Christmas Trees

november 2012

San Diego’s Garden Resource San Diego’s Independent Nursery Since 1928 TM

In This Issue Christmas Trees: A Family Tradition At WAN Christmas Trees A Tradition 1 Seed Bomber On The Loose! 1 BY KEN ANDERSEN fresh they still have snow in them from their Garden Goes To The Dogs 2 home in the Cascades. Words From Walter 3 Over the years, we have found that the best Plant Seed Potatoes 3 trees come from Washington and that is what Eating The Young 3 we stock. Whether you like Noble, Douglas, White-Crowned Sparrows 4 Grand, or Fraser Fir, all of our trees are top Holiday Open Houses 4 quality. Once they arrive, they are put onto November Classes & Specials 5 individual stands with water bowls so you can see exactly what the tree looks like. The water bowls also insure that the trees stay fresh before Discover Us! you take them home. www.walterandersen.com If you don’t want to tie a tree to the roof of your car, WAN offers free delivery with minimum facebook.com/walterandersens Christmas is always a special time of the year at purchase. Flocking and fire retardant services Walter Andersen Nursery, but my, how things are also available. Remember, any cut trees or twitter.com/walterandersens have changed in our 84 years in business! garland in a public building need to have fire Our Online Store Gone are the days when we would go to the retardant or fire retardant flock applied by a railroad yards downtown to sort through licensed applicator (which we are) by mandate Watch Videos Christmas trees in boxcars for our store. Now, of the State Fire Marshal. all of our trees are cut and delivered fresh This year, make it your family tradition to get from the growing grounds in Washington your Christmas tree from Walter Andersen Dates To Remember State to our stores. Sometimes they are so Nursery. You will be glad that you did! NOV 6 – Election Day. Make your vote count! Seed Bomber On The Loose! NOV 21 – Poway store closes at 3pm. BY MELANIE POTTER the permission of the owner. It’s sort of a NOV 22 – Both stores closed for They say that confession is good for the soul covert beautification effort. Thanksgiving. so when Tom Dougherty, one of our customer The bombs, a mixture of clay, compost, NOV 24 – Small Business Saturday. service representatives, recently confessed to and seeds, can be tossed wherever you want Shop with your American Express credit building bombs, I let him talk. Sure enough, plants to grow, and will break up as the seeds card and get rewards from AmEx. he’s been busy making bombs in his spare begin to germinate. Tom has tried several time as well as giving his arm a work out with methods of making these bombs and he likes DEC 1 – Poway store closes at 4:30pm. practice tosses in his back yard. using modeling clay which is less messy than DEC 1 – Holiday Open House at the powdered red clay that many online recipes Despite this admission, we’re ok with our Poway store from 5–7pm. guerrilla gardener as he is actually making call for. The clay keeps the bombs intact and seed bombs and has been throwing them in prevents birds from eating the seed. DEC 8 – Holiday Open House at the his yard to see what comes up. This hobby is not without controversy. Yes, San Diego store from 11am–1pm. The term, ‘guerrilla gardening’ was first throwing seed bombs into areas that are used in the 1970s to describe a radical neglected and have become eyesores can be form of gardening undertaken by activists a good thing, but it’s the seeds in the bomb Walter Andersen, to draw attention to issues such as land use that must be carefully selected so as to not Jr. and Santa invite rights and urban blight. Guerrilla gardeners introduce non native or invasive species. you to holiday garden on land that doesn’t belong to them, celebrations at Gail Saito, owner of Seeds In A Ball, provided both stores typically a vacant lot, street median or us with a list of seeds she uses in the seed balls in December. neglected planter in a public area, without she makes. There is a wildflower blend specially

