New plants!

Hi garden geeks!

Below is a sampling of some of the new plants we just got in stock from Annie's Annuals! You can also email us with any questions or special requests!

Dianthus ‘Bliss’
“Perpetual Carnation”
This old fashioned dianthus is just adorable! We love it! We also have "Cheshire Cat", "Mad Hatter", and the "Queen of Hearts" dianthus in stock as well! All are in 4" containers.

Aeonium simsii
 This is a new aeonium for us, and we love it for its daintiness! It's small - maybe three inches across each 'bud', and grows low - almost a funky cool groundcover. The yellow flowers it produces in late spring are suppose to be quite amazing!

Delphinium elatum
‘Sweethearts’
Delphinium are among our most favorite of plants! This 'Sweethearts' variety does not disappoint - maybe we just have Valentine's Day on the brain already, but we loooove the sweet pink blooms! We have a few other varieties of delphinium in stock as well: "Bellamosum", "Dusky Maidens" and "Clivedon Beauty" are all available in 4" containers, ready to be planted now for some spring blooms!

Rhipsalis burchellii
"Mistletoe Cactus"
This meets our qualifications for "funky cool and weird"! We've never had this plant before, so it's new to us as well. Here is what Annie's website says: "This RARE & highly unusual plant is actually a thornless, tree-dwelling cactus! Best planted in a hanging basket or large container, it forms an elegant cascade of delicate branches than can reach down to 5’! Lovely creamy white flowers emerge along the stems, eventually making way for darling pink fruits. A wonderful choice for a shady patch of the garden or for keeping as a houseplant." We are pretty excited to try it out!

Lathyrus odoratus
‘Route 66'

Sweet Pea time is here! Oh, how we looooooove sweet peas! We'll find an excuse to plant this just about anywhere! "Route 66" is a new one for us this year - this fast growing variety has some pretty amazing two-toned color going on! In addition to "Route 66" we also have "Almost Black" "Annie B. Gilroy", "Blue Vein", "Cupani", and "Fire and Ice" in stock. These tend to sell out quick - and we will likely have more in next week (1/17/15), so email us if you are looking to come in after this weekend so we can make sure they are still in stock.

Aloe wickensii
Even if succulents aren't your thing, if you have a bit of space, this super cool aloe is worth it! The photo makes it look bigger than it is; the grower states it gets to the 2-3 foot range. The color is what makes it amazing; the plant itself kinda reminds us of...well, of a reptile! It has greens, and dark patches, and light patches - it's really cool! And the bi-color blooms, which will surprise you next winter, make this a really unusual specimen of aloe! We have it in 4" sized containers right now.

What else?
Also just arrived: two varieties of yarrow (achillea "Moonwalker" and "Rosey Red", both great drought tolerant, fun plants!), centaurea (bachelor buttons, our Grandma's favorite!) in blue and red, buddlea in white and blue, succulents, helleborus 'Gold Bullion' (which we LOVE!),  nicotiana in white and lime green, papaver poppies, salvia, verbascum and many more! This was a pretty big order, so lots of new goodies are to be seen!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more day to day updates!

Garden Geek Updates for the Week of January 5th

Happy happy new year, our fellow plant nerds! 

Garden Geek Updates for the week of January 5th 2015:

We have a biiiig order of Annie's Annuals arriving this week, likely in on either Thursday or Friday. Lots of fun goodies - big selection of sweet peas and poppies (including some new varieties!) for your winter gardens, some new succulents, and much more! If you have any special requests, be sure to email us with those by Tuesday (1/6/15) evening.

We should also be getting some more of the always popular ornamental kale and spiral grass later this week as well! And possibly some new and funky herbs and winter veggies - we'll know for sure in a day or so and will update accordingly.

We totally embraced this spirit of 2012 (a joke, get it?!?!) and finally started an Instagram account! Yay! Follow us there for daily photos of botanical goodness.

We are starting up our first new design project for 2015! A client in Los Angeles just got her turf removal rebate approved, and we are helping her design her new lawn free (ditch the lawn!), native plant, low water, awesome looking landscape! If you are interested in having us help you do the same, email us!

In the spirit of the new year, we put together some fun 'garden resolutions' to inspire your dirt digging this year. Check out our post for more info!

Speaking of new years resolutions, we are going to try to make sure we post a weekly update each and every Monday! If you are interested in staying on top of our latest breaking news, you can sign up to get these posts emailed to you (check out the form on the right side bar!) or follow us on Facebook.

Wishing you a happy and productive first week of our new year!

-Brande and the Johnnye Merle's team

Garden Resolutions

Garden Resolution Time!

by Brande Jackson

 As we move into kicking off a brand new year, it only seems appropriate to think about ‘resolutions’. Going to the gym and stopping a bad habit often top the list for many, but for those of you that identify as ‘garden geeks’, thinking in terms of ‘botanical promises’ can also be helpful.

