Dayton "Dirt" Blog - April 19, 2013

April in the temperature department is fluctuating wildly with highs in the seventies and then back down for the weekend frost! Next week the annual flower house opens and the perennial house that makes for a hectic pace to get everything ready for the “big” day next Friday. The opening date of April 25th is early for the annual house and yet customers are anxious to plant even items sensitive to cold. Planting cold hardy vegetables and flowers is one thing but tomatoes, peppers, impatiens and the like would definitely be foolish. The nursery is golden now with waves of daffodils and forsythia blooming everywhere. Especially bright is the north end of the parking area that features a 200 foot hedge of forsythia showing off in a bright yellow cloak. Next will be the thousands of tulips in early May. Be sure to stop by and see the show! Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - April 12, 2013

It was a wild ride this past Wednesday as at least 80 mile per hour winds whipped through the nursery taking plastic off some of the overwintering structures, toppling plants and blowing trash everywhere! I have not seen a wind like that since July 11, 1992 when many of the trees in the woods lost their tops and the big Maple next to the house lost a huge branch that cracked through the roof of the old house creating a foot square hole.

After almost a whole day of clean up, our “regular” chores started again to set up the nursery and greenhouses for spring sales. Unseen to our customer’s eyes are the thousands of hours that are spent to display plants, place signs, tag, clean, trim, fertilize and in general create an atmosphere of beauty.

The perennial and annual flower houses are always the site of some controversy as some customers are anxious to enter before we are set up. To “set up” the houses for sales, the plants must be “ready”, pricing must be finished as well as signage, a few insecticide and fungicide sprays must be performed and the greenhouses have to be cleaned of debris so that they are safe for the public to enter.

It’s turning out to be a “quirky” spring for us as it’s in the 30º’s and 40º’s for weeks with very cold nights and suddenly sun and 70º’s and 80º’s. We’re all glad that at least it rained and let us all hope for the spring rains with some sun.

Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - April 5, 2013

Has spring finally sprung? I hoped for a slow warm up so that the repeat of last year would not happen of too warm weather and all of it’s ensuing problems but this has been too slow!. The perennial house may open later this year as the cold cloudy days makes for a slow rooting of the plants so that they cannot be sold until later. The few days of sun lately though have jump started the annual flowers in the greenhouse as they’re growing like weeds. More transplanting is still going on with the potting of even more roses, trees and shrubs that will be available later this summer. Remember to do your transplanting of perennials, trees and shrubs this week or next while the plants are still dormant! Finally I’m seeing some growth on the flower bulbs I planted last November. Last year in Holland, Michigan, the tulips were nothing but stems the first week of May because of the warm weather. This year, the question is will they be in bloom the first week of May? We’ll see. Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - March 29, 2013

It seems so strange to experience the flip side of a cold spring as compared to the hot dry March last year! Finally, some taste of spring has sprung and just in time for Easter. Normally crocus flowers are popping out of the ground but I haven’t seen one yet although a bright side to the cold weather is that the aggressive non-native weed, garlic mustard is not proliferating as it was last year as we fought to keep it in check. The Easter flowers in the greenhouse are a hint of what’s in store for us later in April and May with the spectacular spring show about to begin. The cold March reminded me of the photographs of the old house at the nursery of May 10, 1923 which shows children standing just north of the house in their coats and boots with about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Another photo that my neighbor Mrs. Aura Diehm had shown me 20 years ago was that of her inlaws house across the street from the nursery farmhouse in May of 1924 with at least 6 inches of snow on the roof! I’m not looking to have a snowy May but you never know. Surprisingly, the flowers in the greenhouse keep marching along even with the long stretches of cloudy cool weather. In less then a month the greenhouses will open with all the colors of the rainbow blazing!

Dayton "Dirt" - March 22, 2013

At last it’s spring and the weather is back to “normal” compared to last year. On March 24th of last year while we were unloading 3½ truckloads of nursery stock, temperatures soared to near 90ºF in the one trailer as it was the last to be unloaded that day with the outside temperature of an unheard of 85ºF! Surprisingly no damage was evident on any of the plants even days after they experienced the “sweat box”. This past week we’ve been receiving stock and pulling nursery stock from our storage houses at a feverish pace. Another operation in full swing is the potting of roses, perennials, trees, shrubs and young plants in the greenhouse that we rooted from cuttings this past month. I have to say that all of us at the nursery are under less stress than last year because of the cooler weather as it keeps customers at bay until we are able to properly display our “wares” and enables us to do the production chore in which timing is so critical. I must admit, I am tired of winter. A few days of 40º - 50º would have been nice and wouldn’t have pushed out the plants too far ahead. Que sera sera. Tomorrow on “Ready, Set, Grow” will be Eric Hessel of the Landmark Company that markets and sells Sweet Peet and other innovative garden products. I have used the Sweet Peet product myself and have had excellent results but I must confess that I know little of the other products that the “Sweet Peet” people make. I’ll be sure to grill Eric on the program about their new things. Start enjoying the spring and remember, April is only 10 days away! Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - March 8, 2013

The lawn seminar was packed with old and new information thanks to Mark Laube of the Oliger Seed Company of Akron. Mark’s knowledge of lawns is amazing and he was able to present lawn care in a rather simple organized fashion that almost anyone can understand and perform. The focus today is on practices in the home that are sustainable and lawns are certainly an area that in the past have not contributed to sustainability due to multiple applications of fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides. To me, it was refreshing that Mark addressed some of these unsustainable practices. Although we’ve been open a week and the store is not really busy with sales, there’s a flurry of activity behind the scenes in the planting of annual flowers, thousands of perennials and bare-root roses. We’ve even received a truck load of balled and burlapped trees and are looking forward to the big ship week of March 18th that is an unloading affair all day! Our last seminar for the winter series is tomorrow with the topic of “what’s new”. There is not enough time to discuss all the new plants for 2013 even if the photos were scrolled through at a rate of one per minute for 2 hours! There will be a “juicy” door prize for someone if his or her name is drawn out of a hat. Remember, only 13 days left until spring! Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - March 1, 2013

Since it’s only 3 weeks until the vernal equinox (spring), it will be depressing to some when the late winter cold and snow sets in. Well do I remember the early spring of 1982 when we started to set out our nursery stock only to get hammered by deep snow and cold starting the 5th week of April! Even as recent as 2005, April 28th saw the deposit of four inches of snow. Conversely, the weather that opened spring of 2012 was quite a disaster in that the growth and blooming of plants was forced out too early and, lest we forget, the lack of poorly needed rainfall. Cynthia Drukenbrod’s program “Made in the Shade” was more informative than her usual wonderful presentation as it included solutions to the demise of shade impatiens due to the nasty disease downy mildew. Cynthia is a spokesperson for the Cleveland Botanical Garden that is well known for its theme gardens, huge conservatory and educational programs all in the heart of what I call the knowledge circle of the east side of Cleveland because of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art . Tomorrow’s program will be on lawn care with Mark Laube of Oliger Seed Company of Akron. Mark has been in the turf grass management for years after graduating from the Agricultural Technical Institute in the early seventies. Join us at the nursery on Saturday, March 2nd at 11 a.m. for a glimpse at the “secrets” of affordable lawn care. Tom