MAY 2019 Serving You Since 1955 981 Alden Lane, Livermore, CA • www.aldenlane.com • (925) 447-0280 Mother’s Day Weekend May 11th & 12th Take time to Smell the Roses! To celebrate Mother’s Day, Kelly will set up a “FRESH Cut Perfume Bar” where roses will be displayed and labeled. You’ll be able to cup the blooms and inhale their fragrance. What a great way to experience the wonder of rose diversity. Come sip iced tea and “Take Time to Smell the Roses”! Our “Rose Garden” is awash with color. The roses are blooming beautifully and it’s a wonderful time to select just the right color, form and FRAGRANCE for your garden and vase. Stroll the aisles and soak up the beauty and perfume. We had the opportunity to visit a rose hybridizer where specialized staff discerningly evaluate each rose variety bloom and translate its aromas, much like a vintner describing a wine. Take your turn at sampling the essence of each rose. Is it citrus, notes of old rose or a hint of Hyacinth? This will be a fun and ‘Fragrant’ activity. Heather will have a “Floral” Market set up in the “Rose Garden” filled with blossom themed gift items including soaps & lotions. Don’t miss Nancy’s rose companion Pop Up Garden demonstrating what plants to pair with your roses. Her artful combinations will inspire you! SAVE THE DATE!! Art Under the Oaks $$ It’s Time for $$ on July 20 & 21 from 11-4 p.m. The event showcases $$ Bonus Dollars Again! $$ many talented Our traditional springtime event – artists, musicians Bonus Dollars are back! and wine makers. • Bonus Dollar Points are given April 1 – May 31 Artists will be on • You earn 10% of your total purchases and are hand, spread through- paid in Alden Lane Nursery Bonus Dollar Points. out the spacious • These Bonus Dollar Points are redeemable nursery, exhibiting August 1-31, and November 29 - December 24. their work as well as They are to be used for up to 50% of your purchases. demonstrating their For example: if you have 10 Bonus Dollars you may skills for everyone to use all 10 on a purchase of $20 or more. see. Please mark your (Bonus Dollars or Bonus Dollar Points are not valid with other calendar and plan to discounts or coupons. Bonus Dollars are not valid on sod, sale come and support your local community! items or other special orders. Sales limited to stock on hand. Not redeemable for cash.) Run for the Roses! Red roses have long been associated with the Kentucky Derby run each year on the first Saturday of May. The winning horse is adorned with a garland of over 400 roses artfully stitched onto green satin fabric. We invite you to “amble” through the aisles, no need to run, and enjoy “our” over 400 roses in Alden Lane’s Rose Garden some of which you could artfully ‘stitch’ in to your green landscape to celebrate and color it up. Most roses repeat bloom from Spring to Fall but there’s something magical about the first bloom. Gentle spring temperatures increase the bloom size and the heady perfume are reminders of springs past about to be replayed. Some years ago, I was helping a customer in the rose section and she said, “I wish I had a rose garden” to which I replied, “I do too”. She looked at me and said, “You’re standing in yours”, hence our rose section is now known as the “Rose Garden”. It truly is the ultimate garden as both the time honored and new hybrids are always there. As a tribute to the “Run for the Roses” lift a Mint Julep as you celebrate your garden.
The 79th Annual Pleasanton Public Rose Show Saturday, May 11th • Free Admission • Pleasanton Senior Center, 5353 Sunol Blvd., Pleasanton. • Enter your home grown cut roses from 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. • Judging is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. • Public viewing runs from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. • Award ceremony is at 2:30 p.m. This show is open to all backyard novices. For more information visit www.pleasantonroseshow.com. Come see Alden Lane’s on-going “Rose Show”. Our plants are budded and blooming. Walk the aisles, “take time to smell the roses” and choose some for your garden. We’re here to help with all your rose needs. Win A Free Modern Bush Rose Plus Planting Supplies A Modern Bush Rose MODERN BUSH ROSE May 2019 1.5 cu. ft. bag of Master’s Name:______Rose Planting Address:______Mix City:______ 5 lbs. Master Start Phone:______A $59.97 Value Email:______No purchase necessary. Need not be present to Yes, I would like to receive the newsletter online. win. Drawing to be held May 31, 2019. Notes for May Gardening Protect your cherry crop! Prevent wormy fruit. Start Turflon Esther for Bermuda grass control controls that spraying weekly when fruit begins to change from green wiry stemmed, nuisance weed Bermuda grass. It also to strawberry color. Spinosad and Malathion are sprays works wonders on Oxalis, a yellow clover look alike. to consider. e e Mulching does wonders for your garden. As well as Feed roses now and every two weeks for maximum rose looking good, mulching conserves water and suppresses production. Use MaxSea plus Kelp Sea Life for the trace weeds and keeps roots cool. We suggest a mulch layer 4 elements and minerals. inches thick. We are especially fond of Micro-bark because e it looks good and breaks down relatively soon. Don’t mulch e Thin apple and peach crops if too much fruit has set, right up to the plant trunk or stem. Leave 4 to 6 inches you’ll get fewer but larger, juicier fruit. of breathing room.
