Schlumbergeras have a lax habit in a pot, with branching and arching stems composed of leaf-like flattened segments which are approximately 1½” to 2″ long. The leaf margins offer the key to differentiating the two, with the Christmas cactus having rounded scalloped stem edges and the Thanksgiving cactus (also called crab or claw cactus) having pointed projections on the “leaf” edges. Many selections offered today are actually hybrid crosses between the Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus.

Their flowers have a somewhat “hose-in-hose” appearance and come in pinks, reds, salmons, white, lavender and yellow. Both of the holiday cacti discussed here thrive on a little neglect, however to see them bloom again a few simple rules should be followed. When you purchase your plant it will probably be in bud or blooming. To keep these buds from dropping off water
normally and place the plant in surroundings maintained at least 55 degrees F. After the flowering period is over the plants need a rest period, during which you reduce the watering and maintain a temperature of about 55 degrees F for two to three months. When you do resume more frequent watering don’t allow the plants to sit in water. One of our customers puts her six year old plant outdoors for the summer in a partial shade location and is always rewarded with a heavily budded plant for the holiday season. She is, by her own admission, just an average gardener and she thinks if she can grow these plants anyone can. Perhaps this is your year to start growing a holiday classic!

Ann Weber

     There are several species, but the most common is Camellia sasanqua, and there are some interesting hybrids as well.  Unlike the more common Camellia japonica, which is a late winter, early spring bloomer – these evergreens will grow in full sun to partial shade.  Most varieties will grow 8-10′ tall, but there are some that will get bigger, as well as some that are dwarf and stay under 5′.  All camellias are surprisingly drought tolerant once they get established, but ideally they should be kept evenly moist in well-drained soil high in organic  matter.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                    

     The flowers of fall blooming camellias can be either pink, white or red with some bi-colors.  While each individual blossom may not be as large or as showy as C. japonica blossoms, they more than make up for it in sheer abundance, plus they are nicely fragrant.  The blooms can come in several forms from single, double, semi-double to peony forms.  There are many varieties of fall blooming Camellias and we carry about 15.  Fall is not only the best time to plant them, but it is the best time to select them so you can find a color that suites you. 
     
Les Parks

     Though it is a wild plant, they also do well in garden settings.  You can probably expect the plant to get at least 6’ tall and wide, but there is a great deal of size variation.  Beautyberry blooms on new growth, so it is recommended to cut the shrub back yearly or every other year fairly close to the ground.  Do this in late winter and you will get lots of new growth in spring, and lots of berries in the fall.  

     American Beautyberry is not always easy to find, but worth the effort.  Not only is it pretty, but studies have determined that the foliage repels mosquitoes.  There are also several species of Asian Beautyberry which do not differ too much from the American, but I am not sure if they also fight mosquitoes.  These are usually a bit easier to find than the American.  They also tend to be a little more refined in habit and some varieties have more of a paler color that may be more palatable to some gardeners.  As for me, I prefer as much vibrant purple as possible. 

Les Parks

     Pyrancanthas should be situated in full sun, but they will also grow in some shade, however don’t expect as many flowers or berries.  They are not particular about soil types, but do avoid soggy or poorly drained locations.  Pyracanthas are quite able to withstand poor, hot dry conditions, once they get established.  They would benefit from an occasional fertilizing, particularly in the first few years.  I would recommend a well balanced food, especially formulated for evergreen shrubs.  Pruning is a little different on these shrubs than on other evergreens.   Because one of their main attributes is the colorful fruit, you want to prune so as to avoid removing the pomes.  This is best accomplished if you prune them while they are flowering.  Avoid branches that have blossoms on them, and this way the fruit will have a chance to mature.  You will need to be on the lookout for several insects that can bother Pyracanthas.  Wooly aphids resemble lint clinging to the branches and can be a problem in the summer, but a strong spray of water will wash them off.  Lacebug can also be a problem and these are best treated preventively with an application of environmentally friendly dormant oil in late winter.
 
     Pyracanthas are members of the Rose family, and most are available as either Pyracantha coccinea (Scarlet Firethorn), Pyracantha koidzumi (Formosa Firethorn), or as hybrids between the two.   Perhaps the two most popular varieties are ‘Mohave’ with its early ripening orange fruit and ‘Victory’ with its later forming red fruit.  Both of these will easily reach 6-10′ tall and wide unless they are pruned.  If these get too big for your garden, you may want to seek out ‘Low Boy’ which only grows to 3′ tall and wide with orange fruit.  