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The Andersen Garden Goes To The Dogs BY JOLENE ANDERSEN through the large spaces and the dogs find November no joy in attempting to dig or molest plants Garden Tasks within a wire barrier. The tomato cages work well because they are fully formed and readily available and need nothing but a gentle push FERTILIZE into the soil. When planting bulbs or bedding For lawns, use Marathon Fertilizer for starts, I use a trellis and lay it on the soil and Tall Fescue or Scott’s Turf Builder with plant over the framework. The trellis is not Winterguard. Feed ornamentals with unattractive and it provides a bit of a grid Gro Power. Feed Vegetables with Gro work for the planting and later, it totally Power Tomato and Vegetable Food frustrates any attempt the dogs make to have or Dr. Earth Organic Tomato and a good dig in the newly planted flower beds. My family lives life in the “lab lane”, the Vegetable Food. Feed Citrus, Avocado, Labrador retriever lane that is. We have two, We continue to have an issue with the lizard and Fruit Trees with Gro Power Citrus our daughter has four, and, yes, we live in the population and our Labrador hunting dogs and Avocado Food. Feed Palms and city and both families garden or make every have not found an answer to that age-old Tropicals with Gro Power Palm Tree and attempt to do so! Any dog owner who enjoys genetic call of the wild when one of them sees a Tropical Food. Do not feed Camellias. gardening will have learned early on that there lizard and chases it in a frenetic race to the end. WATER is little that can be truly done to dissuade a They will mow over everything in their path. garden-loving pup from working the soil and I haven’t even gotten to the part of my If rainy, cut back on watering by the plants in it. We have suffered some real gardening story about the dogs picking the reducing duration and frequency on disappointments, some relative victories and low hanging fruit from the trees when it sprinkler timers. some draws. ripens. Keeping the trees pruned low so the PEST CONTROL Here are a few things you might try if you are fruit is accessible is a great idea, unless you working out compromises with your family’s have 100 lb. Labs with the height of a pro Late in the month start dormant “best friend”: basketball player when they stretch out. I spraying with Liqui Cop and Oil Spray. will say that they enjoy the fruit and unlike 1] Don’t work in the soil with Fido present; Clean up all foliage from beneath my grandchildren, they never leave half of if it looks like you’re having fun, he may be deciduous fruit trees and roses. it uneaten. tempted to come back later and try it for PLANT himself (according to my veterinarian). We have suffered some major blows in our ongoing and relentless gardening journey Fall Bulbs, California Natives and 2] Try sprays and granules that are made to with our dogs. My husband lost a beautiful drought tolerant plants, winter bedding repel animals. passion vine to a lizard run-down, we and vegetables. Look for Pyracantha, 3] Use a physical barrier around new plantings. replanted tomatoes twice last spring, I can’t Cotoneaster, Sasanqua Camellias, and count the cymbidiums that have wound up Holiday Plants. 4] Don’t add enticements to the soil like as a teething toy for the newest Lab, a few of bone meal or blood meal that scream “treats my husband’s cherished cycads have come to MISCELLANEOUS in the soil!” a slobbery end in the shade of the pine tree De-thatch and over seed Bermuda lawns 5] Patient reprimands when necessary and, the list goes on. with annual Rye. (this has been the least effective deterrent We are hopeless garden optimists and wouldn’t in my house). trade our labs for the most polite dog you 6] Sleep away training camp for Fido as a might offer us; they are unconditionally loyal, costly (but effective) last resort. We sent our giving love and affection for little more than 0 first dog thinking she could demonstrate her our daily return to them. I hope you have training for the new dog. She did just that, taken some solace from this article if you however the new puppy must have a visual are on your own journey with family pets in defect as she has failed to absorb the lovely the garden. It really isn’t about making your manners of Dog #1. garden safe from your pets, it is truly about for Now, with that said, here are a few of the making your garden safe your pets, since crazier things you will observe in my garden if enjoying the outdoors is often the largest part you visit my (attempted) dog-proofed garden. of their world. Well, that’s my life is the Lab I lay two tomato cages horizontally and tine- Lane, wouldn’t change it for all the garden ends together over my soft herbs (basil, thyme, show awards in town! tarragon etc) and allow the plants to weave up through them. The herbs are easily managed

november 2012 walter andersen nursery and is smaller, growing to about 12”-14” tall. 0 Japanese Holly Fern (Cyrtomium falcatum) is an interesting clumping fern with Holly- Words like leaves. The foliage is medium green and From Walter almost glossy. Tasmanian Tree Fern (Dicksonia

BY WALTER ANDERSEN, JR. antartica) is a wonderful slow growing tree fern. It has a stout trunk and grows 8’ to 10’ tall. The fronds are 4’ to 5’ long with a very thick growth Plant at the top. Meyers Fern or Meyers Asparagus (Asparagus myersii) is a great fern-like plant Ideas that is very eye-catching. It’s easy to grow and For forms 2’ long stems that grow up and arch over with tiny needle-like leaves (not sharp at all). Shady It’s a very tough plant, but looks delicate. Areas To add some color in shady areas, check out Cineraria, which love cool weather. These have lots of small Daisy-like blooms that are very Tasmanian Tree Fern from San Marcos Growers colorful and bright, available in blue, pink, Plant Seed red, purple, and white. Another plant that Potatoes Do you have an area that is mostly shade thrives in cool weather in shade is Primrose. vs. Store Potatoes and you don’t know what to plant to make Three different ones are sold locally for winter it look nicer? BY IRISH EYES GARDEN SEEDS color, Primula malacoides (Fairy Primrose), Here are some plant ideas that will add interest which has small dainty blooms of pink, rose, In case you are thinking about planting to a ‘ho hum’ space. Most Ferns do well in cooler red and white and Primula obconica (German potatoes and plan to use those left over shady areas, and are very rewarding. Brazilian Primrose) which are small clumping plants from the sack you buy from the grocery Dwarf Tree Fern (Blechnum brasiliense) does with larger blooms colored white, pink, store, stop, read this, and learn why it not get much larger than 4’ tall and it’s pretty lavender, or blue and growing 6” to 8” tall. The and lacy, with the new fronds having a bronzy most popular primrose, Primula polyanthus, or might not be as productive as planting color, turning to dark green at maturity. Don’t English Primrose, has brightly colored flower seed potatoes. place it too close to a wall as the fronds need clusters with contrasting centers. Blues, pinks, Eating potatoes are almost always treated to spread. To one side, you might consider reds, yellows, all are very bright and floriferous. with a sprouting inhibitor so they keep Mother Fern (Asplenium bulbiferum) which Also check out the bedding Begonias which are is a beautiful lighter green fern with finely smallish tight clumping plants with white, red longer in storage. When these potatoes cut fronds. The fronds billow out from the or pink blooms and beautiful foliage of bronze finally sprout, the chemical inhibitor center to about 4’ tall and wide. It is very easy or green. Finally, Impatiens seem to never continues to retard shoot growth. The to grow and is fairly fast growing. Cliff Break stop blooming. They are easy to grow, are fast consequence will be a lower yield. Fern (Pellaea falcata) has deep green lacy foliage growers and come in six-packs or 4” pots. Organically-grown table potatoes are produced in areas where potato diseases Eating The Young are present. Plant these and you risk

