If I say shrub to you, what do you think of? A row of hedges planted along your property line to give you privacy? Or maybe some dwarf evergreen shrubs in a xeriscape garden to soften the hard edges? Perhaps fast-growing plants like honeysuckle or forsythia that are great for quickly filling in a bare landscape?

Whatever example popped in your head probably involved a shrub that was firmly planted in the ground. But what if you are renting a property or live in an apartment or are looking for some patio décor – do you have to go without shrubs?

Happily, there are many shrubs that do well in containers. They will give you all the benefits of these beautiful plants, plus the flexibility to reposition them around as needed – or if you move!

Here are some examples of shrubs that do very well in containers:

• Dwarf Alberta Spruce (and all dwarf conifers) – this small evergreen conifer has the classic Christmas tree shape.
• Japanese Maple – with their fiery leaves, these shrubs make a big statement in a small space.
• Dwarf Peach Trees – rarely getting taller than 8 to 10 feet, these trees will give you spring blossoms, summer green foliage and full-size fruit.
• Serviceberry – this is an all-year shrub that gives you different looks throughout the year – flowers in spring, fruits in summer, colorful foliage in fall, and stark bark in winter.
• Dwarf Crabapple “Lollipop” Shrubs – It really does look like a lollipop with its ball of fragrant white flowers on a sturdy trunk. Thanks to its dwarf genetics, this shrub always looks neat and needs minimal pruning.
• Dwarf varieties of butterfly bushes – you’ll still attract the pollinators with these shrubs but without them taking up too much space in your garden.
• Hydrangea – about a third of the size of a full hydrangea bush, dwarf hydrangea are another shrub that gives you beautiful blooms while requiring minimal pruning.
• Barberry – the small round leaf clusters of the barberry look gorgeous in containers and can add color (and privacy) to a deck, patio or balcony.
• Dwarf Ninebark – a shrub where the flowers are almost secondary to the bark, the name comes from the way the bark peels back, exposing a beautiful red underneath.
• Low Scape Mound Aronia – this dwarf chokeberry has fast developing leaves and is great for attracting birds.
• Boxwood – the classic border shrub that often give in-ground gardens their shape is also terrific in containers, and their evergreen foliage provides year-round color.

There are some things you need to consider when planting shrubs in pots. First, your container needs to be thick; plastic containers need not apply for the job of housing a dwarf shrub. Size matters too; your pot should be twice the size of the root ball of the plant to ensure the roots don’t freeze and thaw throughout the winter.

All this means you might have a heavy plant to cart around, so you might want to invest in a tray with wheels to make it easier to move and winterize. Speaking of winter, your container shrub will need water at least once a month during the winter, so make sure it’s accessible.

If you have any questions about selecting shrubs for container planting, please give us a call or visit the nursery. We have both the plants and the appropriate pots for them and can help with whatever advice you need.

Happy Gardening!
Misti

In the late spring, when we get our tomato plants, we have such hopes. We water them diligently, we wrap them in season extenders or cover them with frost cloth if it gets cold, and set up our cages carefully to support them as they grow.

They flower and we can’t wait for the delicious results.

And then, well, things go south. There are a bunch of common afflictions that strike tomato plants and today I want to tell you about them and what you can do about them.

Blossom Drop – When flowers appear on your tomato plants, but fall off without tomatoes developing, it’s likely you have blossom drop. Temperature fluctuations can cause it, but insect damage, lack of water, too much or too little nitrogen, and lack of pollination can also be the culprit.

What to do about it: While you can’t change the weather, you can make sure the rest of the plant is strong by using organic fertilizer for tomatoes, drawing pollinators by planting milkweed and cosmos, and using neem oil insecticides.

Fruit Cracks – Cracks appear on ripe tomatoes, usually in concentric circles, are fruit cracks. Besides being unsightly, sometimes insects use the cracks as an opportunity to eat the fruit. Hot, rainy weather can cause it. After a long dry spell, tomatoes are thirsty. Plants may take up water rapidly after the first heavy rainfall. This swells the fruit and causes it to crack.

What to do about them: Although you can’t control the rain, you can water tomatoes evenly during the growing season. This prevents them from being so thirsty that they take up too much rainwater during a heavy downpour.

Leaf Roll – This is when mature tomato plants suddenly curl their leaves, with them rolling up from the outside towards the center. As much as 75% of the plant can be affected. High temperatures, wet soil and too much pruning are often the cause.

