Jade Gardens

Growing a Banana Tree Outside in Oakville or Milton, or Mississauga?

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:09:01 +0000

Musa Basjoo (Hardy Banana Plant)

It’s unheard of! Here in the greater Toronto area, including Oakville, Mississauga, Milton and Georgetown, we get snow, and frost, and we have a definite cold season. So how could a person who lives here grow a banana tree outside? Well, at Jade Gardens and Greenhouses, we have a variety of banana tree common to Japan, called Musa Basjoo and this type of banana tree is winter hardy. We do sell this plant as an indoor tropical plant and we won’t guarantee it’s return, but we’ve heard great feedback that this variety can make it outside year round. It needs full sun, and you definitely need to mulch it, but the reports are positive. We’re going to try wintering one outside this coming winter and we’ll be sure to report back if its true.

Difference between Annual Bedding Plants and Perennials

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:51:31 +0000

Marigolds

Many people ask us “What is the difference between annuals and perennials?”. Annual bedding plants (or annuals) are plants that only live one season. Plants like petunias, impatiens, marigolds can be planted in container gardens and in the ground and they will bloom and grow beautifully until the fall frost. With the onset of the frost, annuals die off and must be replaced the following spring.

Perennials maintain the same root structure year after year. They are winter hardy and will spread year to year, so you can split them and move them to new locations in the garden and you don’t need to replant every year. The trade-off though, is that most perennials have a specific bloom time and they will not bloom all summer long through to frost. For example, Creeping Phlox is a spring blooming perennial, shasta daisy are summer flowering and chrysantemums are fall blooming. Each plant will continue to grow throughout the season, just not flower continuously.

Phlox

In our opinion, it is a great idea to use a mix of annuals and perennials in your garden. This way, you can choose several perennials that have blooming times that span the summer and then intermix some annuals for constant summer colour. Whichever you like, or if you want to learn more, come in in to Jade Gardens and Greenhouses. We grow annuals and many perennials and would love to help!

Talk of the Town – New and Unusual Locally Grown Plants that you’ll want to know about – annual vines!

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:48:26 +0000

Maybe you like the beauty of a vine, but find them a little invasive or more of a committment than you’re ready for. What about an annual vine? Annuals are plants that will die off after frost, so you have to replant them year to year, but they are vigorous growers with flowers that continue the whole summer long.

Heirloom Purple Morning Glory

This purple heirloom morning glory produces a vigorous vine with beautiful heart shaped leaves and stunning purple flowers continuing the whole summer long. It likes full sun and grows great on any trellis, arbour or screen. These are also a welcome addition to gardens that are trying to attract hummingbirds, as their “trumpet” shaped flower is wonderfully appealing to hummingbirds.

Blue, White or Red Morning Glory

Morning Glory are also available in Blue, White and Red.

Nasturtiums

There are a variety of colours of nasturtium, black and white, as well as varigated leaf and all are edible. They have an interesting peppery taste that alot of people add to salads. Nasturtium offer versatility and a punch of colour to every garden and are incredibly easy and quick to grow – you just want to be sure you have some sun and well-drained soil. Nasturtiusm are annuals, so they can be planted as soon as the danger of frost has passed and they’ll do well right until the frost returns in the fall.

“The Talk of the Town”. New and unusual locally grown plants that you’ll want to know about – next up, making the garden smell pretty!

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:42:37 +0000

In addition to the aesthetically appealing look of a garden full of flowers, it is an added bonus when that garden smells pretty also. These beauties have it all:

Marvel of Peru or Four O'Clocks

Marvel of Peru, also known as Four O’Clocks, are a beautiful annual with remarkable trumpet-like flowers that flower continuously all summer. They are available in a range of colors with more than one colour on each plant. The flowers generally open in the late afternoon (hence the alternate name of Four O’Clocks) and once open, the blooms have a wonderful fragrance. These are an annual in our area of South Western Ontario, meaning that they’ll die off at the first frost, but the up side is the continuous blooms all summer long.

