Welcome everyone to the first issue of the Sun River Gardens newsletter. We thank you all for signing up; we're 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 at Sun River Gardens celebrate another year, we look to you and say thanks for helping our business thrive.

In a time of much uncertainty in the world and much unrest between nations, I thought I might write this month's column with a little different spin on things. Many of the catastrophic events in the last two years have made everyone stop and think for a moment just how short life is, and to realize that time spent with the family makes memories that last a lifetime. One thing I have noticed over the course of the last year, gardening is once again headed back to its roots and becoming ever more popular as a family affair.

I think back to my years as a young boy gardening with my grandfather, Henry Engh "Hank the Petunia King," and the many lessons I learned standing by his side. Somehow life seemed to make sense when I was working with him in the vegetable garden, or planting one of the hundreds of flower beds surrounding his garden center, "Engh Floral." The message I am trying to relay is that gardening is not just about plants. It's about teaching beauty, appreciation, achievement, enthusiasm, responsibility, and the list goes on. It instills a sense of pride in everyone when they can watch something grow and bloom or see the work of planting a landscape create a beautiful place at home. Working in a garden makes the ordinary stresses in life vanish for a while. Why is gardening one of America's favorite pastimes? Because it means all these things, and it creates a fun and beautiful environment for family and home.

It makes my day when people come to our garden center and spend an hour looking around and just soaking in the environment! Something about plants and flowers has the magic to relax and calm the soul.

Tiger Eyes is a beautiful golden-leafed form of Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac. New growth is a lively chartreuse green, quickly changing to yellow, both colors contrasting nicely with the rosy-pink leaf stems. The branches angle upward while the deeply cut leaflets drape downward, giving it a rather oriental look. As magnificent as the summer colors are, the dramatic effect of yellow, orange and intense scarlet in autumn is unparalleled.

This month I want to introduce to you someone from our staff who is pretty near and dear to me, Patricia Ashby. She is our office manager for 8 years now and a big part of the success in growing Sun River Gardens to where it is today! As some of you may know Patricia is my mother. She has been in the garden, landscape, and floral industry for almost 40 years! You could say she knows a thing or two about gardening. She raised 8 children and now has 17 grandchildren!

She loves music and sang for many years with the Salt Lake Symphonic Choir, and performed all over the U.S. and Canada with the choir. She loves to garden and also loves babies.
She is pretty special to me and I owe an endless amount of thanks to my mom for helping me achieve where I am today, and Sun River Gardens would not be what it is today without her endless devotion and tireless effort!

A life of thanks Mom!

Scott H. Engh - President

Crimson Pointe is the first and only columnar shaped, purple leafed, ornamental plum on the market, filling the need for trees with a small footprint for today's shrinking lot sizes. This deciduous tree has glossy bronze foliage, which turns maroon green as it ages and showy white flowers. Discovered in a residential neighborhood in Northern Ohio by Jim Zampini, Crimson Pointe is believed to be a sport of Prunus cerasifera 'Newport'. Based on its vigor, it may mature between 25 - 30 feet in height and 10 feet wide. The narrow branch angles create a tree of strong columnar form.

Planting Ideas:
• Good for a side yard or other narrow area.
• Try a corner grouping of three.
• Plant in a single line to draw the view toward a focal point.

Love at first sight. That’s the reaction you’ll have to Endless Summer® ‘Blushing Bride’—a young beauty destined to walk hand in hand with Endless Summer The Original hydrangea.

Like Endless Summer The Original, Endless Summer Blushing Bride will add life and love to your garden and home virtually all season long. Because it reliably blooms on both old and new growth, you can experience the beauty of Blushing Bride again and again.