Home Renovation Tax Credit - a potential benefit for your business.
With the Home Renovation Tax Credit that benefits both the green industry and homeowners, you should educate your clients about the benefits they are getting when they spend money at your garden centre. Your customers are eligible for the credit that applies to expenditures in excess of $1,000, but not more than $10,000, resulting in a maximum credit of $1,350 ($9,000 x 15%), which cover permanent renovations or improvements to the land.
Examples of HRTC Eligible Expenditures include:
Building an addition, deck, fence, retaining wall or landscaping*
Resurfacing a driveway
Laying new sod
Renovating a kitchen, bathroom, or basement
New carpet or hardwood floors
A new furnace or water heater
Painting the interior or exterior of a house
*Landscaping - must be permanent renovation or improvement to the land on which the dwelling sits. Installation of trees and perennials are an example of this.
For more information please visit: www.canadanursery.com.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Welcome from Hawaii
We've been in Kona on the big island of Hawaii for a full day now and are still quite wacked out from the 5 hour time change and a 17 hour travel day. The change to 80 degree F. is very easy to get used to. We're trying to get organized and will be adding more to this blog later along with some pictures. Incidently, the new 2009 catalogue is now up on our site under "Printed items" for those of you who would like a copy in the bathroom.
Aloha from Betty and Marv
Aloha from Betty and Marv
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
2010 Perennial Plant of the Year
2010 Perennial Plant of the Year Announced
Baptisia australis
The Perennial Plant Association has announced the 2010 Perennial Plant of the Year--Baptisia australis. Read on to learn more about this outstanding perennial and to find out which plants were the runners up.
2010 Perennial Plant Association Perennial Plant of the Year:
Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo)
Description
This showy native species has been popular with gardeners for many years because it is easy to grow and offers four seasons of interest in the landscape. In mid to late spring, foot long spires of intense indigo blue flowers rise above the foliage, commanding attention in the spring landscape. After the flowers have faded, the trifoliate, soft blue-green foliage takes center stage, forming a sturdy, upright, shrub-like clump to 3-4 feet tall and wide at maturity. It makes a terrific backdrop for other perennials and groundcovers growing at its feet.
Taking the place of the spent flowers are 2-3 inch long, puffy seed pods which emerge green and then turn charcoal black when they ripen in late summer or early fall. They remain well into winter, providing that much sought after winter interest in the landscape.
Baptisia is a very long-lived perennial. Over time, it expands to form a large clump with a deep, extensive root system. It is best left undisturbed and tends to resent transplanting.
Landscape Uses
Because of its commanding size, this shrub-like perennial makes a beautiful specimen on its own or in small groupings. It is commonly used as a backdrop in perennial borders, but also works well in native or meadow plantings. Deer usually do not bother Baptisia, and it attracts butterflies.
Origin
Baptisia australis is a native species of North America commonly found in prairies, meadows, streambanks, and open woods. Early Americans used this plant as a substitute for true indigo from the West Indies which was used to make blue dye. It was the first agricultural crop ever to be subsidized in America.
Culture
Baptisia australis is very easy to grow and requires little maintenance if sited properly. It grows best in full sun, but will tolerate light shade. If it is planted in too much shade, it may not flower and may require staking. Average to poor soil is suitable, as long as it is well-drained. Once established, Baptisia is drought tolerant due to its tough, deep tap root. No serious pests or diseases are known to afflict this plant.
information from Perennial Resource / Walters Gardens
Baptisia australis
The Perennial Plant Association has announced the 2010 Perennial Plant of the Year--Baptisia australis. Read on to learn more about this outstanding perennial and to find out which plants were the runners up.
2010 Perennial Plant Association Perennial Plant of the Year:
Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo)
Description
This showy native species has been popular with gardeners for many years because it is easy to grow and offers four seasons of interest in the landscape. In mid to late spring, foot long spires of intense indigo blue flowers rise above the foliage, commanding attention in the spring landscape. After the flowers have faded, the trifoliate, soft blue-green foliage takes center stage, forming a sturdy, upright, shrub-like clump to 3-4 feet tall and wide at maturity. It makes a terrific backdrop for other perennials and groundcovers growing at its feet.
Taking the place of the spent flowers are 2-3 inch long, puffy seed pods which emerge green and then turn charcoal black when they ripen in late summer or early fall. They remain well into winter, providing that much sought after winter interest in the landscape.
Baptisia is a very long-lived perennial. Over time, it expands to form a large clump with a deep, extensive root system. It is best left undisturbed and tends to resent transplanting.
Landscape Uses
Because of its commanding size, this shrub-like perennial makes a beautiful specimen on its own or in small groupings. It is commonly used as a backdrop in perennial borders, but also works well in native or meadow plantings. Deer usually do not bother Baptisia, and it attracts butterflies.
