Put a sticker on it.

I am so excited to share a super fun behind the scenes project I’ve been working on.

When we travel, I get ideas for creative ways to add a little more FUN to our business. We were up at the lake and went into our favorite ice cream shop, only to find some fun acrylic stickers to add to our water bottles (we love our YETIs).

After spending close to $20 on stickers for our family, I thought, why don’t we have some stickers for Natural Plus, so our customers can decorate their water bottles (or computers, or notebooks, or cars, or whatever they want!)

So I asked my very talented friend Ayesha if she would be up for the challenge of helping me make this project a reality. And she was. We met for a call, dreamed up the concepts, and she went to work. You know what’s cool? She created these illustrations of the nursery without ever having visited. (But now I can say she has been here all the way from Canada— another super cool fact if you ask me!)

So without further ado…. Here are the 4 new Natural Plus stickers available now:

Stickers available for purchase at the nursery!

ROSES

An old proverb sums it up –

“Take time to smell the roses.”

The beauty and fragrance of a rose makes us stop for a minute to enjoy life.

Growing your own roses can be a challenge but here are a few tips to help you be successful.

Tea roses are not hardy for our zone. Years ago they were our only option. They required a lot of care and winter protection and still did not fare well over winter. Knock Out Roses were marketed as hardy for our area but they do require a protected spot and are still susceptible to hard winters.

At Natural Plus we carry a few varieties of roses that are much more hardy, disease resistant, and rebloom. Here are some of those varieties:

Easy Elegance Roses : Easy Elegance roses are very hardy, highly disease resistant, and colors are stunning. Some varieties that we carry include:

            Coral Cove – Coral colored, everblooming, grows 24”

            High Voltage – Bright yellow, recurrent blooms, grows 3-5’

            Kashmir – Dark red tea like blooms, grows 2 ½-4’

            Music Box – Stunning yellow and pink blend, grows 3’

            Paint the Town – Everblooming, medium red, grows 2-3’

Nearly Wild – Nearly wild roses are one of our most hardy varieties. They bloom all summer. Blooms resemble the bloom of a wild rose. If there is a particularly hard winter, they usually come back from the root. Grow 2-3’

Purple Pavement –Purple pavement is a rugosa rose with fuschia colored blooms that grow in clusters.  They are very fragrant and plants are extremely hardy. Blooms turn to beautiful red “rose hips” in fall.  Grow 3-5’. Lotty’s Love is smaller variety of this rose.

Climbing Roses: At Natural Plus we carry 2 varieties that we feel are the most hardy: William Baffin is a prolific bloomer with medium pink blooms.  John Cabot is a deep red colored. These require a trellis.

 Care of Roses

Roses need full sun to get optimal blooms. Adequate watering, usually 2-3 times a week is a must, especially for newly planted roses. It is also advisable to treat with a “Rose RX -3 in One” rose care product. This product provides protection from aphids, spider mites, black spot fungus, and powdery mildew. It is listed as organic.

 Fertilize roses 2-3 times a summer starting in late May with an all purpose fertilizer such as “Miracle Gro” or “Rapid Gro”.

 Trimming Roses

Best time for trimming roses is early spring before they leaf. Trim to the desired size. After they leaf, trim out any dead wood that remains.  They can be lightly trimmed during the summer to achieve optimal shape.

Overwintering Roses

Care over winter is a must. Be sure that roses are adequately watered going in to winter. Water once a week in the fall up until the ground freezes. Mulch roses heavily at the base in the fall. This also helps protect from winter kill.

Take Splendor in Maples

What is better than sitting in the shade under a large maple tree on  a hot summer day drinking lemonade? 

Or taking splendor in the yellows, oranges, and reds of a maple tree in the fall? 

Maple trees have stood the test of time. And now there are new varieties available that will help you choose a maple best suited for your yard.

Here are some of our best selling maples:

Amur Maple: Small maple in single or multi stems, beautiful red fall color, grows 15’

Autumn Blaze – Stunning bright red color in fall – cross between a silver and a red maple, fast growing but not as sturdy as a sugar maple, upright grower 50-60’

Brandywine – beautiful deep red/burgundy color in fall, Seedless, oval shape, 30-45’

Burgundy Belle – beautiful deep red foliage in fall, 45’

Crimson King or Royal Red – deep burgundy color all year, slow growing but worth the wait, grow 35’

Deborah- Foliage has red cast in spring, turns deep green in summer, grows 40-50’

Emerald Luster – a Norway maple, fast growing but sturdy, bright green leaves in summer, resistant to leaf tater, yellow in fall, grows 45’

Matador: beautiful red fall color, grows 40-50’

Red Sunset- Early fall color of bright orange/red, fast growing, 40-50’

Silver Maple- if you had a lot of seeds this spring you may have a silver maple, fast growing but not as sturdy or long lived as sugar maples, good for windbreaks, grow 50-60’

Sugar Maples:  Sugar maples bring us some of the most beautiful colors of fall.  We carry

·      Fall Fiesta – this variety is very resistant to winter sun scald on the bark grow 50-75’

·      Green Mountain -  Beautiful orange/red fall color, grow 40-60’

·      Majesty – Beautiful orange/red color in fall, grow 60’

Sun Valley – a small maple if your space is limited, beautiful red fall color, grows 25’

 MORE: 10 Reason to Plant a Tree HERE

What's Blooming: 5/22/19

I know the weather hasn’t been feeling like spring, but the blooms at the nursery and around town are telling us otherwise!

Here’s a round up of some of the things that are blooming at the nursery, in my yard, and around town!

First up, creeping phlox. The top left picture was taken on Main Street in Clear Lake. They are putting on quite the show right now!

I’m sure we’ve all noticed the Crab trees around town in all their glory. I just wish they would last longer!

Lilacs are blooming! And they smell so good! Want to add some fragrance to your landscape? Here’s an article to get you started HERE

Daffodils and irises make a lovely combination.

And an old classic, the bleeding heart, pic taken from my yard.

So many beautiful blooms right now and we are just getting started!

What’s blooming in your yard?