Welcome everyone to the first issue of The Terra Sol News. We thank you all for signing up and are very excited about all the information this newsletter will offer.

Our goal is for you, our valued customer to use the newsletter as a tool to answer many of your gardening questions. As we celebrate the company's 6th year, we look to you and say, "Thanks for helping our business thrive!"

Terra Sol Garden Center offers choice material from the best growers, as well as the best products for all your gardening needs. Stop by our garden center any time and let us help make your dream garden a reality.

Your comments and questions are welcome and we look forward to hearing from you.

Plumerias (also called frangipanis) are one of the most beautiful and fragrant trees in the plant world. Their flowers are what the Hawaiians use to make their leis. They have widely spaced thick succulent branches, round or pointed, and long fleshy leaves in clusters near the branch tips. They are deciduous, so leaves do drop in the winter.

The real payoff comes during the early summer through the early fall months, when very fragrant clusters of showy flowers provide the basis for your own Hawaiian lei. There is absolutely nothing like the sweet fragrance of plumeria in flower. These flowers are treasured by many for their durability, fragrance and beautiful colors.

Butterflies are beautiful, dainty and graceful flying stained glass windows! The slightest glimpse of one of these creatures brings immeasurable joy to the beholder. Butterflies are simply revered by children and adults alike.

So wouldn't you love to have a butterfly garden in your own yard? Even if your landscape is already established, if you plant a few of the plants listed below, butterflies will soon find a friendly environment in your gardens.

Unfortunately, not all flowering plants will attract butterflies. However, there are flowering plants that are excellent hosts for the butterfly larvae. There are other flowers that provide nectar for the adults. Different species of butterflies are attracted to different flower nectar and flower colors.

The flowering plants that butterflies love can be annuals, perennials, shrubs and/or vines. You can create a wonderful, colorful garden that blooms year round, is beautiful for you and attracts these delicate creatures.

Plants we suggest for a butterfly garden include asclepia (butterfly weed, which hosts Monarch butterflies), buddleia, lantana, lavender, passion flower vine, polygala, rudbeckia, salvia, and statice. We also carry butterfly platforms you can put in a plant pot or in the ground; these provide a good place for a butterfly chrysalis.

This plant list is not exhaustive. During your next visit to Terra Sol, ask one of our garden experts and we'll help you with your selections. Plant them with a good soil amendment like Happy Frog Compost and feed with the appropriate Dr. Earth fertilizer for best results.

Some of our California natives also host butterfly larvae and feed the adults. California coffee berry and California wild lilac (Ceanothus) are larva hosts. One other quick note: butterflies like puddles. Provide a small water source in your garden with a shallow birdbath or buried bucket filled with stones and then filled with water.

By the way, did you know that the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles has a Butterfly Pavilion?
For more information, go to: http://www.nhm.org/exhibitions/butterflies/

Landscaping with spectacular floral and foliage garden vessels will put pizzazz into your summertime outdoor living spaces. Get ready, here we go with all the tips necessary to turn each one of you into a patio garden designer!

Designing a container garden or grouping of containers requires exactly the same process as designing an in-ground garden. You are designing a garden space. With the containers and the plants that you select, a small garden will come to life. For those of us with only patio or balcony space for plants, it is our garden!

First, take time to imagine your dream patio garden. Many questions will flood your mind as you begin to envision your future garden. Or, for those less sure of just what to do, consider what your answers are to these questions. Don't become overwhelmed. We can help you in every step of the process.

What are your desires or needs for this garden space? How should it function — as an entertainment center, serene getaway, or wildlife habitat? Do you want an informal or formal style? Believe it or not, knowing the theme of your patio garden is the number one step in this entire process.

Of course, the size of your space is a defining element. Your patio size helps you define the size and number of containers to consider and of course, the ultimate plant sizes, too. For example, on a small 5 by 5 foot patio, you might not want to have a large-leafed philodendron and a banana tree.

Take into consideration the microclimate of your patio. Is it sun or shade, or both? Is it protected from or exposed to winds? Knowledge of your microclimate in this patio area will be important for you during your plant selection.

What plants are your favorites — tropical, woodland, native plants or cottage style? Do you prefer foliage plants or flowering plants? Are you considering planting trees or shrubs, or creating splashes of color using annuals and perennials? Perhaps you are an eclectic gardener and simply want all of the above.

Selection of the containers is a big part of the process. There are so many different sizes, shapes, materials and colors of containers. Do you want pottery, cement, plastic, wood or metal? Mixing these four main elements can make for a very eye-catching collection of containers.

Perhaps you have decided to select the containers first before considering what plants you plan to have for this patio paradise. In doing so, your containers' personalities will lead the way during your plant selection. You won't want to put a collection of pansies and snapdragons into a container that could easily hold a 10- foot tall tree. And of course, that tree, even if you found it as a seedling in a small one-gallon pot, should not be planted into a tiny pot.

