At Whispering Springs Nursery in Jasper, Georgia, we are always looking for tips to give other gardeners to help them out with their garden plants. One important tip we have to talk about is moisture retention for your plants, which is always important, but especially as the temperature begins to rise and the days become more hot than not!

Moisture Retention

So how can you keep the soil you’ve planted in moist, even during warm weather? The answer is by using mulch. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines mulch as, “a protective covering spread or left on the ground to reduce evaporation, maintain even soil temperature, prevent erosion, control weeds, enrich the soil, or keep fruit clean.” Which is true, because mulch does all of these things! Did you know that soil without mulch can actually lose up to 80% of it’s moisture, but soil with mulch may only lose up to 10%? Crazy!

Types of Mulch

The different types of mulch that gardeners typically use include:

• Pine Straw

• Wood Chips

• Grass Clippings

• Leaves

• Newspapers

The type of mulch you will need depends on the type of plants you are working with. For example, certain plants (like those in your vegetable garden) may need a boost of nitrogen or nutrients from an organic mulch like grass clippings. However, some vegetables and fruits may be better suited with pine straw as a mulch, because they prefer more acid in the soil.

The following infographic from fix.com gives some great examples of what types of mulch to use on your garden plants. Check it out and see what type of mulch could work best for your garden!

If you are a hobby gardener or simply a plant enthusiast, we would love for you to stop by Whispering Springs Nursery for a visit anytime! We would be happy to walk you through our latest spring collection of plants and flowers in the nursery, and answer any questions you may have. You may even want to learn more about our wonderful landscaping design and installation services.  Whatever the reason, we look forward to seeing you soon!

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Source: Fix.com

Whispering Springs Nursery of Jasper, Ga. wants to help you out this spring (yes, spring is finally here!) by going over your flower bed edging options, especially if you frequently use mulch and have trouble keeping it in place.

Bed Edging Options

• Low Cost:

  • Trenching ($0)- Dig a three to four inch deep trench around the border of the flower bed. The theory here is that the trench will catch mulch before it is blown or washed away in bad weather. This is the cheapest option available, as digging is free; unless of course, you need to buy a lawn tool to dig with!

  • Mulch or Pine Straw Edging ($)- Gardeners who use ‘hearty’ mulch like wood chips and bark nuggets can attempt piling it deeper around the edges of the bed to form a low barrier; the same is true of pinestraw. These mini “walls” can also help prevent the mulch or straw from spreading around your yard. (Pine straw may seem too light for this, however, the needle tend to interlock making it a feasible solution.) Trying this method shouldn’t costs too much more than your usual mulch or pine straw costs, because it doesn’t require much more of the same materials.

• Variable Cost:

  • Landscape Edging ($-$$$)- Many people take the extra plunge with low to high costs, in order to purchase nicely made wood, metal, plastic, or stone edging to help keep mulch in its designated area. These are all great options to use as long as they are several inches higher that the mulch. For example, if you edge a bed with a concrete border, but then fill the bed with mulch up to the top of the concrete border, you shouldn’t be surprised when the mulch still washes out of the bed.

When in Doubt, Call the Experts!

Whispering Springs Nursery has long offered excellent landscape design and installation services to our customers. These services even include softscapes and hardscapes, to make sure you get what your yard needs.

To learn more or to schedule a consultation, please contact Whispering Springs Nursery at 770-893-1254. We look forward to helping you make your specialized landscaping plans this spring!

Whispering Springs Nursery in Jasper, Georgia offers a wide selection of lovely woodland garden plants that perform well in area of Pickens County and many other surrounding areas. We specialize in a vast array of deer resistant plant materials and offer a large variety of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and more, that are all of excellent quality and well suited to our area.

Many people who have outdoor gardens have probably run into the problem of animals nibbling here and there on their plants and flowers. While some of these smaller creatures can often be deterred, larger animal like deer, can be a bit more difficult to keep away. The common White-Tailed Deer that is found in Georgia is known for eating just about anything that grows from the ground (grass, clovers, leaves, nuts, etc.); however, certain plants can deter it’s appetite and make it move along quicker. Just remember, if a deer is hungry enough it will still try to eat the following deer resistant plants.

Deer Resistant Plants  

The following is a list of plants noted for being deer resistant that grow in the south:

• Bear’s Breeches

• Butterfly Weed

• Caryopteris

• Chrysanthemum

• Crocosmia

• Dianthus

• Epimedium

• Goldenrod

• Hens and Chicks

• Joe Pye Weed

• New Zealand Flax

• Red-Hot Poker

• Rosemary

• Russian Sage

Whispering Springs Nursery is always here to help guide gardeners in Pickens County and beyond with advice about our plants. If you have any questions about deer resistant plants, please stop by or contact us so we can help!

Whispering Springs Nursery is the top Jasper, Georgia garden center and nursery that has all of your gardening needs, plus additional services like landscape, design and installation. We are experts in our field and enjoy educating others about horticulture and hobby gardening, whether they are new to it or have loved gardening for many years!

If you’re a gardener, having long lasting blooms on your flowers that last the entire season is usually pretty important to you. A great way to make this a reality is by doing the process of “deadheading” to your flowers.

Digitalis

According to about.com, deadheading is when a gardener removes dead or spent flowers in hopes of encouraging more flowering or to improve the overall appearance of the plant. However, not all plants need to be deadheaded; grasses, flowering vines, most groundcovers, “minor” spring-blooming bulbs and a few others have no need for this process.

Plants Deadheading Helps

The following is a general list of plants and flowers that the deadheading process may help:

• Roses

• Long-stem Flowers on Tall Stalks

• Shrubby Plants with Large Flowers

• Shrubby Plants with Many Small Flowers

Be careful if you’ve never gone through the deadheading process before so as to not confuse it with “pruning.” Pruning actually removes more parts of the plant than the deadheading process (which is just below the bloom and above the first leaf). If you’re unsure or are simply a visual learner, check out some online gardening videos about deadheading.  

At Whispering Springs Nursery we are always happy to answer any gardening questions you may have! Are you still unsure whether or not you should use deadheading in your garden? Send us a message on Facebook, give us a call, or better yet come to the nursery and see us in person! We’d be happy to help you in any way that we can; plus you can browse through our great selection of plants and flowers for your spring garden. Come get your green-thumb on with Whispering Springs Nursery today!

Daylilies