Carnivorous Plants-Yikes!

Ring Around The Organically-Grown Roses

There are people that grow everything organically, and there are people that grow roses. People who do both are a rare breed. I almost consider them a Fairy Tale group of gardeners that work with magic wands rather than trowels. They've got their own spells, or recipes, for fertilizers, soils, insect repellents, and more. One of these magic formulas I will share with you today. This came from a former employee of ours, and tales of its success are still coming in.

Per Rose Bush

3 cups of dehydrated cow manure
5 cups alfalfa meal
1/3 cup bat guano
1 cup bone meal
1 cup cottonseed meal
1/4 cup blood meal
1 cup triple super phosphate


This would be a lovely time to pick up a Knock Out Rose at H&Z and try it out!

Garden Centers Bring Up More Than Flowers

Garden Centers are constantly striving to be more than stores. To be successful, they must become part of the community. To do so, many form partnerships with local charities,schools,and businesses.

Hester and Zipperer is taking this approach on a number of different fronts. Hester and Zipperer employee, Kristen Phillips is working with Wilmington Island's May Howard Elementary to establish an outdoor classroom. It will serve as a learning tool and directly relate to the students' curriculum. Members of May Howard's faculty, as well as other volunteers, are hoping to make this a prototype for other schools throughout Chatham County.

Hester and Zipperer has also worked to address the ferral cat problem on Wilmington Island by accepting donations for a spay and neuter fund residing at Island's Vet Care. While funds exist, Wilmington Island residents can humanely trap ferral cats and use the fund to have them fixed. (Contact Island's Vet Care at 897-1121 for more info on procedures and prices.)To facilitate this process, the Wilmington Island location also lends out a "Have a Hart" trap free of charge. We also sell them if you want one for your very own.

Customers should watch out for products benefiting national causes like the fight against breast cancer.



Hester and Zipperer employee, Alex Brown, spent Friday setting up a display of pink garden tools that will benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. These are wonderful gifts for the lady in your life, and also a cute way to introduce a little girl to the garden. (If you know a guy who likes pink-hey...)

It's Good To Be Back!

Well, I've made it back from my internship at Riddle's Elephant Sanctuary, and it seems that I've come back to wonderful gardening weather! Tomorrow it is supposed to be 80 degrees! God Bless the South. Remember that Mother Nature can be fickle though. We are not out of danger for frost until around St. Patrick's Day. That being said, there are plenty of plants in stock that are just aching to make your yards look great.

Butterfly gardeners can get an early start with our gallon pots of Scabiosa. The lavender blooms, also called Pincushion Flowers, stand on wire-like stems and give a sense of whimsy to a landscape. Of course, that reliable work horse, Lantana, is also available to feed your butterfly cronies. Gardeners not familiar with the newer dwarf varieties should come check them out, because they can be accomodated by small gardens and containers easier than their massive counterparts.

Caladium and Elephant Ear bulbs have just arrived, and there are varieties for almost every lighting situation. These trobical looking beauties make excellent backdrops for flowers like Begonias and Impatiens that will arrive later in Spring.
A garden spot that stays moist, has soil rich in organic matter, and protected from strong winds is ideal for both Caladiums and Elephant Ears, and don't forget that they can make striking additions to containers. Monthly fertilizing is a good plan to keep their foliage healthy.

If your New Year's Resolution is to eat healthier, than we can help. Let us show you how to plant an attractive container of salad greens, or better yet, have one custom made! You'll also want to keep an eye out for fruit trees that will be arriving in the nursery soon. Of course, our recent shipment of Citrus can hold you over until then. Don't forget to ask about the proper fertilizer as well.

Lastly, Valentine's Day is approaching. This would be a good time to ask your gardening sweetie what they might enjoy for their plot. Don't forget good gifts like bird houses,bird feeders, and bird baths!

Take Inspiration

This will be my last blog entry until February. I am taking a Winter break from plants and will be spending much time around large piles of manure. Why on earth would I do that you ask? The answer is because the manure will be coming from the thirteen elephants at Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary located an hour North of Little Rock, Arkansas.