With that in mind, we present to your our suggested “Garden Resolutions for 2015”:

1. Compost more

Compositing is the best! Maybe not as exciting as Beyonce or ice cream, but it’s sooooo easy to do, and the benefits are numerous: you reduce waste going to a landfill, you feel less guilty about food that inevitably gets tossed, and you get the best free, (mostly) organic fertilizer you can ask for! There are all sorts of ways to compost, and a quick search online (we recommend using Pinterest!) will yield numerous possibilities. It need not be expensive, either: a compost pile can be as simple as that, a pile in a corner of your garden, or it can be a bit more involved with pre-fabricated containers that speed up the work that nature does.

2. Be adventurous

It’s easy to fall into a ‘garden rut’: sticking with the same tried and true plants can be fine, especially if you know what works for your garden, but at the same time, be bold! Go beyond your normal range. Try out plants that offer contrasting foliage and color. Try growing plants you can eat. Try out plants that just sound weird and funky and cool and fun to grow!

3. Plant your new babies ASAP

Many a plant has left our nursery only to meet its demise tucked away in the yard of a well-meaning garden geek that just never got around to planting it! The plants you buy at the nursery do in fact have a shelf life, they aren’t meant to live in that little container forever. Try to make it a habit to get them into the ground, or in a pot, or even into a bigger container within a week or two after purchasing.

4. Get your tools together

This is a resolution we at Johnnye Merle’s are going to try to follow this year. Our tools are a bit of a mess: some broken, some dull, some taken over by our four year old nephew... Keeping tools in good shape isn’t just about organization, either: dull blades on clippers and sheaths can actually damage plants with rough cuts, if not cleaned properly tools can carry disease from plant to plant, and bad tools make gardening a whole lot less fun. Search online for some ideas on how to best store your tools to keep them in tip-top shape.

5. Go native!

Look, we all have those plants we love and will baby and grow no matter what, and that is fine…so long as that only represents a small percentage of your yard. Despite the wet conditions this winter, the bottom line is that we live a bit of a “life of illusion” in Southern California when it comes to water use and the plants that we choose for our gardens.  Going native isn’t just about saving water: native plants provide an important habitat for wildlife, including the bees and other pollinators that are critical to the health of your garden, and the larger ecosystem. We have a huge selection of native plants in our nursery, and are happy to show you ways to go native AND look good!

6. Ditch the lawn!

On that same note, maybe this is the year that you give up your lawn - it’s much easier than you probably think! Many cities are now offering rebates, meaning, getting rid of your lawn and replacing it with drought tolerant plants could be just about free for you (depending on where you live) AND save you money on water in the long run as well. We have a simple, straightforward design package to help homeowners “ditch the lawn”, you can learn more at: www.ditchthelawn.com

7. Spend more time in your garden

Yes, this sounds very touchy-feely, but studies have proven that gardening is a great antidote to stress! According to an article in USA Today last year, there is even a field emerging called “horticulture therapy”, which is aimed at using gardening to help people cope with anxiety and depression, and even recover from surgery. Don’t think of your gardening time as merely a hobby, you are beautifying the landscape, helping out our ecosystem, AND helping your brain!

Hopefully this list inspires you to get outside and dig in the dirt!

Brande Jackson is the owner of Johnnye Merle’s Gardens, located in Country Roads in Old Town Orange at 204 W. Chapman. www.purtyplants.com.  She can be reached at brande@johnnyemerles.com.  She is also a teacher, and offers classes on art, creativity and gardening. www.brandejackson.com

Winter color

Some color from our garden at the official start of winter! Lots of fun blooms and textures to be found!

Sale this weekend!

Happy holidays, garden geeks! We hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

We are excited to announce we'll be having at 20% SALE on ALL of our plants this weekend!

Stop in now, because we JUST got an order of new Annie's Annuals & Perennials in, and they will go FAST at this price! :) This is part of Country Roads' larger weekend sale, so it's most definitely worth your time to make a trip out to Old Town Orange this weekend!

Don't forget too, that this Saturday is "Small Business Saturday" - so shop small & local!

Sale is November 29th - December 1st.

Open 10-5pm every day.

See you soon!

Clean up, sale plants, and new Annie's Annuals!

     We've been working hard out in our garden, getting cleaned up from summer and our heat wave and getting all our new goodies out for you to take home! We'll be back at it today, so come in and say hi!

     We moved a BUNCH of stuff to our very popular SALE section (plants that just need a little TLC and are a great bargain) and we have a huge new order of treasures from Annie's Annuals & Perennials that just came in.

One of our favorites is Briza media "Quaking Grass": we looove grasses, especially in the fall, and this one is so so cool! It only grows to about 12-18” tall, and gives you these awesome small, heart-shaped florets that start out bright green from April thru June then turn golden with maturity, looking, as Annie's puts it, "like little fairy lanterns or the end of rattlesnake tails." Makes a really cool cut flower, too. Awesomeness. Get one!

