Visit our brand-new organic recipe and cooking site filled with organic fast and easy recipes that we developed on our farm using fresh produce, whole grains, herbs and spices.

As foodies we love to cook and what better way to cook fresh than to use fresh, organic herbs and produce that we grow right on our own farm. Our recipes include new creations and fresh adaptations of old favorites.

We are constantly adding new recipes, so check back every week as we offer new cooking ideas on tips on how to cook fresh, fast and healthy! 

Our recipe site is: FreshOrganicRecipes.com

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Spring is the ideal time to clean up your garden, your yard and your perennials! At our farm we prefer cleaning up our perennial gardens and raised beds in the spring just as the perennial plants start to break dormancy. Cleaning up in the spring rather than in the fall provides perennial plants with necessary crown protection over the winter in case of a heavy snow load or freezing temperatures.

The photo at the right is a clump of Achillea 'Terra Cotta' yarrow just starting to break dormancy. The blue arrow points to the new growth and the pink arrow points to last years dead top growth.

For soft perennial plants, smaller ornamental grasses and herbs we use large shears to trim back the dead growth from last season while leaving the new growth. When cleaning up ornamental grasses in the spring trim last years foliage growth back to 2 inches to 3 inches just as the new green shoots are visible. Leaving several inches of last years foliage acts as a florist frog and helps to  hold young ornamental grasses upright in windy conditions.

When cleaning up perennial plants in the spring be careful not to damage the new shoots that are just emerging. Once the dead foliage is removed apply an application of organic fertilizer, a light layer of mulch and you are done!

        

New for 2010 - all of our healthy heirloom tomato plants, hybrid tomato plants, hot pepper plants and sweet pepper plants are being grown certified organic! We just started seeding our pepper and tomato plants for shipping this April, May and June.  Did you know that when you order 12 organic vegetable plants from us we will ship anywhere in the continental U.S. for just $16.45 - that is only $1.37 per plants. Despite the rising fuel and shipping costs, we have kept our shipping prices the same as they have been for the past few years.

Order your organic tomato plants and organic pepper plants early for best selection as we always sell-out and this year we expect to sell-out of the popular tomato and pepper varieties early!

Browse our varieties here:
Organic Heirloom Tomato Plants
Organic Hybrid Tomato Plants
Organic Pepper Plants
Organic Vegetable Plants

        

Like most gardeners we enjoy talking about gardening and sharing our knowledge of gardening tips with others. Our small staff is passionate about gardening! On any given weekend during the gardening season, our garden center and farm is filled with plant lovers and gardening devotees. If you live near our farm and nursery be sure to check out our weekly gardening classes.

You can access our Gardening Article Index on our main website by clicking on the button at the top left corner or just click on any of the article links below. We are constantly adding new gardening articles to our index. Below are some of our informational gardening articles on a wide variety of garden topics brought to you by the horticultural staff at Stargazer Perennials Farm and Nursery.

• My Monet^TM: The Only True Dwarf Weigelia

• Incrediball TM Hydrangea: The new, amazing hydrangea from Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs

• How to Make Fresh Holiday Wreaths and Swags

• Sunshine Blue^TM Caryopteris: A deer resistant, fall blooming shrub from Proven Winners

• Black Lace^TM: The hottest new Elderberry

• Coppertina^TM Physocarpus: The best native Ninebark for modern gardens

• Learn All About the Wonderful Family of Knockout Roses

• Lavender Chiffon^TM: A Vigorous, Heavy Blooming New Rose of Sharon

• How to Grow Healthy Roses Organically

• How to Grow Betty Boop Rose

• How to Grow Alpine Strawberries

• Black Beauty^TM Sambucus: An Exciting New Elderberry from Proven Winners

• How to Grow Organic Onions From Sets

• How to Grow the Stargazer Lily

• Hydrangea 'Limelight': A Stunning Hardy Hydrangea from Proven Winners

• How to Grow Dahlias

• Ebb Tide Rose: A Top Selling Rose at Our Nursery

• Deer Resistant Gardening Techniques

• How to Divide Perennials

• Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs

• How to Grow Asiatic and Oriental Lilies

• How to Grow German Iris

• How to Grow Gladiolus

• DIY: How to Build a Waterfall

• How to Select the Right Pond Pump

• DIY: How to Build a Pond Free Waterfall

• DIY: How to Build a Pond or Waterfall

• Geranium Rozanne: Perennial Plant of the Year 2008

• How to Grow Amaryllis

• Walker's Low Catmint: Our Favorite Perennial and the Perennial Plant of the Year 2007

• All About the Shasta Daisy

• Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola': Perennial Plant of the Year 2009

• Blue Muffin Viburnum: A Lovely New Viburnum from Proven Winners

• How to Grow Blueberries

• Bloomerang Lilac: New Reblooming Lilac from Proven Winners

• How to Grow Peonies

• Invincibelle^TM Spirit Hydrangea: The First Pink Mop-head Hydrangea from Proven Winners

        

Clematis are a versatile group of climbing garden vines that can add color and height to your garden. Clematis, like most flowering vines, are best displayed when trained over a trellis, planted adjacent to another climbing plant such as a climbing rose or encouraged to grow through a large garden shrub or on a tree.

