of veggies, especially tomatoes; ordering flats of ground cover or 5 gallon plants to replace what the gophers have lunched on. Their rose nursery is amazing and voluminous. Today I stopped by to pick up some six-packs of annuals to refill some pots, and some much needed six packs of green beans...which is why I went shopping at the Nurseries in the first place!

As you can see from the pictures above, the bush bunnies ate all but one plant of my green beans, which I planted from seed...for the second time! I refuse to give up on being able to harvest my own tender green beans! So...I just went and bought some 'ready made' ones. I may have to put little fences around them for a while. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) on the tug of war between the bunnies and me.


Our tomatoes and lettuce are doing fabulous this summer, as did our bountiful fruit trees, and blackberry bushes. The artichoke's totally atrophied and I don't know why. This is the first year that I have been able to nurse a pumpkin plant along. I usually lose them to mildew, same with our grape vines. This year there are also several bunches of green grapes coming along just fine. They haven't been discovered by the birds yet. We don't like to spray because I have begun planting a lot of milkweed and other butterfly attractors. Milkweed attracts the butterfly caterpillars and once established re-seeds itself quite readily. I have a second batch of caterpillars munching away. The first group are the butterflies now dancing in our garden.


Terra Sol Nursery is a most unique garden type nursery. They feature unusual plants, particularly perennials, lots of garden art and statues, outdoor furniture, beautiful garden vignettes from water gardens to Asian gardens, succulent gardens, water fountains, benches and so on. Stopping by Terra Sol is my once a week must. Some people go to the Mall, I go to Terra Sol. It's like a garden painting. There is always something new to look at, ideas to try at home and new plants. Again, the owners and staff are very knowledgeable, plant and people friendly. Even though my husband is able to order direct from the importer/producer as an Architect, he prefers to deal with the wonderful people at Terra Sol. http://terrasolgardencenter.com their on-line newsletter is available at http://terrasolgardencenter.com/neww/9/30


Terra Sol Nursery



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