The Online Garden Gossip
September 2009/Issue #40
 

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1011 North Woodlawn, Kirkwood, MO 63122    www.sugarcreekgardens.com         314-965-3070
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What's new?

Þ Our soil testing service with the University of Missouri Extension has been a big hit.  Fall is a great time to test soil.  Look here for more info.

Þ Lots of pansies, mums, ornamental peppers, and asters are in stock.  Freshen up your window boxes and porch containers with fall seasonal colors. 

Don't know where to start?  Let us help!

Þ We're accepting pansy dollars through the end of September.  If you don't use them all this year, you can save them and use them again next fall.
 
ÞPlastic pot recycling begins at the Missouri Botanical Garden runs through the end of September. Don't miss out!  For more information, look here.
 

Call the neighbors and wake the kids: the new dwarf
repeat-blooming lilac 'Bloomerang' is here

We were so excited earlier this year when the repeat-blooming lilac 'Josee' made the scene.  Now we're upping the ante with the introduction of 'Bloomerang,' which is the result of a cross between 'Josee' and another lilac -- the result being a compact, fragrant flowering machine.

'Bloomerang' reaches 4' tall and wide, which makes it a good specimen plant or screening plant. It will bloom best in full sun with rich, well-drained soil.

We'll have more of these in spring 2010, but we were able to get our hands on a small number of 3-gallon plants this fall, so wanted to make them available ASAP.

Call to reserve one or stop in -- you won't be sorry!  Only $39.99.

It's bulb season, and we've got the hard-to-find Spanish Bluebell

We love our daffodils and tulips, but why not live a little and try some new and unusual bulbs this fall -- including Hyacinthoides hispanica, or Spanish Bluebell, a Missouri Botanical Garden plant of merit.

This beauty can reach 12" to 1.5' tall and wide, making a good bulb for naturalizing.  It will grow in full to part sun conditions, and makes a good cut flower.  Ideal for planting around hosta, because Bluebells bloom in April and May before going dormant, and emerging hosta foliage will hide the declining show.

Other fun bulbs we have in stock:

Fritillaria rubra
Fritillaria persica
Allium 'Schubertii'
Anemone blanda Grecian Windflower
Lycoris -- reds and pinks

  
 
Overwintering tropical annuals

Start thinking about those beautiful tropical plants on your deck and patio.  When it gets cold, do you throw them out? Bring them in?  Some of both?  Look here for our fact sheet on overwintering tropicals.
 

  

Sugar Creek Gardens
is Hellebore Central

There are so many things to love about Lenten Roses:

  • The fact that they bloom in early spring, often when there's still snow on the ground.
  • They thrive in a shady environment.
  • They're evergreen, so the foliage holds up throughout the winter, holding a place in your garden.
  • They come in all different colors -- white, pink, red, yellow, apricot, and even black, and often in double-flower form.

What's not to love?!  We've stocked up on these shady beauties and were able to track down some hard-to-find varieties.  We currently have in stock:

  • Onyx Odyssey
  • Double Integrity
  • Optimism
  • Sympathy
  • Silvermoon
  • Peppermint Ice
  • Yellow Lady
  • Red Lady
  • Blue Lady
  • White Spotted Lady
  • Helleborus foetidus

 
  We've got sunflowers -- $19.99 per pot