Pizza Herb Planter

Today I went out to the greenhouse and saw some cool ideas for herb pots that I wanted to share! Jean-one of the ladies who works in the perennial department-made these planters: A Pizza Herb planter and A Provence French Cooking planter. She also gave me many more herb-themed planter ideas which I will be sharing soon. Mexican cooking herbs, spa herbs, medicinal herbs...so many possibilities!

Pizza Herb Planter

Pizza Planter:

Oregeno

Basil

Fennel

Chives

Parsley

Tomato

French Cooking

Provence French Cooking:

Lemon Thyme

Marjoram

Savory

Rosemary

French Tarragon

These pots make cheap (most plants are $1.00), easy and delicious fresh ingredients for cooking!


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Homemade Boursin Cheese

How to make homemade Boursin Cheese Spread 

This a recipe that Deb Terrill shared during her seminar on Sunrise's opening day 2012.  Lynnea Huizenga and Matthew made it today.  It's great for parties in place of a more traditional cheese spread, and it makes great use of fresh herbs!

Boursin Recipe

1 8oz package goat cheese

1 stick butter (never margarine), true French Boursin uses 2 sticks of butter

3 T chopped herbs

2 T lemon juice

1 clove garlic, pressed

Lemon zest

Pinch salt

Pinch white pepper

I like to use chives, parsley, thyme and dill.  Combine until smooth by hand or in food processor.  Bring to room temp before serving.  Serve with crackers or bagel chips.  

The herbs, lemon zest, and lemon juice

 Goat cheese--a somewhat unfamiliar product to many people, but it can be purchased at Aldi, Walmart, and most grocery stores.

The herbs all chopped up.

 We used a food processor to mix all the ingredients.

Bon Appetit!

For more delicious recipes that Deb Terrill shared on opening day click the following link. http://www.mediafire.com/?yaa50t738demykn

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New Annuals

New Annuals for 2012

These are some of the new varieties of annuals along with a picture that Sunrise is selling this year.  Be sure to check them out on your next visit to Sunrise!

Petunia Suncatcher Pink Lemonade

Trailing Petunia with interesting bicolor blooms.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.  

Petunia Potunia Popcorn

A new variety of compact petunia.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.

Pentunia Potunia Pinkalicious

A new variety of compact petunia.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets. 

Petunia Supertunia White Russian

A new color of supertunia available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.

  

Calibrachoa Superbells Cherry Star

A new color of Superbells. Sunrise is selling this new variety in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.  

Calibrachoa Superbells Grape Punch

A new color of Superbells. Sunrise is selling this new variety in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets. 

Calibrachoa Superbells Sweet Tart: 

A new color of Superbells.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.

Calibrachoa Superbells Miss Lilac

A new color of Superbells. Sunrise is selling this new variety in 4" pots.

Torenia Grape-O-Licious 

A new bicolor Torernia with white and purple blooms on this trailing plant.  Available in 4" and wire hanging baskets.  

Wandering Jew Red Silver

Trailing filler with very nice bicolor foliage, a great contrast plant with its dark leaves.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.  

Tomato Mighty Mato

 Grafted tomato plant that produces good yields or large, flavorful fruits of your old-time favorite, heirloom varieties.  Available in gallon pots for $10.99.

Verbena Lanai Twister Pink

A new color of this trailing plant.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.  

Verbena Strawberries & Cream

A new color of this trailing plant.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.  

Lantana Bandana Series

A new compact series of Lantana with interesting colors.  Available in 4" pots and wire hanger baskets.  

Plectranthus Golden

A trailing filler plant with yellow-green foliage.  Available in 4" pots.  

Petunia Sophistica Bi Color

A new trailing petunia plants with interesting pink and yellow bicolor flowers.  Available in hanging baskets, hanging bags, and 6 pack waves.  

Coleus--Trailing Rose, Trailing Plum, Finger Paint, Hurricane Jenny, and Kingswood

Five new varieties of Coleus

Otomeria O'Primiera

 Full sun, heat tolerant annual.  upright plant, 14-18" high.  Available in 4" pots with red or white flowers.

Other new annuals

Scorpion Pepper--The hottest pepper in the world with 1,463,700 Scoville heat units, it passes up the Naga Jolokia Ghost Pepper! Available in 3" pots for $1.00.

Bitter melon: An Asian fruit with a very bitter taste.  Can be eaten as a fruit and can also be used to treat type 2 diabetes in place of medication.  Available in flats.

Celery Root (Celeriac): edible tuber in the celery family.  It's not very attractive, but tastes great! Available in flats.

Impreza Impatiens: A more compact series of impatiens. Sunrise is selling them in flats.

Petunia shock wave coral crush: A new color of trailing petunia.  Available in Flats, 6 pack waves, plastic-hanger baskets, and hanging bags.

Bacopa Taifun Mega Pack: mix of pink, blue, and white bacopa.  Available in wire hanger baskets.