     One word of caution before you plant Pyracantha – the thorns can cause a reaction in a small number of people, so it is best advised to use gloves when working around them.  When I was a child, we had new neighbors move in next door where the previous owners grew Pyracantha.  The first bit of gardening the new neighbor did was to remove the Pyracanthas, not knowing he was allergic, and he ended up in the emergency room with an anti-histamine IV drip.  Although this type of reaction is extremely rare, it gave new meaning to him for the word Firethorn.
 
Les Parks

     Annuals are plants whose sole purpose in life is to flower as much as possible so there will be lots of seeds to spread their DNA.  Their entire life cycle takes place within one year, and when their job is over they die.  Given their propensity to bloom, if you pick the right annuals and treat them well, you can have color in your card from late April to the first frost.  

     So after the long hot summer we are having, what can be done to boost our annuals and get them to last until the first frost? 

• The most important thing you need to do for them is to keep them watered.  You will be surprised how much better they perform given adequate moisture. 
• After water, what they need next is food.  Producing flowers can be an exhausting process and one that requires nutrients.  This late in the season I would recommend granular organic food over the pellets marked as “season-long”.  If your annuals are really hungry, perhaps a jolt of liquid feed is called for followed by granular in two weeks.
• Lastly, keep your annuals deadheaded.  To many new gardeners, this term and this process can be a little scary.  Deadheading simply means removing the spent flowers.  If you do not deadhead, your plants will convert all that water, food and sunlight into seeds, not flowers.  Also deadheading will make your plants look better. 

     Late summer can often be a tough time in local gardens with summer annuals looking a little bedraggled, but by following the above steps you may be able to get another 6-8 weeks out of them.  By then it will be time for pansy planting. 

Les Parks

     So to avoid succumbing to such an indignity I have experimented with all the various ways I can store my summer bounty of fresh basil, and I thought I would share my two favorite methods with you. The first and easiest method is to line a sheet pan with a dish towel, wash your basil leaves, and lay the leaves out to air dry in a single layer, not touching or overlapping. Once dry, put the sheet pan in the freezer and freeze your leaves IQF style (individually quick frozen), and once frozen, throw them into any freezer safe container or baggie. This way you can pull the basil leaves out one by one as you need them and won’t have one big ball of basil leaves to break apart. Of course, the leaves will never be presentable enough to grace a mozzarella and tomato salad, but the flavor will be there for sauces and soups. Just crinkle them up, easy does it. I have read that some people like to stuff their basil leaves into ice cube trays, fill with water, and freeze, later removing the cubes and placing in baggies. My preference is to omit the water and just freeze the leaves. 

     Another method I use is to fill a jar with basil leaves and cover with olive oil. I just place the jar into the fridge and dip into it throughout the winter for sautéing or beginning a good pasta sauce. The main thing to be diligent about is that you have the basil completely covered in oil and leave a good inch of oil at the top at all times and always refrigerate. Olive oil will congeal at cold temperatures, so you will have to warm it up to room temperature to release from the jar, which only takes a few minutes. If you use a wide mouth jar you can just spoon out what you need and return the rest of the jar back into the fridge. You can use the flavored oil, the basil leaves, or both. Use it as dipping oil for some crusty bread – just add some sea salt, a few red pepper flakes, and a ½ tsp of grated parmesan to a dipping dish and fill with your basil oil! Served alongside a plate of thin sliced cured meats, cheeses, smoked fish, & a few olives, you have a perfect antipasto!

 Mangia!

Gina Nardoianni

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

     About 10 years ago I planted a small pot of Black and Blue in my garden at home.  Today it is every bit of 3’ tall by 5’ wide.  It would be wider, but having a small garden, I pull it out by the fistfuls early in the season.  If I don’t do that it crowds out other plants.  In the display garden here at work, we have let ours get nearly 8’ wide!  Salvia gauranitica is native to South America and is winter hardy in the warmer parts of zone 7, so it does very well for us here in Tidewater.  It is extremely heat and sun tolerant, fairly drought tolerant and like most Salvias needs excellent drainage.

     The dark blue flowers are its main attraction for me, as they are a shade of blue that can often be scarce in the garden.  The black part of their name comes from the calyx and stems.  Once temperatures start to take on a more summery feel, usually in late May, Black and Blue begins to bloom, and will continue to do so often until the first frost of late fall.  I am not the only one attracted to these flowers – it is a honeybee and hummingbird magnet.

     One note of caution:  wear gloves when handling this plant.  When you bruise or crush the flowers, foliage or stems, pungent oil is released, and if it gets on you, may cause others to question whether you neglected to put on your deodorant.

Les Parks

Insalata Caprese: This dish is composed of tomato, mozzarella and basil layered together and served as an antipasto or sometimes used as a sandwich filling. It also makes a perfect light, uncomplicated summer lunch. It is simple and beautiful, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and if you like, a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar.

