Imagine a lakeside retreat in your own backyard complete with darting dragonflies, tranquil water and a sense of serenity. It could be yours more easily than you think. Come in to see our new water garden display with a large selection of plants from stately Lotus and lush Water Lilies, to Papyrus and other breezy reeds and all the lovely smaller plants in between.

Don’t have the space or time to handle a pond? No problem. Container water gardens are easy to build and maintain. Set one up next to your favorite chaise and you have your own lakeside retreat on your deck. With the right combination of plants and fish you won’t even need a filter. We carry pet, fish and bird-safe Mosquito Dunks, so no worries about breeding mosquitoes either. Yamagami’s offers many sizes and types of containers suitable for water gardens.

For those of you with existing water gardens, now is the time to redecorate them with fresh new beauties. We carry water plant soil and lily baskets if you need to divide or transplant your existing plants. We also offer filters, pumps and water garden remedies to keep your pond balanced, healthy and happy. Come on in to Yamagami’s for your water garden needs and enjoy your own lakeside retreat at home.

The cheerful person who often greets you with a smile when you enter Yamagami's is Amy Root, Manager of Cashiers and Garden Supply Buyer. Amy started at Yamagami's 10 years ago as a Prospect High senior working part-time. Since then she has worked her way through West Valley College and San Jose State University, earning a BA in Communications with a minor in Business. Amy's responsibilities here have also progressed during that time. Somehow through it all she maintains the same bubbly, friendly attitude that has endeared her to customers and vendors alike.

In her private life, Amy loves the great outdoors and takes camping trips whenever her schedule allows. Having grown up in this area, Amy has a wide circle of friends and a full social life. With seemingly boundless energy Amy and her beau are also starting an internet business in their "off" hours.

One of the challenges facing all our buyers is the seasonality of what is in demand at any given time. Amy is always on the look-out and is responsible for our carrying Sunday Afternoon Hats; greatly in demand now, not so much in December, for example. (See article below for more info) If there is something you feel is especially useful but we don't offer it, be sure to let Amy know!

Love to be outside but worried about sun damage? How about some stylish and effective sun protection? Sunday Afternoon Hats offer a UPF rating of 50 which means that only 1/50th of the UV (dangerous) rays pass through to you. The hats are cool, lightweight and comfortable and also offer protection to the back of your neck, ears, and face, just right for all your outdoor activities. They roll up for easy packing and are perfect for travel. Styles and sizes are available for men, women and children. Come try one on for the protection it offers then enjoy its comfort and style.

By Tamara Galbraith

It's mid-summer, your tomato plants are humming along and even starting to bear fruit. Then one day while checking your toms, you notice lots of leaves in the middle and bottom of the plant are either munched or totally gone. Your tomatoes themselves might even show damage. What happened?

You've probably unknowingly provided a four-star restaurant for a large caterpillar known as the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata). This chubby, ever-hungry garden pest is generally green, with several V-shaped marks down its back, and a blue/black "horn" on the tail.

Hornworms can be controlled with Safer Caterpillar Killer, an organic pesticide. It contains BT, bacteria harmless to all but caterpillars. Hand-picking and dropping into a bucket of soapy water is also good if it doesn't freak you out to handle them (wear gloves, though).

For a science lesson for kids, keep one or two and put them in a jar with holes punched in the lid and some leaves for food until they pupate. Hornworms are the larvae of the beautiful hummingbird/sphinx moth. Watching this fat ugly caterpillar turn into such a lovely creature over the course of a couple of weeks is a great experience for gardeners young and old. Once they reach the moth stage, they are no longer a threat to plant health and should of course be set free.

Bougainvilleas are one of the showiest sub-tropical plants you can grow around here. They are drought-resistant, free from pests and diseases, romantic, glowingly colorful, and easy to grow - but not easy to plant or get started. Use the vining types to climb over walls, fences, and arbors. The shrub types are spectacular in pots poolside or in any sunny location. Choose plants with the color, eventual size, and growth habits you desire in mind.

Here is the best way to plant them in the ground: Choose a spot in full sun, preferably where the roots can also get full sun. Planting against a south or west facing wall will provide some frost protection for the plant as well as ample heat for bounteous blooms.

Dig a hole twice as wide as the container and the same depth as the container. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the hole, and work in GreenAll Sure Start. Cover this with enough soil that, when you set in the plant, the top of the root ball will be level with or slightly higher than the surrounding ground. Mix the soil you removed from the hole 50/50 with GreenAll Fir Mulch to use as backfill.

Bougainvilleas are fragile when young and often killed when they are planted because their roots and crown are broken. Turn the plant on its side. With sharp pruning shears, cut around the bottom of the container and look to see if it is well-rooted. If it is, slip the plant out sideways by pushing from the bottom. Lower it carefully into the hole while supporting the roots with your hands. Backfill with your 50/50 mix.

If the plant is not well rooted, slit the sides of the container from the bottom up in several places, then tape it back together with masking tape. Lower the plant into the hole with the taped container holding the roots in place. Loosen the tape and slide the bottom out. Slip out the cut pieces from the sides as you backfill the hole with your 50/50 mix.

Press the soil down around the plant with your hands (not too hard). The top of the root ball should be be level with or slightly higher than the surrounding ground. Make a 2” tall watering basin from your native soil around the hole and water deeply right away. Do not water again until the soil 2” down is barely moist then deep water. Thereafter, water deeply after the ground dries out 2”-3” deep.

Container plants should be planted in the same manner, except that you will use straight potting soil as backfill. Do not put gravel, broken pieces of pottery or anything other than screen over the drainage holes.

Bougainvilleas are drought resistant, not because they don't need water but because their roots go deeply into the ground until they find an underground water source. When young, they can take regular watering as long as drainage is adequate. Feed them twice a year in April and September.

After three to five years you can stop fertilizing in fall and reduce the frequency of summer watering to once a month or every six weeks or perhaps never, depending on placement and variety. Container-grown vines will always need regular fertilizer and water. Follow these simple steps and succeed the first time with these colorful beauties.