Thunbergia A-peel series: lemon, Orange and Mix Black Eyed Susan vine.  Available in wire hanging baskets.

Be sure to check out these new varieties of annuals and veggie plants on your next visit to Woldhuis Farms Sunrise Greenhouse!

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Fairy Garden Terrarium

My brother, Derek and cousin, Nicole made a Fairy Garden Terrarium at work and wanted to share! So here is how to make your own...

Some Finished Pictures

1st: Choose your jar or other terrarium piece

You'll need to find an apothecary jar or some other jar that can be closed and opened easily.  We used a house designed for Terrariums, and Sunrise has a few empty ones on hand to sell.  

Next: Fill it with stones

The next steps to making your own fairy garden terrarium or any terrarium is adding stones for drainage.  We used pea gravel since it's a little more decorative, but any sort of small stone should work.  The stones should be approximately 1" thick. 

Add Charcoal for filtering

It's important to add Charcoal in order to filter the water.  Otherwise, the terrarium and the water could become stagnant.  Be careful not to touch the Charcoal because it will stain your hands.  It's best to pour directly from the bag.  

Add the soil

We used Garden's Gold by Master Nursery which we sell in 1 cubic foot bags for $5.99 and 2 cubic foot bags for $9.99.  It's organic and full or nutrient, and we recommend it over any Miracle-Gro potting soil or any other potting soil.  If you're only planting moss, the soil can be as thin as 1."  We used moss and other plants, so we put more soil in the back and sloped it towards the front.  

Plant it up!

For terrariums, it's best to use shade to part sun plants.  Moss does well in terrariums.  We used a variety of plants in our terrarium.  We used Irish moss, Asparagus fern, some of the dried moss pieces we sell, and two mini bushes, a golden Juniper and a miniature holly.  The Irish moss comes in the perennial quart for $2.50.  Asparagus fern is sold in a 3" pot for $1.50.  The golden Juniper and miniature holly are both sold for $13.99

We added our large accessory piece, the swing, with the plants to assure our terrarium had enough space to accommodate it. 

Add the accessories

Add all the fairy garden essentials to your terrarium.  Feel free to add a pea gravel path or other rocks to add to the illusion.

Water

Water your terrarium about once a week.  It shouldn't be too dry, but make sure not to over water it.  Use a mister or mist setting on a hose nozzle sprayer to ensure that the dirt and delicate plants do not come undone. Preferably, place your terrarium in indirect sunlight in your house.

Merchandise used in this terrarium

Terrarium piece: $84.99

Mini Copper Swing: $16.99

Mini Bird Feeder: $4.99

Plants

Mother Lode Juniper: $13.99

Miniature Holly: $13.99

Asparagus Fern: $1.50

Irish Moss: $2.50

Other moss like plant: $5.99

Moss

Charcoal from Fertilome: $7.99 for entire bag

Gardener's Gold: $9.99 for a 2 cubic foot bag

Pea Gravel: $2.99 for 1/2 cubic foot bag

Terrarium Price $164.99

Most of our information on how to plant a terrarium came from http://www.thenester.com/2010/03/terrarium-101-a-guest-post.html

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Cool Weather Annuals

 

It's Spring!..the season with all the crazy unpredictable weather. And with all the nice weather we've been having it's very tempting to start planting outside, but since it is so early it's probably best to hold off  planting most annuals until later in the season. There are, however, many annuals that can handle some cold weather. 

So today we made some cold-hardy annual planters that are easy to grow, fragrant, and beautiful!

 

First we went to the greenhouse and picked out our plants. We got some stock (the beautiful tall fragrant purple and pink flowers), calibrachoa, alyssum, violas, and pansies.

 

We filled up our pots with Gardener's Gold Potting Soil And planted away!

 We planted everything close together so that it would be full right away, but you could definitely space out the plants so that they will grow in together. Then we finished off the planters by adding some decorative moss to the edges and we were done!

Plant lists:

Wash Tub

Clear Crystal White Alyssum: 4 for $1.00 (4-pack)

Proven Winners Superbells Saffron Calibrachoa: $2.29 each

Vintage Lavender Stock: $2.29 each-very fragrant!

Heat Elite Pansy in Pure White : 4 for $1.00 (4-pack)

Sorbet Yellow Viola: 4 for $1.00 (4-pack)

Terra Cotta Pot

Vintage Lavender Stock: $2.29 each

Heat Elite Pansy in Pure White: 4 for $1.00 (4-pack)

Sorbet Yellow Viola: 4 for $1.00 (4-pack)

The planters were very easy and quick to put together and add a nice pop of color outside. They smell wonderful, also with the Stock plants!

More Cool Weather Annuals:

Pansy

Viola

Chrysanthemum

Dianthus

Osteospermum

Snapdragons

Nemesia

Strawflower

Icicles Helichrysum

Petunia

Stock

Alyssum

Calibrachoa

Butterfly Daisy

Diascia

 

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