Friday, December 29, 2006

January Gardening Tips for the Southwest

Well here's wishing you a Happy New Year! This is still a great month you work on your garden (if it's not too cold for you). Here's a list of suggested task for January.
Water once or twice this month, yes even plants that are dormant.
Use dormant oil on plants, and trees that lose their leaves during winter.
Intead of raking up all the fallen leaves, try incorporating them back into your soil or start up a compost pile. (compost maker is available)
Prune all dormant plants now, keep in mind the best rule of thumb for pruning is to have a reason for every cut you make!
Prune roses now thru early February (stop buy for a pruning lesson).
Fertilize your fescue, blugrass, or ryegrass lawn if it not looking as green as is should. Use 16-8-8 with iron, zinc and sulphur now.
Our roses should be ready to plant by mid January so hurry for best selection. We carry Jackson & Perkins roses.
Do not cut back oleander just yet. It is best to wait until late March.
Plant fruit and shade trees now to help establish roots before our hot dry winds begin.
Don't forget now is the time to plant pansies, snapdragon, viola, calendula, primrose, and perennials. These items will begin to arrive weekly at your local nurseries.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Fountain care for winter months

Winter Care for Water Fountains
Most water fountains and statuary are made of "concrete". It has a tendency to expand and contract with climate temperature changes.
Do NOT let water collect and freeze in the fountain bowl, planters, birdbaths and statuary.
You should always protect any concrete type fountain, etc...from freezing conditions.
If you cannot store your fountain, bird bath, or planter inside you should do the following:
Remove pump from water fountain and store inside. Fill bowls or planters with burlap bags, blankets, or any type of material that will protect it from freezing temperatures.
The entire fountain or statuary should be covered. Do NOT leave any surface exposed.
Be sure to place planters and birdbaths on higher ground or surface. Keep them away from water that may freeze.
Following the above precautions during the winter season, you will protect any cast stone products for years of beauty and enjoyment.
You can use about 1tlbs of clorox to about 5 gallons of water to help minimize algae.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Christmas Trees at Color Your World Nurseries

Our Christmas trees for the 2006 season have arrived. We have numerous small to large trees to choose from. Noble, Fraser and Douglas firs stored in water for long lasting evergreen trees throughout the holidays.

Come by our Nurseries at 655 University or 540 N. Telshor in Las Cruces, NM.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Worst day of my life!

I know this is not about gardening but I have this powerful need to let people know.

On October the 21st, 2006 my mom Estella A. Guzman passed away. She fought a hard battle against Alzheimers disease. This was compounded with dementia. Mom was a wonderful loving caring person. My Father, brothers and sister, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends will miss her.

In her youth she could have been a top model, she had long dark hair with light olive perfect skin. She chose to work and bring up a family, and she did it with unabashed loving compassion.

Growing up we were dirt poor and did not have much but mom could whip up dinner from almost nothing. Mom quite often made us laugh, she would say things that were off the wall. At a family gathering she needed to call information for someones phone number when the operator asked her "what city please?" she responded with "City Police I did not call City Police". The whole room exploded with laughter.

She stressed hard work and education. Felipe Jr. graduated from NMSU with a Masters degree in psychology, Edward working on his CS degree at NMSU, Maryann attended college and married a wonderful husband. Gary proud owner of "Color Your World Nurseries" and of course me Paul, manager of Guzman's Greenhouse and self-taught webmaster of guzmansgreenhouse.com.

Watching your mom die in front of your eyes is one of the hardest things I have ever done.
It was like someone grabbing my heart and slowly putting it through a meat grinder!

We will greatly miss mom.

If you still have your mom please let her know that you love her, don't delay tell her now, today!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

November Gardening Tips for the Southwest

These November gardening tips are for the lower elevations of the Southwest.
November is the second to the last month of the year. It is STILL a good time to plant. You can still plant trees, shrubs, flowers and much more. For color you can't go wrong with pansies, if planted now you can have beautiful flowers and color until late April. You can plant directly into the ground or in just about any container as long as it has good drainage. Use a good quality potting soil with additional amounts of perlite to help loosen and add tiny air pockets and help roots to "breathe". Plant them in an area that receives plenty of sunlight. Feed with an "all purpose fertilizer such as Peters 20-20-20. Remove spent blossoms reguarly to encourage new blooms. You can also add stock, dianthus and snapdragons to this list as well.
This is also a great time to over-seed your bermuda grass lawn. You may use annual rye or perennial rye. Annual rye will stay green throught the the winter months and begin to die off in the summer heat. You will have to repeat this process again in the fall. Perennial rye in bermuda will co-exist throught the season. You may have patchy areas of green and dormant grass the flollowing fall season depending on the amount of water and shade your lawn receives.
Watering this time of the year will be needed much less than October. Bermuda lawns should be watered about every 10-15 days, depending on the actual temperature. You need to water at least twice per month after your lawn goes dormant. If you have cool season grass such as fescue, rye, or blue grass you need to water every 7 to 10 days, through the winter months. Remember to fertilize your cool season grass if you want it to stay green! You can apply 16-8-8 fertilizer during this time of the year, just be sure that it has been more than 6-8 weeks since you last fertilized.
Some pruning may be done at this time of the year depending on what type of tree or shrub you may have. A good rule of thumb is to have a "reason" for cutting. Is the plant overgrown, diseased, insect infested etc...
Do NOT prune heavily at this time of the year, in general the majority of pruning should be done in January before mid-February for most plants.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Live and Cut Christmas trees

