My Backyard Nursery

Sale Yard at Mimi's 

I've talked about my greenhouses and little backyard nursery for quite some time. Today I want to show you some of the plants I will have for sale on the Internet by spring of 2014. I am really excited about selling and shipping plants to folks outside of my neighborhood!

 has been growing and selling plants from our middle Tennessee location for the last 3 years and in the past at our former location in Robertson County. By the spring of 2014 we will be ready to ship our herbs, perennials, Hosta and other plants to most USA locations. States we Cannot Ship to are Washington, California, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho.

Mimi's will be adding pictures, descriptions and pricing for spring sales soon. Following are a few that we know should be available to ship in late April of 2014.

Herbs:

Greek Oregano, Spicy Hot Oregano, Golden Oregano, Italian Basil, Spicy Basil, Rosemary,  Lavender, Garlic chives, more

PERENNIALS 

Hosta:

Blue Mouse Ears, Hush Puppy, Sweet Innocence, more

Hydrangea:

Blue Lacecap, Rainbow, Blue Mophead, French Mophead

Butterfly Bushes (Buddleia)

Attraction, Pink Profusion, Griffon Blue, Honey bells, White Profusion and some new surprises too

Oxalis

Purple leaves/hot pink flowers and Green leaves/pink flowers.

Moon Flower Plant

Night blooming yellow fragrant flowers open like time-lapse photography!  See it in action in this video

http://www.mimisgreenhouse.com/

Tips for Using Hosta in Floral Arrangements

Sum and Substance Hosta

Whether jumbo like the Sum and Substance above (grandson Tad is my best garden helper!) or miniature like the little Blue Mouse ears at right, Hosta make a unique addition to a floral arrangement. The flowers of many Hosta are beautiful and fragrant.  The ones in the picture below are from my Choo Choo Train variety that lines one of my garden paths. Both the leaves and flowers of this one are pretty with my pink surprise lilies - we call them naked ladies here in the south. :-) The painting of the old Amqui Train Station is by my husband Bill. Bill is an accomplished artist and I'm pretty proud of him. Below are steps to making the vase lined arrangement.

Hosta bloom and leaves with lilies 

hosta leaves line the vase

            

  To line a vase with Hosta leaves choose leaves that will fit inside your vase and be totally submerged in the water. I chose small new leaves from one of my dark green Hosta to contrast with the lime foliage and Red Knock Out Roses (picture above).
 Start by deciding how many leaves it will take to go around your vase, lapping over each other. It took 3 leaves to go around my 4 inch square vase.
 I started in one corner and pressed the leaves up against the side of the vase. Now add other leaves behind the first keeping the stems hidden behind the  leaves.                                                                                       

press 1st leaf against the side

Continue until the vase is covered. Add water and flowers. The leaves will stay green and fresh for days!

 leaves overlapping around the vase

leaves covered with water

How to Keep Deer from Eating Your Landscape

Deer have adapted so well to suburbia that they have become a nuisance and are destroying our landscape. Yes, they are beautiful and we sometimes enjoy watching them but who can afford to replace expensive landscapes because the deer have eaten it to the ground? One year they ate all my mature Hosta that I had painstakingly moved from my former home. I planted Anise Hyssop around my beds and discovered that the deer hated it! Now I have beautiful hosta and no deer! Below is a list of plants that deer will avoid. It came from my favorite gardener Mike McGroarty and his daughter, Amber with a few additions  from me.

Here’s what we know about deer dining habits:

• As much as 90% of their water requirements are met by munching on lush greens and tender young, plant growth. 
• Deer prefer high protein crops such as peas, soybeans, turnips, alfalfa and corn.
• They like trail mix. Fruit, nuts and seeds are especially important when the green vegetation starts to dwindle. Corn that you may put out for birds attract deer too.
• There are very few animals that can resist the sweet smell of apples. Deer are one of them.
• They will happily rip off the bark of maples, aspens and dogwoods. They get water from their bark and it sits heavily in their four-chambered stomachs, keeping them full longer.
•  Now what do they avoid?
• Deer are sensitive to smells and most strong scents can drive them away (unless that smell is apples!)
• Like small children, deer don’t like strange textures in their food. They prefer not to eat things that are fuzzy, prickly or thorny. (They do like roses though. I guess in their case, the thorns are worth the taste of the delicious flower.)
• Deer avoid plants with milky sap and other plants that will upset their stomachs or give them heartburn.
• Deer prefer not to walk through sharp ornamental grasses or thorny brush to get to food.
• Deer avoid the prickly center of zinnia flowers

Okay, now what do they NOT like to eat.
There are a variety of beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees that we can plant in our yard that deer are unlikely to do much damage to. This list is based on information collected from searching educational web sites, retail and wholesale suppliers’ recommendations, public forums and personal experience.
These are divided into two categories: one: plants that deer generally dislike eating and two: plants that deer really dislike eating

Generally Dislike Eating
Bee balm
Buckthorn (Rhamnus)
Calla Lily
Columbine
Coral Bells (Heuchera)
Echinacea (Coneflower)
English Lavender
Evening Primrose
Gladiolus
Lily Turf
Oriental Poppy
Parsley
Rose of Sharon
Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan)
Sage (Salvia)
Smokebush
Speedwell
Weigela
Yarrow
Zinnia

Really Dislike Eating
American Holly
Anise Hyssop
Arrowwood Viburnum
Barberry
Bayberry
Bleeding Heart
Bluebell
Blue Fescue
Butterfly Bush
Catmint
Common Boxwood
Dwarf Alberta Spruce
Foxglove
Germander
Hummingbird Mint
Iris
Japanese Blood Grass
Lamb’s Ear
Lavender
Lily of the Valley
Lungwort
Maiden Grass
most herbs
Oregano
Poppy (note: Oriental Poppy fit in category one)
Purple Moor Grass
Red Hot Poker
River birch
Rosemary
Russian Olive
Russian Sage
Snap Dragon
Switchgrass
Thyme
Yucca