MANY,MANY MONARCHS!

To all you butterfly lovers...
Remember last summer the Monarchs traveled a different route and hardly any at all stopped in Craven County before continuing on their long journey? Well this year is just the opposite! We have so many chrysalis' and hardly enough food for them (the Asclepias plant which is their only source of food)
Just a FYI: we have a few Butterfly Castles set up at the garden center so you can come in and see them change into chrysalis and then into the beautiful Monarch butterfly!

Stayed tuned for our announcement of the date when we will have a "Release " program at the garden center. We have over 100 chrysalis at the farm presently with more forming daily. When they hatch, we will bring them at Pinecone and release them into the wild so they could then continue on their arduous journey. Rob and I first will tag each one with a numbered little (very little) stick on tag onto their wings. Being that Rob is part of the "Northern Butterfly Association" and "The Xerces Society",we are seriously involved in trying to save the limited number of this butterfly. By tagging them, we enable those that then find the beautiful creature far away to know the route they took and exactly where they were born.

Please contact us for more information on how you too can help save this wonderful nearly extinct beauty. Click on the following link and learn some very interesting facts about this beautiful butterfly.
http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/monarch-butterflies-facts.html

Fall Vegetable Plants and Mums

Have you yanked out all of the ugly tomato plants and are looking forward to the Fall vegetables?
They are ready and waiting for you... the broccoli, cabbage, collards etc. These crops are easier to grow than the summer vegetables because the cooler temperatures are kinder to the plants and there are less bugs. 
The early varieties of mums are also available - time to replace all of the annuals that have taken a beating with all of the rain we have had.
Let's refresh and restart!

A New Adventure!

Wendy's New Adventure!

After managing our garden center for the past 14 years and before that, someone else's for many years all adding up to 32 years doing what I have always loved to do, my body and mind is telling me it is time to venture out into something new. (no worries, I along with Rob, still continue to own Pinecone Perennials!)

I have been doing quite a bit of landscape design during this past year in New Bern and from Oriental to the Raleigh area. This design work gives me an opportunity to use my art background and it feels really good to be creative and still keep my hands in the dirt and around the plants I love so much.

As I have done with our garden center all these years, I believe in order to do anything really well, one needs to tackle what they are pursuing with zealous, energetic, passion. I hate to admit it to myself let alone anyone else, but my age has spoken: "You are not 25 anymore or 55 anymore". Bottom line - I cannot give both ends of our business my "all" full time anymore. So I have chosen to take the landscape design more seriously and start my own company, hence...

"Les Jardinieres D'Art , Artistic Garden Designs".

32 years in this business is quite a bit of time to really love what I have done. I have been blessed and lucky that I have learned with passion the horticulture field and now I am excited to pursue another avenue in the area. I have hungrily embraced the design part of the business and eagerly have gained much knowledge which I know will aid me at being successful as I go forward.

Rob and I have succeeded in our business because we have been blessed to have employed some of the most hard working, responsible, honest people over the years. Some of these people are now managing our garden center and doing a fine job of it under my direction.

I have chosen to make this announcement because I miss seeing all of you and hope to meet now and then when I am strolling around the garden center.

Also, if you or someone you know needs assistance in the landscape field, please remember me.

Feel free to stay in touch or call me anytime for help with anything!

The best to you,

Wendy

Les Jardinieres D'Art  252-229-4783

PS If you are ever at or around Craven Community College, stop in to stroll through the Rose Garden and the Student's Court Yard. Both designs are some of my latest work!

SALE, SALE, SALE

Unadvertised Sale for all of you who have graciously signed up to receive our emails!

Starting tomorrow,  7/14, and running until Monday,  7/21 we will have on sale:
 all trees and shrubs 25% off
All perennials, annuals and houseplants 40% off

Take advantage of this opportunity to save while having a chance to replace some tired annuals, start a new perennial garden or plant a tree to finish or begin a new landscape project. 

VEGGIES ARE READY

News for our Pinecone Veggie Co-Op folks...
I have sent out an email to all of you who have signed up for the Co-Op stating that the vegetables will start being available at the garden center this Saturday,  6/28. Many of your email addresses are no longer up to date and you will not get my message so I am hoping you will receive this information or someone will be nice enough to pass it on to you.
We are planning on having the veggies at the garden center at 10:00 tomorrow as long as the weather they are predicting for today doesn't get so bad that it does not allow us to pick in the fields. If that is the case, we will be a bit later with delivery.
I will send out another email and blog regarding the time frame. You could also call the store or email me directly.
Looking forward to our first vegetable get together!
Wendy
pineconeperennials@ gmail.com

JUNE - PERENNIALS PLANT MONTH!

You know how it is - Hallmark Cards started inventing their own holidays so they could design and sell cards for any occasion. Well I have a new one for you!...

The month of June is "Perennial Plants Month"! But instead of purchasing greeting cards, we invite you to invest in the wonderful plants that reliably emerge from winter's grasp year after year making our gardens and homes look so lovely.

We have a large selection of perennial varieties in a rainbow of colors. There are the usual tried and true which are mostly native, so that means they are tough and reliable. There are quite a few new selections and a terrific collection of Asclepias. For all that didn't know, Asclepias or Butterfly Weed as it is more often called, is the only food source for the beautiful Monarch butterfly. Since we as a population use too many chemicals on our lawns and along our ditch lines, this plant is in decline and extrememly difficult to find in the wild. The Monarchs are on the verge of exstinction so we implore everyone to introduce at least one Butterfly weed in your gardens and help us save the Monarchs!

We still have some nice, healthy vegetable plants for those just getting started and a good selection of colorful annuals to spruce up that back patio or front porch.

Stop in and say hello and take advantage of any "Specials" we have going on...

Milkweed Incarnata - Monarch's food of choice!

                            

HELLO APRIL!!!  Well, we knew Spring would eventually win….even if it took a beating this year.  We have the most amazing selection of Flowering trees in the store right now...  Multiple varieties of Red buds; Lavender Twist, (a weeping variety), Merlot…(Purple leaves!), Oklahoma and Chinese.  We have Higan Cherry, a lovely weeping variety, Yoshino Cherry, and Kwanzan Cherry.  

We have Korean Stewartia, which only gets more amazing in the fall…...

Paperbark Maples, Krauter’s Vesuvius Plums, (one of my favorites), White Fringetrees, Dogwoods, Genie Magnolias,

and terrific looking River Birch….(I know not really a flowering tree but worth mentioning none the less)…..                  

We are so excited about our tree selection, we just needed to share it!  See you soon!