One of the challenges many gardeners face is how to add texture and interest to the landscape. One of the best ways to do this is by adding ornamental grasses to your garden. They have a natural fountainous growing habit and many produce beautiful flower blooms that will light up any garden.

Ornamental grasses are incredibly low maintenance, grow quickly, and are naturally disease and insect resistant. Add to that, their natural swaying movement in even the slightest of breezes and you have plants that add unparalleled beauty to any garden setting.

Another great feature of ornamental grasses is the fact that they come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and color. There are many grasses that are perfect for creating borders and others that provide a nice backdrop to other plants or look perfect as individual featured specimens. The colors range from gold, green, silver and blue to shades of purple, burgundy, red and orange.

While most ornamental grasses prefer moist soil conditions, most become quite drought tolerant once established. They require very little fertilization and can get by with a single feeding of plant food per year. Most shorter varieties require no pruning at all (short of removing any spent flowers) and the only maintenance taller varieties require is a crew cut in late winter (down to 4-6" inches above ground level) to encourage new growth in spring.

We have a great selection of ornamental grasses just waiting for an opportunity to add interest and beauty to your garden.

The Chinese lantern (Abutilon hybridum), aka flowering maple, is a beautiful evergreen plant that is found naturally in most of the world's tropical regions. It gets its various names from its maple-shaped leaves and bright colored flowers that resemble little Chinese lanterns.

The foliage is usually a lime green but there are variegated forms with white or yellow mottling. The flowers are produced almost year-round and come in a range of colors including orange, pink, red, white and yellow. Left alone the plant can reach 10 ft. high and wide, but can easily be kept smaller with pruning.

Chinese lanterns can be grown both outdoors and indoors. Outside they prefer a morning sun-afternoon shade location, but indoors they require as much light as possible. Keep the soil around the root ball moist but not wet and feed every couple of months, spring through fall, with Dr. Earth #7 All Purpose Plant Food to keep your plants growing strong and healthy.

Chinese lanterns are one of the top attractors of hummingbirds!

Almaden Valley Nursery has just started receiving new shipments this week.

Any plant or tree that loses all of its leaves and goes into a state of dormancy (sleep) periodically is considered deciduous.

Most shade trees and many fruit trees fall into this classification, along with plants like forsythia, hydrangeas, potentilla, roses, spirea, weigela and many others.

These states of dormancy occur during winter months November-January (weather dependent).

Ferne was born in Iowa and spent many summers there at her grandparents' farm after her family moved to Colorado. She learned to love gardening, canning, quilting, and sewing from her grandmother but claims her most important life lessons have been learned from raising her two boys.