Dayton "Dirt" - March 28, 2014

After the cold blast earlier this week things in the temperature department look to be on the upswing so that it’s a wild ride the next several days to set things up for sales as much of the stock is now just shoved in our movable roof structure in order to keep the extreme cold from damaging the plants root systems as they are above ground. Our perennials are mostly planted and seem to be growing well; however, the annual flowers are a little behind because of the delays from vendors of young plants and the winter being so dark before. Surprisingly, the flower bulbs planted last fall are starting to just pop through the ground and normally many would be in bloom by Easter on April 20th. Unless there is a consistent “extreme” warm up (hopefully not) it looks as though the blooming cycle of spring bulbs will be delayed at least one week. Pansies, Violas and Primrose are all available now and just love cool weather but of course not extreme cold such as the super cold nights we’ve encountered this past week. The new Proven Winner hydrangeas we have forced into bloom are growing nicely and should be ready for Easter to be enjoyed indoors and then planted outside when the danger of frost is done. Today it’s nice and a little rain I think would be in order. Hopefully the warmer temps will now give all of us some relief from the high natural gas heating bills and the dry air in our heated homes. Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - March 21, 2014

The first day of spring has welcomed us with some colder and snowy weather with next week not looking like spring weather either. The question now is will March “go out like a lamb”? After a period of shut down production of cuttings from the Dummen Company of petunias because of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus TMV, production is flowing from shipments from Israel. The new crazytunias that were one of the series of virus infected petunias will now be available in our greenhouse although a little later in May. The funky variegated blooms should be a big hit with everyone. The nursery has been wild this past week with the receipt of several shipments, potting perennials, potting annual flowers, transferring our stock geraniums to bigger pots, trimming and cleaning up thousands of perennials from winter storage. Surprisingly, the plants fared well with a double cover of overwintering fabric in the covered polyhouses except there were some minor losses from mice chewing their way through the bottom of pots to get at roots and the tender crown of the plants. While most of the mice fell victim to our traps, there are some that just seem to escape. After a good trimming and cleaning away of the dead foliage from last year the plants are sprayed with a fungicide to kill a fungus called Botrytis that will rot them if left unchecked. This fungus grows well in humid environments with no air circulation which is just the case in the winter storage huts. At the nursery as well as everywhere, spring is almost sure to be about 10 days to 2 weeks off in the temperature department because of the prolonged cold weather. Chores in the landscape yard and garden most likely must be delayed from the “normal” schedule although much trimming may have to be delayed as winter damage just showing up now will not all be evident until even mid-may. We can only hope the insect and mite population did not fare well either. Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - March 14, 2014

While winter weather is no stranger to March and even into April, the long duration of bitter cold has made this week’s past cold snap more aggravating. With the warm up earlier in the week, some watering of the perennials in cold storage revealed only minimal damage and of course some death on the plants near the outer edge of the plastic house. It seems the ground froze hard outside the storage huts and then move laterally to the inside even though the plants were covered with a double layer of overwintering blankets. Another surprise was mouse damage underneath the sealed blankets has been minimal which is probably due to our catching at least 50 mice in mouse traps set in the house’s since covering them in early November with white plastic. The transplanting of rooted cuttings has begun with greenhouse product for transplanting continually coming in. Some shipments have been late, some frozen, some in very good shape. The new self-watering benches that “move” in the greenhouse have increased our planting space by at least 20% that enables us to try out a few new items but as all greenhouse growers know, a greenhouse has to be filled with saleable product in order to be profitable because of high heating costs and other expenses. The insect growth regulator I now favor with the trade name called Enstar seems to be doing a great job of killing the young insects call nymphs while other products mixed in the same spray tank kill the adults. The products used in this combination play havoc with the critters that would run rampant in the perfect environmental conditions of the greenhouse. Spring is only a week away if only it will “act” like spring. Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - March 7, 2014

Are we truly free of the single digit weather? Production is now 1 week behind at the nursery because of delays in the potting of roses and perennials which will spill over into other scheduled procedures. Around the Akron area, I’ve noticed the severe burn on some of the broadleaved evergreens becoming more pronounced. Again, it’s a function of super cold weather, sun, (-12º F), strong relentless winds and no insulating blanket of snow. Damage not showing up as yet may be dead or dying bark on trees and shrubs, dead or damaged Zone 6 and even Zone 5 herbaceous perennials and flower buds frozen on various species of plants such as Forsythia and evergreen azaleas. The warm up is also on its way but it has been painfully slow. An unusually fast warm up as in 2012 would be even worse! Our store officially opened on March 5th, five days after the planned opening again due to inclement weather of predicted heavy snow that was not nearly as prolific as originally forecast. Tomorrow’s seminar is our last of the winter seminar series pertaining to that question on everyone’s mind: “What’s New?”. There is so much new that we’ll only be presenting the highlights as we must keep the seminar to the end time of 1 pm. Last week’s seminar was quite a surprise with over 60 participants showing up on a subject I know little about. Jill Manda of Manda’s Plant Farm was entertaining as well as informative. We’re already planning next years seminars so that if you have any ideas, contact us at info@daytonnursery.com. Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - February 28, 2014