Origin
Baptisia australis is a native species of North America commonly found in prairies, meadows, streambanks, and open woods. Early Americans used this plant as a substitute for true indigo from the West Indies which was used to make blue dye. It was the first agricultural crop ever to be subsidized in America.
Culture
Baptisia australis is very easy to grow and requires little maintenance if sited properly. It grows best in full sun, but will tolerate light shade. If it is planted in too much shade, it may not flower and may require staking. Average to poor soil is suitable, as long as it is well-drained. Once established, Baptisia is drought tolerant due to its tough, deep tap root. No serious pests or diseases are known to afflict this plant.
information from Perennial Resource / Walters Gardens
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Notes while picking scapes
I think choosing a daylily in fall, after the blooms are gone, is a great time to assess a lot of the criteria. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, may I comment that it is a fine time to assess what the plant did, while not distracted by the bloom. Assessing the age of the scapes as well as the number of bloom scars will tell so much about what that plant contributed that year - was it "worth weeding"?
Here are just a few of my favourites - in no particular order:
1. TURN THE OTHER CHEEK - 57 buds on one scape, and it put up four scapes on four fans.
2. ANGELS LANDING - 37 buds on the second (instant rebloom) scape on three fans.
3. THE FULL MONTY - bloomed constantly for 62 days with brilliant rich pink blooms on tree-trunk-like scapes. Really good value on this plant for sure.
4. TALL DARK AND HANDSOME - instant rebloom, nearly 8 inch blooms that lasted for 22 hours each, starting mid-late afternoon, so got a good two days enjoyment out of each bloom.
5. SHINING LIKE THE SON - bloomed and bloomed and bloomed - and rebloomed.
6. GERTRUDE CONDON - kept the front of the field in Brilliant yellow all late summer into fall. just kept going and going and going and glowing.
7. GUINIVERS GIFT - also kept blooming and reblooming and reblooming.
about that rebloom - the actual definition of rebloom is when a second scape is produced by the same fans as produced the first (not a second scape on different fans in the same clump);
not everything that is registered as rebloom, reblooms. depends on your zone and climate.
not everything that is not registered as a rebloomer, doesn't rebloom. Like the Korth plants. they are not registered as rebloomers, but they do.
Actually, in my opinion, rebloom per se is over-rated. I am more interested in the total number of blooms a plant produces for me in a season. I would rather have no rebloom on a plant that gives me 30 blooms than to have rebloom on one that gives me 3 blooms on each of three rebloom scapes.
comments and discussion are welcomed.
Happy New Year
Betty and I want to thank you for your continued patronage of Floral and Hardy Gardens in 2008 and wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009.
We are happy to announce the launch of our new website. This project has been long awaited and has had many false starts, but finally it is a reality. It has been a huge undertaking to enter all the data, but once in, maintenance will be much easier. Adding, deleting and modifying data doesn't require a page re-write as before, and the on-line shopping cart and wish list will hopefully make browsing and selecting easier. If you haven't yet visited it, you can find it at Floral and Hardy Gardens.
This has been an exciting winter everywhere, and we are no exception. This morning, however, dawned clear and cold and cloudless. It doesn't get much better. We had a couple more inches of light fluffy snow overnight and everything looks pristine again. The photo above was taken a few minutes ago from our "Tower cam" which is mounted halfway up the tower that we use for high speed Internet connectivity. The black things that you see at the top of the picture are what remain of 150' of shade house. They collapsed during our first big snow storm before I could get out there and shore them up. Another spring project.
Betty has been working around the clock putting the finishing touches on our 2009 catalogue and it will be going to the printer tomorrow or the next day and in the mail shortly after. When completed you can download your own copy if you like by selecting Printed Items under Categories on our website.
With these projects behind us, we will be off to Hawaii and January 8th for a 3 week stay on both the big island of Hawaii and the island of Kauai. Betty's sister and her husband will be joining us and we are SOOOO looking forward to it.
We will have our trusty little laptop with us to we will continue to answer emails, perform website maintenance and hopefully contribute to this badly ignored blog.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Last day of Winter! Spring is coming!
GOOD MORNING!! Betty here. Apparently we are experiencing our last day of winter today - and as I look outside and see all this white out here, it is certainly evident that spring has yet to appear. Tomorrow that will all change, right? Actually, probably this long dragged out winter is a good thing for us. Is it possible then, that when spring actually comes, it will do so, and stay, rather than teasing us with the freeze-thaw and snow and melt cycles we have come to expect in the past few years? January gave us a big thaw, followed by HUGE winds and then massive rains and then of course the obligatory -17 temperatures immediately afterwards. Those poor plants.
