Newsletter for July 2025

It is not too late to plant some trees which will bear delectable fruit. We have a large selection of varieties that were bareroot earlier this season at Bay Laurel Garden Center in Atascadero. Included are the highly desired persimmons. They may not be totally rooted but you can reserve them for the appropriate time. Try to get your trees in before the hot weather arrives.

You may not get terribly excited when you hear the word Teucrium, but this genus has some great plants for our area. The low growing variety, Teucrium cossonii majoricum is a lovely ground cover resembling sweet alyssum but far more durable. The species chamaedrys is a small evergreen shrub growing up to 2 feet, Betonicum is rather rare – it has delicate wands of lavender purple flowers and grows 3 x 4 tall and wide. It blooms June to July. Right now we have 1 gallon plants at Bay Laurel Garden Center.

Here’s a sampling of some of the unusual 4″ house plants we have at Bay Laurel Garden Center. The flowering Anthurium is one of the few house plants that flower indoors. When the blooms are gone the shiny green leaves still remain as a worthwhile specimen.

When is a vine not a vine? Here is a beautiful example of the vine Campsis ‘Madame Galen’ (Orange Trumpet Vine) trained into a tree form. It undoubtedly took many years for this accomplishment. This plant is deciduous as most of the showy vines tend to be. Evergreen vines are also very desirable, especially for fencing screens.

Perennials are very much in demand at Bay Laurel Garden Center. Echinacea (Cone flowers) are at the top of the list. Since many new colors are now available, it’s easier to find a place for them in your garden. Another perennial, Agastache has also broadened its palette. Colors include purple, yellow, pink, red and mango.

New herbs are arriving at Bay Laurel Garden Center. Look for French tarragon, thyme, several varieties of parsley and new this year, Mexican oregano. My source says it’s related to lemon verbena. It can grow 3 to 4 feet tall. The leaves are used in Mexican dishes including pozole, mole, enchilada sauce and more. And the flowers are quite lovely.

The large flowered Portulaca are perfect annuals for the hot days to come. Colors are displayed in purple, red, orange, yellow and pink. Bright annuals for the shade include Sunpatiens (previously known as New Guinea impatiens). We don’t recommend them for the sun in our area in spite of their new name!

One hates to keep harping on the benefits of fertilizer, but the results we have witnessed do prove the point! And we have many choices at Bay Laurel Garden Center. Down to Earth offers a wide variety of organic fertilizers as do the 420 products. The Master Nursery ‘Formula 49’ has numbers 8-4-4 and is regularly used here at the nursery for fruit tree and containers plants. The water soluble product from Fertilome has a very high phosphorus content to promote bloom.