Clematis are easy to grow if you just remember that they perform best when the majority of the vine is in full sun while the base of the vine and the roots are in the shade. Pruning clematis is essential to encourage new growth which in turn translates into more flowers. The easiest way to determine when to prune your clematis is to keep track of when it blooms. The three general clematis pruning categories are:   


GROUP 1: Clematis in Group 1 flower in the spring on old wood, or the previous season's growth. Very little pruning is needed except for occasional light shaping which can be done immediately after the main bloom is finished.

GROUP 2: Clematis in Group 2 bloom in early summer on last year's growth, and often have an additional bloom flush in the fall on the current year's growth. Group 2 Clematis only need to be pruned lightly by removing the top 10-12" of each shoot back to a firmly swollen bud in late winter or very early spring.

GROUP 3: Clematis in Group 3 are typically very vigorous vines that bloom on new growth of the current season. To promote heavy blooms every year the entire vine should be pruned back to about 2' from the ground, making sure to leave some healthy-looking new growth buds.

Clematis are easy to grow and will typically bloom for you the first year they are planted in your garden. Stargazer Perennials offers hardy clematis vines in 1 gallon nursery trade containers. We ship our hardy clematis vines throughout the United States May through October.

        

You can successfully grow a wide range of vegetables and small fruits organically in containers on your patio or in a very small garden space.
Many vegetables and small fruits lend themselves well to organic container gardening. Even at our farm, we tend to prefer to grow many small fruits such as dwarf blueberries and alpine strawberries in containers that are adjacent to patio areas rather than out in the main vegetable garden. With some thought to selecting bush or dwarf varieties, almost any vegetable or small fruit can be adapted to growing in a pot.  When you think about what container to use, don't forget to keep in mind that many vegetables and small fruits also grow well in hanging baskets. Ideal hanging basket varieties include: Supersweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes, Sunsugar Cherry Tomatoes and Alpine Strawberries. Vegetables that take up little space, such as carrots, radishes and lettuce, or crops that bear fruits over a long period of time, such as Early Girl Tomatoes and peppers, are perfect for container vegetable gardens.

What you decide to grow in a container vegetable garden is limited only by the size of the container, the time you have to care for your plants and your imagination. A few of our favorite container vegetable gardens that we grow at our farm are:

• Garden in a Barrel: Requires 1 whiskey barrel or similar size container. Fill container with organic potting soil for vegetables and work in a small amount of Down to Earth All Purpose fertilizer. Plant one 4" plant of each variety: Bush Early Girl Tomato, Cal Wonder Pepper, Purple Basil, Chives and Oregano. Water well. Fertilizer every 2 weeks with Maxicrop Liquid Kelp Fertilizer.

• Carrot, Radish & Herb Combo: Requires a container with a minimum size of 24" or a whiskey barrel. Fill container with organic
  potting soil for vegetables and work in a small amount of Down to Earth All Purpose fertilizer. Plant in the center of the container one of each variety in a 4" plant size: parsley, sage and oregano. Sprinkle the carrot seeds around the parsley plant, then sprinkle radish seeds around the outside of the container staying 1" inch away from the container wall. Top lightly with soil and mist. Keep moist until seeds germinate, then thin as needed. The radish plants will mature and be harvested first leaving room for the carrots which can be harvested as baby carrots for salads or stir-fry. The herbs are hardy perennials which can be left in the pot to over-winter with adequate water. 

• Salad Greens to Go: Use any size or shape container. Fill with organic potting soil for vegetables. Sprinkle salad greens, spinach or mesclun seeds and cover 1/4". Mist and keep moist  until seeds germinate. Cut as needed for fresh, organic salad greens!

We you think of container gardening don't forget about including small fruits. Two of our favorite small fruits for container gardens are Northcountry Blueberry Bush and Alpine Strawberry Plants. Northcountry Blueberry was bred specifically for use in container gardening or  very small gardens and is hardy to USDA zone 4. Alpine Strawberries are runner-less strawberry plants that produce all season long and are ideal for containers or hanging baskets.