Scented Stock

While it is true that Scented Stock may not be the showiest of all flowers, they are an annual bedding plant available in a multitude of colours and they have a beautiful scent produced in the evening that make them a must-have in any garden. You’ll want to plant them in a part-sun area and you may find they don’t fair well in our Milton and area summer humidity, but they’ll perk back up again for fall. You may want to companion plant them with other annuals which are a little sturdier to help support them during the humidity. All of this extra consideration is well worth it when you’re able to enjoy the beautiful evening fragrance of scented stock.

Scented Nicotiana

On the quest for scent, we can’t forget the annual bedding plant, Nicotiana. Available in a multitude of colours, this annual produces star shaped flowers all summer long. The flowers are pretty to the eye, but heavenly to the nose – they are fragrant (some cultivars more than others) in the evenings.

These and more annuals are generally available in cell packs of 4-6 plants, though we sometimes have larger sizes of more mature plants as well. For more ideas to improve the scent in your garden, come on in to Jade Gardens and Greenhouses in Hornby, Ontario, located in close proximity to Milton, Oakville, Mississauga and Georgetown.

“The Talk of the Town”. New and unusual locally grown plants that you’ll want to know about – starting with tomatoes!

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:11:06 +0000

In addition to our previous post on a wider variety of the Heirloom Tomatoes grown here at Jade Gardens and Greenhouses, this is a sampling of some of the really interesting varieties of tomatoes that have got people talking and wondering. We grow them here and they’ll be ready for planting as soon as the danger of frost is over.

Black Cherry Tomatoes

Tomato enthusiasts looking for an exotic variety that is both delicious and easy to grow, should consider the Black Cherry Tomato. It is said to be very sweet and juicy with a rich smoky flavour. The plant matures early in the season with huge clusters of tomatoes and is very prolific. This variety of tomato is indeterminate, meaning they grow like a vine, not a bush type. So, you’ll need to take off the sideshoots and keep the vigorous growth in check.

Lemon Boy Yellow Tomato

Beyond just the asthetic appeal of Yellow Lemon Boy Tomatoes, the vine is both a vigorous grower and disease resistant. Its fruit is beautiful and bright and is a very sweet variety. You’ll want to pick this variety before it becomes overly mature as the colour and texture will change.

Pink Cherry Tomatoes

This Pink Cherry Tomato is known to be low acid but very sweet. It was developed for Senior Citizens (and those prone to heart burn) but is appreciated by most who try this plant’s bounty. You’ll find medium sized rose-pink fruit on a dwarf bush-type tomato plants.

So if you live locally, in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga or the Georgetown areas, and you hear people talking about these plants, please come on in to Jade Gardens and Greenhouses. We want to talk to you about them too!

Buying Soil for lawns and gardens, conveniently located for Milton, Oakville, Mississauga, and Georgetown

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:29:41 +0000

Whether you are seeding your lawn, planting your planters or working on a garden, the right soil is everyone’s starting point. Some of our most popular (and economical) choices include:

Viva

The Fafard Viva Lawn Mix is made from a humus black earth, sphagnum peat moss, composted manure, vermiculite, lime, Chile Nitrate and a wetting agent and it is specially designed to promote fast seed germination and for high water retention with the manure adding a quick release fertilizer. This is the optimal choice for seeding or overseeding your lawn and is available at a cost of $8.99 for a 42L bag or 5 bags for $40.

3 in 1 Organic Planting Mix

Composed with humus or black earth, sphagnum peat moss, Biosol Sea Compost, sand and lime, this specially designed triple soil mix is your go-to for any gardening task. With its high organic content and compost, there is no fertilizer required for months. It is a complete triple mix ideal for vegetable gardens, flower gardens, container growing, herbs as well as trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials. Like we said, its your go-to and is available for $5.99 per bag or 5 for $27.00.

