Petaluma Seed Bank

Ever since Baker Creek opened up the Seed Bank in Petaluma a few years ago, I have made the drive there to pick out my seeds for my spring/summer garden.  This year I made the trip with my friend Amy from The Lamm Farm.  With handfuls of wish lists from our family and friends, we made the two hour drive to Petaluma.  The building alone is worth the trip- the historic Sonoma County National Bank building, located at 199 N. Petaluma Blvd.  Built in 1926, it has a beautiful 30 foot tall metal ceiling, and a lot of it's original ornate fixtures. 

Floor to ceiling windows bring in a lot of natural light, as customers browse literally thousands of non-GMO seeds that Baker Creek offers. 

The store is well organized.  One section has flowers, one section has herbs, and the fruits and vegetables are alphabetically sorted A-Z.  There is also a section bulk seed purchases, in case you have the room for 5000 squash plants....

The owners, Jere and Emilee Gettle, just released their first book called The Heirloom Life Gardener.  It contains all of the beautiful full color photos that you'd find in their amazing catalog, and information about saving seeds, their trips around the world to gather seeds, and how to grow most of the seeds you can find at the Seed Bank, organically.  This WAS on my wish list, but five minutes ago it showed up on my doorstep as an early birthday present from my friend Dan.  Yay!  Of course after I finish reading it, I'll probably be making another trip BACK to the Seed Bank!

There's not just seeds and books at the Seed Bank, they have a nice assortment of gifts and seed starting supplies as well.  I'm pretty sure this is the only place around that carries a Romanesco Broccoli candle!  How cute is that?!  Right now they also have discounted  items from the National Heirloom Exposition that took place in September in Santa Rosa.  I didn't go, and I regret it.  Next year, if it is still in Santa Rosa, I'll be there!

I kind of wish I had visited here BEFORE Christmas as they had so many cute gift ideas for all of my gardening friends.  I picked up some plant markers while I was there. And I really wanted to grab some of those wooden seedling boxes that they had too- hopefully they are still there on my next trip! 

A successful trip as usual!  My daughter had simply requested "Lots of different flowers" and I think I covered that with Zebrina Hollyhocks, and various petunias, zinnias, poppies and bachelors buttons. I'm going to take a stab at growing black beans for my first time so I picked up their "Cherokee Trail of Tears". I am also banking...err hoping.... that since our last two summers were COOL(according to my standards), that this will be a summer of HEAT, and I loaded up on various melons.  If my wish comes true, this summer we'll be enjoying melons like "Collective Farm Woman", "Oran's", and "Green Machine".  Before Amy left my place I also grabbed a couple of her Melon "Charentais" seeds (which have been on my wish list for a couple of years), and some of her "Blue Podded Garden Peas", too.  Noticeably absent: tomatoes.  I know, crazy right?  I had left my tomato and pepper wish list at home, and didn't just want to wing it.  I'll be placing an order it January probably (after I finish reading The Heirloom Life Gardener, of course).

For more information about the Seed Bank in Petaluma, or Baker Creek seeds, you can visit their website here, and be sure to sign up for their catalog!  You can also listen to a podcast from Farmer Fred from Get Growing that took place mid-December, where he interviewed Jere Gettle about his new book The Heirloom Life Gardener, and about the National Heirloom Exposition. 

Brrrrrrrr..... Baby it's Cold Outside!

We've had a couple of frosty nights here in Sacramento.  After the first night of frost the garden faired pretty well, but back to back (to back, etc) nights and my garden has turned to mush.  Early this week we had lots of wind to knock the rest of the leaves off the trees (like the Utah Sweet Pomegranate above left, and the bright yellow leaves from our gingko tree to the right), hopefully those leaves offered enough heat and cover for some of my more tender perennials.  Only time will tell.

Pictured above is the so-called "front yard" garden at about 9am this morning.  This side of the yard doesn't start getting sun until around 10am, so the frost tends to linger for a while.  The fence and citrus trees above are covered in C-9 Christmas lights and set on a dusk to dawn timer to provide some heat (and holiday cheer). 

As for things that turned to mush, we have some of the lovelies pictured above.  From left to right, Dahlia imperialis, Verbascum (I can't remember which one, and it's too cold to go outside and read the tag), and Iochroma cyanea 'Burgundy Wine'.  Just last week all three of these were green and perky.  All three should survive, although I'm thinking the iochroma is going to need a little extra protection than I was thinking it would.

The "I'm not afraid of a little frost- I'm too busy looking awesome" award goes to Athansia pinnata, pictured above.  This is one of my favorite plants as it looks good year round.  As you can tell by the photo above, its blooms laugh in the face of frost. 

The pictures above are of my Echium 'Mr. Happy'.  The photo on the left was taken on Sunday.  The photo on the right was taken this morning.  My other Echiums handled the frost pretty well, but this plant in particular just looks droopy and sad now.  I'm praying it recovers as it was growing to be one of the largest Echium "towers" I've grown yet.  Fingers crossed!

Guess what time of year it is?  Yep- it's citrus season!  I managed to get all of the trees wrapped in Christmas lights this past weekend and just in time!  Clearly I wasn't thinking how much energy it would take to keep 12 tree's warm. Lets just hope that my pummelo tree isn't robbed again....



The biggest disappointment I had was of my Salvia wagneriana.  I have two of them, one is a couple of years old and is huge, and one is only about 6 months old and still in a small size.  I have never seen it bloom in my garden!  Every year it gets close- then BAM! The frost comes and turns the plant to mush.  The plant returns every year without problems, but still I'd like to enjoy to the blooms at least once! 

There were still some blooms in the garden as of this past weekend, but I'm pretty sure most of them are gone after today.  The only blooms that seem unaffected by the frost were the hollyhocks (above).  I guess I should be thankful I have anything blooming this time of year, but it still makes me sad to see less colors. Speaking of color.....

.....in case I get too busy to post again before Christmas-  Merry Christmas from Us!