Timing is important for grub control. If you had trouble Protect the trunks of fruit trees with Go Natural Tree e with grubs last summer and fall, now is the time to ready Trunk Paint. Applying a white wash coating to the trunk a treatment plan for prevention. Treating your lawn in will reflect heat away from the tender tissue and protect May with Bonide Grub Beater or Nematodes while the the trees. e grubs are young and vulnerable is best. Use Nematodes e in your vegetable garden. Regular feeding for Citrus. Citrus perform well with monthly light feedings of fertilizer specifically formulated Ladybugs and praying mantis to the rescue! Control for Citrus. This will ensure that your tree gets a nice even aphids, beetles, scale and leafhoppers naturally. supply of food year-round instead of occasional periods of e highs or lows. We recommend Master Nursery Citrus Food, Deep root water trees and shrubs. Never depend on or for a completely organic approach, use E.B. Stone Citrus e lawn watering to take care of trees and shrubs. Begin and Fruit Tree Fertilizer. Make quarterly applications of deep watering with a Ross Root Feeder now and continue Iron Sulfate for optimum feeding and greening. monthly through the hot summer season. The use of soaker e hoses helps deliver deep water as well. Prep your roses for a second wave of bloom! Cut back and feed roses as the first set of blooms fade. Feed with Do you have bugs on your vegetables? Use vegetable Master Nursery Rose and Flower Food. Water and stand safe Bonide All Season Spray Oil. back (roses typically rebloom 6 weeks after pruning and e feeding. For a special treatment, feed roses with water Plant 4-inch vegetable plants and save several weeks soluble Maxsea. It can be sprayed on the leaves and gives e of growing time. Remember to protect them from hungry the plant a dark glossy appearance. snails and slugs with pet safe Sluggo or Sluggo Plus. Both are labeled for organic gardening, both control slugs, e Sluggo Plus controls insects too. Don’t forget Mother’s Day is May 12th. Prevent olive fruit set with Florel Fruit Eliminator. Spray the olive when the tree has just reached full We have wonderful gift suggestions for Mom. bloom. Olive flowers are very small, so watch closely. Drop by and let us help you Full bloom usually occurs in early May. Spray the whole select just the perfect thing for Mom. e tree thoroughly. We have the names of commercial spray companies that can help too.
Berry Festival and Bonsai Show Saturday & Sunday • June 15th & 16th Valley Bonsai Society is holding its 11th Annual Show on Saturday, June 15th and Sunday, June 16th from 10 am to 4 pm at Alden Lane Nursery. Demonstrations are planned each day. The finished trees will be raffled off at the end of the demonstration. There will be a member sales table and door prizes. Admission is free. For additional information, contact Charles Harder at bonsainut@ comcast.net. Come out and make merry at our BERRY FESTIVAL both Saturday & Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Bring the whole family . We will also have fresh made berry pie!! Jams, syrups and more for sale made from local berries. We have many berry varieties you can grow in your own garden. Bring Dad out on Father’s Day for a glass of Blackberry Tea and order your favorite berry pie in advance to enjoy a wonderful berry pie with your BBQ. Come and make a day of it! Announcements We love Moms! • Watch the Valley Gardener It’s that special time of year when we on TV30 for great gardening recognize Mothers and all that they do for us! tips with host Jacquie Williams- We have many gifts for Mom from mugs to Courtright at 7:30 am and statues. 1:30 p.m. Monday - Friday and repeated on Saturday at 7:30 Lavender and rose scented & 11:00 am, and 4:00 pm & lotions in a basket make for Sunday at 7:30 & 11:00 am, and a lovely surprise . . . as do our 1:00 & 4:00 pm. View online at colorful art poles for the garden. tv30.org. We have many different • The Livermore Amador gardening books from succulent Valley Garden Club will growing to houseplants. meet Thursday, May 9th. Join Don’t forget to explore Ruthie’s Angela Sip who will be talking Room for more selections. We can with us about the use of water wrap any size gift for you! in our gardens . At the Alisal School, 1454 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton. Guests are always welcome, and refreshments will be served. Visit www.lavgc.org for more information. • The Mt. Diablo Rose Good Crafternoon! Society meets the second Wednesday of the month, 7:30 