Someone once said, "The love of flowers is really the best teacher of how to grow and understand them." It is easy to love the Rose. The rich fragrance, the sumptuous clusters of silky petals, the extravagant color, the rewarding bouquet in the vase on the kitchen table...

It is also easy to be frustrated by the Rose...the powdery mildew, the black spot, the aphids, the "green worms", the pale dull foliage, the sparse blooms...

In the maritime Northwest with our cool summers and our wet winters, the rose may feel like somewhat of an unwelcome guest, unless we consider its needs and comforts as good hosts always should.

To begin with, choose your variety carefully.  Often what's available in the Northwest market are roses that come from Texas and California that aren't necessarily appropriate for the cool summers of Whidbey Island. You may end up being disappointed by a poorly performing, diseased rose bush. At Bayview Farm & Garden, we select our roses based on disease resistance for the types of diseases we get here in the Northwest and you can trust that our roses will perform well on Whidbey and Western Washington.

Consider carefully the purpose for your rosebush. Will it be a climber to be trained upon an arbor or trellis, a rambling shrub rose to swag over a fence, a compact pop of beauty for the front of a mixed border along a walkway? There is so much versatility with roses that can be used to our advantage. In a group of plants which, at its smallest, will reach just eighteen inches high, and at its grandest, takes the form of forty foot climbers, there is scope for a great deal of imagination.

There are three choices in sun exposure when choosing a site for a rose...sunny, sunnier, or sunniest. In other words, roses need sun to bloom and to be healthy. Make sure you have at least six solid hours of sun a day during the growing season. The other requirement is well-
drained soil. A rose will not do well in heavy, dense clay soil that holds the water all winter long.

To plant:

1. Dig a planting hole about 18" deep and a couple feet wide.
2. Start dumping in some composted organic matter to condition the soil, such as E.B. Stone Organics Planting Compost.
3. Make about a 50/50 ratio of the soil amendment and native soil, mix well.
4. Dig out the hole again and add a good quality, balanced, organic fertilizer. We recommend E.B. Stone Organics Rose & Flower Food. This encourages strong root development and good flower production.
5. Place the root ball into the hole, making sure to keep the graft (if there is one) well above the soil line.
6. Back fill the loose soil into the hole and water it well.
7. If you want to do something really nice for your new rosebush and hear it sing your praises, you could drench the root with Bu's Buds Biodynamic Rose Compost Tea and it will perform beautifully, adding beneficial microbial life to the soil. The microbes in the soil are what causes it to be alive and functional, delivering nutrients to the roots.

It's a good idea to top-dress the soil around the rose with alfalfa meal. Roses love alfalfa meal. It's a good source of inexpensive nitrogen and it seems to help the roses resist disease. Deep water your roses once a week during the growing season. Fertilize in April, June and August with your good organic rose food.

Any insect pests that appear, usually aphids, can be controlled by a strong spray from your garden hose, a gentle, non-toxic insecticidal soap, or with predatory insects like Ladybugs or Silver Lacewings. We carry several types of natural, non-toxic control sprays in the Garden Shop.  Please avoid the systemic insecticides. They do kill the aphids but they also kill the beneficial insects that keep the insect community in balance in our gardens. They also kill any honey bees that may come to visit your rose. Birds have been known to die after drinking water from a puddle that developed near a bush that is full of systemic insecticide. Bear in mind that rose diseases can be controlled by close monitoring and good sanitation.

Lightly prune the tall roses in late Fall just to keep the canes from whipping around in the wind. Then wait till March 1st to do the hard pruning. Be careful when pruning the climbers, the antique roses and the English roses, removing only the least productive old wood, and any damaged or diseased wood.

Tuck your roses in for winter by applying bark mulch about a foot up the canes to protect against winter injury. Remove the mulch from the canes and spread it out in the spring when you prune again.

With a little love, care and understanding, our thumbs grow greener and our roses grow stronger and more beautiful!

Cold Weather Warning!

The forecast is calling for cold and dry conditions. This weather can be damaging for
broadleaf evergreens, tender perennials and fall annuals. Not to worry however, damage can be avoided with a little effort and planning.

Tips for protecting plants:

• Water your plants BEFORE the cold hits. Freezing temperatures pull moisture out of the foliage, so a well hydrated plant is a resilient plant!
• Cover sensitive plants with a lightweight fabric, such as an old bed sheet. Floating row cover material (REMAY) also works very well. Secure cloth in such a way that the wind will not blow it off. A tarp will work in a pinch, but may crush weaker plants due to its weight. If using a tarp or other plastic material, also take care to prevent the plastic from touching foliage. The plastic may freeze to leaf surfaces. Use stakes to raise the plastic off the plant. Remove the coverings when temperatures rise the next day.
• For a short cold period, low growing plants can be covered with mulch, such as lightweight compost, straw or bark mulch. Remove once the danger of frost has passed.
• Potted plants may be moved to more protected locations, such as in a garage or even under the eaves of the house.

