Wednesday, March 21, 2007
GWMG Day in the Garden Sunday February 25 more added plants contest winners Fine Gardening Magazine - Indian Giver DL, Tiarella BLACK SNOWFLAKE, Heuchera Lime RIckey; DL KWANSO VARIEGATA; caramel heuchera; peach flambe heuchera; britt marie crawford Ligularia; MRS BETTY RANICAR helleborus, Hosta BLue angel; Brunnera Looking glass; twilight hosta
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Last gasps of Winter 2007
Hello - there is but a very short time to write this winter - soon it will be SPRING!! So - for now, it is -12 and 21 kph winds. The sky is severe clear and there are no clouds to be seen. AND - hooray - we spotted a few areas where snow is gone, and black dirt is visible. The sidewalk beside the house still has nearly 3 feet of snow - definition of a sidewalk - a place where snow collects! We just returned yesterday from Piqua Ohio where we attended our very first HOSTA COLLEGE - what a great bunch of people! And those who know me well will hardly believe (but it is true!) that there was an auction and I bought nothing. UNBELIEVABLE but true. Have I turned a corner? With the Daylily Can Am coming up, that will be the ultimate test - can I do it? Do I want to?
Changes : we are adding more cultivars to the daylily availability - from SONGSPARROW gardens in Wisconsin. And that means they should be good and hardy and tough.
We are planning to do whatever it takes to empty out our "C" field of liliums. So if you are interested in some, let me know. At the moment they are under snow, but if you want some added to your order, we can do that. It's hard to believe we are planning to start shipping in just 20 days. It has to warm up a whole lot before that. The Gold Strike Brunnera are still under several feet of snow. Usually we can see lots of smoke from the Maple Syrup shacks this time of year, but so far, none. ACH but tomorrow is spring so it should happen soon, right? The plants in the greenhouse are certainly perking up, and it seems they certainly "know" it is time.
Hosta College was awesome - what a great bunch of people. BIGGEST thing we learned was more about Hosta VIrus X, and how to prevent the spread, and how massive the problem is now. Very cool things - like - the various hostas show symptoms at different rates. Tiaras will show symptoms in only 17 days after infection, whereas others can take up to 3 years. There IS NO CURE. Slugs do not transport the virus, and that virus can live on your weed whacker or root knife for three weeks! And it was again emphasized just how little it takes to spread this virus from one infected plant to another.
The best thing about Hosta College was all the really neat people we got to meet and visit with. Oh my- if I began to list them, someone would be forgotten. What a lovely bunch of people though.
So at this point, still in winter, I will sign off for today, and chat with you again in the next season. May your spring be a wonderful one. Hugs and blessings.
Changes : we are adding more cultivars to the daylily availability - from SONGSPARROW gardens in Wisconsin. And that means they should be good and hardy and tough.
We are planning to do whatever it takes to empty out our "C" field of liliums. So if you are interested in some, let me know. At the moment they are under snow, but if you want some added to your order, we can do that. It's hard to believe we are planning to start shipping in just 20 days. It has to warm up a whole lot before that. The Gold Strike Brunnera are still under several feet of snow. Usually we can see lots of smoke from the Maple Syrup shacks this time of year, but so far, none. ACH but tomorrow is spring so it should happen soon, right? The plants in the greenhouse are certainly perking up, and it seems they certainly "know" it is time.
Hosta College was awesome - what a great bunch of people. BIGGEST thing we learned was more about Hosta VIrus X, and how to prevent the spread, and how massive the problem is now. Very cool things - like - the various hostas show symptoms at different rates. Tiaras will show symptoms in only 17 days after infection, whereas others can take up to 3 years. There IS NO CURE. Slugs do not transport the virus, and that virus can live on your weed whacker or root knife for three weeks! And it was again emphasized just how little it takes to spread this virus from one infected plant to another.
The best thing about Hosta College was all the really neat people we got to meet and visit with. Oh my- if I began to list them, someone would be forgotten. What a lovely bunch of people though.
So at this point, still in winter, I will sign off for today, and chat with you again in the next season. May your spring be a wonderful one. Hugs and blessings.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Stratford Garden Festival
March 1 thru 4 Betty and I setup and staffed a booth at the Stratford Garden Festival. We had the help of good friend Willa Wick from Harriston. Because of the terrible winter weather 
conditions throughout that time period, Betty opted to stay over at the Queens hotel, and I (Marv) attempted to commute from home since we have a heated greenhouse, and everything (including the house) is heated with wood.
Willa, living even farther north of us didn't even make it in until Saturday, then stayed over with Betty. I made it home Thursday night, but couldn't get out Friday.
Friday was slow, but the other 3 days had a remarkably good turnout. Great to chat with old friends, hand out catalogues, sell a whole bunch of hosta roots, but most of all just talk all weekend about gardens and spring.
We brought all our stuff home Sunday nite and then continued work on Betty's 45 minute PowerPoint talk scheduled for Thursday March 8 at Canada Blooms in the Toronto Convention Center.
...........................Willa at our booth ................ ........... Marv grabbing brekky
conditions throughout that time period, Betty opted to stay over at the Queens hotel, and I (Marv) attempted to commute from home since we have a heated greenhouse, and everything (including the house) is heated with wood.Willa, living even farther north of us didn't even make it in until Saturday, then stayed over with Betty. I made it home Thursday night, but couldn't get out Friday.
Friday was slow, but the other 3 days had a remarkably good turnout. Great to chat with old friends, hand out catalogues, sell a whole bunch of hosta roots, but most of all just talk all weekend about gardens and spring.
We brought all our stuff home Sunday nite and then continued work on Betty's 45 minute PowerPoint talk scheduled for Thursday March 8 at Canada Blooms in the Toronto Convention Center.
...........................Willa at our booth ................ ........... Marv grabbing brekky
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