Beyond the Pail

Beyond: Folklore has it that you and your Dad began the business together. Tell us about that: what year was it, how old were you?

OMNI: True to folklore my Dad aka "the Hippy" and I started this business a little over 25 years ago. I was a wee child in my teen years.

B: What was the focus? physical set-up? clientele/market? your specific role?

OMNI: Out of focus mostly, we were trying to help develop the concept of the self sustaining back yard gardener. Our motto was if you can't eat it we don't need it. Our aim was to get people to rip out their azaleas and plant some fruit trees. There's a lot to be said for growing food t o feed yourself and getting in touch better with Mother Nature. We started with little to no infrastructure and no know-how except a very good background in home organic gardening. Our tools were an old beaten up Datsun station wagon, some gardening hand tools and a $35.00 beer tab at Even's Bait and Tackle. Clientele? Market? We were just trying to get by. Clientele was anybody that would listen and market, well let's just say there were a lot of more people putting in azaleas then ripping them out. My official title in the nursery was head propagator, but in reality it was mostly head plant killer until I got the hang of grafting. I have a pedigree from the University of Hard Knocks.

B: After Dad went to the orchard in the sky, what changes did you make?

OMNI: Well I just never was as hardcore edible as my Dad. So I thought we should take the direction of planting some fruit trees with the azaleas instead of just ripping them out. After all flowers do have a valuable place in the joy of life. Our focus now is to help people to create "Gardens of Eden" in their own back yards, and to explore the world of plants beyond the shelves of Wal-mart. So many plants, so little time.

B: Your husband and partner, Ted, has been influential as well, obviously. Some of his contributions?

OMNI: If my good Karma ever had a payback it was meeting Ted. He's the bright song in my day. He brings sound logic and feedback to decision making in the nursery and is our official speaker to bureaucrats, a task I assure you no one wants.

B: What is your favorite task related to running the nursery?

OMNI: I guess at this point helping the wheels of the nursery turn smoothly. We are really blessed to have such great people helping out at the nursery, so about all I do is a little of this and some of that, It's perfect - I like the variety.

B: Least favorite?

OMNI: Answering e-mail. I'd rather talk directly to people.

B: What general advice would you most like for your gardening fans to take seriously?

OMNI: That you get out of gardening what you put into it. It's a great life lesson in giving.

B: If you could fulfill three wishes for JF&E, what would they be?

OMNI: That's a trick question. They have all been fulfilled.

B: In your second life, what would you choose as your ideal career or occupation?

OMNI: Travel guide in Borneo.

One of the most-asked questions by newcomers to the area, who have often moved into a new housing development (or have been long-time residents but find themselves surprised by a new development alongside them), is "What can I plant that will create an instant screen between me and my (too close) (too nosy) (too messy) (too ugly) neighbor?" This is a potentially life-changing challenge, when you stop to think about it. It was Robert Frost who said, in his poem "Mending Wall", that "good fences make good neighbors."

There are many fast-growing shrubs that will provide, in time, a living wall between you and your neighbors. Your first step in establishing that hedge is to think about the look you most would prefer. You may want a formal hedge trimmed into a neat rectangular wall. Wax leaf ligustrum, sweet viburnum, or Ocala anise are all good, commonly used choices for a quickly growing, easy-care, evergreen screen that can be pruned that way. All of them can be very drought tolerant once established, and all can also be left to grow into their natural forms if not pruned into a formal hedge.

A more interesting solution would be to think of your barrier as an opportunity to develop an area where wildlife might be welcome, or at the very least, provide you with a more interesting view that changes with the seasons. You might consider using a variety of trees and fruiting bushes that would attract birds, for example. Including some trees into your scheme will give you the advantage of quick height while the smaller shrubs are growing up to fill in the mid-level area. You can use evergreen trees such as Savannah hollies, sweet bay or magnolia, or cedars and junipers. Including a few deciduous trees such as sugar maples, river birch (which is an extremely fast-growing and lovely tree), contorted mulberry, or ginkgo will give you a splash of color in the fall and some lovely archetectural interest in the bare forms during the winter. The added advantage of using a mixed-shrub hedge is the ease with which you can fill in holes, replace unsuccessful (i.e., dead) trees, or change the look. It needn't be a straight-line hedge, in other words, but can be a "wandering" border where you, too, can wander.