Biosol Sea Compost

Fafard’s Biosol Sea Compost is a fairly new product to us that is ideal for lawn top dressing or overseeding as well as increasing the water retaining capacity of sandy soils. It’s components include compostede manure, sphagnum peat moss, shellfish flour and seedweed. Biosol is available for $7.99 per 35L bag or at a deal of 5 bags for $35.00.

Fafard Biofor

Made up of aged softwood bark, composted manure, sphagnum peat moss, and lime, the Fafard Biofor Forestry Compost is a nutritive mulch that is meant to be an additive to clay soil, improving heavy soil structures. It also improves soil and plant resistance making them better resistant to infestations or attacks by pests or disease. Available in a 35L bag for $7.99 or 5 bags for $35.00.

Composted Chicken Manure

Composted Manure – Whether you choose composted cow, sheep or chicken manure, you are doing your garden a favour. Composted manure and even composted plant materials add organic matter to your soil. They are a fertilizer that help the soil to retain moisture and they also help to balance the pH in soil. Amongst the various manures, chicken manure is known to be the highest in Nitrogen, making it a superstar additive for lanws and gardens that you want to green up. Having been composted, you don’t need to worry about extreme odour or burn on your plants but you want to add this to soil, not use as a mulch. This composted chicken manure can be hard to source, but we’ve got it here at Jade Gardens and Greenhouses for $7.99 per 40L bag or at a deal for 5 bags for $35.00.

This has been a sampling of some of the more popular soils we have available at Jade Gardens and Greenhouses. If you are looking for something else, or just not sure what to use, please give us a call or come on in and we’d be happy to help you with some recommendations.

Seeding your Lawn in our local Oakville, Mississauga, Milton and Georgetown conditions

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 01:41:11 +0000

If you live in the Oakville, Mississauga, Milton or Georgetown areas, then you’ve been enjoying a mild winter and early spring. The time has come to revive that lawn and get ready for the upcoming green season. When you’re looking for a great lawn seed, look no further than the RTF Water Saver Grass Seed.

Water Saver Grass Seed

When contemplating grass seed, we’ve found that most of our customers want a quality product that is fresh and pure. The RTF Water Saver Grass Seed is the answer. Seen on The Marilyn Dennis show as a Must Have Product, the RTF Water Saver Grass Seed is an ecologically safe, durable and weed resistant seed. This grass seed thrives in the dry conditions we sometimes experience because they have a rapidly developed deep roots system. This seed needs less water and fertilizer than many of its competitors, and is more adaptable to many types of soil conditions including our Mississauga, Oakville and Milton clay, making it a strong choice for the environmentally savvy gardener. This seed thrives in sun or shade and it will not brown out in the heat of the summer. Perhaps one of the most interesting features of this product is the addition of high endophyte fungas which make the lawn undesirable for insects, grubs, or as forage for mammals. Available here at Jade Gardens and Greenhouses for $39.99 per 2kg bag, this is one lawn seed every home should use.

Even more Ethnic or Asian Specialty Vegetables – locally grown in the Oakville, Mississauga, Milton and Georgetown area

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:35:05 +0000

In a previous post, we gave you a sampling of some of the specialty type vegetables that we grow, including bitter melon, bok choy, callaloo, Napa Cabbage, Cee Gwa and Chinese water spinach. By popular demand, here are some pictures and details about a few more of the asian or specialty ethnic vegetables that we sell as box plants for your gardens. These are harder to find vegetables, but gaining in popularity with our local area.

Fuzzy Squash

Fuzzy Squash is so named because the fruit is fuzzy when it is young, but has a thick white sweet flesh that is tasty. The fully grown crop is not sweet but it does lose the heairs in favour of a waxy coating that enables it to have a long shelf life. The Aisan name for fuzzy squash is Dit Gwa, but many know it as a type of winter melon and it is widely grown throughout Aisa.

