It's always a challenge to come up with new and unusual gift ideas for Mother's Day. This year, why not plant a garden for her (either in the ground or in a container) that she will be able to use and enjoy year-round? Base the type of garden you plant on her interests.

Does your mother enjoy cooking? An herb garden might be the perfect gift. Many herbs stay, or can be kept, fairly small and compact and would be well-suited to a pot or window box; these include thyme, oregano, sage, basil and cilantro/coriander. If she has a favorite style of cooking (Italian, Mexican, Asian or Middle Eastern, etc.) you could plant a container with several of the herbs used in that particular style of cooking. If you have a sunny spot available for in-ground planting you could plant some of the larger herbs as well, like rosemary or bay.

Perhaps your mom is a nature lover. A garden to attract birds or butterflies would provide her with hours of enjoyment. Try planting a garden with plants that attract both, using plants such as butterfly weed (Asclepias), salvia (many varieties are available), beard tongue (Penstemon), California fuchsia (Zauschneria), Lavender (many varieties to choose from), lantana (colors include white, lavender, red, orange, pink and yellow), butterfly bush (Buddleja) and columbine (Aquilegia). All of the above-listed plants are perennials and will last for many years.

If your mother enjoys growing her own fruit, a unique gift would be a fruit tree that has different types of fruits on the same tree. Citrus trees are available this way and usually sport five or six types of fruit per tree. These can be a combination of lemon, grapefruit, orange, mandarin, tangelo, or lime. Don't be too choosy about the combinations; what you are able to find will be based on the grower's availability and can change from year to year. Stone fruits (cherries, peaches, plums, etc.) are also available as multi-grafted trees. By having fruit with different ripening dates on the same tree, you are able to significantly extend your harvest period.

For those moms who enjoy growing flowers to use in indoor decorating, a cutting garden would be ideal. Some great annual choices for the warm season are: celosia, cosmos, zinnias (tall types), or sunflowers. For perennials, plant Peruvian lily (Alstroemeria), black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), shasta daisy (Chrysanthemum maximum), pincushion flower (Scabiosa columbaria), cottage pink (Dianthus plumarius), sea lavender (Limonium perezii) or dahlias (taller types). If you have room, consider planting a focal-point plant to use for cut foliage such as pink breath-of-heaven; the foliage of this plant looks delicate and airy and lasts in a vase for up to two weeks.

Visit us soon so we can help you get your Mother's Day garden off to a good start. Mom will love it!

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So, you've decided to design your own garden! This will prove to be an interesting journey, and if done correctly, the result will provide you and your family with an outdoor space that you can enjoy for years to come.

A garden can be many things: a tranquil retreat, an area for sports activities, a source for your own home-grown food, a multi-faceted entertainment area that complements indoor spaces or even a combination of all these things...and more.

A very important part of the initial planning phase is an honest consideration of your family's interests at present as well as an assessment of how they will likely evolve in the future. If these things are taken into consideration before anything else is dealt with, your chances of creating a garden that is able to evolve over time as your family grows and changes becomes much more likely.

• Do you and your family enjoy spending time outdoors, or will you be happier viewing the garden from the indoor spaces?
• Do you, or do you plan to, entertain a lot? Do you want to be able to use the outdoor living spaces for entertainment purposes at all times of the year?
• Are there certain sports you or your family enjoy, such as croquet, badminton, swimming, basketball, horseshoes or golf?
• Do you, or do you plan to, have pets? Do you envision the pets having free access to all outdoor areas at all times, or will you need a space to put them at certain times?
• Do you enjoy working in the garden and will you have time to do so?
• Would you use a firepit, swimming pool, built-in barbeque or fireplace?
• Do you need an area for vegetables and/or fruit trees? How large should it be?
• If you have small children, will they need an area for play equipment or possibly a walkway for tricycle riding?
• Do you like the idea of creating “garden rooms” or would you prefer a large, expansive open area with lots of lawn?
• Are there certain areas of the garden that need screening or areas that should be kept open to allow for views?
• What styles of gardens are you drawn to? Are there certain plants you like or ones you don't like?
• What elements are especially important to you? The sound of water? Fragrance? Shade? Hummingbirds or Butterflies? Color?

