We are nearing the end of the line for our Annual Canned Food Drive, but there is still a little bit of time left to take advantage of the savings!  The last day for this year’s event is Sunday, November 15th, so you will have to hurry in if you want to donate food and get your discount.  Five cans of food gets you 20% off of your total sale, even off of items that are already on sale (with just a few minor exclusions).  We have already taken in an enormous amount of food this season for the Oregon Food Bank, and we will be sure to post the final weight of the donations after the drive is finished!

Navigating the multitude of plants and products that we carry can be a daunting task, which is why we bring you our weekly featured selections.  These are the best of the best for the next two weeks, and are front and center when you come to the nursery so you don’t have to hunt around for them!

Featured items for October 9th through October 15th:

‘Shaina’ Japanese Maple – A smaller statured upright with wonderful deep red summer foliage and blazing red fall color!

Golden Barberry (Berberis thunbergii ‘Aurea’) – Brilliant Yellow foliage lights up your garden!

Smoke Bushes (Cotinus) – They all look amazing this time of year, especially ‘Grace’ and ‘Golden Spirit’.

Onion Sets – Plant now for a bigger spring harvest.

Northwest Best Fall and Winter Lawn Food – The time has come to feed the lawn.  Don’t delay!

Our October Newsletter is now available in our newsletter archives!  Our October edition is full of gardening tips and advice, and has information on lots of upcoming events at Farmington Gardens.

For those of you that may not know, we publish a monthly newsletter, The Farmington Gardener, that is full of timely gardening tips, informational articles, store news and events, and absolutely awesome coupons!

Garden Rewards members who have given us their e-mail address (which we keep in the strictest confidence and never share or sell to anyone else) automatically receive our monthly newsletter.  The mailed version has coupons and sales information, but the archived version does not.  If you are a Garden Rewards member and are not getting our newsletter (and would like to), please let us know so that we can update your information.  If you aren’t a member and would like to sign up to receive the newsletter with coupons and sale information, signing up is easy!

It’s October, and that means three things here at Farmington Gardens – It’s time to plant, the place is looking fantastic with all of the beautiful fall color, and it’s time for our Annual Canned Food Drive!

The Fall Canned Food Drive has been a tradition at Farmington Gardens for longer than any of us can remember, but it is certainly a tradition that keeps getting better every year.  From October 8th through November 15th, you will receive 20% off of your total purchase (with a few minor exceptions) when you bring in 5 cans or packages of food to donate.  This 20% comes of of your total sale, so it even applies to already discounted material!

Last year, we brought in over 2,000 pounds of food that went to the Oregon Food Bank to help those in need in our area, and we are hoping for an even bigger year this year.  The current economic climate has generated a lot of need in our state, and the food bank has been absolutely swamped, so any and all help is appreciated.  So if you want to drop off more than 5 cans of food, we will certainly welcome it.  This is a great opportunity to do something great for the community and save a bundle on plant material for your yard!

Finally, although we still call it the Annual “Canned” Food Drive (it’s one of those hard-wired traditions that are really hard to change), we realize that more and more food items are no longer sold in cans, so donations are not limited to canned items only.  According to the Oregon Food Bank, the most needed items are: Canned meats (i.e., tuna, chicken, salmon), canned and boxed meals (i.e., soup, chili, stew, macaroni and cheese), canned or dried beans and peas (i.e., black, pinto, lentils), pasta, rice, cereal, canned fruits, 100% fruit juice (canned, plastic or boxed), and cooking oil.  Basically anything that is non-perishable is acceptable.

Navigating the multitude of plants and products that we carry can be a daunting task, which is why we bring you our weekly featured selections.  These are the best of the best for the week, and are front and center when you come to the nursery so you don’t have to hunt around for them!

Featured items for October 2nd through October 8th:

Magenta Mums – Deeply colored and in full bloom!

‘Profusion’ Beautyberry  – Gorgeous Purple Berries!

‘Berry Smoothie’ Heuchera – A new introduction with amazing foliage color!