p.m. in the Dublin Library, Concrete Leaf Birdbath 200 Civic Plaza, Dublin. On Saturday, June 1st from 2:30 - 4 p.m. May 9th, Darrell Schramm This class is always in demand, so we are bringing it back with a twist. We will speak about WWI Roses. are using quick dry concrete to cast a fresh leaf from the garden (or bring your Mt.diablorosesociety.org for more information. own!) and creating a curved concrete leaf (about 10") on a small pedestal. They are an amazing addition to your garden, or to give as a gift. They may or may not • Fremont Garden Club meets be dry enough to embellish the 3rd Wednesday of each with paint, but I will have month February – October. it on hand and show you the Guest speakers, field trips, technique. You will be amazed annual garden tea. For more at how beautiful they come information phone 510-401-0138 or email fremontgardenclub1@ out – instant artist! The cost yahoo.com. for this class is $48.00 plus tax. Please sign up by May • Bonsai Club meets on May 30th to reserve your space. 18th at 2 p.m. at Alden Lane Nursery. • Bringing Back the Natives Salsa Anyone! Some Like it Hot!! Tour, Sunday, May 5, 2019 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. is a free Grow your own Salsa ingredients and celebrate Cinco de Mayo! From the self-guided tour of 30 East Bay mildest to the hottest we have peppers to suit any salsa lover’s palate! Gardens. Visit www.bringing- backthenatives.net for more Alden Lane Shopping List Here’s Chef Chris’ delicious chip information. • Peppers dipping recipe! • Vegetable Gardening. Join Sweet Bell Mild/Sweet © 5 Roma Tomatoes Brian on Saturday, May 11th Anaheim Mild/Spicy © 1/2 cup Garlic chives or red at 10:00 a.m. He’ll discuss Jalapeno Medium Hot onion, chopped growing cucumbers, pumpkins, © and melons. Serrano Hot 1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped Habanero Very Hot © 1 med. Pepper of your choice, • Plan to attend the Alameda Ghost Extreme Hot veins and seeds, County Fair – June 14th to • Tomatoes removed, diced July 7th. (The fair is closed on Roma or © Salt to taste Mondays & Tuesdays). Log on © 1 - 2 tsp Lime Juice to taste for more information: www. San Marzano alameda-countyfair.com. • Cilantro © Combine tomatoes, chives, pepper and cilantro • Garlic Chives • Remember we close at © Season with salt and add 5 p.m. on May 27th, • Lime lime juice Memorial Day! Let the celebration begin. Ole! Alden Lane Nursery Presents DRAGON FEST Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! On the 15th and 16th of June (Father’s Day Weekend) Anytime between 1:00 and 4 pm There are DRAGONS to be found! • Fun for the whole family and all ages • Secret Map and Clues to the 20 hidden Dragon Dens • Create a DRAGON DEN of your own to take home • Fresh bakery pie and other treats available • Free Bonsai Show all weekend • Come dressed up as a dragon rider, knight, lord, lady, or enchanted creature • Photo Opportunities and more!! When do you ever have the chance to hunt dragons with your family? Put your electronics aside and have a great time enjoying the beauty (and BEASTS) of Alden Lane under the canopy of ancient oaks. The magical Alden Woods are home to many magical creatures, including the elusive Forest Fairies. Maps and clues to the Fairy Doors will also be available separately. Dragons are hidden in their tiny dens – so see if you can follow the rhyming clues and find all 20. You will also receive a ticket when you check in to make and take one Dragon Den, which includes a small dragon, a 6" terracotta pot, a dragon “cave”, soil, two plants, colored stones, mosses, rocks and other deco. If you have others in your group that would like to make a Dragon Den, the cost is $10 for each additional den. Tickets for this event are $25 and include your whole group of dragon hunters. For reservations or questions, please call our Alden Lane Cashiers (925)447-0280 or visit us at Alden Lane Nursery, www.aldenlane.com. Weeping Trees Cry me a river . . . of joy – how picturesque weeping trees can be. When I needed a small accent tree about 6 feet or so from the front corner of my house, I chose a graceful ‘Ruby Falls’ Redbud. Its cascading branches are clothed in pink spring blossoms, followed by burgundy young leaves which become olive green, and then yellow as the seasons change. I imagine in 10 years this tree will be around 8 feet tall and 5 feet across, and shouldn’t need any pruning to speak of. A walk-through Alden Lane Nursery highlighted other weeping tree varieties to use in locations that need a little special something: F ‘Pink Heartbreaker’ Redbud – An F ‘Cookes Purple’ Wisteria – F ‘Pink Princess’ Crabapple – An upright habit with strong, weeping side Its canopy drips with fragrant almost weeping tree (sobbing?), this branches. Somewhat of a wild child, purple panicles of flowers in one spreads low and wide, up to in spring it looks like pink bed head. spring. Though usually grown as 8' tall, to fill that gap between a large Heat and drought tolerant, its less than a climbing vine, wisteria can also shrub and a small tree. Rose pink formal shape will win your heart. be trained as a small tree with flowers are followed in spring by F Weeping Chaparral Mulberry – sufficient trunk girth to be self bronzy green, disease resistant foliage. Like its shade tree cousin, it’s a fast supporting. Cut back hard after F Weeping Norway Spruce – growing, fruitless, easy care Mulberry flowering. Evergreen conifers get in on the with big lush leaves, but without the F Weeping Santa Rosa Plum – flowing fun, too. Storybook-like, their large size. Grows up and cascades to Showers of flowers rain down from foliage on downward curving branches between 6 - 15 ft. high. this version of the home gardener’s makes them they look like they just F Weeping Cherries – Abundant favorite plum. It produces the might become animate. Up to 15' if soft pink single or double flowers flow same juicy red-purple plums with staked; protect with afternoon shade. from these pendulous, graceful trees. amber flesh shading to red just F ‘Ryusen’ Japanese Maple – At 10 - 15 feet tall and wide, they are under the skin. Wide green palmate leaves cover sized right for an umbrella shaped focal F Weeping Tea's Mulberry the descending branches. More sun point. All cherries like full sun and well – Shaped like the perfect “tree tolerant than many, the fall color on drained soil. play house” in every child’s this 5-20' tall and 5-6' wide Japanese F Snow Fountains Cherry – A imagination; best of all it yields maple ranges from yellows to oranges compact stunner features flowy showy good purple-black Mulberries for and reds. snowy white flowers in spring. eating fresh or making jams. By Nancy McNeish The Invasion of the “Edibles“ . . . Coming Giant Whitefly Bug Blaster to Events! Saturday, May 18th, 10:00 a.m. the Rescue Make a STRAWBERRY HANGING BASKET — I wish we were talking $19.99 plus tax “Sci Fi”, but this menacing new Easy workshop for all ages. We provide all the materials pest has worked its way up from to grow a ‘fruitful’ Strawberry basket even if you live in an Southern California to plague our gardens. apartment or condo. We will show how easy it is to grow your About 10 years ago I was in Newport Beach own in a small where a nurseryman pointed out an infestation space. Workshop of Giant Whitefly. Talk about SCARY, the plants includes 1-10" wire were covered with white sticky cottony strands. basket, swivel wire The waxy film enveloped the plant. It was just a hanger, 6 pack of matter of time before it would make its way north. strawberries, soil It finally arrived! and fertilizer. The University of California recommends an integrated pest management approach. At the first sign of damage, removing and bagging infected Saturday, leaves helps to contain the spread. Disrupting the June 8th, insect’s habitat with a strong spray of water is an 2:00 p.m. excellent deterrent. Natural predators also lend a CONTAINER hand. If the pest pressure is great, we may consider HERB less ‘tasty’ plant choices. GARDEN The BUG BLASTER, which sounds like CLASS — something Buzz Lightyear might employ, is a FREE specially designed nozzle you attach to a water wand. Its flat, 360-degree spray coversupper Are you an apartment/condo dweller or someone who just and lower leaf surfaces where the Whitefly wants to grow some herbs! We’ll show you which ones do colonize. Touted by San Francisco’s Radio Garden best in containers. How to grow them, what soil to use, what personality Bob Tanem, the Bug Blaster should be fertilizer to apply and how to control pest problems. added to all our Pest Control “Tool Kits”! Remember to call ahead and pay to reserve a space; or Be on the lookout! Early detection and action are call ahead to reserve space on FREE classes. the keys. Important Reminders For Your New Plants Just before installing: 4 Water your new plant in the nursery container. 4 Water the freshly dug planting hole. 4 Check moisture at least daily in hot weather for the first few weeks after planting. Note: when it is VERY HOT (100°+) check your plants for moisture at least 3 times a day. In areas where 2x per week watering is mandated, supplement between waterings using grey water. 