I will be an intern there for a month. I will live in a dorm, cook my meals in a community kitchen, and help care for their incredible residents. They are a nonprofit organization that takes in elephants that have been given up by zoos,retired from circus life, or even orphaned in the wild.

'Tis the season of giving. What inspires you? What would drag you away from your loved ones for a month? What would light you up inside?

Merry Christmas! See you next year! -Christine

Riddle's Elephant Sanctuary

Gardening Through Winter

A lot of people welcome a winter break from the yard and garden chores, but there are some thrill-seekers that venture on through this chilly chapter of the garden journal. When it is cold we want to stay in our beds,and we should. Only, I am talking about our flower and shrub beds!
Now is a good time to dig up, rearrange, and ammend the soil. You may think that your plants are getting by on the sandy Savannah soil that has been there since the War Between The States, however they could be doing so much more with a little help from you.
Ammending soil is not an exact science. Everyone has their secret ingredient that they feel works the best. It is a good idea to have your soil tested by the County Extension Service. (The link is on this blog.) There is a small fee, but it is well worth it for the information and advice that they will send you. You can come in to our store with their information, and we can get you started with the right additives.
If you prefer to do your own way, we can suggest common additives for a variety of situations. For example, Garden Gypsum is known to break up clay soils. Lime helps tame our naturally acidic soil. Superphosphate improves the number of blooms has down the road. Just let tell us about what your planting, and we can help.
Once you realize the benefits of improving your soil, you may want to look into starting a compost pile in your yard.

For Composting Info Click Here
Earth 911 Making Every Day Earth Day-Good Info!
Composting For Kids

Don't Stress!

It was the day I had to pick my mom up at the airport, for our families' early Christmas celebration, that I decided to clean the interior of my car. It looked like a hamster cage. I wouldn't have been surprised to find a chewed up toilet paper roll in the clutter. Heck, even a hamster wouldn't have been all too alarming. What was wrong with me? Why had I let my car fill up with soda cans, pay stubs, books, shoes,and goodness knows what else? It was when I was vacuuming the pea gravel out of the trunk that I decided,"Enough!" I gave the car a final spray of Trapp's Mediterranean Fig air freshener and slammed the hatch down. Phewww. My car was the last of a laundry list of chores that I had assigned myself AND my husband for our holiday festivities, and I was ready to be DONE!
Doesn't cleaning just bring out the best in our personalities? Or rather the need to clean? My husband and I had begun the pre-holiday muttering at one another.
I couldn't TELL you what he was muttering about, but I started down this road,
"If you don't use the crevice tool, it means you haven't vacuumed." I called my sister on the phone as I loaded the dishwasher. "It's like they don't see the same stuff that needs to be done." She chuckled in recognition.

Her annual Christmas letter hadn't gone out yet, and that was a bull that her husband usually took by the horns. "He spent the evening loading music on to the computer," she commisserated. "Then he wanted to go to bed-at 8:30!" The thing is that our husbands are great guys, but the holiday stress had my sister and I lining them up against car thieves and people that dot their i's with little smiley faces, both of which are highly disturbing.

When my family eventually arrived, I made great attempts to keep my stress at a level managable by Advil and a few glasses of wine. I decorated the Christmas tree with my mom and my aunt, and only a few times replaced their ornaments to "safer" branches;cat-resistant branches. I was filled with so much warmth from the holidays and a 2004 Syrah that I hardly noticed the smudges from cat noses on the dining room windows. I didn't even flinch as a hair ball rolled by me like a Tumble Weed in Death Valley. Oh no. I was merry, and consequently, everyone else was too! Now there will always be slip ups. Outbursts like, "Yes I need that! That's why I put it on the list!" are bound to occurr. As are the, "I TOLD you-put the potatoes in the BLUE dish.Geeeez."
Christmas comes without Windex, or Tile-x,or sheets for the Swiffer. It comes without emmaculant counters-though some beg to differ. You see, Christmas is something that doesn't come in a sprayer! Christmas, it turns out, is meant to be gayer!

So gather your loved ones and let go of the stress. Besides-I'm sure nobody will notice that spot on your dress!