Green Bok Choy

Shanghai Bok Choy or Green Bok Choy is essentially a “baby” bok choy with pale green leaves and spoon-shaped stems, a miniaturized version of Bok Choy. It is valued for its tenderness but some might say that it isn’t as sweet as some of the other varieties of Bok Choy.

Indian Hot Pepper

Jwala Finger Hots or Indian Hot Peppers are a very good hot pepper that dries nicely. It is an extra-hot variety that is very popular in Indian cooking. The plants are prolific and easily grown in the ground or pots. The peppers are about as long as your finger and a beautiful red colour when they are mature.

Winter Melon

Winter Melon is known by many names including Dong Gwa and Dong Gua and is used extensively in Chinese cooking. Winter Melon are the largest of the cold season melon and in stores they are often sold by the slice due to their large size. If you grow your own and harvest them, whole winter melon have a long shelf life – they can be kept for months in a cool place. To grow Winter Melon, you need a lot of sun and while they are a food staple in China, they are quickly gaining popularity here in the greater Toronto area also. At Jade Gardens and Greenhouses, we grow the long and round varieties of Winter Melon.

Taiwan Cabbage

With a host of cabbage varieties to choose from, you’ll find the Taiwan Cabbage to be tender, sweet an full of good flavour. It is not a round type like a more traditional green cabbage, but instead has a flat top. It also weighs less than green cabbage.

Oriental Long Eggplant

The Oriental Long Eggplant or Aisan Eggplant are native to tropical Asia but are quickly gaining in popularity in North America. Oriental eggplant are said to have thinner skins and not so many seeds, which makes their flavour more delicate and less bitter. So, overall, Oriental Eggplants have a sweet and delicious taste and can be prepared in a multitude of ways, including stuffing, baking and sauteeing, making them a super choice for your home vegetable garden.

Scotch Bonnet Peppers

For those who don’t know it already, the Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat of a chili pepper. The Scotch Bonnet pepper has an intense heat rating of 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units. Compare this to most regular jalapeño peppers that have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville units – this is one spicy pepper. The Scotch bonnet has a sweeter flavor than havaneros and is often used in Caribbean recipes. Colours range from orange to bright red and and a very flavourful choice.

Ethnic or Asian Specialty Vegetables – locally grown in the Oakville, Mississauga, Milton and Georgetown area

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:51:41 +0000

We serve a special clientele in the local areas of Milton, Georgetown, Oakville, Mississauga and Burlington, who want to grow some of the more unique and difficult to find asian type vegetables. We grow these more specialty type plants from seed for our customers to grow in their own gardens. The following are just a sample of some of the ethnic type vegetable plants that we grow and sell as box plants.

Bitter Melon

We grow Bitter Melon including the Indian [Karela] and Chinese [Foo Gwa] varieties. While not really well known in North America yet, this vegetable is a member of the gourd family and is liked by many for its bitter flavor. Many people have developed quite a palate for bitter foods and this vegetable is considered the most bitter among all edible vegetables. You would usually eat Bitter melon cooked in the green or early yellowing stage. Some people also eat the young shoots and leaves of the plant as greens. The Bitter melon is very popular among Asians in stir fries, soups and even in tea and in Northern India there are also many popular recipes calling for bitter melon. Whether you’ve got a favourite recipe already that calls for Bitter Melon, or you would like to introduce a new and unusual vegetable into your family’s diet, you can find Bitter melon plants at Jade Gardens and Greenhouses and they should be ready for planting in the ground after the danger of frost is past.

Bok Choy

Bok Choy is a Chinese vegetable found in many traditional Chinese dishes. It is very nutritious, high in Vitamins A, C and calcium. Though it is classified as a cabbage, its tender green leaves fit easily in most stir fries, salads and soups. The inner leaves are more palatable in a salad and the tougher outer leaves are better cooked. Bok Choy is gaining popularity and is getting easier to find at farmer’s markets and in local grocery stores, but why not take a stab at growing it yourself – just can’t get any fresher. Box plants of Bok Choy will be available in the late spring, for planting in your garden!

