Friday, September 21, 2012

Dayton "Dirt" - September 21, 2012

September 21st blog Tomorrow is our annual fall festival with the prediction of rain! Needless to say we’ve had to make alternate plans as to where to place the food vendors, Outback Ray’s annual show and where to place tables and chairs for sitting down and eating. The planning and promotion of this event began months ago so as they say, “the show must go on”. It’s ironic in that we’ve prayed for rain and more rain all summer and now we get our wish. With all the cool weather I’ve noticed many of the heat stressed plants have perked up and will soon put on a flash of root growth that will last until ground temperatures fall to about 40ยบ F or lower. Most lawns have come roaring back with cooler wet weather although there’s a fair amount of overseeding and thatching going on. The fall season is a cadillac time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials and the selection of “on sale” items is still decent. With much of our outside area covered by our movable roof greenhouse, it may be shopping inside if the skies open up with rain. We’ll see you at the festival come rain or shine! Tom

Monday, September 17, 2012

Dayton "Dirt" - September 14, 2012

September 14th blog What relief from the heat of this past summer! Even though the Autumnal equinox has not arrived, there’s a hint of fall in the air with the cooler days and even cooler nights. It’s mum time at the nursery with a blaze of color from the small 8" pots to the giant 14" size pots that are perfect for setting on the porch or on each side of the doorway. Something new this year are our hanging basket mums that are tricolor combinations of yellow, bronze and white planted in a large 12" basket. The asters are coming into their peak bloom in their “non mum” shades of blue, purple and magenta. Our transplanting is just about finished for the year so that now our focus is on renovating the landscape beds, planting new varieties of trees and shrubs in Wolf Creek Gardens and adding to the trails of the garden. Spider mites have been a real pain in the greenhouse as they just love the heat but the cooler weather and some acaricide sprays have taken a toll on the spider mite population. More trips and traveling are necessary to find next spring’s new “treasures” as the internet photos just don’t do justice to the plants as compared to actually seeing them. We already have new things lined up for spring 2013 that we planned over a year ago! In coming blogs, you’ll get a hint of what’s to come. Don’t forget our 50% sale is still on as well as our annual Fall Festival on September 22nd. See you at the festival! Tom

Friday, September 7, 2012

Dayton "Dirt" - September 7, 2012

Sept. 7th blog On Saturday, September 1st, mayhem reigned as it was the first day of our 50% off sale for garden club members. There is still a good selection of plants on sale although some of the choice evergreens sold within hours of opening the gates at 7:30 a.m. More fresh product ranging from holly, arborvitae and western red cedars will be coming in over the course of the next two weeks so that we won’t have “bare” shelves when we sell all existing stock. Many of you have begun lawn renovation by over seeding bare spots from drought, insects or disease. If you don’t have a thick thatch layer, a slit seeder works wonders for over seeding as it injects the seed into the ground so that it germinates well. Copley Tool Rental near Copley circle has one called a Bluebird seeder that is light and easy to handle which seems to be a favorite of landscapers. All that is needed after the operation is a starter fertilizer such as Greenview’s 10-18-10 and finally water! As I have repeatedly said many times, a tall fescue lawn seed will root deeply and tolerate drought and wear. Please do not over seed with this seed if you have a bluegrass-rye grass lawn as tall fescue will not blend well with these grasses. The brand we sell is called Carefree mix and is a blend of different varieties of the grasses in order to achieve a thick healthy lawn. The chrysanthemums are finally starting to show some color so that by the 15th of September. I think there will be a show. Quite a show will be in the Mum Fest in Barberton on the last weekend of September with all the mums and festivities centered around Lake Anna. I’ll be giving my annual talk and interviews on the Mum Fest during our radio program on Saturday, September 29th beginning at 8 a.m. on 1590 AM WAKR. Happy Fall! Tom