Newsletter for April 2026

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 jumbo packs which contain 3 varieties of sweet or hot. The nursery is loaded with vegetables right now. In the words of the ad from Prairie Home Companion for Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery – “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it”.

Perennials and summer annuals are beginning to appear at Bay Laurel Garden Center. Six packs of marigolds disappear quickly. And of course the petunias are always on the list. Every year the premium varieties expand, but ‘Night Sky’ is always desired. We will stock the many varieties of Zinnias from short to tall.

The bedding table in the shade house is beginning to perk up at Bay Laurel Garden Center. We have several varieties of colorful Coleus. You will find white and blue Bacopa and the influx of Geraniums has begun – Zonal and Ivy. Several plants of the early blooming Hellebores are still available.

Beware of the tarnished plant bug – Lygus lineolaris. This small insect preys on the skin of peaches and especially nectarines. The fruit is attacked when very young and mars the skin. Be sure to spray when the fruit is very small. Many effective products include horticultural oil, insecticidal soap and Take Down.

Our houseplants are trying to keep up with the times at Bay Laurel Garden Center. We have the rather rare ZZ plant in black, as well as the yellow-striped Sansevieria. The familiar spider plants, pothos, philodendron, etc. are here as well. We are able to special order a giant Ficus lyrata (fiddle leaf fig) that stands at about 8 feet.

We received our first shipment of citrus and expect more in the near future at Bay Laurel Garden Center. Additionally, we have jumbo packs of strawberries – Sequoia, Seascape and Eversweet. Home grown strawberries are so juicy and sweet! They seem to be distant relatives of store bought. Also our bareroot fruit trees have been planted in either biodegradable or plastic containers.

Here is an example of a new line of small containers for house plants at Bay Laurel Garden Center. In contrast we also carry some very large black plastic containers. These are great for large plants, including fruit trees. They are quite inexpensive.

‘Firefrost’ is the most recent cold hardy lantana at Bay Laurel Garden Center. These varieties tend to die back in the winter and begin their new growth in April. Lantanas very popular plants. They bloom for a long time, have vivid colors, and appear to be deer resistant. Some of the lower growing varieties make great ground covers.