Callaloo or Edible Amaranth

Callaloo is a popular Caribbean dish in which the main ingredient is a green leafy vegetable called Amaranth. It has become common to just refer to the actual amaranth leaf as Callaloo. Callaloo is much like spinach, but its fans say that it is not as sour. Callaloo is purporte to be high in dietary fiber, iron and calcium, as well as being high in vitamins C, A, lutein, folic acid as well as a host of other minerals.

Chinese Cabbage

The Chinese Cabbage or Napa Cabbage is a popular leaf known for being very tender and delicious. Napa Cabbage originated near the Beijing region of China, but it has become quite popular and easily found in Western grocery stores. It is a great choice to try in your own vegetable garden. The flavour of Napa Cabbage has been compared to bok choy, but is said to be more delicate. It is a popular ingredient in many stir fries, with other ingredients like tofu, mushrooms and zucchini.

Chinese Okra

This Chinese Okra or Cee Gwa is actually a variety of squash. It grows long and cylindrical and though it can grow as long as 8 to 10 feet, it should be harvested when it is less than 1 ft. Cee Gwa has a dark green outer skin and it is ridgy. Though it looks similar to a cucumber, if picked when it is only about 6 inches the inside pulp is very similar to a zucchini in flavor. If allowed to grow longer, it becomes more bitter tasting and less flavorful. Cee Gwa or Chinese okra can be easily added to salads and stir-fried foods as it takes on the flavours of the other ingredients. While many asian countries prefer to harvest this type of squash young, and to ingest it, interestingly, in some countries this squash is not harvested until it is much more mature and has formed a “fiberous” type of webbing, and the webbing is then removed and used for washing. In countries that use Chinese Okra for washing, they call this vegetable the dishrag gourd – just an interesting little bit of trivia.

Chinese Water Spinach

While it is a spinach, Chinese Water Spinach has the advantage of having long hollow stalks that are able to hold the flavours of the other ingredients they are cooked with. In fact the Chinese word for water spinach literally means “empty-hearted vegetable”, referring to the stalks. The stalks even stay crunchy when cooked, making them more appealing than regular wilty greens may appear. Chinese water spinach is also referred to as Chinese Morning Glory because it has a beautiful flower similar in size and shape to morning glory flowers – another bonus.
While it is still not a complete list of all of our ethnic or specialty type Aisan vegetables, more choices and samplings are available on our next post.

Pepper Plants – locally grown peppers from Oakville, Mississauga, Milton and Georgetown areas

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:28:09 +0000

While we certainly carry all tried and true annual pepper plants like the Bell Peppers and Sheperds, we also carry some extra special varieties that are a little harder to come by – the uniques.

Ghost Pepper

In 2007, this UNIQUE – Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia) Hot Pepper variety was certified into the Guinness World Records as the hottest pepper in the world. It is 40 1/2 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The fruit is thumb sized chili type pepper. The smallest piece can flavour a sauce that makes it barely edible. Eating a small piece raw can cause watering eyes and a runny nose. In India it is use as a spice, cure for stomach problems and a way to fight the summer heat. Please note that it should be handled with extreme care.

Unique - Devil's Tongue

The UNIQUE – Devil’s Tongue Hot Pepper is a fairly rare variety of pepper and is currently considered the 7th hottest pepper in the world. It is a Habanero type pepper and this plant produces good yields of 2″ long by 1 ¼” wide wrinkled hot peppers. The fruits are extremely hot and turn from green, to yellow, to golden-yellow when mature. They have an intense heat and an interesting citrus-like flavor. Handle with extreme care.

Unique - White Habanero

This rare and hard by White Habanero variety yields lots of 1-2 inch creamy-white, lantern shaped fruit which grows on small high yielding bushy plants. This variety produces fruit with a smoky taste and extreme heat. It is ornamental and unique.