Our live and cut Christmas trees will be on or around the first week of December
Mark your calendar.
Paul Guzman

Sunday, October 01, 2006

October gardening tips

Cool nights and warm days are what we are feeling now. It is a great time to plant just about anything. For color pansies, snapdragons, dianthus, calendula, and stock will bloom thru winter, especially if they are planted next to a building or house. You can plant just about any type of tree or shrub. October gardening in cool weather is the perfect time to plant your tree!
The soil stays warm, which will help keep roots growing. The above ground temperatures are cooling down considerably, which reduces the need for constant watering. This combination will help get these plant a real good jump start for next spring.
Palm trees, small oleanders, red bird of paradise may do better if planted in the spring, summer, as opposed to fall and winter. Our sub freezing temps may injure these plants if planted too late. You may use a "winterizer" fertilizer to help protect less hardy specimen or valued plants that may get winter damage. This type of fertilizer has a higher amount of potash.
Potash will help strengthen winter hardiness in most plants. Don't forget to reduce watering on established plants during this time of year. If they are watered too much at this time of year they may produce "lush" growth which is subject to winter damage.
This does not mean you need to stop watering. Most plants will need occasional watering in the winter months. Watering 2 to 3 times per month during the winter months will suffice.
Do not fertilize after October 31st, except for cool season grasses. Again as mentioned above pansies, and viola's will provide you with winter color from now until next spring (April, May). If you have any questions please email us at mgr@guzmansgreenhouse.com

Friday, September 29, 2006

Desert Landscaping Photos - Southwestern landscaping

Desert Landscaping Photos - Southwestern landscaping

Fall Colors

Fall Colors for Southern New Mexico, East Texas and most of the southwest.

The recent rains we've experienced should bring us some beautiful fall colors this season. The extra moisture and nitrogen in the rain should give us a good show.
I've already seen Raywood ash begin to change slightly, getting ready to bring on it's vivid purple/burgandy show. Certain crape myrtles are beginning to show signs of yellows and oranges in some of their leaves. Most aren't aware that crapes too, give off a wonderful display of color, if properly fed during the summer months.

Other trees to be on the look out for are Red Oaks, Sweet Gum ( yes, they do grow here too, we have one in our parking lot at Color Your World!), Chinese pistache, Modesto, Bonita, Berrinda ash, Gingko Biloba, Bradford pear,and Bald Cypress to name a few.

Some other plants that have fall color are Nandina (there is an array of sizes, shape and leaf textures to choose from), sumac, euonymus alata (burning bush), Boston Ivy,and Virginia Creeper.

Flowering plants that look especially beautiful during this time of year, though not necessarily "fall colors" are Mexican sage, lantana, garden mums, marigolds, cannas, salvia greggii (cherry sage), mexican primrose, mealycup sage, and roses, which seem to have more fragrance during this time of year, or maybe it is just my imagination. You decide for your self.

Don't forget there is a long list of grasses which now begin their contribution to fall interest. There is a pampas grass that does not get too large called 'Ivory Feathers' that is already showing off.
Yakushima, maiden, miscanthus, fountain grass, purple fountain grass, and all various forms of these grasses are now making their debut. Muhlenbergia 'Regal Mist' the one with the "see thru" purplish flower head is just about to erupt it's color all over town. This one looks striking when the sunlight shows through it.

Last but certainly not least are pansies, snapdragon, dianthus, and stock. These will give you color even when it snows. Pansies in particular can take brief periods of below 10 degrees f. and still give off color when temperatures climb back up.

If you plant pansies now you should still have color up until next may! Amazing huh! One thing I have noticed over the years is that pansies planted in the ground typically do better than the ones in pots. If you have them it pots it is best to give the some protection against the extreme cold to avoid winter damage. Also when planting pansies it is best to use a good potting mix that is porous and lightweight. We carry a soil from fertilome called Ultimate Mix which works perfectly.

Everything mentioned above can be planted right now. So get out and enjoy what is probably the best time to be outdoors. Fall!
By Gary Guzman