December 2008 Archives

Q:  Hi Joe
I was wondering if you could help point me in the right direction.
I am looking for information on the sales trend for perennials by variet for 2008 in the North East.  Any suggestions on how I can get these type of statistics? Any help would be great!
Thanks, Kristine

Q:  Do potato bushes lose there leaves like my apple, peach trees that i have? I moved from S.F bay area to northern California and the bush felt the change a bit. Now its it the ground and i am wondering if i should cover the bush when REALLY cold weather exists. Gracias!!!

Q: I have a blue potato bush (solanum rantonnetii) that I purchased in September.  It is trained like a tree.  Has a bare trunk (staked) and was trimmed to a round shape on the top.  I transplanted it and that encouraged a flush of new growth.  It is not a round shape any more.  It has long branches going everywhere!  I would like to prune it back to a fairly round shape and I am not sure when or how I should do this. It has lovely flowers and I would hate to ruin it.

I live in El Cajon, CA and our winters get down to about 35 degrees.  No snow.  Should I wait until Feb or March to prune it? How should I prune it? I found you on the Fiskars web site and enjoyed your video on pruning. I am not sure what category my plant falls into. Sounds like I follow a branch back until I see a branch off and clip there, keeping a round shape in mind?

Dear Santa,

As you know, I’m really into gardening, especially the ‘green’ kind, like environmentally friendly things such as not using a gas-powered engine for my lawn mower when a rechargeable model would do. I know you get what I’m talking about. You’re one of the original pioneers of eco-travel, circling the world every year on nothing but reindeer power (or is that considered natural gas)? Never mind, the point of my letter is it’s been a good year for me in regards to getting some cool stuff for the lawn and garden that’s eco-friendly too. So this year, you can skip my house, conserve a little energy and cut down on the packaging. But, if any of my friends have listed lawn and garden gear on their wish list, can you make it the green kind too?

Just in case you need a few suggestions, here’s what I’d offer them if I were you. First, it’s going to be cold and not much gardening is really going on after the holidays, so lets get them a good book on the subject. The Green Gardener’s Guide by…uhhh, never mind about the author. But it is the perfect resource to get them in the right frame of mind for spring.

Next, rechargeable lawn and landscape tools are awesome and these days, they’re a lot more powerful and more like the gasoline burning, CO₂ spewing mowers and blowers. Personally, I’ve been using my engineless push reel mower, made by Brill and it works quite well. Those would make great gifts since they’re pretty cheap and don’t take up as much room in your sleigh. By the way, if you run short on product, I found a neat online store that sells a lot of eco-friendly tools. They’re called Clean Air Gardening and you can check them out for yourself online when you get a chance.

And of course, the greenest tools are people powered. I’ve been having great success with all the neat stuff from Fiskars. You probably use their scissors a lot up at the workshop but I’m telling you, if you want to score points with all your gardening buddies, load them up with their pruners and other cutting tools.

Finally, we all need a good pair of gloves. I recently heard about the newest style from West County Gardener that will be out in early 2009. It’s made from recycled plastic water bottles. For every pair that’s made, one less bottle makes it to the landfill. Now that’s very cool, don’t you think Santa? So, that’s it. I know you have a lot more letters to read and work to do.

All the best and safe travels to you, Rudolf and the others.

Thanks Santa. Your friend,
Joe Lamp’l