New year, new garden: It’s time to freshen things up

Dreaming of a fresh new backyard? January is the perfect time to get started.

Here are some tips from two local garden centers — Sloat Garden Center, with locations in Mill Valley, Kentfield and Novato, and SummerWinds Nursery in Novato.

• Prune deciduous fruit trees for their health and a good harvest later this year.

Not sure how to prune them? Sloat Garden Center will teach you the basics at a fruit tree pruning seminar on Jan. 18. It will be held at 10 a.m. at the Kentfield store and 1 p.m. at the Novato store.

You can also learn how to prune Japanese maples with pruning expert Elizabeth Ruiz at a talk at 1 p.m. Jan. 4 at Sloat’s Kentfield store.

• January is the ideal time to prune roses, too. Good pruning will keep them healthy and ready to bloom at their best in springtime.

Members of the Marin Rose Society will show you how to prune roses at two Sloat locations on Jan. 18. They’ll be at the Novato store at 10 a.m. and at the Kentfield store at 3 p.m.

You can also find helpful information on all things roses at the Marin Rose Society’s website at marinrose.org.

Remember, when pruning roses, dispose of the leaves and trimmings rather than composting them to reduce disease and insect spread.

While you’re outside pruning roses or cleaning up the garden, look for sunny, well-drained spots to add more rose varieties.

Think about what you love most about roses. Do you want something to cover an arbor or hide a fence? Blooms with a heady fragrance or none at all? Ones with pale or saturated colors? Stems with fewer thorns than lots of prickly ones? A mass of the same rose variety for a lush border or a mass of different colors? If you want to bring in the blooms, do you prefer the classic hybrid tea form or a more relaxed bouquet with cupped forms or multiple blooms on one stem?

Finally, is there someone special who you want to remember in your garden? You can plant a rose with their name or personality so you’ll think of them each time you walk by it.

Roses have it all, and January brings dormant varieties to local nurseries. Search for the roses that fit your checklist best.

SummerWinds Nursery has climbing roses and lots of hybrid tea roses, including Mister Lincoln, Elle, Sterling Silver and Blue Girl — all $29.99.

Sloat has plenty of roses, too, including Just Joey, Double Delight, Stainless Steel, Peace and at least three very fragrant ones — the pinkish Perfume Delight, the orangish Fragrant Cloud and the velvety red Mister Lincoln — for $42.

While you look for dormant roses, keep an eye out for fruit trees and berry plants if you want to add some edibles. Dormant varieties are simple to plant and to establish in the winter months. Fruit trees should arrive at SummerWinds in mid-January.

Also, look out for some pretty winter blooms — pansies, violas, primroses, camellias or daphne, for example — to perk up any garden spot or container that needs a little color.

If you like to grow vegetable plants by seed, this is the month to direct sow or transplant broccoli, kale, lettuce, peas, spinach and other cool-weather crops.

• If you appreciate the idea of a native garden or want to incorporate some native plants within your cultivated garden that is more traditional, plant some natives.

• It’s so easy to incorporate wildlife- and pollinator-friendly plants into a garden. There’s almost always a spot for some lavender or a milkweed plant or two.

Need more suggestions? Butterfly expert Susan Dunlap will share her tips on the best nectar plants for local butterflies, what will make them choose your garden and practical ideas for turning your garden into a butterfly paradise at 1 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Sloat Garden Center in Kentfield.

• Clean up garden beds, not just to make them look nice, but to prevent disease. Rotting leaves that have fallen and weak or broken tree limbs are good starting points.

• For the best plant health and growth, add some healthful compost and top-dress garden beds with mulch to protect the soil and suppress weeds.

Chris Bikle, a garden expert at SummerWinds Nursery, says she’s “really excited” about a new product called GardenStraw.

“It is a wonderful mulch and sorted to be weed-free,” she said. “The straw is of even length and provides a wonderful layer of organic material that will feed the beneficial creatures in the soil and keep the soil a little warmer, and in the spring it can be mixed into the soil for added aeration and bulk when it’s time to plant. In the summer it helps keep the soil cool and moist.”

• If you have a lawn, January is a good time to aerate it to get oxygen through compacted soil and overseed any bare spots.

• For those who use dormant spray, Sloat suggests Monterey Liqui-Cop or Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide Concentrate for disease and All Seasons Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil Concentrate for insects.

The nursery also notes that you can protect your plants from slugs and snails with Sluggo or Sluggo Plus; citrus plants from rodents with Bonide Repels-All; and tender plants and succulents from frost with a frost blanket such as N-Sulate or an anti-transpirant spray such as Wilt-Pruf.

Gardeners can also get inspired to create and maintain beautiful winter gardens by visiting these local nurseries.

Fairfax

• O’Donnell’s Fairfax Nursery is at 1700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5:30 daily. Call 415-453-0372.

Kentfield

• Sloat Garden Center in Kentfield is at 700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Store hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Call 415-454-0262 or go to sloatgardens.com.

Mill Valley

• Green Jeans Garden Supply is at 690 Redwood Highway. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Call 415-389-8333 or go to greenjeansgardensupply.com.

• CNL Native Plant Nursery is at 254 Shoreline Highway. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call 415-888-8471 or go to cnlnatives.com.

• Sloat Garden Center has two garden centers: 657 East Blithedale Ave. and 401 Miller Ave., suite D. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Go to sloatgardens.com.

Novato

• Green Point Nursery is at 275 Olive Ave. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Call 415-892-2442 or go to greenpointnurserymarin.com.

• SummerWinds Nursery is at 1430 South Novato Blvd. in Novato. Store hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call 415-878-0493 or go to summerwindsnursery.com.

• Sloat Garden Center in Novato is at 2000 Novato Blvd. Store hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Call 415-897-2169 or go to sloatgardens.com.

San Rafael

• West End Nursery is at 1938 Fifth Ave. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.  Call 415-454-4175 or go to westendnursery.com.

Show off

If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it.

Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it, and a photograph or two. I will post the best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published, and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.

PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design, and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.