4 NEVER feed a thirsty plant. 4 Avoid fertilizing on hot days. 4 To be safe, water your plant thoroughly the day before feeding. When using a drip irrigation system 4 Place the emitter tubing directly over the root ball of the new plant so water does not bypass the region of need. 4 Install at least two emitters per plant – one on each side – in case one becomes plugged. 4 Expand and update it as your plant grows to reflect the plant's spreading root system. 4 Check ground moisture often and supplement watering by hand as needed the first season. 4 Check your Watering System to make sure it is operating properly. Earth Boxes
Earth Boxes are well engineered, self-contained gardens with a water reservoir and an overflow feature that prevents plants from receiving too much or too little water. Used correctly, no water is wasted either by evaporation or by over filling. Earth Boxes are essentially a passive hydroponic system. A significant amount of research has gone into them andbecause they pull up water from below, on an as needed basis, and because the season-long fertilizer supply is placed just under the plastic mulch, Earth Boxes deliver just what the plant requires. All the gardener has to do is keep the reservoir filled with water. We have enjoyed using Earth Boxes here at the nursery with tomatoes, cucumbers, snap peas, kale, and herbs. Each Earth Box requires one (two cubic) bag of Potting Soil and a few plants. Consider giving an Earth Box to a new or experienced gardener in your life. The gardening mom, or grandmother garden lover will enjoy a whole summer full of deliciousness (Mother's Day is May 12th).
An 8-Track Girl in the Virtual World & ‘The Goodness of Gardening’ Life was good, emails coming and going, articles being written, edited and sent, word tables made and modified and THEN “They” upgraded my computer. Now I’m partly to blame as I love to save everything, evidenced by my closets at home. For me it was keeping those emails I MIGHT need SOMEDAY which translated into way TOO MUCH! I’m channeling the “Change is Good” mantra while I’m learning to navigate my new computer’s flying screens and drop-down menus. Did you know some new computers have no CD drive?. . . perhaps they’re going the way of the 8-Track! To balance this new challenge, I took a stroll in the garden to see how the potted tulips were doing. My husband, the owner of Orchard Nursery in Lafayette, is Dutch and loves tulips. For a ‘Big Birthday’ we used watering cans as vases and filled them with cut fringed, green striped and double tulip varieties. Inspired by their beauty, each year I plant pots filled with various tulips. Great calm came over me as I viewed the tulips pushing through the soil getting ready to burst into their spring glory. I could feel the computer stress lifting. Refreshed and armed with new resolve I tackled another computer tutorial! As it turns out, a “Dutch” study confirms the “stress relieving” value of gardening. People assigned a stressful task followed by 30 minutes of gardening had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than individuals who did other routine tasks. Gardening is fun and therapeutic!
For each 100 square feet add: 5-8 bags of Master Gold Rush or Bumper Crop ®. 5 lbs. Iron Sulfate to acidify and add iron. Recipe for Good Garden Soil! 10 lbs. Master Vegetable Food or Master Flower Food, Master Formula 49 can be used for ground covers. Good Garden Soil Starts Here!! 50 lbs. Gypsum. It loosens hard soils as it adds sulfur & If you are preparing a vegetable or flower garden bed here’s calcium. (An excellent addition in our heavy soil.) a tried and true soil preparation recipe that works wonders. Mix well with your soil to an 8" depth and water well. It lightens our heavy soil, nourishes it and buffers the pH to make it ‘just right’ for the success of your vegetable and flower seeds or transplants. PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #274 Livermore, CA
981 Alden Lane Livermore, CA 94550 (925) 447-0280 aldenlane.com
Nursery Hours 8:30 to 6:00 Daily
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0519
We will be OPEN on Memorial Day, May 27, 2019 until 5:00 p.m. for all your gardening needs
SPECIAL COUPON HOW TO FIND Present This Coupon & A Canned Food Item ALDEN LANE TO RECEIVE NURSERY $1.00 OFF Any 3" Herb Plant of your choice
Food Donations are Optional. All donations go to local relief agencies. One coupon per family, please! Offer Good May 1-31, 2019.