Nancy's Blog

(Written April 22) Well, I’ve tried to deny it for a few weeks now and I thought we had dodged the bullet, but it looks like the river is going to close us down. I am hoping to be open at least until Monday the 25th, but we’ll just have to see how quickly the river comes up. I’ll try to keep you posted here.

It is a frantic race for us right now. Sorry I haven’t had time to keep up with this blog. The tomatoes are all transplanted…..that is a huge job with all the hundreds of plants we have. The next couple of days we’ll get the Wave Petunias potted and then we are just about done with major transplanting jobs. There are still several things to pot up though. In the midst of all the planting duties, we are also trying to unpack, assemble and display all the products in our sales building. Add to that, that I am going to set up at the Home Show this weekend, and you’ll see why it’s a frantic time! The only good thing about the flood was that I sat down and worked on my newsletter, so it is at the printers and should be out soon! Pictures next time……I promise!

As promised, I finally took the camera over to the greenhouses. It is amazing how quickly they fill up. We need more space already!

If you go back a couple of blogs, you can compare how full they were just a month ago compared to now!

This is Greenhouse #1.The plants will really grow quickly when the weather starts to warm!

Greenhouse #2

Greenhouse #3. The center bench is full of geraniums. Wait until they all start to bloom!

Some of the plants I love to see arrive are the coleus cuttings. We have over 40 varieties rooting , that will be ready to pot up in a week or so. Aren’t the colors wonderful?!!

Coleus cuttings

Another new plant this year is a Begonia called ‘Art Hodes’. Look at the purple hairs on that leaf…it gives an iridescent glow!

Begonia 'Art Hodes'

Another neat plant is a succulent. This one is Echeveria ‘Red Glo’. Just look at the curly red edges on the leaves. We have LOTS of different succulents growing this year!

Echeveria 'Red Glo'

Finally, there are some Epimedium blooming now that are really beautiful. Epimedium is a great ground cover for shade, and can even tolerate dry shade. The heart shaped leaves are very attractive, but look at this lovely yellow bloom that occurs in the spring.

Epimedium 'Sulphureum'

Now, you probably know that the greenhouse is normally open this time of year, but we are closed due to flooded roads. The water is now almost 3 1/2′ deep over our road in 3 different places. This means my employees can’t get in to work on transplanting all those plants. It also interrupts deliveries. Here is what we had to do today to bring in 13 boxes of plants that arrived.

Boxes of plants loaded onto our john boat. We have to travel over the backwater shown in the photo to get back to the greenhouse.

We’re running behind with the transplanting right now, but once the roads clear and my employees are back we’ll catch up in no time!

This is the week we normally open each year, but the river has cut us off. Hasting Lane has water crossing it in three places. Here is the view as you turn off the highway on to Hasting Lane.

As you turn off the highway, this is the scene you see. All the trash in the water is cornstalks from the field.

Now, here is the view from my side leaving the greenhouse on Hasting Lane heading toward the highway.

We've just left our road and turned onto Hasting Lane.

Notice the river gauge on the left side of the road. My husband had this made after our last flood and it is really nice to see just how deep the water is. We placed it at the deepest part.

Close-up of the gauge. The water is 16" deep when we took this picture.

The 1′ mark is completely covered, and the water is almost up to the 6″ mark. Thankfully our greenhouses and house are high and dry. This will slow up some of the work since my employees can’t make it in now, but we’ll catch up as soon as they can get back in!

The greenhouses are getting full. I get so busy working over there, I forget to post updates for you to see. I’ll try to take some photos again tomorrow!

Stay dry! 🙂

I’m sorry it took me so long to post another blog! Things have been happening fast in the greenhouse with plants arriving daily. But I promised to share a photo of the seedlings which are really fun to watch  grow. That is one of the most exciting parts of a new season when the first seeds sprout.

Seedlings sprouting at the greenhouse

These seedlings are on the seed bench which has heating pads to help speed germination. This is where I start all of my seed. The labels identify varieties as well as give the date they were seeded.

Seedlings growing on to transplant size.

Once the seeds have sprouted, I move them to a regular bench and let them grow a little larger until they are ready to transplant. You can see I’ve already transplanted a few rows.

Some of the first plants to arrive and get planted are the hanging baskets. Here is a picture of what the greenhouse looks like in the early stages. I’ll bet you’ve never seen it this empty!

Hanging baskets just potted up.

The greenhouses fill up fast though. We had several shipments delayed with the cold weather a couple of weeks ago, so now everything is arriving at once and we’re running ahead full speed. In fact I’ve got to get over there to work right now! I’ll post more later!

I was sure that I was going to add blogs all summer long, but here we are with another year starting and I didn’t make it! It’s been an exciting summer with trips to Greenhouse Conferences and a first for us this year, a market trip to Chicago!  As the new merchandise arrives, I’ll try to highlight some of the things we’ll have for you this year.

Here are a couple of large topiary structures for pots that we thought were really unique.

