Your Independent Neighborhood Garden Nursery

Beautiful Plants and Inspired Designs since 1954

Dear Friends of Anderson's La Costa,

Hold on to your hats, wow, it just got really hot! Starting today, we have a straight week of 80-degree high temps at the coast. That means a lot more as soon as you go east of the 5 freeway. The ocean water temperature has also remained above 70 degrees for an entire month, and it is not going to stay that way forever. Hope you're taking the opportunity to jump in and enjoy it. And don't forget, after we get through this heat wave we are headed into our best weather yet. Happy SoCal summer!

It goes without saying, but this is a really good time to be watering your plants. There will be plenty of evaporation during the day, so if you can, try watering (but not overhead) in the early evening to give the soil time to abosrb as much as possible. Remember to deep water your trees to the radius of the leaves and canopy.

Our sale for September is perfect for the weather we're having and heading into fall:

20% Off

All Outdoor Tropical Plants

A big sale with lots of beautiful plants including but not limited to outdoor bromeliads, canna lily, cordyline, gardenia, red spiral ginger, hibiscus, mandevilla/dipladenia, palms, philodendron, plumeria, stephanotis (Madagascar jasmine), and more.

Steven has a great write-up in the next section about pest management and some of the awesome plants he's been able to find for the nursery. Then, September Gardening Tips is up next.

We hope you've had a fantastic summer and are getting ready for the change of seasons. Thanks for being our awesome customers. We wouldn't be here without you.



Best wishes,

Your Anderson's La Costa Team ~ Marc, Mariah, Steven, Manny, Hanna, Madeline, Courtney, June, Julie & Jen

Be sure to add a phosphorus-packed fertilizer a few times during the season to keep your plants happy and flowering long into the fall. Ultra Bloom 0-10-10 is one that I use. I also recommend adding soil amendments at least once this time of the year to improve soil health. I like to use E.B. Stone Soil Booster and Agrowinn Worm Castings.

Soil health can take a long time to accomplish but will yield extremely happy plants and trees. Consistently adding organic matter- anything from compost, to planting mix, earthworm castings, chicken manure, etc., especially ones that contain beneficial microbes (we also sell packets of microbes) will improve your soil health.

One easy way to tell it’s still summer is the number of questions like, “What's eating my plant?” Plant pests favor warmer weather and multiply faster, especially the larvae of caterpillars and loopers. Two of the most common types right now are citrus leaf miner and bougainvillea looper.

Citrus leaf miner is so common now it's pretty much a guarantee that if you have a citrus tree, you will experience this pest. The adult looks like a small moth, laying its eggs on the tender new leaves of the citrus trees. The larvae then becomes a small yellow caterpillar and eats/mines its way through the new growth curling and disfiguring the growth. The result can look worse than what is actually happening. The tree growth may be temporarily stunted, however unless it's a very young tree, it should still survive.



As bad as the leaves may look, I do not recommend cutting them off right away. The reason for this is that the pest stays around until winter, so removing any growth now will only result in the tree producing more new growth and the same thing happening again.

I would suggest waiting until December to remove the old leaf miner growth (cut back to normal leaves), and then the tree will be able to recover with new growth and the leaf miner won’t be around to reinfect it. You may also try and prevent damage by spraying the new growth once a week with Spinosad (Captain Jack's Deadbug) or B.T. (bacillus thuringiensis) during the summer months or until the growth has enough time to mature and become strong enough.

Here’s more information: Citrus Leafminer Management Guidelines--UC IPM (ucanr.edu)

A leaf infected with citrus leaf miner.

Bougainvillea looper

The second most common pest is the bougainvillea looper, which has become more widespread over the years. Signs of this pest are chewed leaves and small black droppings (frass) on your plants. A strong population can defoliate a bougainvillea making it unsightly and stunting its growth. This pest is also mainly around in the late summer months and a well-established bougainvillea will have no problem recovering from the damage over time.

The prevention, like citrus leaf miner, includes spraying the foliage thoroughly with Spinosad or B.T. once every 7-14 days as needed. I always recommend spraying in the evening since the active ingredients are sensitive to UV light (break down faster) and most caterpillar pests come out to feed at night. 