Some of these questions will be answered based on your area's size. For instance, even though you like basketball you may or may not be able to fit a half-court into your area - but perhaps a basketball hoop could be used.

Visiting local public and private gardens and looking at magazines and books can help you determine the style of garden you will prefer, while some visiting us will prove invaluable in determining your preferences in plants and garden ornaments.

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1. Plant irises, canned roses, tropicals and tuberoses.
2. Transplant potted bulbs into the ground.
3. Replace cool-season bedding flowers with summer-season flowers.
4. Plant zinnias and other heat lmoving flowers.
5. Plant morning glories.
6. Plant warm-season lawns.
7. Continue to plant summer vegetables.
8. Replace parsley if you haven't already done so.
9. Plant a giant pumpkin for Halloween.
10. Purchase, plant, and transplant succulents.
11. Stop pinching fuchsias if you did not do so last month.
12. Thin out fruit on deciduous fruit trees.
13. Pinch dahlias back when the plant has three sets of leaves; tie the plant up as it grows.
14. Continue to pick and deadhead roses.
15. Divide and repot cymbidiums that have outgrown their containers.
16. Cut off bloom spikes from cymbidiums after flowers fade.
17. Prune camellias if you have not already done so.
18. Clean and prune azaleas.
19. Divide and mount staghorn ferns.
20. Prune winter- and spring-flowering vines, shrubs, trees and ground covers after they finish blooming.
21. Continue to tie up and sucker tomatoes.
22. Remove berries (seed pods) from fuchsias after flowers fall.
23. Pinch back petunias when you plant them.
24. Continue to prune and train espaliers.
25. Feed citrus trees, avocado trees.
26. Feed fuchsias, azaleas, tuberous begonias, water lilies.
27. Feed roses, ferns, flower beds, camellias after they bloom.
28. Fertilize lawns.
29. Side-dress vegetable rows with fertilizer.
30. Feed all container-grown succulents with a well-diluted complete liquid fertilizer.
31. Fertilize peppers when flowers first show.
32. As the weather becomes drier, be sure to water most garden plants regularly.
32a. Do not water succulents.
32b. Taper off watering those California native plants that don't accept summer water.
33. Control rose pests and diseases.
34. Spray junipers and Italian cypress for juniper moths.
35. Control mildew.
36. Control pests on vegetables.
37. Control weeds among permanent plants by mulching or cultivating.
38. Control weeds among vegetables and flowers by hand-pulling.
39. Keep bamboo from running into your neighbor's garden.
40. Harvest vegetables regularly.

Blooming from mid-spring through early fall, the butterfly bush (buddleia) is particularly prized for its ability to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and songbirds. The most popular species originally hails from China, but buddleias are now grown throughout the United States.

Butterfly bushes are valued for their clusters of beautiful, tubular-shaped flowers. The blossoms come in a variety of colors including white, pink, red, blue, purple, orange or yellow flowers produced by different species and cultivars. Adding to their attraction is the fact that they are rich in nectar and often strongly scented.

The taller varieties add the most value to the garden when they are grown as a background shrub or as part of a mixed border, while the dwarf varieties look great as focal plants or as part of a colorful perennial bed. Butterfly bushes prefer to be planted in full sun locations but can tolerate partial shade if needed. They go completely dormant in the winter in colder areas but can remain semi-evergreen in warmer climates.

The butterfly bush is a fairly low maintenance shrub. Once established it can become fairly drought tolerant and needs only to be fed with an all purpose plant food once in spring and summer. It can be pruned back hard every spring if needed; this will produce a denser and more rounded shrub.

Every garden can use a few--and your birds and butterflies will thank you too!

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Tomatoes are the favorite vegetable for home growing. Over the past years, commercial growers have produced tomato varieties that valued shelf-life and unblemished prettiness over taste--and the result has been an almost tasteless tomato at your local stores. You can put taste back on top of the list by growing your own.

