by Mary Ann Sullivan

There's so much to do around my azalea bed this time of year...making sure that there is a thick blanket of mulch protecting those delicate root systems, pulling the occasional stray weed, gathering oak leaves for composting, and trying to find room for "just one more azalea". This is a good time of year to prepare an azalea bed for spring planting, so that when the time comes to choose (and with all the choices available lately, that can be a difficult decision!) you will be ready to plant and enjoy.

Choosing the right place will make azalea gardening a whole lot easier, though my professor says that the best location is in Augusta, Georgia during the Masters Tournament. True, but I'm not making a trip there every spring when I can have azaleas here with a little extra effort. I've found that a site that receives morning sun until 11 a.m. and is shady thereafter decreases your chances of summer leaf burn but gives enough light for good flowering.

After planting, consider putting down a soaker hose to keep the plants watered and the flowers dry..soggy azalea blossoms don't last as long. Mulch the area about 2" deep to protect those shallow root systems and keep weed pulling to a minimum.

Then enjoy...the right preparation will give years of beautiful springtime flowers. But don't forget to save room for "just one more azalea".....

As you sit in your arm chair looking through seed catalogues this winter and dream of the garden yet to come this spring, you can enjoy the fruits of last season’s herb garden by sipping a cup of herb tea to warm your toes and well as your spirit.

Two of my favorite tea herbs include lemon verbena and Chamomile. Each of these herbs is easy to grow and offer flavor and aroma that can stand alone, however, they taste even better when blended together.

Lemon Verbena is a tender perennial that seems to do best in well draining soil with a little relief from the afternoon hot summer sun. This herb has a strong lemon flavor that tastes great in hot or cold tea and its dried leaves make excellent potpourri.

Then there is Peter Rabbit’s favorite treat, Chamomile tea. This little herb is a little harder to grow. A Texas hot summer can make it disappear without proper watering. With a little TLC both the German and the Roman Chamomile provide lovely blossoms for a sweet sleep inducing tea. Both varieties of Chamomile need well draining soil and relief from the afternoon sun. After a busy day at the office a cup of chamomile tea is like slipping into a pair of well worn comfy slippers.

For more herb tea combinations refer to The Herbal Pantry by Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead or Mother Nature’s Herbal by Judy Griffin, Ph.D. Both these books are available in the North Haven Gardens book section and would make excellent gifts for Valentine’s Day.

Mid-winter is the ideal time to plant fruit trees. North Haven’s horticulturists or your County Extension agent can help you select the best type and variety for your location, and provide cultural information. Following is a list of the most common fruits and berries grown in our area.

Apples do best in our area as dwarf trees in containers, or small raised beds. Mollies Delicious and Dwarf Granny Smith are good varieties we carry.

Peaches and Plums are possibly the most rewarding of our fruit trees. They are attractive smallish trees that may bear fruit in as little as 3-4 years. Methley is a very superior plum variety. Dwarf peaches make great landscape plants. Red Skin, Harvester and Ranger are good local varieties. Pears are among the best fruits for our area, provided varieties resistant to fire blight are selected. Asian pears have unique and wonderfully crispy, juicy fruit. Moonglow and Oriental are the best varieties for our area.

Apricots often bloom so early in late winter that they may bare fruit infrequently. A nice crop will reward you on the lucky years they don’t get caught by late frosts. Moorpark is a superior local apricot variety.

Figs are best grown as bushes, rather than trees. Brown Turkey figs and Celeste are hardiest and Texas Everbearing is a variety that may bear from new growth, even after winter damage.

Persimmons, although slow to start, are our most attractive and problem free fruit tree. Fuyu and Eureka are a good dwarf varieties, and Tane Nashi, Tamopan, and Hachiya are good standard varieties.

The best berries are Brazos, Rosborough, and Womack blackberries. Seibel 9110 hybrid and Red Flame are good grape varieties. In sandy acid soil areas, Tifblue and Woodard blueberries also do well.

North Haven stocks the best varieties of fruit trees for Dallas plus a full line of chemical and organic plant care products to insure your success.

Step into the 21^st Century with a visit to North Haven. You will be delighted with our new automatic doors and our many changes taking place in the retail store. Gift shopping has never been so easy or so much fun!

Garden art will be the focus of the season and we have chosen several new collections for you to choose from. These are different from our collection of statuary we regularly stock. These have movement and wonderful color. Beautiful copper screen and wire dragonflies would like to fly and light in your garden. They have a wonderful wingspan of eleven to seventeen inches and are perched atop a 28inch rod.

Copper and colored glass objects have arrived in a variety of forms and sizes. The colored glass spheres are wrapped with copper wire to hold them in place atop their copper pole. The are accompanied by a variety of garden "bugs" and butterflies. Copper bird feeders will complete the copper collection. For the more rustic look, check-out the rusted steel frogs, fish, dragonflies, hummingbirds and lilies all on matching stakes. For those woodland areas we have rabbits, squirrels, moose and geese atop matching stakes and they are the "non nibbling" variety. What could be easier to pop several pieces of art into the flower bed or ground cover areas for a surprise gift.

If you are looking for the truly unusual, we have a great collection of galvanized metal furniture and accessories. This collection offers a love seat, side chairs, game table, coffee table and smaller pieces such as planter boxes and watering cans. Pile bright pillows on the love seat and chairs and set back and enjoy the garden view. For the more traditional taste, we continue to offer a great selection of beautiful teak furniture: benches, chairs and tables. Special orders are always welcome.

Gift items change quickly and so you will have to come shopping often to enjoy all our new suggestions. Of coarse the treasured North Haven Gift Certificate remains a popular gift. See you soon for happy shopping.