        

Years ago we started taking high quality photos of our plants and our farm to use in our plant products at our online store, to use in our blogs and for use in our garden articles. This winter while searching for a photo we decided it would be nice to put our images in slide shows so other gardeners could view them also, thus started the major project for this winter! We started cropping and uploading a nice selection of the thousands of original photos that we have taken of our plants, our farm and our nursery over the past few years.  We have organized our photos into 2 different slide shows for your viewing pleasure. One slide show is just plants and the other slide show highlights pictures of our farm, our nursery and the surrounding countryside where we live. You can access our photos from our homepage by clicking on the link button shown here or through this blog. The plant slide show is at the top and you can view the other slide show by scrolling down just a bit. To start the slide show just click on any image and a larger photo will appear and the slide show will begin.

We were amazed at the amount of photos that we have accumulated over such a short span of time! Each week we will be adding new photos for your viewing pleasure. Click here to View Our Slide Shows!

NOTE: Please respect our request that all of our original photos are copyrighted and are not to be used for any purpose, and we mean any purpose,  without our expressed consent in writing.

Happy Gardening, Karyn & Nick

        

Wisteria frutescens ' Amethyst Falls ' is a popular wisteria vine at our nursery partly because we are always recommending it! Unlike most wisteria plants,  Amethyst Falls Wisteria is a non-invasive native wisteria that will rebloom in late summer. A polite climber, Wisteria Amethyst Falls will not destroy your arbor or pergola or choke out neighboring trees. A vigorous grower, Amethyst Falls will begin blooming typically the 1st or 2nd year that it is planted in your garden. The lovely, fragrant true blue pea-like flowers are produced on 8 inch racemes that cascade down the wisteria. A compact grower for a wisteria, Amethyst Falls will eventually reach 20 feet in height and width. This is an ideal wisteria to drape over an arbor, a pergola or train over an archway. A light mid-summer pruning will encourage a burst of new blooms in the early fall. Other notable attributes of Amethyst Falls wisteria are: high deer resistance, drought tolerance, disease resistant foliage and a bloom time that starts 2-3 weeks late than most wisterias to avoid the later spring freeze. 

You can buy Wisteria ' Amethyst Falls ' at our online store in 1 gallon pots or you can purchase it at our farm and nursery.

Why will my wisteria vine not bloom? To ensure that your wisteria will bloom for you always purchase Wisteria plants that have been grown from cuttings or grafted rather than seed grown plants. Wisteria vines grown from seed typically will remain in a juvenile stage for 10 to 15 years or longer during which time they will not bloom. Wisteria plants that are grafted, and plants grown from cuttings or layered from a flowering plant will usually begin flowering within 1-2 years.

Browse all of our hardy wisteria vines here..

        

Peonies are breathtaking plants to have in your garden in the early spring when they are in full bloom and covered by 5 inch and larger, colorful blooms. After they are done blooming, peonies take on the role of a medium sized background shrub in your garden displaying large, deep green leaves that are attractive and deer resistant. To keep your garden in full bloom throughout the growing season, try experimenting with companion planting.

In this picture taken at our farm in Summerville, Oregon we planted Karl Rosenfeld Peony at the base of a Morden Centennial Rose.  One of the first roses in our nursery to bloom each year, Morden Centennial rose keeps up the display all season long producing double red-pink flowers all along the long arching canes. In the fall, Morden Centennial produces lovely bright red hips. Morden Centennial Rose starts out blooming just after the flowers of Karl Rosenfeld Peony are open and keeps going long after the peony blooms have faded. The lush, green foliage of the peony plant makes for a nice backdrop for the red flowers of Morden Centennial rose.

        

This year the snow has been ideal for over-wintering many of our hardy perennials and roses including this group of our 2 gallon container grown Ebb Tide Roses that are enjoying a fresh snow from last nights storm.

We believe in growing tough, healthy plants that will thrive in your garden and frankly we just decided a few years ago to cease growing plants that were marginal or fussy!  The cornerstone of our successful rose growing program centers on growing our roses without any chemicals or pesticides using only sustainable and organic methods.

Ebb Tide rose is a cold hardy rose that is ideal for northern gardens. This tough , yet beautiful rose thrives on cold winters and warm summers. A top seller at our farm we paired it last year with Vavoom, a saucy rose with vivid orange-juice colored blooms, for a drop dead combination. So if you live in a colder climate zone such as ours which is a USDA Zone 5, don't shy away from roses, just make sure you select only cold hardy roses and you will be amazed at the results that you have.

You can browse our entire selection of cold hardy roses here...


Here's a picture of Ebb Tide rose in full bloom: