Monthly Archives: April 2012

Container Gardening

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Colorful containers are attractive focal points for entry ways, patios and outdoor living spaces.  You can grow just about anything you want in the appropriate container using organic fertilizers, great soil, proper water and the right exposure.

  • One trick to a fantastic pot, is a focal point, something taller for height.  Then frame it with a lower layer to fill out the pot and lastly, creeping plants to spill over the edges.
  • Choose plants with similar water requirements and sun exposure.  Use the right plant right place rule.
  • Position your container where it gets good air circulation, turn it periodically so it doesn’t stretch and grows evenly on all sides.
  • Check the soil frequently for watering needs.  Mulch with moss or decorative rock to conserve moisture.
  • Use a good potting soil and organic fertilizers from Fox Farms that last longer in the soil than chemical fertilizers. Refer to the directions on the package.

Join us and Fox Farms on April 28th and learn more about using organics and container gardening at Alpine Nursery from 10am-3pm.  We can help you create your own “pizzazz in a pot”- we’ll provide the soil (while supplies last). Special sales on that day on our new pots and plants of your choice.

We will also be having the Grand Re-Opening of The Pond Pad, water garden store, located at Alpine that weekend Sat. April 28 & Sun. April 29th, 2012.  For more information email: thepondpad@gmail.com

 

Butterfly Gardens

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Creating a Butterfly Garden Tips:

■Choose plants with various heights & bloom time

■ Include plants for larvae to feast upon

■ Butterflies prefer flowers with multi-cluster heads the best, but most any will do!

PERENNIALS:                               ANNUALS:

Achillea(Yarrow)*                                    Cosmos

Agastashe*                                           Heliotrope

Agapanthus                                            Licorice plant

Aquilegia(Columbine)                                Lobelia

Armeria(Thrift)                                         Marigold

Artichoke                                              Morning glory

Asclepias(Butterflyweed)                     Mustard/Cabbage

Aster                                                      Nasturtium

Astilbe                                                 SweetAlyssum

Chrysanthemum                                     SweetPea

Coreopsis                                              Snapdragon

Delphinium                                              Sunflower

Dianthus                                                    Verbena

Diascia                                                        Zinnia

Dicentra(BleedingHeart)

Digitalis(Foxglove)                                                    SHRUBS:

Dill*                                                          ButterflyBush         Calluna(Heather)

Echinacea (Coneflower)                                     Caryopteris(Bluebeard)

Erysimum(Wallflower)                                Ceanothus            Choisya(Mex.Orange)

Fennel *                                                             Clethra            Escallonia

Gaillardia                                                                  Hebe        Hibiscus

Geum                                                                  Lavatera        Lavender

Iberis (Candytuft)                                             Lilac          Mahonia (OregonGrape)

Liatris*                                                              Philadelphus (MockOrange)

Lupine                                                          Potentilla         Rhododendron

Monarda(BeeBalm)                                             Ribes(Currant)          Rose

Oregano*                                                              Rosemary         Spirea

Penstemon                                                                        Viburnum

Phlox                                                     

Rudbeckia

Salvia                                                  *Indicates plants with                                                              Leaves for caterpillars

Veronica                                     Adults feed on flower nectar.

Vinca                                                     

Wisteria

You can find these plants at Alpine Nursery and Landscape, home of The Pond Pad, in Puyallup, WA.

 

How to build a “Pond-Less” Water Fall

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by Kerri Bailey, The Pond Pad

1. Select your site, somewhere you can enjoy it.  Avoid installing a pond on the low side of the yard or where water collects (water can get under the liner and cause problems). Be mindful of the surrounding landscape-leaves from trees and shrubs that may collect in your pond in the fall or evergreens that may shed year round.

2. Mark out your basin with a garden hose or landscape paint.  Dig your hole 2-3 feet deep.  Build a berm using the excavated soil and add more if needed. Compact your berm area well, it will sink over time.

 

3. Add an underlayment or some other protection down prior to adding your basin liner piece.  To figure out your liner:  Length=Length  (Depth x 2) + 2  Width=Width (Depth x 2)+2  Place your pump vault / canyon in the lowest end of your basin.  Insert your pump inside the vault and connect your plumbing and hose.  The hose then goes to the top of the berm to be connected to the weir or biological filter.

 

4. Fill the basin with larger cobble stones graduating to smaller gravel near the top.  Hide your pipe along the outer edge, burying it with soil, then cover with liner.  Stair step your berm with a curve to it for multiple views and for a more natural look.

5. Install the waterfall / stream liner piece and over lap it with the basin.  You should have at least a 6 inch rise to avoid the water wicking under the liner creating a leak. Install the weir or biological filter inside the top of the berm. Attach the liner to the weir, use silicone to seal the faceplate. Place larger rocks or boulders along the curves of the waterfall.