Plants you may want to protect:

• Anything with flowers, or flower buds that typically bloom in the winter months
• Anything with very fleshy, soft, broadleaf evergreen leaves
• Any new plantings

Examples of plants you may want to think about protecting:

• Camellias Jasmine Vine
• Sarcococca (Sweetbox) Bay Laurel (Sweet Bay)
• Pieris Any Zone 8 Herbs
• Winter Daphne Phormium (New Zealand Flax)
• Edgeworthia (Paperbush) certain Salvia’s Hyssop
• Aralia Skimmia Rosemary
• Lavender Any Zone 8 Hebes
• Hardy Fuchsias

Please feel free to call us anytime if you have any questions! 360 – 321 – 6789

Join Bayview Farm & Garden and G&B Organics this Sunday 6/4 from noon to 2pm for a special appearance by 97.3 KIRO Radio's Ciscoe Morris!

Ciscoe Morris is the host of “Gardening with Ciscoe” a weekly gardening show, which airs on Saturdays from 10:00a.m. to noon on 97.3 KIRO FM. He's a long-time King County Master Gardener, a certified arborist and serves on several advisory boards including Plant Amnesty, The Seattle School District, and South Seattle Community College. 

In addition to his radio show, Ciscoe gives gardening tips on KING 5 TV Tuesdays and Thursdays during the noon news, as well as, on Saturdays and Sundays during the morning news. He brought his weekly gardening show to 97.3 KIRO FM in February of 1995. Ciscoe’s own website is www.ciscoe.com.

Buy 3 Get 1 Free of G&B Organics' Potting Soil – Saturday, June 3 & Sunday, June 4 only.

PLUS Gardner & Bloome Organics will be giving away Potting Soil to the first 60 customers! 

RSVP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/1909583562658395

​Time to Plant: Seeds
​It's the perfect time to sow your seeds. We have a wonderful selection of locally grown, organic and non-gmo seeds in the Garden Shop – think big green salads, crisp radishes and Willowood's heirloom Rockwell Beans!

What: Container Planting Workshop
When: Tuesday, April 25th | 11am-12pm
Cost: Free

Bayview Farm & Garden owner, Maureen Murphy, will walk you through the thrill, fill and spill to make your own colorful containers! Think color, texture and beauty all summer.

PLUS 10% off container planting materials and plants for attendees the day of the workshop.

RSVP & more info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/251712485235007/

What: Container Planting Workshop
When: Sunday, May 7th | 10am – 1pm
Cost: Free

Taught by Roger Hickman, who has 20 years of bonsai experience. Students will learn the ins and outs of creating, caring for and maintaining bonsai plants. 

PLUS Bayview Farm & Garden is stocking tools, pots, plants and everything else you need for bonsai plants and care!

RSVP & more info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449270525131163​

Bare Root Stock: 25% Off​
Plant bare-root trees now for delicious fruit and luscious flowers later! It's that time of year to get inspired planning your garden and we have the widest selection and best price – all bare root trees are 25% off!

Never planted a bare root tree before? Instructions can be found on our website, here. Bare root trees are easier to plant and transport now, which means we offer them at a lower price than when they are potted later in the spring.

Berry Goodness!​
New arrivals at BFG – we're talking blueberry, boysenberry, raspberry, strawberry, loganberry and more berry! Ready to be planted for bountiful Spring & Summer harvests!

Rhubarb and Asparagus are in!​
It's time to plant those perennial veggies – if you aren't lucky enough to have them buried in your garden from years past. Robust bare-root starts that are ready to plant, easy to care for and are 25% off – just some of the reasons these are a spring-must in our book!

Sweet Peas​
It's Sweet Pea planting season! The garden shop is full of tons of beautiful varieties so you can get those seeds in the ground now. And if you haven't yet, don't forget to browse our seed wall in the Garden Shop.

The Bees are in!​
Now is the time to start your own colony of native pollinators, the Orchard Mason Bee. These friendly little guys work hard to improve pollination of fruits, veggies and other plants in your garden. We have bees and all bee supplies in stock.

​Pantone's color of the year symbolizes a fresh start. Follow suit and refresh your indoor space with lush foliage from our ever-growing selection of house plants! We're stocking a wide variety of tropicals, cacti, succulents, airplants and more. Plus plenty of beautiful pots to plant them in!

Join us in the greenhouse for a fun and informative afternoon, learning about our edible Native Plants. Kelsi Franzen from Whidbey Island Conservation District will be presenting in the greenhouse for this totally free workshop. Please RSVP here.

Bayview Farm & Garden opened nearly 25 years ago, and in that time we have never seen conditions on Whidbey Island this dry. The heat and drought are concerning. Will Whidbey—and the rest of the planet — need to contend with a “new normal” in weather patterns?

Whether we will or not, this dry spell is a good time for a few reminders on caring for plants in extreme heat and on the basics of water conservation in yard and garden.

