Splish Splash, we're having a blast!

Splashes of color,
a dash of green,
plenty of "spikies,"
and foliage with sheen.
Trailing and lovely,
billowing and white,
large leaf or curly leaf
All a delight!

Yes, we're talking about floral and foliage beauty in patio or deck containers. Anything goes; don't hold back. Don't be afraid to plant with annuals, perennials, grasses, vegetables, herbs or succulents. Your plant choices will seem endless.

Container gardening offers something for everyone. Think of it as a work of art and yourself as the artist. You might want simplicity--a single plant, the same color as the chosen pot. Or you may want to find foliage plants (no flowers, please!) of many different sizes, textures and colors to create an arrangement that reminds one of a modern art painting.

Can you envision this: Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum', a fountain grass, in the center; various coleus in contrasting colors of burgundy and chartreuse surrounding the grass; a couple of begonia 'Escargot' tucked in for color contrast and foliage texture; and finally, black Ipomoea (Potato Vine) and Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny) 'Goldilocks' trailing over the sides!

An impressionist look can also be accomplished by blending flowering annuals and perennials, all close in both color and flower size. Or, try a mixture of complementary colored flowers. Imagine this: In the center of the pot towers Queen Anne's Lace, surrounded by white, pink, and purple nemesia. Draping off the sides of the pot, sweet alyssum in white, pink, and purple. All soft colors, sweet fragrances and delicate blooms!

Try mixing ornamental grasses together. Combine soft green stipa or a rich golden brown carex with short tufts of silvery blue Festuca glauca. What a wonderful color combination. Stipa is a wispy grass and will give you "motion in the garden." Don't be afraid to mix your favorite ornamental grass with complementary perennials or annuals.

Rather go with vegetables and herbs? You will not sacrifice beauty; you will explode with it! Purple sage and 'Bergarrten' culinary sage (Salvia Officinalis), basil (many varieties), chives, lettuce (red leaf would be fun), sweet peppers with tiny bright red orange fruits, and French tarragon (it has a bright yellow flower) all surrounding rosemary. Clipping herbs or lettuce for the evening cookout is just a step onto your patio. This combination might be so beautiful you'll hate to snip off any foliage. But don't worry about that; these herbs and veggies will just keep on growing!

Don't forget our planting advice. We encourage you to select a high quality potting mix and to mix in a controlled release fertilizer. Also, remember that moisture retention is frequently a problem with containers, so mix in a soil polymer that will hold on to the moisture between watering.

Just a few further tips as you plant your own piece of living art:

1. Consider grouping containers together, varying the heights of plants and containers
2. Make one container the main focal point
3. Create some coherence to each grouping in color scheme and plant forms
4. If the background is "busy" and colorful, choose like colors and lots of foliage
5. If the background is light, rich flower and foliage colors will look fabulous

Summertime is the time for outdoor living! Now is the best time to decorate your outdoor living spaces with floral and foliage works of art. We look forward to watching you create your masterpieces. Hurry in. We'll meet you in the gardens.

No kitchen garden would be complete without it. Sweet basil, the most popular type, is a tender annual herb to about 18-24" high. Good for border, container, kitchen garden and mass planting. Can be used dried, but the flavor is at its best fresh from the garden. A natural with tomatoes, eggs, fish, salad and of course, as 'pesto' over pasta.

Full sun and regular watering. Keep old flower spikes pinched off to prevent seeding. Bright green foliage mixes well in the border. Other types of basil can have purple, variegated, fine textured foliage. All can be a pleasant addition to your garden for ornamental and edible uses. Now is a great time to get basil into the garden and take advantage of the consistent warm weather the basil likes.

Come in and check out the many different types we have this week in 4 inch pots. Here are a few tempting varieties you'll see along with the classic sweet basil.

Purple Ruffles:
Large purple leaves are curly and highly ornamental. A small percentage will revert to green or variegated, making Purple Ruffles unique looking.

Spicy Globe:
Small and compact bush which produces very flavorful basil leaves. Very attractive and makes an excellent potted plant for landscaping borders.

Genovese:
This plant produces large and highly aromatic basil leaves.

A good dish with basil can help you remember that beautiful trip to the Italian Riviera and enjoying that Pizza Margherita at the auto-stop near Genoa. Here are some other recipes.

Bruschetta with Plums and Fresh Basil
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 6
Cups of fruits and vegetables per person: 1.0

Ingredients:
1 sourdough baguette (24 inch)
4 oz fat-free cream cheese, whipped
6 cups sliced fresh California plums
1 cup fresh basil

Directions:
Slice baguette into 24 inch-thick pieces. Toast in a 350°F oven until golden brown. Spread each slice of bread with fat-free cream cheese. Slice plums into thin slices. Place several slices of plum on each piece of bruschetta. Garnish with fresh basil leaf.

Pesto Minestrone
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 8
Cups of fruits and vegetables per person: 3.0

Ingredients:

Minestrone
2 cups coarsely chopped cauliflower (the equivalent of about 2 small heads)
1-1/2 cups chopped zucchini (1-2 medium)
3 14.5 oz low sodium chicken broth
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni or small pasta shells
3 cup kidney beans or black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 cup sliced carrot
1 cup chopped onion

Pesto

2 T. olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 cup fresh, loosely packed basil leaves
1 T. water

Directions:

Minestrone

In a 5-6 quart saucepan bring 1/2 cup water to boil and add tomatoes, cauliflower, onion and carrots; reduce heat and simmer covered 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add zucchini, beans, broth and pasta. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 10 minutes.

Pesto

Put all pesto ingredients in food processor or blender and process until very finely chopped. Just before serving, remove soup from heat and stir in pesto.

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These recipes are from the website of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. You can get the nutritional facts and diabetic exchange information from the website for each recipe. The website is http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnparecipe/recipesearch.aspx

Summer Solstice, June 21, marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The word "solstice" is from Latin meaning "sun stands still" (sol=sun, sistit=stands). Since all days are the same length (24 hours), what this means is that on this day we have the longest time between sunrise and sunset and the shortest time between the sunset and sunrise.

The ancient monument Stonehenge in England was built to mark an annual calendar. One of the stones in particular, the heelstone, was aligned to demonstrate this day, the longest day, as the beginning of their new year.

What does this all really mean? It's the first day of SUMMER! The beginning of dog days, warm weather, sunshine, and most important, lots of flower-growing time for all of us. Hooray!