Week after week we have expressed our amazement and appreciation for such a cool May and early June. We still appreciate it, but it's over. We're going to hit the 90's for the rest of June and all of July.
What are you gonna do about it? WATER WATER WATER, and we will get more specific about that. Someone asked "What are the OTHER problems brought on by hot weather?" Think about your own health when you are dehydrated and stressed. EVERYTHING hits you harder. In the case of plants, it's bugs and disease that take advantage of the lowered resistance caused by INSUFFICIENT WATER.
Up until this week, twice a week was good for your lawn but it's definitely time to go to 3 days a week and soon to every other day. Increase your time from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, then dial it in by reducing the time a couple of minutes every day until you get to "oops". You'll know it when you see it, as your lawn demonstrates its stress. Bump the time back up a couple of minutes and you should be good. Yes, this does take some of your time and attention, but you are taking care of a significant investment when you take care of your lawn.
What about your (non xeric) trees? How much water do they need? The answer will shock you... let's just say TRY to overwater. You probably can't. And that drip system that serves your shrubs and perennials? Do you know how many gallons per hour your emitters provide? There's more to get into than we have room for in a short article, but we're always glad to get into it in detail when you visit.
Jericho Nursery Guarantee
Jericho offers a 30-day warrantee specifically for perennial trees, shrubs, roses, and perennials. We are confident that your success will increase substantially with the use of root stimulator and compost at the time of planting. Therefore, when you purchase these products with your plant, your guarantee will increase to 90 days.
We consider our policy honest and strive to serve our customers with the utmost integrity. Unfortunately, we do not control either nature or nurture once your guaranteed plant is outside of our care. Therefore, we will not warrantee any adverse conditions, including a lack of adequate watering, which we see most often.
Watering guidelines – in the heat of spring, summer, and early fall, water your new planting every day for 1 to 2 weeks depending on the weather. Then every other day for another 1 to 2 weeks depending on the weather. You can NOT overwater most new plantings.
To utilize our guarantee, you must provide proof of purchase (a Jericho cash register receipt) and the dead plant, not a photo but the actual plant.
Disclaimer: Our guarantee excludes clearance items, houseplants, and annuals. We offer a one-time replacement per plant. No cash or credit card refunds will be made under this policy. We will issue a Jericho credit for the purchase price of the plant.
We're posting our guarantee this week, as we were prompted by a story that one of our suppliers shared with us recently. He told us of an acquaintance who went to a big box hardware and lumber store that sells plants to stimulate traffic. The gent bought a tree because it was cheap and came with a one year guarantee. It died. He took it back, and was cheerfully given another one. It died. Not one to be discouraged, he took it back and was cheerfully given another one. It died. Can someone shout "STOP THE INSANITY" please? He wasted THREE GROWING SEASONS because he didn't really get what he needed when he bought that tree: sound advice on how to make it thrive.
Another overboard week for pictures... we replaced every single one of the images on our front page.
Be sure you take a look! Even better, of course: come take a nice long walk through our bedding house, tropical green house, shade house, cash house, and yard.
We'll be delighted to see you!
Richard, Jennifer, and Your Gardening Angels
