CLAYTON, CA (Aug. 20, 2025) — After 22 years of being your Garden Girl, this column will be my last.
Garden Girl has become a part of my identity along with wife, mother, sister and friend. Writing for The Pioneer has been extremely fulfilling. I loved having this outlet to educate, inform and share my passion for plants with others.
It’s been a great opportunity to write for The Pioneer through the years, and I would like to thank you so much for reading.
In this final column, I want to provide you with simple garden tips and observations. My hope is to leave you readers with easy-to-remember tidbits to enhance your gardening and plant experiences in the future. And remember, I am always available at the shop for questions.
Full sun on the label almost never means full sun. Our sun in Pioneer territory is nothing like the full sun of Berkeley or Martinez. Rather than believing labels, look at the size of the plant’s leaves. Generally, the smaller the leaf, the more tolerant to the sun the plant will be.
The flowers on your perennials and roses shrink in the heat.
Never install plants when temperatures are above 90.
Prune spring-blooming shrubs immediately after bloom and always follow heavy pruning with fertilizer.
Apply a soil conditioner beneath your landscape plants and shrubs before layering bark. Your plants will love it.
If you install a perennial or shrub while in full bloom, be prepared for the installation to sacrifice its flower to focus on its root.
Plants do not read their own labels and will not take them into consideration when deciding how tall or wide to grow.
Earthworm castings and bone meal will make your vegetable gardens more productive.
Tree and shrub installations take three years to begin to thrive in our clay soil.
Aphids aren’t bad for roses. Rather, they attract beneficial insects – so don’t worry about them.
Fertilize disease-prone plants with organic fertilizer. The beneficial microbes are good for your plant’s immune system.
Birds put holes in your basil and shred your sunflower leaves.
Lavender plants hate summer installations and are prone to failure if installed at this time.
An adult prayer mantis will sit on lavender and lantana flowers and eat bees and butterflies all day long.
Apply multi-purpose granular fertilizer to your landscape in late winter while it’s still raining so Mother Nature can rain it in.
Deer do not read Google; therefore, they don’t know what they aren’t supposed to eat.
Plants that go dormant in the winter can live for decades.
Knowing this is my last column feels surreal. Writing all these years has been a chore that I am deeply going to miss. Thank you, Bob and Tamera Steiner, for giving me a voice in the garden.
Send mail to gardengirl94517@yahoo.com
Nicole Hackett
Nicole is the Garden Girl at R&M Pool, Patio, Gifts and Garden. You can contact her with questions or comments by email at gardengirl94517@yahoo.com
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