New plants and the rain is gone - come see us!

We got some really really cool new plants in yesterday! We already highlighted a few of them on our blog this week, but here are a few more:

Artichoke "Carciofo Romanesco" - thorn free and delicious with a nutty flavor, this artichoke has been in cultivation since around 1400! That's an antique for you! Plus, even if you don't like to eat artichoke 1. your friends probably do and 2. they look super cool if you let them go to bloom too!

Source: anniesannuals.com via Brande on Pinterest

Delosperma nubigenum "Hardy Yellow Ice Plant" - look, we know iceplant doesn't sound all that exciting, and immediately evokes the 'side of the freeway' picture. Totally NOT true in this case though - we have this one growing in our gardens and LOVE it! Drought hardy and tough as nails, it makes a GREAT ground cover for your tough spots!

Source: anniesannuals.com via Brande on Pinterest

Delphinium "Double Innocence" - all gardens need delphinium, and all gardens should have a few white delphinium in their mix. Big, tough, easy to grow. Enough said.  Get one!

Source: anniesannuals.com via Brande on Pinterest

We also have lots of poppies - both papavers and California poppies in shades like red, white, apricot and rose! - linaria, sweet peas, and much much more! Most of our plants are between $3 and $5 - a great deal for some great plants! Come see us soon!

Just in....

Happy Saturday, garden nerds! It's a three day weekend, SoCal weather is finally GREAT again, our BIG SALE is still going on, AND we just got some new treasures from our friends at Annie's Annuals yesterday! Check 'em out and get gardening:

Agastache 'Globetrotter' - we love agastache! Strong, tall blooms that peak out from the rest of your garden - so inspiring! And pretty!

Selinum wallichianum - such a cool plant! Blooms remind us of Queen Anne's Lace, but the foliage has more of a tropical vibe to it. Great plant for filling in spots and adding some depth and texture.

Viola labradorica - "Labradore Violet" is so...well, CUTE! We said it, it's an actual cute plant!  Likes light shade and consistent water; check out the color of those leaves, a great companion plant to just about anything!

Knautia macedonica - pincushiony (yes, we made up that word!) flowers, great color, and a prolific bloomer. How can you go wrong?

Laurentia axillaris - we just love this little blue bloomer; flowers look like stars, and while at first glance you might not think much of it, rest assured, once it blooms, you'll be glad you added it to your garden!

These plants are just the tip of the iceberg! All sorts of great flowers, herbs, and succulents are to be found in our gardens right now AND, we even have a sale happening right now!

Don't forget that the Orange International Street Fair is happening in old town Orange this weekend. If that's your thing - yay, come in and see us! And if it's decidedly NOT your thing, that's fine too, wait for the crowds to clear out Sunday night and enjoy your day off, as OUR BIG SALE is going through Labor Day Monday!

*All photos courtesy of Annie's Annuals www.anniesannuals.com

Garden support...

This is my niece Riley. She's five, and just finished her first year of school - kindergarten! The fact that she can writer her numbers is especially beneficial to us - she LOVES to help price plants! This is her pricing an order of Annie's Annuals (some REALLY cool campanulas, agastache, vines and more!) that we got in today. 

We should note that she particularly likes to write the numbers "6" and "8" and keeps asking if she can price the plants with those numbers, but we don't let her make the plants that expensive....
we make sure Riley keeps our plants nice and affordable!

LOTS of new plants came in this week! Plus, we've got all of our sunflowers marked down to $1 and tomatoes and veggies are marked down as well.

Come see us, and see Riley's fine handwriting for yourself!

Check out what's blooming!

Rhubarb!

SO many new things in our garden this weekend!

Succulents! 

We just brought in a big 'ole order of really cool aeoniums, echeverias and more - 

SUCH cool colors, you HAVE to see them in person!

Lots of unusual cottage garden treasures from Annie's Annuals have  come in over the last two weeks, including some awesome sunflowers!

 We've got herbs, veggies (heirloom tomatoes!) and scented geraniums just stocked and looking great - lots of 'won't find these anywhere else' oddball ones too...

 Salvias!

 

 Rumex!

It's a lovely lovely Southern California weekend - drop in and see us!

Spring has arrive at Johnnye Merle's!

Spring is here!

So, yeah, we've been bad bloggers. But we've been BUSY! What a crazy winter - one of of the busiest we have EVER had! A huge thanks to all of our awesome fellow garden nerds for keeping us on our toes!

Our gardens have been blooming for weeks now, but I finally got a chance to snap some photos of what is going on in our little spot at the moment.

Lots and lots of great plant treasures for you to take home!

osteospermum natchez copper - awesome color!

Our first sunflower blooming of the season! These guys come back year after year in our beds all on their own...





Drosanthemum speciosum 'Pele' - just in our beds, unfortunately. None in stock right now, but we'll let you know when we do!