Dayton "Dirt" - February 12, 2016

There’s no doubt about it now that winter has returned! Some of the coldest air of the season has arrived but at least it is accompanied by an insulating blanket of snow. At the nursery, the insulating cover called microfoam had to be pulled over the perennial plants as for the past 2 weeks it has been pulled to the side in order to allow for ventilation. Outside projects have now been placed in the “on-hold” mode with the cold weather although inside chores will prevail for the coming week until training sessions for the next week will commence before the production season begins at the tail end of February.

Last week’s seminar with Cynthia Druckenbrod of the Cleveland Botanical Garden was quite popular with the subject matter of container gardening. In fact, Cynthia mentioned several plants which we don’t normally stock but now the search begins to find them. One such plant is the Cardinal Vine that climbs up a trellis and blooms all summer with red tubular flowers that are a magnet for hummingbirds, Even shrubs such as hydrangeas and grape vines can be used. Tomorrow’s seminar is all about wetlands with our expert Greg Snowden of the Davey Tree Resource Group. Greg monitors constricted wetlands in order that they meet the standards for a wetland such as the presence of native plants, water quality, wildlife, etc. Greg now has 5 years of experience building on his Masters degree from Notre Dame College. He will discuss too the value of the wetlands to our environment and how they act as nature’s water filter. Hope to see you at the seminar.

Tom