Coprosma 'Rainbow Surprise' boasts a rainbow of colors which change by the season. The spring-into-summer foliage is emerald green and cream with pink accents but changes in the fall to hot pink and olive green for the winter. It’s a show all year round without having to rely on flowers. Use it as a foundation shrub, hedge or even a container plant. It grows to about 5 feet tall and wide but can easily be kept smaller with pruning. If you are looking for a showy, low maintenance, evergreen shrub, this could be the one!

Forsythia 'Magical® Gold' is a welcome blast of color heralding the onset of spring. It’s a stunner with huge (the size of a quarter) blossoms that cover the branches from the base of the plant to its tips. Magical® Gold grows upright to 4 to 5 feet tall and wide, and its long straight branches are spectacular as cut flowers. It is deciduous (very frost hardy) and its vertical bare branches add structural interest to the winter garden.

Celebrate the onset of spring with these fabulous garden plants from Monrovia Growers. Let the trained professionals at Yamagami’s Nursery help you banish the winter garden blahs with these and many other great garden choices. We are here to help you succeed the first time in all your gardening projects.

The Original Mulch Block by Element 6 may be just what you have been waiting to see: the easiest, most convenient way to add mulch to your garden! By now most people know that mulching is the single most important thing you can do for your soil and garden. Most people want to mulch but are daunted by the prospect of lugging around heavy, dirty bags in their car and then in the garden. A 2’ to 4” layer of mulch around your plants often means either a lot of bags or a lot of sweaty wheelbarrowing, neither choice very appealing. Now you have another choice!

The Original Mulch Block is a compressed block of coir, clean and lightweight. Coir is a coconut husk fiber, a totally organic, biodegradable, renewable resource. It makes an outstanding mulch, holding 5 times its weight in water, retaining its color, and lasting up to 3 years. The block itself measures 11” by 11” by 5.5” and weighs only 9 LBS. Each block will fluff out to 2 cubic feet when 5 gallons of water are added! The blocks are easy to carry and move around. They do not leak or ooze or stain. The Original Mulch Blocks are unsurpassed in convenience!

Want to know more? Join us on Saturday and Sunday, March 17th and 18th from 10 AM to 2 PM as Mike Emanuel, President of Element 6, demonstrates how easy the Mulch Blocks are to use and discusses how beneficial they are for your garden. He will be giving a 15 minute talk on the hour (10,11,12,1 and 2) and at the end of each presentation will pass out coupons for a FREE Original Mulch Block! Limit one coupon for family. We think you’ll agree that Mulch Blocks are simply the most convenient way you have ever seen to get your garden what it really needs! Bring in the dimensions of your planting beds and we’ll help you figure out how many you need. Your garden will laugh at the baking summer sun!

Get planting and grow your own gourmet garlic mashies. We’ve just received four varieties of garlic sets and a dozen varieties of seed potatoes. Choose from early, mid and late season varieties for a long harvest season. Potatoes and garlic are very easy to grow and can even be grown in containers. Seed potatoes are available for red, white, yellow, blue, russet and fingerlings. Be sure to pick up a copy of our FREE Potato Planting Guide and Garlic Planting Guide while you are here.

Here’s one way to grow potatoes in containers:
Use a large (18” or larger) clean container: half barrels are ideal. Drainage holes are absolutely necessary. Drill several 1/2 inch holes in the bottom. It also helps to drill some holes in the side about half-inch up from the bottom of the container. Place it in an area that gets at least full morning sun. All afternoon sun is fine too but plants will need more frequent watering. Wooden containers can take full sun better than clay or thinwalled plastic ones.

Fill the container with about 6 inches of Gardner & Bloome Potting Soil. Mix in about a handful of Osmocote 14-14-14 Fertilizer. Osmocote is a slow release fertilizer that feeds for 2 1/2 months. Place whole seed potatoes on the soil about 5 inches apart. Add more potting soil to just cover all the potatoes, then water them thoroughly.

The potatoes will begin to grow. When the vines reach 4 inches long, loosely cover all but the top 1 inch with Gardner & Bloome Harvest Supreme. Every time the vines grow another 4 inches, add Harvest Supreme loosely to cover all but the top inch. Continue this process until Harvest Supreme level is about 1 - 2 inches from top of container.

Stake up the vines so they don't fall over and break. Place 4 bamboo or wood stakes (one in each corner) and tie the vines to the stakes with twine. After 2 1/2 months from planting, fertilize with a Maxsea 16-16-16 about every two weeks according to directions on the label. Keep them well watered, especially in the heat of summer. Use a Dramm waterwand or watering can to avoid watering the leaves.

Soon after the vines begin to flower, they will begin to produce potatoes underground. Once they have become big enough, you can reach in and pick a few “new potatoes” They won't store well so pick them and cook them. After the vines die back at the end of summer, the potatoes remaining are storing potatoes.

Wait 2 weeks after the tops die down to harvest the potatoes (to help toughen their skin) for better storage. Let potatoes air dry above ground for a couple of hours before cleaning and storing. Store in a dark, cool, and relatively dry location.

You’ll never taste better potatoes than the ones you grow. This is a great project for families with kids.

Say so long to winter at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, a five day garden festival featuring speakers, display gardens and loads of garden related shopping. You’ll find over 60 free do-it-yourself demonstrations and seminars; Sproutopia: a place for kids; and live music, food and wine.

It’s fun for the whole family! The show runs March 21 through March 25, 2007 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Pick up your advance tickets at Yamagami’s Nursery until March 20 and avoid the long lines at the show.

March Tomato Madness! Get a head start on your tomato harvest by planting cold tolerant varieties the RIGHT way and harvest by Father’s Day, if not before! Steve Goto, organic grower, brings in his specially grown Heirloom tomatoes and discusses the RIGHT way to plant and grow them. Saturday and Sunday, March 3rd and 4th from 10AM to 2 PM. John Valentino of John & Bob's Soil Optimizer will be here on Sunday, March 4th. FREE

Introducing Mulch Block from Element 6. The latest, greatest mulch for homeowner use. Mike Emanuel, President of Element 6, will be here Saturday and Sunday, March 17th and 18th from 10 AM to 2 PM with a 15 minute demonstration on the hour. At the end of each demo you will receive a coupon for a FREE Mulch Block! Limit one free block per family.

Weeds steal water and fertilizer from your flowers, but they can be stopped with Preen before they even sprout. Come take advantage of our Weed-Free Color! Receive a FREE sample pouch of Preen, our favorite pre-emergent, when you purchase a flat of jumbo packs. Each sample pouch covers up to 200 square feet! Limit one free pouch per family. Saturday and Sunday, March 24th and 25th. Meet Tom Leahy on Sunday, March 25 from 10 AM to 2 PM to learn more about Preen.