Gardening
Life Lived Outside
The Kerby's Nursery E-Newsletter
September 17, 2020
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Fungus Among Us  |   Weekly Special  |   New Arrivals
My Kids Want to Sell me Plants
by Joey Bokor
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As you know if you're a regular newsletter reader, Abby and Maddy love to play outside. They remind me of myself when I was a kid. I was just talking to my brother the other day and we were reminiscing about how we had little nooks and crannies all over the yard for various forts and clubhouses. Sometimes we used a giant stand of philodendron. Sometimes it was a cavernous grouping of ligustrums, and if we were brave, we had a little spot under some blue plumbago.

Abby and Maddy have chosen similar areas around our yard. They found a new one the other day, just behind the chicken coop and spent the day clearing and flattening a little hidden area. Abby lined the area with cardboard boxes to make a wall and Madeleine cleared grape vines that were encroaching. Then they made a discovery: a cluster of old snake plants from container gardens of years past. You know a plant is tough when you leave it for dead in a compost heap and years later you find it just growing away.

Abby and Maddy are definitely the kids of plant people, because their first inclination was to dig their discovered plants up to save them. But then they had a better idea. They came to me and said, 'What if we divide them up and put them into a bunch of pots. We could sell them at the nursery. Will you buy them from us?'


Sure girls, you take care of those plants for the next four months and make them full and beautiful and we'll talk then, is what I wanted to say. But I just smiled and said 'Of course. They will make someone's home beautiful.' They even managed to recruit me as labor for their project and I helped them dig plants while they potted away. We'll see how it goes. At the very least, they created some cute little plants to decorate their newest clubhouse with.

As we start to turn the corner from summer to fall, lots of new stuff is arriving at the nursery, including fall veggies, mums and supertunias. Don't forget to mark your calendars for the start of this year's Pumpkin Patch. Cronus Big Stems, Gladiators, Crystal Whites and Warty Goblins will make their appearance on October 1st. A new addition this year is a pumpkin wall which will be filled with pumpkins and fall decorations, perfect for fall photos outdoors in the open air. It is just about time to Make Fall Happen. I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to a new season.

Happy Gardening,
The Kerby's Nursery Family

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The Weekly Special
Supertunias - 2 for $12
The first fall flowers of the season are here, and this week, color your gardens beautiful with supertunias. All week long, they are just 2 for $12.
Valid Through 9/23/2020

A Fungus Among Us


It's been a rainy week, so I figured that this article needs to be revisited. I know I'm seeing little mushrooms popping up all over my yard and that is a sure sign that there is a fungus among us. Fungus thrives in wet areas and at times of the year when the humidity is high (which is all summer in Florida). It shows up in a variety of ways, from whole limbs dying and black spots on leaves, to brown patches and mushrooms in your lawn. Fortunately there are some preventative measures that you can take to keep your plants healthy.

1) Water Smart - We always lecture folks on not watering enough, but plants can have too much of a good thing. Make sure that you turn off your sprinkler systems when we get large amounts of rain and take a break from daily hand watering. Watering an already wet flower bed is a sure way to make fungus grow. When you do water in the humid season, make sure to do so early in the morning so that the plant can take up water during the day and leave the soil relatively dry by night.

2) Keep it Clean - To avoid spreading disease, keep garden areas clean and weed free. Weeds can often be hosts for plant diseases and of course, leaving piles of rotting leaves and weeds around will definitely bring fungus to your garden. Clean all lawn tools that you use with a light bleach solution. This is especially important if you've just pruned a plant that has disease on it.

3) Plant Well - Probably one of the best things you can do to protect your plants from disease is to get them off to a good start. For most plants, use a well-drained soil, such as Kerby's Planting Soil when you plant. A good soil helps the plant get nutrients and water, but also keeps the soil from staying soggy. If the area you are planning on planting in has poor drainage, think about creating raised beds, since most plants do not want to sit with their feet wet. Check out Kerby's Planting Instructions for more information on how to make plants happy.

4) Treatment - In our humid season, no matter how clean your garden or how carefully you water, you will likely face disease issues at some point. Before a disease spreads to too many plants, treat with a fungicide such as Copper Soap Fungicide or Liquid Systemic Fungicide (the specific fungicide that you need will depend on the disease and the type of plant.) If you have a tough plant problem, bring a picture of the plant and a leaf sample into the nursery and we can diagnose the problem for you and get you the right treatment option. There doesn't have to be a fungus among us anymore.



New Arrivals
Hot Topic Celosia

Unique, Bright Flowers
6" Pot - $7.99
Vermillionaire Cuphea

Food for Hummingbirds
6" Pot - $7.99

Snake Plant or Sansevieria

Tough as Nails for Indoors or Out
Sizes and Prices Vary
Dwell at Kerby's - The Houseplant Shop

Take a peek at the online houseplant shop. Now you can shop for planty gifts for friends and family from the comfort of your home and have them shipped anywhere in the continental United States.
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Kerby's Nursery

2311 S. Parsons Ave.

Seffner, FL 33584
(813) 685-3265
www.kerbysnursery.com


Store Hours

Monday - Saturday
9am - 5:30pm
Sunday
11am - 4pm