It is that simple, and I have found a fresh mozzarella product at one of the warehouse stores that is packaged as a pre-sliced loaf form, which makes this recipe all the more easy. If you can’t find pre-sliced fresh mozzarella, I suggest using one of those wire cheese cutters for best results when slicing mozzarella. Simply arrange tomato and mozzarella slices in alternating arrangements on a platter, tear or chiffonade (Ok, this just means rolling your basil leaves into cigar shapes and slicing into strips) your fresh basil and scatter over your red and white tomato/cheese arrangement. Drizzle generously with olive oil, salt, pepper, and vinegar. If you want to break away from the conventional classic caprese salad, the addition of black kalamata olives and roasted yellow peppers are a beautiful compliment in flavor and the colors of red, white, green, yellow, and black make for a vibrant feast for the eyes.

One last thing about fresh, ripe tomatoes: don’t let them rot because you just can’t find the time or the energy to peel them and can them. Simply put those whole washed tomatoes in a zip lock and put them in the freezer. When winter time comes along and you crave a fresh pasta sauce, simply pull those frozen tomatoes out and run under hot tap water and those skins will peel off pretty as you please. Chop them up frozen and add to your pan of olive oil and garlic and once that water evaporates you will be well on your way to having a fresh tasting, simple pasta sauce that will have you reminiscing of summer all over again. Add a dash of red wine and a few red chili flakes, toss with your favorite pasta. The advantage here is that if you are cooking for one, two, or ten, you can pull out one tomato, two, or ten out of the freezer instead of opening up a whole can of tomatoes.

Or, you can try this method for preserving:

Slow roasted oven tomatoes: This works particularly well with Roma tomatoes. Slice your tomatoes in half, toss into a bowl and coat generously with olive oil and salt them lightly. Arrange in a single layer on a sheet pan and put into a 200 degree oven (F) and slow roast overnight, or six to eight hours, depending on the water content of your tomatoes. This concentrates their flavor, reduces their mass, and turns them into intense pomodoro gems. You’ll thank me.  Store in a jar packed in olive oil, or freeze in a baggie, that is if you don’t eat them all before you get that far.

Buon apetito!

Gina Nardoianni

     I used to work at a garden center in Virginia Beach (which will go unnamed), and every summer we would get several tourists a day pulling into the parking lot in cars with out-of-state plates.  They were all on a search for a tree that they could not name, but could easily describe as having large fluffy pink blooms, sometimes white or purple, with many oddly shaped trunks.  My favorite description was from a lady with “Yankee” accent gushing on about “those magenta Dr. Seuss trees”.  No matter how they were described, I knew before they barely got the first word out, that they were looking for the signature tree of Hampton Roads – the Crape Myrtle. 

     So how did something native to the Far East become the signature tree for this area?  Well first of all we have a perfect climate for it, which is one having long hot summers, adequate rainfall and mild winters.  The tree also sells itself because it is interesting in all four seasons.  Starting in early July, the flowers bloom for two months (or more), and I know of no other tree that will bloom that long.  You can now get crapes in a range of colors that include all shades of pink, lavender to purple, reds and white.  In the fall you can get very colorful foliage from pure red to orange, to yellow depending on the variety and the weather.  The dead of winter really shows off their muscular trunks and handsome peeling bark making them a piece of living sculpture (as long as they are not butchered by bad pruning).  In spring many varieties leaf out with bronze leaves, and several new ones leaf out with stunning burgundy to red foliage. 

     We also can thank the late Fred Huette who was director of the Norfolk Botanical Gardens in the 1930′s and 40′s.  He saw the potential of this tree for Hampton Roads and pushed the city of Norfolk to use them as street trees.  In some of the older neighborhoods you can drive through tunnels of pink flowers in July and August.  From Norfolk the popularity of this tree spread through the whole region to the point that now tourists from places where crape myrtles won’t grow visit this area and stuff small trees into their cars along with their new T-shirts, salt water taffy and beach towels. 

Les Parks

We hope you will find the new site easier to navigate, a little more colorful, more informative, and we hope you will like the new features as well.  You may also notice that our landscaping department is better represented than on our previous site.  Many of our retail customers are surprised when we tell them we have a landscaping department, so we hope to use the web site to make their work better known.  One of the new features we have added is this blog, and we hope that you will stop by frequently and read what we are up to.  We will try to keep the content fresh and up-to-date.

You would do us a great favor if you could give us some feedback from time to time on what you see here.  We are still learning to navigate our way in a new world, and your comments will be of great value.  By the way, next time you are in D.C, visit the Smithsonian, where we are donating our old web site to the Hall of Antiquities.  Thanks for stopping by!