Click for more info: Managing Pests in Gardens: Trees and Shrubs: Invertebrates: Bougainvillea looper—UC IPM (ucanr.edu)

There are quite a few plants I am excited to see back at the nursery, including Camellia 'Black Magic' (pictured above). We haven't had these for years, they have a glossy serrated leaf and a waxy, dark red flower. These will start to come in beginning next week.

Grafted Grevilleas are immune to phytophthora (a type of water mold) and tolerate fertilizer making the plants even more robust. Grafted varieties include 'Honey gem', 'Ned Kelly', 'Robyn Gordon', 'Molongolo', and 'Austraflora Fanfare' (this one pictured grafted upright but can also be more of a ground cover).

Feijoa 'Bambina' is a more compact variety of the original form of pineapple guava. Astelia banksii is a silver ornamental grass that doesn't need cutting back and does best in lower light areas. More coming in next week.

Five-gallon Proteas and Leucospermum such as King, 'High gold', 'Blacnhe ito', 'Spider', 'Flame giant' and 'Don's red' are leafed out and will produce plentiful blooms. Leucophyllum cimmaron looks cool in hot sunny areas. This one in full bloom is from my yard at home.

Our Outdoor Tropical Plant Sale will run through the end of this month. Enjoy savings on all outdoor bromeliads, mandevilla/dipladenia (vining and hanging pots), gardenias, stephanotis (Madagascar jasmine), hibiscus, spiral ginger, crinum lily, plumeria, cordyline, canna lily, palms, big birds of paradise ('Strelitzia nicolai'), variegated Fatsia, schefflera, liguleria tractor seat plant, and more. 

So many cool and beautiful plants, most of them for shade/part-sun, mandevilla and dipladenia of course love full sun.

In other areas of the nursery, don't forget the vast array of cactus & succulents, our bonsai and specialty plant section under the shade cloth is looking cleaned up and especially inviting, and there are plenty of seasonal veggies and herbs you can still plant...not to mention a full indoor greenhouse full of lush and/or flowering indoor houseplants. Come visit us and we will show you.

We also just received a huge shipment of fountains and garden art from Campania International that is definitely worth checking out.

Believe it or not, even a few ceramic Talavera items have already arrived for Halloween!

Please let us know if there's anything we can help you find at the nursery or track down from one of our long list of amazing growers. Thank you all and I look forward to seeing you at the nursery soon.

Your Local Horticulturalist,

Steven

As we wrap up summer, the most important tip heading into the fall is to protect against wildfire. The wildfire season is already upon us as the temperatures rise through the beginning of fall and the warm, dry Santa Ana winds start to blow from the east and eventually replace any humid tropical days here in Southern California.

If you live in an area that is prone to wildfires, create defensible space around your home by pruning off dead tree limbs, cleaning your yard of brush and dead leaves and cleaning leaves from the roof and gutter. Defensible space refers to the 50 to 100-foot area around a house or building where plants (a.k.a. fuel) are trimmed, reduced or cleared to slow the spread of wildfires.

In California, there are two major planting seasons: spring and fall. One of the best kept secrets is the beauty of fall planting. September is our transition to fall and the start of the best planting season of the year. Although the nights may begin to cool off eventually, the days are still warm (with occasional blasts of hot weather). With temperatures cooling off by October, it makes it easier to transplant trees, shrubs, and bedding plants. Although trees and shrubs are not actively growing above the ground, they are very busy sending out strong roots and getting themselves established for the spring and summer.

Soil Tips

The basis for every good garden is the soil; if you take care of your soil you won't have to worry about your plants later...

To continue reading September Gardening Tips, click here.

N E W S L E T T E R

S P E C I A L S

20% Off

Outdoor Tropical Plants

Outdoor bromeliads, canna lily, cordyline, variegated Fatsia, gardenia, red spiral ginger, hibiscus, liguleria tractor seat plant, mandevilla/dipladenia, palms, philodendron, plumeria, schefflera, stephanotis (Madagascar jasmine), and more.

Offer good through September 30, 2024