Dayton "Dirt" - June 1, 2012

The record heat during Memorial Day weekend gave way to cool and rainy for the first day of June. With some more rain and temperatures in the mid seventies to low eighties in the day, it’ll be perfect weather for early June. Perennial flowers are still coming on stream out of our production area. We’re on the tail end of our annual flowers and hanging baskets although I must say that the vegetables plant selection and herbs are still adequate for most customers. Trimming, weeding and fertilizing is all going on “out back” that will result in new crops for later this summer and for next spring too. We’ve started growing a lot more dwarf conifers such as the Jean’s Dilly Alberta Spruce, Little Gem Nest Spruce and Donna’s Mini Mugho Pine just to name a few. The greenhouses have already received their second coat of white wash on the roof and sides in order to block out more of the hot sun and to reflect the sun’s radiance thus keeping the houses much cooler for plants and people alike. We finally placed the flowers in our pot-n-pot system along the road, which are Spellbound Impatiens and Sunproof Coleus of different colors. The impatiens are deceptive as this new variety does not have to have shade as it will happily grow in the sun or shade. The large geraniums around the Owl Barn are the Americana brand that served as our stock plants from which we took 3 batches of cuttings to make more geraniums of a smaller size. You’ll find the shrubs well stocked too as we’ve brought a lot more out from our growing area. I like the nursery but after all those long spring hours, its almost time for a vacation. Tom