Dayton "Dirt" - December 9, 2016

Winter has arrived with lows now in the teens overnight and temperatures for the day about freezing or a little below. A “healthy” layer of protective snow would be beneficial for plant life but the Akron area is mostly too far south for the snow machine from Lake Erie to reach. Even  Buffalo, New York at the eastern end of the lake does not usually get as much snow as areas just south of the city due to the direction of the prevailing winter winds across the lake. For gardeners a more even, colder temperature than last winter would definitely be welcomed than the random ups and downs of abnormally warm days followed by cold.

This past Easter Sunday at the end of March saw temperatures soar to 75º F only to be followed by nights in the teens the first week of April! Too warm, too fast caused damage to fruit crops and landscape plants after a warm winter and beginning of spring.

At the nursery, the poinsettia crop has thinned out with customers selecting some of the more unusual varieties of parti-colored plants instead of the ever popular red. The flower bracts have finally stopped expanding so that the greenhouse heat can now be decreased from 68º F at night to about 62º F which tends to make the colors more “crisp.” Strangely, the gorgeous cyclamen along side the poinsettias are selling slowly even though a 4½” pot full of beautiful foliage with a bouquet of flowers on top is just gorgeous at $4.99 each. Cyclamen, although very beautiful, are just not associated with the Christmas season like poinsettias. A similar situation is the case of the Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus compacta) for fall color. Although this non-native species has its attributes such a brilliant red fall color, it can be somewhat invasive and prone to spider mite damage and used in places where it tends to overgrow its selected space quickly. Many native plants such as Virginia Sweetspire , blueberry bushes, chokeberry and then some by most accounts will provide brilliant fall color but are not high up on the list for selection like the lousy Burning Bush!

Grave blanket sales have slowed down as most folks have ordered their selections for delivery or pick up although we are ready to construct new decorations as orders might come in even up to and including Christmas Eve!

Now it’s back to the greenhouse with tending the newly stuck cuttings and the annual application of lime on small azalea. Years ago, my good friend and mentor John Ravenstein, Losely Nursery’s head propagator, advised liming the plants when root growth or top growth was lacking. Upon our  measurement of the peat moss pH in which the azalea were planted, the results were one of 3.6 which is extremely acidic. After applying lime, the pH rose to 4.1 in about two weeks and the plants began to grow vigorously again! How strange it seems to apply lime to an acid-loving plant.

For those who don’t like winter and cannot escape south for more warmth, embracing and enjoying the winter weather will result in its quick passing.

Tom