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Dear Friends of Anderson's La Costa,

Happy autumn! It's really beginning to feel like fall - especially near the coast. We have been under a blanket of clouds over here all week. I hear it is sunny and beautiful a bit further inland. Well, it's definitely October now and whatever the weather, those Padres are putting up a good fight!

We are looking forward to a long fall planting season with you as we head towards the end of the year and the holidays. Let's start with our October sale first...

20% Off

Ornamental Grasses

Indoor Orchids & Anthurium

Delight for the outdoors, beauty for the indoors. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, take your pick.

Ornamental grasses include the classic muhly grasses and perennials as well as certain Australian cordylines and phormiums. Steven shares more in the next section.

Orchids and anthuriums brighten the indoors with their colorful blooms. Plus, they're a top choice for a thoughtful gift.

Marc and Steven took a wonderful three-day road trip to Ventura, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara to visit nurseries and growers, do a little hiking, and partake in some good meals as well. Their trip coincided with the highest temps of the year for the area (highs of 90-100 degrees!), but they traveled along the coast and made the best of it. Here are a few highlights from their trip.

Steven and Marc hiked along the gorgeous and dramatic central California coast around Pismo Beach. This Monterey Cyprus they stumbled upon is 80-100 feet tall and over 120 years old!

The coast live oak tree above is filled with a mossy lace lichen throughout. Next, Steven is checking out a beautiful silver dune lupine with purple flowers. One last pic of Steven and Matthew Roberts (below) from San Marcos Growers. Sadly, San Marcos is going out of business within a year and we’ll be losing one of the best growers in the state.

In the next section, you will find Steven's monthly overview, and then October Gardening Tips is up next.

Wishing you a glorious fall and the change of seasons and we look forward to welcoming you in soon. Hoping you all have a safe and festive Halloween and Dia de los Muertos.

Best wishes,

Your Anderson's La Costa Team ~ (from left, below) Marc, Mariah, Julie, Tandy, June, Courtney, Manny, Steven, Madeline Hanna and Devon (pictured further below)

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What's New at the Nursery

...by Steven Froess

Greetings everyone!

October is here and so is our latest newsletter. This month is the first full month of the fall season and daylight hours are slowly dwindling. This means that certain plants will respond by going into a dormant stage. The leaves of deciduous plants and trees (blueberries, pomegranate, stone fruit, redbud trees, Japanese maple trees) will begin to change color and soon fall off. They will rest from now until spring, requiring no more fertilizer and less watering for the time being. Our day temperatures continue to be warm but the nights are much cooler, a perfect time to begin planting your cool season vegetable garden.

Beginning this month and through the winter enjoy selections of beets, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, lettuces including arugula, kale, spinach, Asian greens (mizuna, Bok choi), mustard, onions, peas, radishes, other greens, and more. I recommend planting root vegetables from seed for better results.

We have a few Plectranthus tomentosa in stock, otherwise known as the Vicks plant because it is the main ingredient in Vicks Vapor Rub. For an easy home remedy, this plant can be steeped in a pot of boiling water to inhale and help break up a chest cold and clear nasal passages. Welcome fall!

Once the summer crops have all finished producing (I still have tomatoes and cucumbers growing) plants should be pulled out and soil amended before any new planting. You can't go wrong with Recipe 420 soil and fertilizer, however if you want to go easy on the budget try E.B. Stone Raised Bed Mix and Soil Booster.

Personally, I use a well-rounded combination: Agrowinn Earthworm Castings and their 4-4-6 fertilizer, Recipe 420 soil (especially for the initial planting as all the microbes in the soil help the roots system become strong), then E.B. Stone Raised Bed Mix and Soil Booster in the upper layers. This ensures a nutrient-rich soil in which the edibles will thrive through the season. Additionally, I’ll add the Agrowinn 4-4-6 about every 4-6 weeks through the season.

Ornamental grasses are on sale this month! Grasses in a garden add an element of movement and can soften an otherwise "hard" looking landscape. Grasses are also good for holding slopes together as they have small fibrous root systems.

Some fall flowering grasses include: Muhlenbergia capillaris, dubia, and white cloud, and Sesleria autumnalis. Evergreen types (don't need cutting back) include Dianella, Liriope, Lomandra, and Chondropetalum.

Native grasses such as Aristida purpurea (purple three awn, my favorite sub for Mexican feather grass), Carex divulsa (Berkeley sedge), Leymus 'Canyon prince' (large blue-toned grass), Carex 'Chisai' (field sedge), and Muhlenbergia rigens (deer grass).

Also included in our grasses sale are different types of Australian Phormiums and Cordylines. Electric pink, Can can, and Design-a-line burgundy are some of the Cordylines currently in stock, and Black Adder Phormiums.

Orchids and anthuriums are also part of our October sale- two indoor flowering plants you'll find in the greenhouse. We have a nice selection of each of these, in addition to a wide variety of rare and hard-to-find philodendrons, monsteras, sansevierias and so many other kinds of flowering and leafy tropical plants.

We just had a beautiful fill-in of our cactus and succulent section, especially in 2- and 4-inch sizes. Manny and Hanna have thoroughly cleaned up the bonsai and specialty plant section under the shade cloth, and Julie and Devon dialed in outdoor bromeliads around the corner, so now it's especially inviting. Welcome, Devon!

For seasonal bedding, we can finally plant all of those gorgeous fall colors - purples, reds, rusts, oranges, and variations of green like coprosmas, coleus, loropetalum, ornamental peppers, and so much more.

Please let us know if there's anything we can help you track down either at our nursery or from one of our long list of amazing growers- some of whom we were so fortunate to visit this past week.

Thank you, all and I look forward to seeing you at the nursery soon.

Your Local Horticulturalist,

Steven

October Gardening Tips

October is when we start to see our first true days of autumn. We have already experienced some cooler nighttime and morning temperatures between our summer-like hot spells.

In Southern California, our mild Mediterranean climate makes it possible to plant year-round, but fall is one of the best times of the year to garden: the soil is still warm and the cooler season is soon upon us. As the temps start to cool down, working in the garden becomes even more glorious.

October is the peak month for planting cool-season flowers and vegetables. October is also a choice month for planting perennials even though you won't be able to enjoy their color until next spring. By planting now, they will develop a strong root structure during our cool weather and then burst into glorious color in the spring.

Trees and shrubs: It’s a great month to shop for trees and shrubs as they're showing their true colors. Planting can take place now and over the next several months, letting strong healthy roots develop over the winter.

To continue reading October Gardening Tips, click here.