‘Chocolate’ Joe Pye Weed – Just in time for fall, blooming now!

Bonide Annual Tree and Shrub – An effective solution to many pest problems!

Fall officially arrived last week, and this weeks brings the return of cooler weather.  Fall is in the air, and although it may be early, there are signs of the season everywhere.  You don’t have to look far for glimmers of fall color, and the transition will accelerate rapidly over the next week or two.  Fall is the best time to plant, and a truly enjoyable time to be out in the garden!  Here are some fall pictures that we took while walking through the nursery today.

Navigating the multitude of plants and products that we carry can be a daunting task, which is why we bring you our weekly featured selections.  These are the best of the best for the week, and are front and center when you come to the nursery so you don’t have to hunt around for them!

Featured items for September 25th through October 2nd:

Orange Mums – A striking color that has fall written all over it!

Purple Asters – A beautiful companion to the Mums

Purple Pansies – Who can resist?

Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’  – Going where no Hydrangea has gone before – Fall

Hameln Dwarf Fountain Grass (Pennisetum ‘Hameln’) – In their prime!

EB Stone Bulb Food and Bone Meal – Time to plant and feed bulbs!

Black Gold Organic Potting Soil – Only the best!

**Update 11/12/09 – Most of these plants are gone, but we still have many wonderful plants in our sale area!**

**Update 09/20/09 -  These plants are disappearing quickly, so don’t miss out on the fantastic deals!**

Fall planting season is upon us, and to help you in your planting endeavors, we have some outstanding deals on overstock field grown plants!  Fall is also the season when we clean out some of our overstock, and we have found some groups of plants that need to find good homes.  Our current super deals include a few varieties of Pines, Blue Spruce, and others.  These are large field grown (balled and burlapped) plants that will establish quickly and have an instant effect in the landscape.  These are going for 60%-90% off of our regular retail prices (most only $10-$20), and supplies are limited, so stop by early for the best selection!

Our September Newsletter went out last week, and is now available in our newsletter archives!  Our September edition is an expanded fall gardening guide, and the perfect kick off to the fall gardening season.

For those of you that may not know, we publish a monthly newsletter, The Farmington Gardener, that is full of timely gardening tips, informational articles, store news and events, and absolutely awesome coupons!

Garden Rewards members who have given us their e-mail address (which we keep in the strictest confidence and never share or sell to anyone else) automatically receive our monthly newsletter.  The mailed version has coupons and sales information, but the archived version does not.  If you are a Garden Rewards member and are not getting our newsletter (and would like to), please let us know so that we can update your information.  If you aren’t a member and would like to sign up to receive the newsletter with coupons and sale information, signing up is easy!

Our fall bulb shipment has just arrived, so stop by soon to take advantage of the fresh selection!  Spring blooming bulbs like Tulips, Daffodils, Crocuses, and others need to be planted in fall for optimal spring results.  These bulbs do best with a winter’s chill before their bloom time, so by fall planting you allow them their needed chilling and plenty of time to settle in.  We carry a wide variety of colorful spring bloomers that you will really enjoy after the gray days of winter!

It’s hard to believe that we are getting so close to the fall season!  It seems like summer was very short this year, after a spring planting season that never seemed to want to start.  Nevertheless, kids will head back to school in a few weeks, the temperatures will gradually lower, and we will see an increasing amount of rainfall as we head into the fall months.  So what does fall mean to a gardener?

Fall is the best time to plant hardy trees, shrubs and perennials.  Fall is the season to plant spring flowering bulbs, cool season vegetable crops, and root crops like onions and garlic.  Fall is the season for maintaining, renovating, or planting lawns.  Fall is the best time of year to control slugs and root weevil.  And fall is a season of harvest.

So while spring may get most of the attention and try to make others believe that it is the most important gardening season, we are really just now heading into the season that is the most important in the life of your garden.  A little bit of effort in fall will bring more benefit than a lot of hard work in spring and summer.  This is the time to start planning your fall planting, because it will be here before you know it!

Come visit us in September for Le Tour des Plants and our Tomato Festival!