Plant Bareroot now!

The bareroot season will be short this year due to mild weather. I encourage you to plant soon! Fruit and shade trees, flowering trees and shrubs, lilacs, berries are available now at great savings over canned prices! 25% to 50% savings are standard and even greater on the giant shade trees.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the term bareroot, I will attempt an explanation. Bareroot plants are those that come to the nursery without soil around the roots, hence saving money on cans, soil, amendments and labor. This can only be accomplished in the dormant season, after the leaves have fallen. CAUTION: Buying trees and shrubs that have been stored inside a store can be FATAL in Tehachapi! The plants start to leaf out too early and are traumatized when planted in the frigid outdoors.

The soil is very nice to dig right now. So, everything is in your favor: low cost, soil conditions, weather, and the enjoyment of making your yard beautiful and more productive. These along with some much needed winter exercise are all beneficial!

Every year, the BIGGEST mistake people make is procrastination... they wait till Spring, when the weather is nice. That's too late for most plants. Again, bare root is only sold in January and February. In our climate, we are fortunate to be able to plant NOW. Other regions, like Zone 1-3 may be frozen nearly all winter or more tropical zones have a very short dormant season, so even though its chilly, we are fortunate. "Think of planting trees and bushes as a positive return from the production of fruit, shade for summer cooling and the enjoyment of flowering trees and shrubs."

There is a difference in fruit, that's why there are so many varieties. Why not buy something you really enjoy and grow it in your backyard, rather than buy only what the fruit stands might have available.

New this year: Pie Cherry - English Morello, Lapins Cherry - "Self Fertile Bing", Texas Mission Almond, All-in-One Almond; "Helen Borchers" flowering Peach - beautiful spring flowers, Peppermint Flowering Peach - pink and white, Raywood Ash, Catalpa Speciosa, Black Beauty, Fruiting Mulberry, Northern Red Oak, Merlot Redbud and Ruby Falls Weeping Redbud.

I just received confirmation that my bareroot supplier is going out of business after 70 years of operation! So, items will be in short supply starting next year. I should have enough for bareroot season this year.

Here at Mountain Gardens Nursery & Pet we have availability lists and planting instructions on request. Now is the time to dormant spray and apply preemergent herbicide for Spring weed control.

Make something beautiful happen and make gardening fun with Mountain Gardens.