6. Place the rest of your rocks along the sides and edges of your waterfall and basin area. Start to fill your basin with water. Finish building your waterfall and use waterfall foam sealing around the rocks.  This allows the water to go over the rocks for more sound and better water flow.  

7. Adding decorative rocks along the edges and on top of the gravel in the basin- large stones add character and break up the look of the of small rock. When the basin is full, plug in your pump and continue to fill with water until it is entirely full.

8. Add soil to your berm and install plants along the edges. Use plants with staggered bloom times for year round enjoyment.

 

 

Let us help you install your own waterfall visit The Pond Pad at Alpine Nursery in Puyallup, WA.  Don’t want to install it your self?  Alpine Nursery & Landscape can do it for you.  Find us at www.alpinegrows.com

 

 

 

Creating a Captivating Hummingbird Garden

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Providing a natural dinner plate for hummingbirds in your landscape is visually appealing and eco-friendly.

Hummingbirds feed while hovering and find plants with multiple flowers in open clusters most attractive. They also prefer nectar rich tubular shaped flowers in shades of red and crimson, but will also like orange,pink,purple,white and yellow blooms.

You should also provide a clean water source such as a bird bath or fill a “hummingbird feeder” with only water. They will also dine on suet and you can provide a feeder with sugar water.

Choose plants with staggered bloom times and various heights to attract hummingbirds into your yard. Hanging baskets and window boxes are great attractors as well as many trees, shrubs and vines.

We have many suggestions on plants that would look great in your landscape as well as appeal to our flying friends.

Please ask one of our sales associates for information and suggestions for plants best suited for your garden.

ANNUALS

Begonia Cosmos Fuschia Geranium Impatiens Lantana Nasturtium Nicotiana Petunia Salvia Scaevola Verbena Zinnia

PERENNIALS

Agastache  Bee Balm  Canna  Coral Bells  Columbine Crocosmia Delphinium Foxglove Hollyhock Gladious Lobelia Lungwort Lupine Phlox Monkey Flower Penstemon Salvias  Red Hot Poker  Rudbeckia Veronica

SHRUBS

Abelia  Abutilon Azalea  Arbutus  Butterfly Bush  Ceanothus  Currant  Cotoneaster  Elderberry Hibiscus Lilac Lavender Quince Rosemary Vitex Weigela Yucca

TREES

Citrus  Crabapple  Eucalyptus  Goldenchain Hawthorn Locust Redbud Silk Tree Tulip Tree Willow

VINES

Clematis  Honeysuckle  Morning Glory   Trumpet Vine  Wisteria    

1751879thAveE, Puyallup,WA 98375

253.847.7078     www.alpinegrows.com

Deer Resistant Plants for the PNW

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We often get the question here at Alpine Nursery, Are these plants Deer Resistant? Deer will eat almost anything when they are hungry.  Here is a collection of plants that are Deer Resistant, by plant category, common name  and botanical name (where applicable).

Trees 

Ash Fraxinus; Cedar; Cypress Cupressus; Douglas Fir; False Cypress Chamaecyparis; Fig; Fir Abies ; Ginkgo; Hawthorn; Magnolia;  Maples;  Oak; Olive; Palms; Pine; Redbud;  Redwood Sequoia; Silk Tree;  Spruce 

Shrubs

Abelia; Bamboo;  Barberry; Boxwood; Buckeye Aesculus; Butterfly Bush; Cinquefoil Potentilla; Coralberry;  Corokia; Cotoneaster; Currant; Daphne; Elaeagnus; Escallonia; Evergreen Huckleberry; Firethorn Pyracantha; Flowering Quince;  Heather; Heavenly Bamboo Nandina; Holly; Juniper; Kerria;  Lavender; Lilac; Mexican Orange; Oregon Grape; Plumbago; Rhododendron (not Azaleas);  Rockrose  Cistus(most); Rosemary;  Sage;  Salal; Snowberry; Spirea; St. Johnswort; Sumac; Sweet Box Sarcococca; Wax Myrtle; Wild Lilac  Ceanothus; Viburnum

Ground Covers / Vines

Beach Strawberry Fragaria chiloensis; Carpet Bugle Ajuga; Dwarf Plumbago; Ivy; Jasmine; Lithodora; Myrtle Vinca; Japanese SpurgePachysandra; Potato Vine; Rockcress Arabis;  Sweet Woodruff Galium odoratum; Wisteria 