BY MELANIE POTTER infecting your other potatoes or those of your neighbors. Virus-infected potatoes It’s rewarding to plant and eat your home- grown vegetables but the waiting to harvest do not yield a bumper crop. part can be months away. Donavan Lewis So, take advantage of the time of from our Poway store didn’t want to wait year when garden centers sell seed for his broccoli and kohlrabi to mature so potatoes. There are lots of varieties to he began eating the leaves, and liked what he choose from. ate. His advice is to eat as much from your plants as possible. Seed potatoes are due early to mid “I have a long, skinny garden, there’s not November. much room so I don’t have a lot of space to Broccoli & Kohlrabi plant. If I can eat some of the plants before You can eat beet greens, rutabaga greens, they are ready to harvest, I can get more 0 and radish leaves. from them”, said Donavan. Saute the leaves or toss in salads. I admit, Where to start, what leaves to eat? Anything I have become partial to adding beet leaves in the Brassicaceae family which includes to salads and make a point of buying whole broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards, and beets now for their dual purpose. cauliflower. 3 walter andersen nursery november 2012

Seed Bomber The Return of White-Crowned Sparrows continued from p1 BY OLD BEN OF OLD created for all regions in the United BEN’S WORKSHOP States that is a mix of perennials, annuals and biennials. It contains: White Yarrow, White-crowned Blue Pimpernel, Calendula, Siberian Sparrows appear each Wallflower, Lance-Leaf Coreopsis, Plains winter over much of Coreopsis, Cosmos, Chinese Forget Southern California Me Not, Foxglove, California Poppy, to grace our gardens California Glamor Perennial Gaillardia, Scarlet Flax, Sweet and favorite trails. The Male White-crowned Sparrows do most Alyssum, Golden Lupine, Hartweg’s smart black and white head, pale beak, and of the singing, but sometimes females also Lupine, Perennial Lupine, Arroyo crisp gray breast combine for a dashing look. sing. They usually do this while contesting Lupine, Evening Primrose, Red Poppy, White-crowned Sparrows are birds of the breeding territories or a winter food source. Gloriosa Daisy, Scarlet Sage, Blue Sage, chaparral, bushy river bottoms, brush piles Their songs are quieter than males’ songs. Nasturtium, and Zinnia. Another blend and weed fields. They migrate south to covers areas with low growing wildflower The oldest recorded White-crowned Sparrow seeds, made up of: Baby Snapdragon, California in October and stay until April. was 13 years and 4 months. California Bluebell, California Poppy, White-crowned Sparrows eat seeds plus large Chinese Forget Me Not, Dwarf Lupine, numbers of caterpillars, wasps, beetles and Five Spot, Godetia, None so Pretty, and other insects. Zinnia Lilliput. Watch the calendar on our website as a seed ball class will be held in early spring SOFT Program Deadline Looms at the Poway location. November 12 Is Last Day To Order! BY DAVID ROSS arriving in January, but the SOFT orders Fruit tree orders for next year have been must be placed by November 12. SOFT trees placed and the list is available in store and must be prepaid to complete your order, and online at http://www.walterandersen.com/ the list is available in both stores and online. pdf/Softpdf2013priced.pdf. If you have any questions or want more Walter Andersen Nursery participates in the information, come in to either Walter Dave Wilson Nursery Special Order Fruit Andersen Nursery location for assistance. Tree program or SOFT for short. Don’t leave the store with your bare root fruit Heavy clay wet soil, deep, well draining soil, tree without a copy of “How to Prune Fruit big tree, medium tree, small tree, this SOFT Trees”, a concise book to pruning all kinds of program makes available to you hundreds of fruit trees, berries, grapes, and roses. Books are additional combinations of fruit trees with available in the store or at our online store, assorted rootstocks that will accommodate http://shop.walterandersen.com/browse. almost every possible growing situation. cfm/how-to-prune-fruit-trees-revised- edition/4,2648.html. If there is a tree you want, you will probably find it on the SOFT list. The trees will be