• Height and bushiness of the plant are important, particularly for gardeners growing tomatoes in small spaces. Check to see whether the variety you select is "determinate" (bush type--produces all at once--best for small spaces) or "indeterminate" (vine type--produces throughout the season and grows in all directions).
• Consider taste, size, shape, color, mildness, (acidity or non-acidity), disease resistance, and cracking resistance.
• Your intended use for the tomato may dictate your selection. For instance, if you want to use your tomato crop for preserving or for making tomato paste, you'll want to select a variety that has a strong tomato flavor and lasts a long time in the refrigerator.
• Depending on when you plant, you may be concerned about the "days to maturity" (the time it takes a transplant to bear ripe fruit.)
• Finally, consider selecting a few unique tomato plants that you haven't tried before or a novelty variety no one else in the neighborhood grows.

• Choose a spot in full sun, and prepare the soil by digging it deeply with a spade and mixing in a good planting mix.
• Add a good vegetable fertilizer.
• Plant transplants deeply. If they're leggy, snip off the lower leaves, make a little trench with the trowel, lay the plant in sideways, and bend the stem up gently. Roots will form all along the buried stem.
• Choose a staking system (such as a tomato cage or trellis).
• Water deeply and continue to irrigate so the soil stays evenly moist.

Grow your own tomatoes! Your taste buds will thank you!

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Tomato hornworms are the larvae of a large sphinx moth that is about the size of a hummingbird. In spring the moth lays eggs on the underside of tomato (and related plants like pepper and eggplant) leaves. Although the hornworms are quite small when they first emerge, they are big eaters (of leaves) and grow up quickly. Usually, you won't even discover this fellow until it is large--about 2 inches long and fat! They are quite distinctive, actually handsome with their diagonal white stripes and horns on the rear.

Don't be afraid of the hornworms. They look more frightening than they are. They don't bite or sting, just try to look big and ferocious. You can easily handpick to remove from your plants and just throw them away. When they are younger and smaller, use Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) as an effective management technique.

Some gardeners have a different approach to the tomato hornworm. While handpicking a hornworm, look to see if you find little white cocoons attached to its back. If you do see this, that cocoon is a pupating braconid wasp, which is a garden-friend predator. Capture the hornworm and keep it (or all of them) in a container, feeding them tomato leaves. You are creating a nursery for the braconid wasps that can then be released into your garden! These wasps will help control the hornworm population.

Other natural predators are birds and the larvae of the green lacewing. Plant your gardens to create an inviting habitat for all of these natural predators, and you'll control this voracious eater of your tomato leaves. Luckily, hornworms don't eat the tomato!

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How deep should I plant my new plants?

Answer:

Most plants will benefit from being planted with the top of the root ball at the existing soil level--not the top of the container it came from.

If a plant is installed too high, it will dry out faster, scalding the top of the root ball and stressing the plant out to the point of requiring therapy and potentially expensive medication. Just think how you would feel if the top of your feet were scalded--and you'll understand how important this is.

On the other hand, installing a plant too deep can slowly rot the roots and eventually kill the plant. Most plants that are planted too deep will have a dark soil ring stain around the base of the trunk or crown of the plant. The roots will also emit a most malodorous aroma that no amount of antiperspirant can remedy. It's what the plant would call "payback" for planting it too deep. (Please note: there are some exceptions, such as tomatoes, that prefer being planted deeply.)

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She began the tradition of wearing red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation, also selling poppies and giving the money to a charity benefitting servicemen in need. The tradition of wearing poppies spread and is now practiced in many countries on their own days of remembrance.

Not only did Ms. Michael start the tradition of wearing poppies, she also seems to be responsible for the tradition of selling them to benefit servicemen in need. Many veterans' organizations will be selling them for this Memorial Day. They aren't expensive but they are very valuable. Buy one, wear it at the barbecue or party, and remember what our freedom costs.