Perennials / Bulbs / Grasses

Artemisia; Aster; Astilbe; Bachelors Button; Bear’s BreechAcanthus mollis; Bee Balm Monarda; Bellflower Campanula; Black-Eyed Susan; Bleeding Heart; Blue or Yellow Eyed Grass Sisyrinchium; Blue Fescue; CA Poppy; Calla Lily, Candytuft; Chrysanthemum; Columbine; Coneflower Echinacea; Coral Bells Huechera; Coreopsis; Cranesbill Geranium; Crocosmia; Crocus; Daffodil; Dahlia; Day Lily; Dead Nettle Lamium; Euphorbia; Euryops; Ferns; Flax Phormium; Fountain Grass Pennisetum;  Foxglove; Gailardia; Helleborus; Iris; Lamb’s Ears Stachys byzantina; Lily-of-the Nile Agapanthus; Lily Turf Liriope; Lupine; Miscanthus Grass; Mondo Grass; Monkey Flower; Nepeta Catnip / Catmint Nepeta; Oregano & Marjoram Origanum; Penstemon; Phlomis; Phlox; Pincushion Flower Scabiosa;  Poppy; Red-Hot Poker Kniphofia; Red Valerian Centhranthus ruber; Santolina; Saxifrage; Sedge Carex; Society GarlicTulbaghia violacea; SpeedwellVeronica; SquillScilla; Stipa Grass; Sweet Violet Viola odorata; Thrift Armeria; Thyme; Wallflower Erysimum; Yarrow Achillea

Annuals / Tender Plants

African Daisy; Agave; Aloe; Begonia, Tuberous; Calendula; Clarkia; Dusty Miller; Forget-me-not; Gazania; Helichrysum; Impatiens; Rose Campion Lychnis;Scaevola; Statice; Verbena

If you would like to learn more, stop by and one of our friendly and knowledgeable staff can help you make your selections.  Or you can email your questions to thepondpad@gmail.com.

Pond and Waterfall Calculations

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Figuring out what you need to build your pond is an important factor to determine it’s cost and efficiency.  The following guidelines should help you. Ask for help at thepondpad@gmail.com

                          How to Estimate Gallon Capacity

Circular Pond: R2 x 3.14 x Depth x 7.48 = Approx. Gal. R2= Radius x Radius (Radius is ½ of the total length)

Irregular /Rectangular Pond: Length x Width x Ave. Depth x 7.48= Approx.Gal.

Irregular Pond w/shelves: Length x Width x Depth x 7.48 x .66= Approx. Gal.

Streams: Length x Width x .25 (Depth) x 7.48= Approx.Gal.

How to Calculate Pond Liner Size.

Length= Length + (Depth x 2) + 2      Width= Width + (Depth x 2) + 2

Example: 8 x 10, 2′ deep L= 10′ + (2×2) + 2= 16′ W= 8′ + (2×2) + 2= 15′ 

                                    Electrical Conversions / Consumption

WATTS= Volts x Amps AMPS= Watts / Volts 1HP= 745.7 Watts

Approximate Electrical Cost to run a pump, etc.

Amps x Volts x 1000 x .10(KW per hour) x 24hrs x 30.4 days=$ / month

                           Aquatic Plant Calculations

Water Lilies: 1 per every 45-60 Sq F

Marginal Plants: 1 plant per every 3′-4′ shelf margin

Bog Plants: 1 plant for every 2′ of bog

 

                            Rock Calculations- For Gravel & Boulders

Boulders for Pond Basin:

Length x Width / 65 Tons of Boulders Use a 1:2:1 ratio

For every 1 Ton of 6”-12” rock; get 2 Tons of 12”-18” and 1 Ton of 18”-24” rock

½ Ton of 6”-12” of rock will cover 20 linear feet

1 Ton of 12”-18” of rock will cover 10 linear feet

1 Ton of 18”-24” rock will cover 5 linear feet

Boulders for Stream- For every 10′ of Stream, Use 3/4 Tons of rock using ratio above.

Boulders for Waterfall- Use 1 Ton of rock per each 3′-4′. Choose some larger stones for support, and some rocks with flat or interesting faces for the waterfall.

Gravel for Pond Basin- Use 40% total tons used for pond boulders calculations

Gravel for Streams- Use ½ Ton for every 10′ of stream

Pondless/ Disapearring Waterfall- Length x Width x Depth = Cubic feet

Use 90lbs of rock per each cubic foot; Use Ratio of: 40% 4”-6” Rock

(for the bottom of the basin) and 60% of 1 1/2” – 2” rock (for middle and top layer). Add decorative gravel / rock as a top dress.

These are guidelines to help you, always over estimate whenever possible. Any left over rock can be blended into your surrounding landscape.

www.alpinegrows.com         www.thepondpad.com