Plant Selection & Care

• Choose drought-resistant plants with extensive root systems. Such plants will come back year after year and require less water.
• Just purchased a new plant? Do not leave it in a hot car for more than one hour.
• If you are unable to plant a new plant immediately, do not allow its roots to go dry. Place the new plant in the shade and water frequently every day, and/or place in a basin with a few inches of water.
• After planting, water daily during times of high heat. Do not let your new plant go dry before it is established.
• Fertilize before and after planting. A fertilized plant will be stronger, healthier and better able to withstand hot, dry conditions.
• Use mulch, which is a layer of material such as compost or wood chips, applied to the surface of an area of soil. This helps to conserve moisture and soil fertility.
• Hot, dry weather is a fine time to plant, but not a good time to dig up an established plant and attempt to move it. The shock of transplanting under extremely dry conditions could kill your plant.
  

Effective Watering and Conservation

• Water the base of the plant and the soil rather than the foliage. This allows the water to make it to the roots.
  
• Avoid watering during the hottest time of the day. Instead, water in early morning or in the evening. Early morning is best. This will help minimize evaporation.
• Leaky hoses and faucets are huge water wasters! Inspect them regularly and replace if you can.
• Put sprinklers on timers if possible.
• Do not leave spigots on, even if the hose is off. Not only will this help prevent leaks, but it will also guard against a build-up of potentially scalding water in the hose. 
• Create shade! A light crop cover fabric (sometimes called a “float”) sits gently on top of your plants and provides shade, retains moisture, vents out excess heat and minimizes the need to water.
• Catch the rain: eventually it’s going to rain on Whidbey again. When it does, be ready with a catchment to collect some of that precious rainwater. During the next dry period, you’ll have “extra” water to use.

The specialists at Bayview Farm & Garden have the knowledge, plants and equipment to help you implement many of the above strategies. For example, we can provide drought resistant plants for your garden and talk with you about xeriscaping, which is landscaping and gardening techniques that require less water than traditional methods.

With concerted effort, we can both derive maximum enjoyment from our gardens and help conserve our precious water supply.

Maureen Murphy
Bayview Farm & Garden

One of the most common questions at the garden center concerns pruning clematis vines. There are different types of clematis, each requiring different pruning styles.

Within three pruning categories, botanists break things down into sub-groups so it can get complicated. Considering there are hundreds of available varieties of clematis, it can be overwhelming for someone who just wants a pretty rambling vine to grow over the walkway arbor.


Let’s simplify.

Spring Bloomers
These flower early in the season on the previous year’s growth. This group includes the popular evergreen, Clematis armandii, and the equally popular Montana varieties. These should be pruned within about a month after they are finished blooming. They can be pruned back to shape and thinned out to prevent the vine from becoming a big tangled mess over time. Shape the lateral growth back to the main branches. Pinching hard some of the low growing branches will prevent the vine from becoming bare at the base. Use a nice mild organic fertilizer at this time if you think it needs it.

Summer Bloomers
The classic summer bloomers usually have huge blossoms, which flower on wood produced in the spring. These usually bloom through summer and into fall and are generally the easiest to prune. This type of clematis will take on a somewhat dead look when it is done blooming. General rule:  If it’s ugly, cut it back. Cut them back to about two feet from the ground as part of your fall clean-up routine or wait and do it in early spring if you don’t mind looking at the dead bits through the winter. The time to fertilize this type is early spring as the vine is breaking out of dormancy. 

Spring and Summer Bloomers
This is the most confusing group, but also very desirable as they bloom twice in the year. Normal blooming patterns are expressed by a heavy flush of flowers in May-June on the previous year’s wood, followed by a second bloom period in September on the current season’s growth. With some varieties in this group, the first flush of blooms display large, showy double flowers, while the second flush has smaller, single flowers.

In pruning this type, the old wood should be preserved by pruning lightly in fall or winter, removing only dead wood or weak, spindly growth. In spring, right after the bloom is finished, cut back the branches that flowered. This promotes the new growth that blooms in the fall and then grows on to become the old wood, which blooms the following spring.

You end up pruning these types twice a year and you get to look at dead ugly wood through the winter, but you get two resplendent bloom displays each growing season. If you buy this type of clematis and then decide to be lazy and not prune them, you’ll generally have a lot of rampant growth and a few flowers, but nothing as magnificent as if you do the correct pruning.

If you plant a new clematis vine and it suddenly wilts before it really takes off, do not assume it has died. This is a problem known as “clematis wilt” and is a very common occurrence. Cut the whole thing off to about the second bud. New growth will come up from the base. Keep slugs and earwigs away until it is up and running. Clematis will respond to lots of good organic fertilizer and water, but cannot tolerate poor drainage.  Give each vine at least four or five hours of sun a day and keep the roots cool. They are somewhat fragile getting started, but once it finds its feet, the clematis vine is practically bomb-proof. 

One more thing . . . if you want to pronounce “clematis” correctly, put the emphasis on the first syllable.

Because it climbs on a lattice,
Hoi polloi say “clem-at'-is”,
But Webster will not cease to hiss,
Until they call it “clem'-a-tis.”

Maureen Murphy
Bayview Farm & Garden