Spring 2022 Newsletter: Sprucing up your garden in the new year.

Hi all! Happy spring! Welcome to Green Earth Gardeners’ first quarterly newsletter. Here you will find some education opportunities and events, and seasonal tips to keep your gardens growing strong through all the seasons. Historically we haven’t done social media, but we’re jumping into it now! Please follow us on Instagram @GreenEarthGardeners and help us grow our family!

-introducing Client referral program

Introducing our Client Referral Program! . . .

-irrigations systems fully functional

The beginning of Spring is the perfect time to ensure that your irrigation system is functioning properly and efficiently. Reach out to Green Earth Gardeners if you would like assistance repairing, adding to, or fine-tuning your irrigation system. If you’d like to learn how it all works you can us them for a short client teaching session to get you moving forward with confidence.

-final pruning and shaping on any Japanese maples or fruit trees - trim them before their sap starts flowing.

Late winter is a great time to wrap up any final shaping/pruning of dormant trees such as Japanese Maples and roses. It’s also a good time to trim Fuchsias before they start growing strong in the spring. If you want a pruning tutorial, we are happy to teach you the basics.

-do not touch certain plants, let them do their thing.

Make sure not to prune any Camellias, Ceanothus, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, or Cherry trees until they complete their spring/summer bloom! If you prune them too early you will prune off the only blooms they will have for the season. Feel free to reach out to us if you have a question about the ideal time that a certain plant should get trimmed back.

-freshen up your containers with bright colorful for spring

Spring is a great time to bring in some colorful annual flowers to spruce up your garden after the overall dormancy of winter. Let us know if we can brighten up your garden with some colorful annual flowers! 

-increase pollinators by doing ‘this’

Want more pollinators (such as butterflies, birds &/or native bees) to visit your garden? Here are some simple steps to welcome them into your yard:

• Plants that attract birds:

  •  Alstroemeria

  • Clarkia

  • Foxglove (Digitalis)

  • Heuchera - Heuchera maxima does best in SF compared to the more colorful varietals

  • Sticky Monkey Flower (Mimulus spp.)

• Plants that attract butterflies:

  •  Yarrow (Achillea spp.)

  • California Fuchsia (Zauschneria)

  • Sage (Salvia)

  • Lavender

  • Sticky Monkey Flower (Mimulus spp.)

• Plants that attract native bees:

  • California Lilac (Ceanothus spp.)

  • California Poppy

  • Catmint (Nepeta x fassenii)

  • Russian Sage

  • Frikart’s Aster (Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’)

• Setting out water sources for birds & bees is another great way to support pollinators in your yard. For bees, give them shallow water that they can access from a ledge or stone. Birds enjoy slightly deeper pools of water.

-up your garden game? Inquire about biodynamic gardening practices

Want to increase the health and productivity of your garden? Ask us about ways to integrate Biodynamic gardening practices into your maintenance schedule. Biodynamic gardening follows organic gardening procedures while working with the basic cycles of nature to produce the healthiest plants possible.

Adding bark to your gardens this spring/summer:

Spring and summer are ideal times to bring in more bark for your gardens. 2-3” is ideal to reap many of the benefits of bark. 

• Bark shades the soil and plant roots from the hot sun.

• Bark will greatly assist with water retention. 

• It suppresses weeds, adds carbon and organic matter to the soil. 

• It increases mycorrhizal activity in the soil, and has many other benefits.

• It’s a simple way to refresh the look of your yard without adding any new plants!

Let us know if we can bring in more bark for you this season to keep things healthy and looking great!

-what are you goals this season with your garden

-is there a corner of your yard that needs a makeover in time for spring?

Have any garden goals this spring? Want us to spruce up a corner of your garden that feels a bit lackluster? Want to better utilize your garden space for relaxing and/or entertaining? Is it finally time to get that fireplace or water feature that you’ve always wanted? Want to invite more birds and butterflies to your yard? Schedule a design consult with Phoenix to see how to optimize your garden spaces for your ideal uses or to suggest some plantings to make your garden even more beautiful.

Optimize your plant care with a soil test!

Want to know what your plants really need to thrive? The best way to find out is with a soil test. By finding out what’s readily available to your plants, and what’s missing, we are able to fine-tune your plant care in the most ideal way. Let us know if you would like us to test your soil, and get ready for some seriously healthy plants!

-SFinBoom events and workshops

SFinBloom is a side project run by Phoenix of Green Earth Gardeners and her partner Shalaco. Together they are sharing their knowledge of plants via social media, webinars, live corporate workshops, and online workshops. Their enthusiasm for planting native wildflowers in neglected areas of the city has drawn worldwide attention, with their work recently posted in SFGate, Secret San Francisco, 60 Second Docs, & Buzzfeed. You can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @SFinBloom for quick tips and flower adventures. You can hire SFinBloom for your next Zoom gathering, or take some of their free or paid tutorials at SFinBloom.art where you can learn how to install a drip irrigation system, or how to convert your lawn to a native habitat garden. You can also visit their site to purchase your very own native seed shakers to make your own pollinator habitat!

-our favorite plant of the season for 2022

Our absolute favorite plant for Spring 2022 is the California Poppy! So easy to self-sow from seed— the CA poppy is a great filler between your larger perennial plants and they will add splashes of color wherever they grow. With a single packet of seeds you can make a big improvement to your yard, and in your local ecosystem! They also come in wonderful colors such as ‘Alba’— a creamy light yellow, ‘Champagne”— a super light peach color, ‘Red Glow’, ‘Purple Gleam’, and one of our favorites: ‘Coastal Form’ with a lemon yellow petal and an orange center. Scatter CA poppy seeds anywhere you need some extra color in your yard, and perhaps along your walk as well. You can also purchase CA poppy seeds from SFinBloom.art!

Wishing you a wonderful Spring, and Happy Gardening!

Best,

Phoenix and the Green Earth Gardeners Team