We are always in favor of incorporating some edible landscaping into any new plan, and there are some marvelous possibilities for your "good fences". Blueberry bushes are very easy-care and rewarding, provide fall color, and can also produce fruit in conditions of light shade. Pineapple guavas can be either pruned to hedge form or left to grow into drought-tolerant, silvery evergreen trees, which will drop interesting fruit in October. Loquat and citrus trees are evergreen and rewarding to grow. Mulberry trees are extremely rapid-growing and provide you and the birds with sweet treats. Goumi, or eleagnus bushes, have great potential to be a versatile and productive hedge with edible berries. I have even recommended banana trees as an instant, lush (and easy) solution to the boredom and spacial restrictions of a wooden privacy fence. For an exotic change of pace, there are some lovely bamboos which can create an interesting wall. At our nursery, you can see a mature (about 9 years old) stand of a clumping bamboo called Silver Stripe. There are several kinds of hardy bamboos that work well in our zone, but you should choose a "running" bamboo with extreme caution, unless you have unlimited space for that bamboo to run! Bad fences make mad neighbors!

There is another, even quicker, way to create a screen between you and an undesirable view. If you have a favorite sitting area in your back yard, or a deck or patio that you would like to make more use of, you can create an "instant" wall close in to this area that will serve as a temporary (or permanent) private "garden room" while your distant and more permanent hedge is taking shape. This can be easily accomplished by using a freestanding trellis (I currently use a tri-part hinged metal one, but in my former residence I built a "courtyard" out of lattice fencing panels) positioned in such a way that when you are in this room, your main view is that trellis and the container plants you have artfully chosen to place in front of it. Some will be baskets that you can hang from that trellis. You can use a mixture of tall plants such as fast-growing exotics, cacti, or small potted trees (Japanese maple, for example) with shorter pots of flowers to create a pleasing palette of colors and textures near your patio table.

I enjoy having my morning cereal out in my tiny garden room, reading the paper and watching the birds come to the feeder nearby. I don't have to view the chain-link fence at the back of my property or the neighbors on each side of my small city lot. Whatever view appeals to you, we can help you select and care for a solution appropriate to your style, budget and specific locale. The important thing to remember is that young trees and shrubs do not come out of the pot with any drought tolerance, generally speaking, and that you must give them some water, fertilizer, love and attention (or at least cuss them out on a regular basis) for a good six months before their roots begin to develop the maturity necessary for that drought tolerance. As the old song goes, when things go wrong, it hurts us too!

Did You Know?

At Just Fruits & Exotics, we have a lot more than just fruits! A lot more than just fruits and exotics, in fact. We have a wide variety of landscaping shrubs and trees as well as colorful annuals and perennials, ferns, ornamental grasses, bamboos, ginger lilies, taros and alocasias, sedums and succulents, and vegetable starts for your garden. In addition to all these botanical wonders, we have colorful metal fish and gecko art! Stunning pottery in a wide range of styles and prices! Terrariums, tiny gardens in jars! Birdbaths artfully created by one of our own family! Mosaic glass stepping stone artworks! A wide range of fertilizers, soil amendments, and garden chemicals! Organic and heirloom seeds! Micro-irrigation supplies! Fill your pickup bed with Mushroom compost, topsoil, potting soil, or pine bark! If none of that gives you satisfaction, we have gift certificates! Gardens to wander through! Benches in the shade! Don't let summer heat stop you from coming to see us! We're here for you even if it's 99 degrees (but not, of course, on Mondays or Tuesdays)!

Coming Attractions

If you have a taste for carnivorous plants, be sure to visit our nursery this spring and summer. We are installing a new bog garden and are currently stocked with stunning native yellow pitcher plants, red and green Venus flytraps, and several varieties of sundews. These plants are easy to care for and fun to observe. You, too, can grow these fascinating and unusual creatures. We'll show you how, and you don't need a bog garden to do it!

Trivia Question

How many named varieties of citrus did Just Fruits & Exotics offer at the beginning of 2007?

The closest answer wins $5 credit at the nursery (Fruit Loot).

Speaking of Citrus...

New citrus-growing regulations taking effect beginning in 2008 will require some changes in our nursery. We currently supply an extremely diverse selection of citrus grafted onto a cold-hardy and semi-dwarfing rootstock. For the most part, they are grown on site at our nursery. Watch our newsletter for an article addressing the effect of the new regulations on the availability and prices of our citrus stock.

What's Blooming?

Our gorgeous collection of daylilies are in full bloom. If you want a colorful, salt-tolerant, sun and drought-tolerant groundcover or border perennial, daylilies are hard to beat.

Many of them are repeat bloomers later in the summer, and they come in a variety of shades ranging from yellows and golds to lavender and deep reds, as well as multi-colored ones with darker eyes. Some of them are fragrant as well!