Snapshots from our stores -- Lots to choose from this weekend!

Beautiful Rudbeckia -- on special now for GRP members


Check out these succulents!


Zinnia, marigold and lots of bedding color!


yellow and more yellow


pretty snapdragons!


A very creative potted up container (in our humble opinion...)

Is your garden bursting with tomatoes? We love these recipe ideas from today's New York Times Food Section!

So Many Tomatoes to Stuff in a Week
Published: August 22, 2007, New York Times

Of all the produce that tastes amazingly better in season —peaches and apricots, strawberries and peas — none inspires the same cultish devotion as summer tomatoes.

Recipe: Fresh Corn Tamales with Chanterelles (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Green Tomato and Lemon Marmalade (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Pan Con Tomate (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Gazpacho With Watermelon and Avocado (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Red and Yellow Cherry Tomato Confit (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Multicolored Tomato Tartlets (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Instant Tomato-Ricotta ‘Soup’ With Capers (August 22, 2007)
Recipe: Baked Stuffed Tomatoes With Goat Cheese Fondue (August 22, 2007)

Meaty and succulent, their velvety flesh enclosing a fragrant jelly of golden seeds and dripping with sweet pink juice, summer tomatoes are everything their cold-weather counterparts aren’t, including cheap and abundant.

Right now farmers’ markets are rich with them: a dizzying profusion of scarlet beefsteaks, mini red and orange cherries and luminous lumpy heirlooms ranging from mild yellow Striped Germans to tart, intense, mauve-hued Brandywines. Swooning in their midst, I can’t seem to walk away without bags of them.

Once I get them home, though, I’m left wondering, What the heck am I going to do with all these tomatoes? How fast I can consume my purple Krims and Green Zebras before they ooze into a sticky puddle?

Read the rest, here....

It's iris season!

Bulbs are coming! Bulbs are coming! We know, you're thinking "What the heck are they talking about? It's only August!"

While most spring flowering bulbs should be planted in October when temperatures drop, August & September is the time for bearded Iris -- and bulbs will be arriving in Sloat stores this week!

Bearded Iris are rhizomatous irises that prefer full sun (some shade in hot inland areas) and well-draining soil. As you will see on the packaging, the flower form and color ranges are spectacular. Bloom periods range from April through June. Space rhizomes 1-2 feet apart just below the soil surface. Because the growth occurs on the leafy/pointed end of the rhizome, the leafy end can be pointed in the direction you want it to grow.

If previously planted bearded iris will not produce as many flowers as they used to, divide the clumps now. Bearded Iris prefer E.B. Stone Organics Bulb Food at the time of planting and a moderate nitrogen fertilizer during the growth season.

Pierce Street/Marina location: Looking to add tropical flair to your garden? Our Pierce Street location will soon receive Ensete ventricosum, the Abyssinian Banana, with huge lush green leaves that grow 10-20 feet long and 2-4 feet wide. This fast-growing tree reaches heights of 20 feet. Think of a tidy bird of Paradise!

Also arriving: Cyperus Papyrus, an excellent choice for an aquatic garden or corner of your yard that suffers from poor drainage. The flair comes in 6-10 foot stems topped by clusters of green thread-like filaments. A touch of the African waterfront!

Juncus effusus 'Gold Strike' and Juncus 'Carmans Japanese', two shoreline rushes that grow nearly worldwide, and bear slender bright green stems 18-24 inches high. Gold strike is marked by dramatic yellow striping. Use individual plants as architectural accents or plant multiple as a border for a clean formal appearance.

Sloat Blvd (San Francisco) location: Great fall blooming items for the weekend! Mums, asters and pansies for sun, also some beautiful fuchsias and ferns for a fall shade garden.

Mill Valley/East Blithedale location: Cannas, scarlet trumpet vines, Asclepias (a butterfly food/attractant for butterflies.. especially monarchs!), Chinese Pistache Trees, Evergreen Magnolia Trees, a great selection of Meyer Lemon Trees in all sizes, from 1 gallon to 25 gallon!

Danville location: a lovely selection of colorful and blooming water plants.

Snapshots from our stores!

Summery Petunias & Cosmos are in stock


Sloat pottery with Phormium & Cordyline


August is the right time for Rudbekia!


Stargazers, ornamental peppers and pincushion sedum


Fuchsia varieties


Mandevilla


Abutilon - hummingbirds love it!


Aeonium and statuary - great texture!


Sloat pottery with Phormium accents and Achillea


Cool Brugmansia!


Sloat pottery color of the month: RED!


Sloat Garden Center carries lots of plants for your backyard pond


Canna in bloom (will work in water gardens, too!)


Sunflowers are in!


Lovely Japanese Maples in stock now!


Garden furniture -- still available!


Keep the sun from your eyes with a hat -- in stock now!


Beautiful fountain accents are available -- lovely foliage, too!

Taking care of powdery mildew, rust and spider mites the organic way!

This time of year gardeners are seeing powdery mildew and spider mites on roses, as well as rust. The easiest, organic solution is to wash off the leaves early in the day. Powdery mildew spores cannot live in water, spider mites likes plants that are dry and dusty. Washing off the leaves every few days is labor-intensive and uses lots of water. Serenade, one of Sloat's newer products, is OMRI listed (more on that) as a fungicide. The active ingredient is Bacillus subtilis QST 713, a naturally occurring soil microorganism. It works in several ways; first it creates an ‘inhibition zone’ on the leaf preventing pathogens from attaching, secondly, it stops pathogen growth by competing for nutrients and space on the leaf, and lastly, it’s bacterial cells and lipopeptides destroy germ tubes and mycelium membranes. Serenade can be used up until day of harvest for Bacterial Leaf Spot (escallonia), Powdery Mildew, Rust, Leaf Blight, Black Spot, Fire Blight on melons, tomatoes, apples, roses and more. Check out the label on our newest earth-friendly solution for rose disease problems.

Roses still need deep, regular water, even if it has been foggy. Fog is not the same as rain. Roses can continue to bloom if watered, until October. August is also the last month to apply a granular organic fertilizer to roses (alfalfa, EB Stone’s Rose and Flower). Organic fertilizers typically take 4-6 weeks to break down to the point that rose bushes can absorb the nutrients. The fertilizer cutoff for roses is September 15.

Another earth-friendly solution we carry is Victor Poison Free Ant Control and Victor Poison Free Yellow Jacket Control. The Ant Control’s active ingredient is mint oil, and ALL of the inert ingredients are listed as well and carries an OMRI listing. Shake the can upside down for 15 seconds, then spray the buggers, mmm, minty fresh! The effect lasts up to 4 weeks. This spray contains no CFC’s, the propellant is carbon dioxide.

The Yellow Jacket Control’s active ingredient is mint oil again, the inert ingredients are mineral oil, lecithin, carbon dioxide and water.

As with all spray products, avoid getting the product on skin and eyes.

OMRI stands for “the Organic Materials Review Institute, a national non-profit organization that determines which input products are allowed for use in organic production and processing. OMRI listed or approved –products may be used on operations that are certified organic under the USDA Organic Program.” www.omri.org