Now it's official, the last day of February is bitter cold just like most of January and February. The bitter cold has spiked the demand of natural gas for heating the greenhouses especially because at least 80% of the heat is used at night. Some years ago an experiment performed by Dr. Ted Short at the OARDC in Wooster, Ohio was that of a double layer of poly with styrofoam pellets pumped in between layers of plastic at nightfall and then removed and stored in a silo in the day in order to allow light for the plants. Although, I don't know the final results of the experiment, I don't know of any such greenhouse structure in the north employing the pellet technology. High capital costs may have made the "pellet greenhouse" economically unfeasible. Wednesday, March 5th marks the first day of the opening of the nursery after being closed for the two winter months except in the case of seminars. Saturday's seminar has to do with the miniature world of fairy gardening of which I know little about so that it will be a learning experience for me as well! The last seminar is on Saturday March 8th and entails what's new for 2014. So well I remember March 8, 2008 when at least 2 feet of snow fell overnight making it miserable and quite the work load plowing and shoveling out. That day also caused trouble for the winter storage houses in that the snow had to be shoveled away from the sides to allow heavy wet snow to slide from the roofs of the structures before the weight collapsed them. Dick Goddard, the famous Cleveland meteorologist proclaimed that so much snow fell on northern Ohio, Lake Erie and southern Canada that the snow melt would result in an additional 6-12 inches of water in Lake Erie. No doubt spring may be late in the temperature department and it is causing delays in our production schedule that is beginning to ramp up. I know that many of us find snow a nuisance but I must admit I don't mind the snow as much as the biter cold without a snowy blanket as we had sometimes this winter. See you at the seminar. ~Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - February 21, 2014

Carol Zeh, retired school teacher, volunteer at the Metro Parks, history buff, avid bird watcher . . . will give tomorrow’s seminar on “Birds, Bees and Everything in Between” which will provide a connection of birds and various pollinators in our landscape and the wider natural world. Carol’s expertise is the result as her love of all aspects of the natural world and her serious study thereof after she retired from teaching. No doubt the birds have had a rough time finding adequate food this winter so that Carol’s insight into proper bird feeding and other recommendations for our feathered friends will be invaluable. I find it interesting that the Audubon Society turned the killing of birds for sport into the counting of birds around the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. So ironic is that while the Audubon Society is known for its work in the protection of bird species that James Audubon actually killed numerous birds in order to study them and paint them. Tomorrow also is the birthday of the father of our country George Washington. While George is well-known as the first President of the United States and General of the Continental Army that defeated the British Crown, less is known about his farm, Mt. Vernon and his activities to insure its success. In various writings it’s clear that he yearned for the country gentleman life at Mt. Vernon but his love of country and sense of duty kept him away from Mt. Vernon until his retirement from the presidency in which he died only a few years afterward. It would have been interesting to see what developments would have resulted from some of his farming experiments but fortunately for us, he was too busy helping his country instead of pursuing his own personal interests. ~Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - February 14, 2014

Last week’s seminar on Tropical Plants was quite interesting in that it included various methods to use tropicals in large combination pots including other tropicals, annuals and even perennials. The perennials that work excellent in a combo pot with or without tropical’s are Sempervivum (hens & chicks), Corydalis ‘Canary Feathers’ and Geranium ‘Rozanne’. While flowers of Sempervivums are not particularly attractive, the multi-colored foliage is beautiful when several different varieties are mixed in the same pot. The Corydalis and Geranium ‘Rozanne’ are familiar to most gardeners because of their long blooming time and lower maintenance requirements such as constant deadheading. Cynthia Drukenbrod of the Cleveland Botanical Gardens (last week’s speaker) reinforced the theme of combination pots as one of a “Thriller (anchor plant) filler and spiller”. Tomorrow’s theme is that of a sensory garden in order to invoke all the senses. Homeowners and gardeners most concentrate on the visual aspect of the outdoor “living room” and tend to neglect the other senses of sound, touch and taste. Taste is an interesting aspect as a number of edibles are quite capable of carrying their own weight to add overall aesthetics to the garden. Ornamental swiss chard, blueberry shrubs, asparagus and even rhubarb are significantly ornamental when planned in the landscape. Michelle Riley of All About You Landscape Design will host tomorrow’s seminar and couple other considerations of a sensory garden with other factors such as that of maintenance. Other goings-on at the nursery include the receipt of yet more cuttings of annual flowers from Central America, more transplanting of existing recently rooted cuttings and stocking the store with hard goods for a hopeful March 1st opening date. After the zero temperatures earlier in the week maybe that is the end of the zero or sub-zero temps. We can only hope! ~Tom