This 3-D topiary has petal-like sections that make it look like a large tulip!

Another 3-D topiary with classic curved lines. We think they are awesome!

Another group of merchandise to arrive are some smaller figurines. We have a lot of different birds, frogs, lizards, caterpillars and animal shapes.

We loved these birds, as well as others with wings that look like leaves.

These frogs also have a leaf type veining for their skin. I love the poses!

This frog would be great to put candies in!

You can see I had a lot of fun at the show in Chicago. I can’t wait to show you the rest of the things coming in.

The plants are beginning to arrive as well. I have Greenhouse #1 heated. Seedlings are already emerging and a few hanging baskets are potted up. I’ll take my camera over soon and post pictures so you can see the beginning stages of the season.

It won’t be long and spring will come….I’m ready….how about you?

Monday will be the official start of our “End of Season Sale”, although those of you who shopped this past week got in on the unadvertised “Pre-Sale”. We gave discounts through the week so those who purchased plants don’t have to feel bad when they see the ads this week that the sale has started!

It is always hard to believe the season is almost over. It goes so quickly once the selling season starts. We’ve been working since last January getting things ready for you to buy & you look up & it’s time to close. It’s kind of like when you prepare for a big dinner(Thanksgiving) and you work for days getting ready, then it is over in 1 hour or less!

I always tell people I’m happy to open and I’m happy to close. It is always fun to get to do some other things once the greenhouse closes. The break gives me time so that I come at it fresh every year. My time isn’t totally free through those summer and fall months. I have plant and merchandise shows to attend as well as orders to place with salesmen for plants for next year. Mike and I spend a lot of time on repairs and improvement to the buildings as well.

We hope to see you during these final 3 weeks as the season winds down. Bargain Day is June 19! All the sale information with dates is on the “Events” page.

We have  some unusual vines for sale this year, and one I’ve never grown before was the Dutchman’s Pipe.  I found one with a bud on it a week or so ago & potted it up to watch it bloom. It has gotten larger and larger. I’ve been thinking each day that it had to bloom soon.  Here is what the bud looks like. This is a smaller one on the same plant.

Bud on the Dutchman's Pipe Vine

You can see from the side view that it is the shape of the bud that gives the name Dutchman’s Pipe. It looks like one of those big bowled pipes. The unique thing to me was that the bud splits open with one line directly down the center of the reddish portion of the bud…..from top to bottom.

So here is the bloom!!!

Dutchman's Pipe Bloom

Isn’t that just unique? I love the velvety maroon section around the yellow center. The bloom smells faintly of lemon! I just wanted to share my excitement with you. It is what I love most about the world of plants….there is always something new to discover. You can never know it all.

I have to apologize. May is almost over and I still haven’t shared my pictures of Late Night. We had such a good time that first Friday night in May. The threatened rain occurred about 6:30 and stayed away during our celebration. One of these years, Late Night will be held on a clear and cloudless day!

I want to show you how “festive” the everything looked at night with lights strung throughout.

This is what the front of the building looked like when you drove up.

We had lights strung outside between the sales building and the greenhouses.

The lights in the greenhouse reflect up against the plastic and really look great!

Here is Greenhouse #3, you have to agree that is "Festive"!

'Clif the Drifter' kept us entertained with music all night long.

We also had our drawing for door prizes at 11:00 p.m. Amy Creek and Gary Crick won the $25.00 gift Certificates. We laughed at the northern and southern versions of “streams” each winning:-). Andrea Boberg won the big planter filled with goodies from the store. We hope all of you will plan on joining us next May…the first Friday night (May 6, 2011) for our 4th annual “Late Night”!

I usually don’t like to get new plants in this late in the season, but the Hot Papaya Echinacea that you’ve seen in all the gardening catalogs just became available. We have some very nice starts in that we transplanted about a week ago, and are now ready for sale.  Here is a photo of the blooms.

'Hot Papaya' Echinacea

And a description from the “catalog”:

Some like it hot! If you like it hot, then this new coneflower is for you. The blooms emerge with florescent, papaya colored ray petals and a deep orange-yellow cone. Hot Papaya matures with rich, spicy orange ray petals that are topped by a double, reddish-orange pompom. Each pompom has a remarkable papaya colored halo in the center that grows as it ages.

Showing it’s strong Echinacea purpurea lines, this truly novel selection sports thick, deep green leaves and strong, sturdy stems with maroon markings. Maturing at 30” in height, Hot Papaya is perfect for mixed borders and makes a lovely statement when placed in the mid border. Plant it en masse for a truly traffic stopping focal point in any setting.

Echinacea “Hot Papaya” is the very first hybrid double bringing a wonderful fiery shade to double flowered echinaceas which were previously either pink or white.

I’ve been remiss in blogging lately. I had a busy week last week & then had a reaction to an antibiotic I was taking. I still want to share some photos from our “Late Night at the Greenhouse” . We had a great time! That will be coming soon!