Having said that, during the last -22 degree temperatures, Marv and I drove to Zeeland Michigan to pick up our new spring plants. We just had the BEST time - oh my - Walters Gardens is a great place. Acres and acres of greenhouses, and they are the largest perennial wholesale supplier in North America. And such very lovely nice people too. Well, with all the snow around, and the cold temperatures, when their president Evan took me on a tour through their greenhouses, it was just overwhelming - and yes - I admit it - I cried with joy. What a sight - all those heuchera in their glorious colours. Of course the plants were all dormant, so there were lots of wintery looking plants too - but oh my - it truly did not matter. If you get a chance - do it - go to a garden show or a greenhouse - it does your heart good. And if you cannot do that, email me, I will go out to our little greenhouse and take some photos and send them - or perhaps post them on here.
What's new this year? Marv says I buy plants "like a drunken sailor". I guess there are so few plants I don't love. In the greenhouse right now are blooming the new pulmonarias. I have photos but at the moment cannot find the link cable to download them to this site - when I find it, I can show you. OH MY - the lovely blooms and the great leaves on those spring plants. The new heucheras are pretty. And with the change in our climate, the much touted Villosa drought hardiness gene is going to be very welcome. Our new Hostas are looking very promising too. Yes, I probably should have left them dormant - but getting boxes of new plants is better than Christmas, and I just couldn't help myself. It's the whole kid-in-a-candy store idea. And my will power is not one of my strong points. There are so many plants I would love to show you that perhaps the best plan is to find that camera cable and write with photos. So I will sign off for now and get back later with more information. If you have suggestions or questions I am happy to try to work those in as well.
Thanks - and have a GREAT last day of Winter.
Having said that, during the last -22 degree temperatures, Marv and I drove to Zeeland Michigan to pick up our new spring plants. We just had the BEST time - oh my - Walters Gardens is a great place. Acres and acres of greenhouses, and they are the largest perennial wholesale supplier in North America. And such very lovely nice people too. Well, with all the snow around, and the cold temperatures, when their president Evan took me on a tour through their greenhouses, it was just overwhelming - and yes - I admit it - I cried with joy. What a sight - all those heuchera in their glorious colours. Of course the plants were all dormant, so there were lots of wintery looking plants too - but oh my - it truly did not matter. If you get a chance - do it - go to a garden show or a greenhouse - it does your heart good. And if you cannot do that, email me, I will go out to our little greenhouse and take some photos and send them - or perhaps post them on here.
What's new this year? Marv says I buy plants "like a drunken sailor". I guess there are so few plants I don't love. In the greenhouse right now are blooming the new pulmonarias. I have photos but at the moment cannot find the link cable to download them to this site - when I find it, I can show you. OH MY - the lovely blooms and the great leaves on those spring plants. The new heucheras are pretty. And with the change in our climate, the much touted Villosa drought hardiness gene is going to be very welcome. Our new Hostas are looking very promising too. Yes, I probably should have left them dormant - but getting boxes of new plants is better than Christmas, and I just couldn't help myself. It's the whole kid-in-a-candy store idea. And my will power is not one of my strong points. There are so many plants I would love to show you that perhaps the best plan is to find that camera cable and write with photos. So I will sign off for now and get back later with more information. If you have suggestions or questions I am happy to try to work those in as well.
Thanks - and have a GREAT last day of Winter.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
How to find us
Every year a number of people have trouble finding our place on Conestogo Lake. Admittedly, the map on our website is not very good, and getting here can be quite confusing for someone not familiar with the area. Recently, I discovered Google maps and so far I am very impressed with its capabilities. It seems much better than MapQuest.
To get custom directions and maps from YOUR HOME to our place just click on the link below (but read to the end of the instructions first.)
A Google Map will come up showing our location. On the left of the screen, click on the "Floral and Hardy Gardens" link. When a window pops up, click on Get directions "TO HERE". Enter your home address complete with street number, street, city and country separated by commas. Then click on "Go" to create your custom instructions. At the top right of the map you can find a PRINT button to print it out. The instructions are incredible. Enjoy the trip through our beautiful countryside. You may want to print these instructions first.
Now you can click on the link below
How to get to Floral and Hardy
To get custom directions and maps from YOUR HOME to our place just click on the link below (but read to the end of the instructions first.)
A Google Map will come up showing our location. On the left of the screen, click on the "Floral and Hardy Gardens" link. When a window pops up, click on Get directions "TO HERE". Enter your home address complete with street number, street, city and country separated by commas. Then click on "Go" to create your custom instructions. At the top right of the map you can find a PRINT button to print it out. The instructions are incredible. Enjoy the trip through our beautiful countryside. You may want to print these instructions first.
Now you can click on the link below
How to get to Floral and Hardy
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