Welcome to the bareroot season! The first to arrive are, surprisingly enough, not bare root at all. The growers in recent years have grown certain fruits in small quart pots. The plants are more expensive but they have a much stronger root structure and a greater chance at survival. Our newest arrivals include all our…

Fall is for planting – the ideal time of year before the rains arrive. Native California plants are particularly amenable to fall planting. We have a great selection of manzanitas at Bay Laurel Garden Center in Atascadero from the tallest, ‘Dr. Hurd’ to ‘Howard McMinn’ (5 to 6 ft.) to the shortest, ‘Emerald Carpet’ ground…

Here’s a taste for what good things to expect this fall. Vegetable gardeners are chomping at the bit! Get ready for fall planting at Bay Laurel Garden Center in Atascadero. Lots of 6 packs are available – all the favorites and then some. Arriving are sugar snap peas, broccoli, lettuce, kohlrabi and more. We have…

You can’t have a summer garden without some Blackeyed Susans. ‘Indian Summer’ is probably still the favorite although many new varieties have been introduced. This coming week we also expect ‘Amarillo Gold’ and ‘Irish Spring’. We’re also expecting more compact sunflowers. The Echinaceas are also a great perennial to plant now as they are late…

The newest and flashiest Crape Myrtles come in shades of red. This is the newest variety, ‘Ruffled Red Magic’. The distinctive feature is its height – this plant only grows to about 12 feet. Crape Myrtles thrive on summer heat. You can choose from a wide selection of colors. Roses are always in demand at…

Vegetable sales have been great – what a healthy populace we must have! But we know that it’s not always smooth sailing. You encounter the gophers, the earwigs, and the deer. We attempt to assist you in your travails at Bay Laurel Garden Center. We recommend gopher cages, the Gopher Hawk, hunter cats. Sluggo Plus…

The merry month of May brings a plethora of color to the garden. Let’s begin with shrubs. The purple leaved Cotinus adds drama to the palate – the dark leaves appear before the whimsical wispy flowers. When established, it’s very drought tolerant. Coleonema sports small pink flowers and dainty leaves. A compact variety, it only…

There are a lot of vegetable growers in the North County and we’re trying to keep up with them at Bay Laurel Garden Center in Atascadero! The yearly favorites include Early Girl, Celebrity, Sun Gold and Sweet 100 tomatoes. Lemon cucumbers are always popular. We have lots of choices in the pepper availability include the…

The “jewel” of California natives! ‘Dark Star’ is among many of the colorful Ceanothus. This genus varies in both color and size. ‘Ray Hartman’ is the tallest and the low growing, ground cover types include hearstiorum and ‘Carmel Creeper’. Ceanothus are great accents – they are not known to be very long-lived, 7 to 10…

If you long for more fruit trees in your garden and see the bareroot bargain prices – hesitate not! This is the month to do it. We still have a good variety of trees, even persimmons at Bay Laurel Garden Center. We usually sell out of them at this time, but we still have quite…