Start marking your calendars for upcoming winter classes at Yamagami’s Nursery. Starting Saturday, January 13th we are offering weekend classes on timely garden projects, starting with fruit trees, roses and general pruning. Class fee is $20 per person per session, which is rebated as a credit on merchandise good for the day of the class. Classes last between 1 and 2 hours, allowing time for individual questions after each session. We suggest you dress warmly and consider bringing a cushion for your folding chair.

Fruit tree pruning is not as technical or mysterious as you may think. Our instructor, Bradley Strawhorn, has over 15 years experience pruning and can you the simple guidelines for understanding the why, where, and how of shaping your trees for best fruit production. Attend one of his classes to gain the confidence to go out there and prune! Bradley will also cover dormant spraying to prevent spring infestations of peach leaf curl (and other fungal problems) and aphids. Preventative medicine is more effective and more benign than curative. Winter Fruit Tree Care sessions will be offered Saturday, January 13th at 10 AM and Sunday, January 14th at 2 PM.

Bradley will also demonstrate Fruit Tree Grafting on Saturday, January 27th at 10 AM.

Roses need some TLC in the winter for maximum display in the spring. Pruning and dormant spraying are important and Lorena Gorsche, our Rose Buyer, will share her expertise on these and general rose care topics in her Winter Rose Care classes. Lorena favors an organic gardening approach to rose growing as much as possible and will emphasize growing practices which enable roses to resist disease and insect problems. Sessions will be offered Saturday, January 13th at 2 PM; Tuesday, January 16th at 10 AM; Saturday, January 20th at 2PM and Sunday, January 21st at 2 PM. Lorena will also offer a Last Chance for Rose Pruning class on Sunday, February 11th at 2 PM.

It’s time to start pruning some (but not all) of those overgrown trees and shrubs. Alan Tagami, Yamagami’s Landscape Consultant, will offer tips on how and what to prune in his Pruning 101 classes. He will discuss tools and techniques in an easy to understand way and offer practical advice from his many years of experience. Sessions will be offered Saturday, January 20th at 10 AM and Sunday, January 28th at 2 PM.

By Lorena Gorsche, Rose Buyer

Vavoom! This aptly named Floribunda rose elicits exactly that response at first sight. Our test rose has excited all with its rich “orange juice” color and light, spicy fragrance. Vavoom is another gorgeous new rose from hybridizer extraordinaire Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses. Vavoom is a compact grower, easily tucked into flower beds or pots or anywhere you want color from spring through fall.

I continue to be amazed by how much roses have enhanced my garden without having a “proper, formal” rose garden. Vavoom and many other roses will deliver color and interest to any size garden. Recent rose breeding has focused on lower maintenance roses suitable for a residential garden. Check out our newly arrived roses for great garden candidates. I will be sharing my favorites for mixing with perennials throughout the season.

Brittany Lambert-Oka started working at Yamagami’s Nursery pretty much as soon as she legally could, at age 16. She has since graduated from Monte Vista High School and is now attending De Anza College. She is interested in pursuing a career in art and plans to start classes at West Valley College next semester because of its art curriculum. At the nursery Brittany is in charge of all our promotional signs and banners and also works as a cashier.

When not studying or working, Brittany prefers to be outdoors, camping and playing golf in the summer, snow boarding and skiing in the winter. Indoors she loves to listen to music, watch movies and play with Bibbs, the dowager queen kitty she has had since she was 8 years old.

Brittany enjoys her work here, especially socializing with customers. Probably because she is so cheerful and good-natured, Brittany brings out the best in everyone and has had nothing but good experiences with all our customers. Brittany is the daughter of Preston Oka and Kathy Fujii-Oka, owners of Yamagami’s Nursery, and has spent half her life hanging around here. Be sure to say hi to her on your next visit!

All Christmas items, including artificial trees and lights, are half off. Don't miss this chance to pick up some beautiful ornaments and other stocking stuffers for this year or next. A few select living Christmas trees are also on sale.

Store hours:
For Christmas, Yamagami’s Nursery will close at 3 PM on Sunday, December 24th and remain closed December 25th and 26th. We will close at 3 PM on December 27 for our Holiday party. We will close December 31st and January 1st to usher in the New Year.

Happy Holidays to All from all of us at Yamagami’s Nursery!

1. Try Something New:
Are you a rose freak? An orchid expert? Or maybe you only grow vegetables. At any rate, diversity is a good thing. Take a journey - however brief - down another avenue of gardening. Or, just try growing a new cool plant you've never seen before.

2. Learn to Like Spiders (or at least tolerate them):
Repeat after me..."Spiders are our friends. Spiders are our friends." Don't automatically reach for the Raid or rolled-up newspaper every time you see eight legs and a bunch of eyes staring back at you. Remember, the earth would be over-run with pests like flies, fleas and much more were it not for our fanged friends. If a spider or other relatively harmless bug gets in the house, try carefully catching it in a small container and releasing it outside before instinctively smashing it to bits. Or, if you're like me, allow a few out-of-the-way spiders to hang around. They'll keep your fungus gnat and earwig problems at bay, for sure. (Learn to identify the more harmful brown recluse and black widow spiders, however, and use orange oil on them if spotted.)

3. Don't Beat Yourself Up for Failures:
I guarantee you that even Martha Stewart has accidentally killed plants. Many times, a plant death isn't even the grower's fault plants, like the rest of us, eventually die. If the plant's demise was your doing, learn from your mistakes and move on.

4. Be Good to Mother Nature:
Wean yourself and your plants off of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Start a compost pile. Reuse plant pots. Plant native and/or waterwise trees, shrubs and perennials. Mulch, and use natural materials when doing so. It's all about building the soil.

5. Give Something Back:
Participate in or start up a community garden in your area. Share your love of gardening with kids and seniors. Got too many zukes? Take them to your local food bank. Gardening is at least twice as much fun when someone else benefits from your labor of love.