Alternatively, you may be the type that marches right into the plant section of our garden center and picks out plants based upon the theme that you want to create. Your next stop will then be the container area. The plants selected will define the size of the containers that you choose, and also should really help you with shape and color selection too. After all, you don't want to take home a silver-blue Eucalyptus pulverulenta (Silver Mountain Gum) and a burgundy Cordyline and plant them into an orange pot! Well, we hope not anyway!

We are excited about your new venture into container gardening! Select a high quality potting mix, and add in a controlled release fertilizer. Also, remember that moisture retention is frequently a problem with containers, so mix in a soil polymer that will hold on to the moisture between waterings.

Your patio retreat will become a reality as these ideas are transposed into concrete concepts. Whatever your choice of theme, plants and materials, your patio garden retreat should bear the mark of your personality. Hurry into our garden center and begin looking around at the many plant and container selections. And remember, have fun with this whole process! That's what creating a garden is all about.

You'll have plenty to do in the garden this month!

Planting
You can still plant some annuals and perennials in your summer gardens. For annuals, try marigolds, portulaca, and zinnias for that huge splash of color. For perennials, and even more color, plant coreopsis, gaura, rudbeckias (Irish Eyes, etc), salvias, and many more.

Tropical plants are popular now and can be brought into any garden, whether tropical, cottage, or country themes. Flowering shrubs include hibiscus, brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet), canna, bougainvillea, and vines such as passion flower or Burmese honeysuckle. Large-leaf evergreens include philodendrons, xanadu, tree ferns, and gingers. You can even include abutilon, which comes in several colors including red, yellow, orange, and pink.

Harvesting
You are probably busy harvesting and enjoying your summer vegetables like green beans, tomatoes, eggplant, squashes, and peppers. You can also continue to plant these veggies to extend your crop harvest.

Maintenance
We all have been experiencing a major "pest" time in our gardens. Those holes in your rose leaves are from the rose slug. Aphids love the rose buds, and more. You can wash off these pests with water. We recommend products with spinosad in them to treat rose slug. Caterpillars are abundant; try a spray containing Bt. And we can't forget snails — they won't let us. We like Sluggo for snails and slugs, as it is both effective and safe.

It's feeding time for your flowerbeds, roses, vegetables, citrus and warm-season lawns. Come in and ask one of us what fertilizers will be best for each of your plant needs. We offer a wide selection of fertilizers: multipurpose, organic, and slow release.

You can do some pruning, even though it's summertime. Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister,' gaura, and salvias will look much better if cut back by about 1/3. Oh...and your catmint, too.

If you forgot to increase your watering from the spring months, you must do so now. Trees (non-citrus) and shrubs will need deep soaks once each month in the summer, and regular irrigation in between. Citrus and your flowerbeds need regular weekly watering.

Those of you growing tomatoes and peppers, watch for tomato hornworms. They will need to be hand-picked from your foliage.

As usual, mulch, mulch, and mulch some more! We will always tell you to mulch. This does not mean mound up the mulch to 5 feet. It means continue to replenish the mulch and maintain a 2-4 inch blanket over your soil. So when you hear us singing the 'mulch song,' you'll know just what we mean!

With summer here, garden herbs are kicking into high gear, producing lots of pleasing, aromatic, foliage that is great for cooking and potpourris. Freshly harvested leaves are wonderful for cooking, but you might want to preserve some to use later in the year or to create satchels that will fill your home with wonderful scents.

There are two ways to air-dry your crop. The first is to hang them up. With large-leafed herbs such as basil, rosemary, and sage, snip off the leafy stems, then tie the cut ends together with string and hang the bundle upside down in a warm, dry place (out of direct sunlight) with good air circulation. The herbs should be dry and crisp in two to three weeks. You can then strip the leaves off the stems and store them in airtight container for later use. This method is also a great way to dry lavender.

The second way to dry herbs is to spread them out to dry. With fine-leafed herbs such as oregano and thyme, simply remove the foliage from stems and spread the leaves on a cookie sheet or piece of clean window screen and set in a warm, dry, airy place away from direct sun. Stir them up every few days to turn them over. Once the leaves feel crisp, you can store them in an airtight container for later use.

Earwigs are the brownish/black insects (about ¾ inch long) with pointed pincers on the rear of their abdomens. The earwig's lifelong pursuit is to be an active member of the insect cleanup crew of the garden. They chew up plant debris and turn it into humus. For this job, earwigs are considered a beneficial insect. You rarely see this insect out in the open, but rather under leaves, under low growing foliage plants or in a woodpile. Creating humus is part of the earwig "career" that is a positive thing for any garden.

However, they also have a liking for new tender foliage and this is what gets them into trouble with gardeners. When they eat tender foliage, they are considered a pest.

There are a number of different earwig management techniques. The earwig likes dark, damp places in the yard. In these locations, place rolled up newspapers or low-sided cans coated with oil. The earwigs will crawl inside of either of these traps, and you can simply throw them away.

Ultimately, the best way to prevent earwig infestations is to keep the garden clean and remove potential earwig hiding spots. And remember that a few here and there are more helpful than harmful to your gardens.