Holiday Open Houses In December You’re invited to our annual holiday open house event at our Poway store December 1 from 5-7pm and as always, it’s family and pet friendly. Shop with special holiday savings, get your photo with Santa, and enjoy holiday food and beverages. Also, stop by our San Diego store’s Holiday Open House on December 8 from 11am–1pm.

Walter Andersen, Jr. and Santa invite you to holiday celebrations at both stores in December. 4 walter andersen nursery november 2012

Long Time Nursery Employee Retires BY JOLENE ANDERSEN Certified Nurseryman and November It is with sadness that we announce the State Certified Pesticide In-Store Specials! retirement of legendary nurseryman Phil Applicator. Phil was an Johnson. Phil was an icon in the industry, orchid culturist and knew in a league with Ada Perry, Byron Geer and orchids from A to Z, so he taught many of 50% OFF Select Walter Andersen himself, all giants in the the Orchid care and culture garden classes. Fruit Trees in stock early nursery industry in San Diego. Phil Among Phil’s other special areas of interest was an institution at WAN for over 40 years, are fruit tree and orchard care and culture. Apple, Peach, Pear, Nectarine, & coming aboard under the leadership of Walter He ordered the seed inventory and since he Plum to name a few! Trees are in and Byrdie Andersen in 1972. was considered a turf grass wizard, he ordered 5, 7, and 15 gallon cans. all the seed products for turf grass and all the Excludes Citrus, Avocado, Mango, Phil began life on a family farm in upstate associated products for management of lawns Pomegranate, Fig and Macadamia New York and left home to join the Navy. Sale Price Valid Nov. 1-21, 2012. and grasses. Phil also ordered and managed Nut. He went on to marry his wife, Carla, a school the redwood products for many years. teacher, during his service years. Continuing Suet Coconut Feeders his education throughout these years, he Phil and Carla enjoy opera, ballet and fine mustered out of the service and he and Carla, wine and food as well as travel. Phil is active 3 for $9.99 by then a family of four with two sons, created with his church and enjoyed Optimist and Reg. Price $9.99. Thanks to Old a new post-military life right here in America’s other service organizations. San Diego is a Ben, get a great deal on cute suet finest city. Phil was a company customer long richer community for having a transplant feeders, easy to handle, versatile before he applied for a job, and when he was like Phil Johnson in its midst. and healthy for all wild birds. sent in for a job interview by a placement We at Walter Andersen Nursery are going Great gift idea for the bird lover. Sale Price Valid Nov. 23 – Dec. 9, 2012. service, Walter Andersen’s comment to Phil to miss him! The Andersen Family, who was, “why didn’t you just ask me”? Phil was enjoyed the friendship and loyalty of this hired on the spot! fine man, will miss Phil standing shoulder 50% OFF Dried Phil continually learned and improved to shoulder with us through good times Mealworms his knowledge of plants, fertilizers and and bad, births, deaths and everything in 2-Jar Package Reg. Price $24.99. pesticides; he held many certifications between. Phil, you are a good man who Now 2 for $24.99. That’s approxi- throughout the years such as California earned your way every day! Thank you! mately 12,000 dried Mealworms. Attracts a large variety of insect eating birds including Blue Birds. November Garden Class Schedule Sale Price Valid Nov. 23 – Dec. 9, 2012. All Saturday classes are FREE and last about an hour. Complimentary coffee is served. During inclement weather, classes are held indoors in San Diego and on the covered, heated patio in Poway. Save $3 on Old Ben’s Class topics are subject to change with no notification. You may call for confirmation. 25# Wild Bird Seed 9:00AM | SAN DIEGO NURSERY 9:30AM | POWAY NURSERY Reg. Price $17.99. Sale $14.99. A great mixture of seed including 11/3 Ferns for Shady Areas 11/3 Selecting a Shade Tree for Your Yard NYJER to attract a wide variety 11/10 Camellia Selection & Care 11/10 Bonsai for Beginners with of wild birds. 11/17 Dormant Spraying Roses & Richard Wright Sale Price Valid Nov. 23 – Dec. 9, 2012. Fruit Trees 11/17 Wreath Making with Carol Fuller All specials limited to stock on hand. No special orders. Cannot be combined with any other 11/24 No Class Scheduled 11/24 No Class Scheduled discount or offer.

San Diego’s Independent Nursery Since 1928 TM

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