What to do about it: Although it looks ugly, leaf roll won’t affect tomato development, so you will still get edible tomatoes from your plants. Avoid over-pruning and make sure the soil drains excess water away.

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) – TSWV is spread by one of the arch-enemies of any garden, thrips. I absolutely hate thrips. They acquire the virus by feeding on an infected weed, then they spread it to developing tomato plants. Several weeks after transplanting the tomato plants into the garden, random plants may appear stunted, and younger leaves may be marked with bronze or dark spots, or have prominent purple veins. Often the upper foliage will become twisted and cupped as the bronze areas expand. Fruits may have yellow spots. Younger plants may wilt and die, but older plants may survive and bear discolored fruit that may not fully ripen.

What to do about it: Eliminating weeds in the garden is the first step in reducing the chance of acquiring TSWV. Keeping the grass and weeds mowed in areas surrounding the garden may reduce the spread of thrips onto susceptible garden plants. 

There are several other possible tomato problems. If you are worried about how your plants are doing, please take a picture and bring it in to Warner’s Nursery. We can help you identify what’s going on and how to prevent it in the future.

Happy Gardening,
Misti

There’s nothing that quite captures the joy of growing your own food as that moment when you pick those first fresh tomatoes from your garden. They work on almost all the senses – the beautiful transformation from green plant to yellow flower to deep red fruit; the earthy smell of it; the satiny smooth skin against your fingers when you pick it off the plant…

Then there’s that taste. Ever eaten a tomato fresh off the vine that is still slightly sun-warmed? Absolutely amazing. No wonder gardeners are in love with tomatoes!

Every Memorial Day weekend, we break out the party hats to celebrate Tomatopalooza with specials on on our tomato plants and plenty of advice for home gardeners. Here are some practical tips on getting a beautiful harvest this year:

• Please get them planted soon! We’ve got a limited window to grow these gems and the sooner yours are in the ground, the sooner you can reap (eat) the benefits.
• You might want to invest in a season extender – even if you aren’t technically extending the season. The nice thing about these tubes of water is that in addition to keeping the plant warm (remember, we still could get frost into June), they protect your plants from transplant shock.
• Yes, you need cages or stakes. Tomato plants are like children – they need structure and support. New fruit will benefit from improved air circulation and it keeps the plants away from ground pests.
• Food and Water. A slow release fertilizer is perfect for your young plants. Water thoroughly but not too often and try to water early in the day so that plants will dry off before evening. As always, we recommend drip irrigation systems because they are more efficient and get the water down to the roots and you don’t lose water to evaporation or runoff. If nothing else, don’t water from the top down – this does nothing except get the leaves and tomatoes wet and make them more prone to get diseases or rot.

We hope you have a safe Memorial Day weekend – and that you get some gardening in during the holiday.

Happy Tomatopalooza!
Misti

It’s April 26th, and the Weather Channel has informed me that there’s a 70% chance of snow this evening. Not much, just an inch, but we’ll be hitting a low of 32 degrees. Meanwhile, by the end of the weekend, we’ll be back in the upper 60s.

Welcome to spring in northern Arizona: warm, flower-friendly weather for a few days and then – whoosh – a rush of wind, cold temps and the occasional snow flurry.

But when I see the new buds and leaves on my garden plants this time of the year, it fills me with a sense of hope for the season.

First of all, it’s great knowing my perennials survived another year. Then there’s the excitement of different annuals coming in as the season progresses and we move from pansies and petunias to coneflowers and dahlias.

Right now it’s a great time to plant trees, flowering shrubs, and lots of perennials. It’s even possible to start some warm season veggies, but you have to be strategic about it.

By definition, warm season vegetables are the ones that really can’t stand the cold – things like tomatoes and eggplants and melons. Because they are so susceptible to cool temperatures, they are typically planted outdoors only after the last frost of the spring. Which is a big problem here in northern Arizona because by the time we have that last frost, it’s practically summer.

Fortunately, you can always begin your warm-season veggies inside and then transplant them when the weather is a little more friendly. I have a whole separate blog about that, which you can read here.

I know spring in Flagstaff is maddeningly hard to predict and that makes gardening challenging here. But I was always taught that you don’t get what you wish for; you get what you work for, and the things that you work for the hardest give you the biggest reward.

That’s how I think of gardening in Flagstaff.  Difficult but worth it, and when spring finally decides to stick around, it’s like Mother Nature is giving us hope for the season to come.

Happy Gardening!
Misti