Dayton "Dirt" - August 26, 2016

Late August is the time that many trees and shrubs have been brought out of the growing area to the sales area that will give the nursery the appearance of a full look that has not been seen since last June. The first of September will bring another flush of trees and shrubs such as arborvitae, pyramidal boxwood and Green Giant Western Red Cedar in a variety of sizes.

Our biggest sale of the year will start Labor Day weekend on Friday, September 2nd and as always garden club members will have the first pick of the sale items including trees, shrubs, roses and perennials. This garden club member sale only will run through Labor Day with the sale open to everyone after Labor Day. To become a garden club member, just fill out the form in person or online to get the sale price the same day even if you’re not currently a member. Please remember to use any of your Dayton Dollars by August 31st as afterwards the value will be zero.  While much will be on the 50% off sale, some items will not be on sale because they just came out of back stock or have been freshly dug. Please look for the 50% off sale signs to indicate which items are on sale as those without the sign will be the price as stated on the tag.

Mums, (including Igloo types) asters, ornamental kale and cabbage will be in good supply although most of the chrysanthemums will not be in full color due to the warm nights which has caused the phenomenon known as heat delay. Compared to last year, the heat has delayed flowering from about 10 days to 2 weeks! Most likely, mid September will be the time for brilliant mum color. Remember too that Chrysanthemum morifolium, known as the garden mum, is a tender perennial and may or may not return again in spring. A more reliable, almost sure-to-return mum is the Dendranthemum or more commonly called the Igloo mum which is much more winter hardy than the garden mums. New colors in the Igloos are available this year so that this color palette keeps growing in the genus.

The approaching month of September will bring sowing of new lawns and lawn renovations as September is the month for it.

Happy planting.

Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - August 19, 2016

As August rolls on, all garden club members should remember to use up their Dayton dollars they have received as they are no longer valid after August 31st. These dollars can be used to purchase product just like cash as they are our thanks to you for your past purchases earlier this year. This time of year the inventory selection is not as wide as in spring; however, stock on perennials, trees and shrubs is still quite broad as more and more stock comes out of the growing area in back.  This coming week will begin mum time as the plants begin to show color from cooler nights and shorter days. Then too are perennials asters in their mainly hues of pink and blue which are a favorite of friendly honeybees. Chrysanthemums are defiantly a way to enliven any landscape with color especially after a hot dry summer has been rough on annual flowers.

Again, come on in and spend those Dayton dollars before the expire!

Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - August 12, 2016

The weather this past week has continued quite hot so that the end of August and September will undoubtedly give some relief from the scorching heat. The owl Barn market is stuffed with produce from the local farms especially Seiberling Farms where the sweet corn is developing so quickly that the staggered patches of sweet corn that were meant to ripen in succession are running together. Tomatoes are in abundance as well as beans, cucumbers, onions and new potatoes. Harold in the Highland Square area of Akron has planted grafted tomatoes into a pot with nothing but the product Sweet Peet used as the planting mix. Sweet Peet is nothing more than mainly composted horse manure that has a slightly alkaline nature. Would Sweet Peet be okay for other potted  vegetables? That remains to be seen after more experimenting is done. It’s strange that the local manufacturer of Sweet Peet does not recommend its use as the sale component of a potting mix. The proof is Harold’s experiment in which we have photos on our website showing his fantastic success.

Until early last week, the shade portion of Wolf Creek Gardens was doing  well for water but then the various trees and shrubs planted on the high gravelly soil began showing signs of water stress. A good 3 hour soak from the automatic sprinklers seemed to bring the plants around. For days on end water is still coming in from Van Hyning river to supplement our collected rain water for irrigation. Three inches of rain would lift the water level in the irrigation pond to almost 18 inches but still would not quite fill it. Keep on watering!

Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - August 5, 2016

By now, most gardeners know that a favorite shrub for summer color are the myriad varieties of hydrangeas with their kaleidoscope of colors of summer blooms for full sun or partial shade depending on the variety.

Along the road at the nursery next to the white post and rail fence is the paniculata type hydrangea known as Vanilla Strawberry. Vanilla Strawberry will eventually attain a height of about 6 feet and a width around 4 feet. These hydrangea were planted 3 years ago in November and this year have finally come into their own. Just this past week the pure white flowers have begun to take on a partial strawberry-colored blend; hence, the name, Strawberry Vanilla. Behind the fence are about  20 perennial hibiscus of white, pink and the ever popular deep red color. Some of the plants are big and bulky having been planted almost 10 years ago while others are a mere 2 or 3 branches having been planted only last fall. Soon, all the hibiscus will just peek over the hydrangea and provide a multicolored back drop for the Vanilla Strawberry. Annual flowers are in the foreground to display another riot of color.

At the nursery, another exciting development is the soon to begin installation of solar panels on the main store building. The first phase of construction will cancel out one of the two electric meters on  the building. Within 3-5 years, another phase of construction will eliminate all the other charges from the meters on the property. Even with a long payback period of about 9 years, the solar energy produced will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of the nursery operations and move things closer to the ultimate goal of true sustainability. The solar energy makes good business sense too as the ever more costly electricity from the First Energy Company is becoming too much of a burden on operations. After 9 years, the solar panels will pay nothing but dividends. The hope is that in a few years, an affordable safe battery that can store large amounts of excess power generated in the day will be able to provide power at night to enable the possibility of getting off or almost getting off the grid. Ultimately, the goal here at the nursery is to provide products to beautify the environment without placing a burden on that environment.

Tom