by Briscoe White | Jun 25, 2010 | Flowers, Gardening |
After every season there are always some plants that did not find a home. In the greenhouse, we have to be merciless and allow no survivors at the end. Plants that are divided or potted up are spared because they have found a new reason for being in the next season. Left over annual plants fill our containers.
So, sometimes we are left with perfectly good plants with nowhere to go. Here is where the lucky ones end up. A lot are planted around our farm; we have learned to concentrate planting where they can be tended a little. The hot dry summer is a threat to all new planting unless water is available. Our beds are along the entrance road and around living areas.
The picture shows what we did with some left over perennials. A low drop off behind our pool and always been an eyesore; hardly anything would grow there. Some Ansomnia had grown to very large clumps and a few daylilies hung from the steepest part. I had to water several times a week to get the plants through summer, but it was worth the effort. So, last summer, with the assistance of some hardworking just-graduated seniors, we were able to give those leftovers a second chance. Now, in the INTENSE heat of our end of June days (yesterday was 101!) this bed is hanging on with little to no attention. Notice the coneflowers?
by Briscoe White | Jun 18, 2010 | Flowers, Growing, Miscellaneous |
It has been so long since I made a journal entry that I do not even remember when! All I can say about the last few months is that we sent out a lot of plants from our farm. Many thanks to all our gardening customers, may your plants always grow to their full potential!
Now that the shipping season for spring is done, and the fall catalog safely with the printer, we find ourselves beginning what may be a long hot summer. The vegetables are growing and peaches being picked, so all of our summer chores seem to revolve around eating! Being how we are though, flowers will be found on any ground not already occupied.
Last fall, I showed pictures of my seed collecting efforts. This past time takes place while driving; if I see a plant I want, I stop and mark it with flagging tape. It is really hard to relocate plants without a marker, since the original marker is now long gone to seed. This picture is one of the grass filters, which surround all of our fields. Grasses work well, but a few wildflowers turn it into a little prairie, which are always a wonder to behold! Flowers bring a host of winged creatures to colonize this man made habitat: Dragonflies and Butterflies, Bluebirds and Goldfinches fill a pallet of color in constant motion. But, my favorite is the constantly soaring Marsh Hawk, not seen in our fields before the prairies were planted. You don’t have to believe me, look at the picture, it can’t do justice to maybe a hundred thousand flowers.
By the way, that’s our newest pup, an Aussie named ‘Blue’. A great dog …
by Briscoe White | Apr 19, 2010 | Flowers, Growing |
I often wonder where I’d be without loyal customers .. not only because of their financial support, but also for their emotional and practical support! We’ve been in business, growing and selling, for over 25 years and in that time, ‘Martha’ has been their since day one … a great customer who buys lots of plants, a talented gardener, and one of those folks who loves to share her knowledge and her opinion of good plants. I always listen, and that is why we are offering a great salvia.
Salvia ‘Oceana Blue’ has GREAT color .. blues in the garden are something special and this salvia is gorgeous. It is tall, it is drought tolerant, it attracts hummingbirds, butterflies but NOT deer. And, in our garden, it makes a great cut flower for a summer arrangement.
But, this isn’t all about the plant … it’s actually all about the customer. You know who you are … Thanks Martha!
by Briscoe White | Apr 15, 2010 | Life on the Farm |
Lawn ornaments? My wife just keeps collecting horses – once our daughter ‘spit the bit’, so to speak, she wouldn’t let us sell her pony, ‘Dunkin’ Donuts’, so we just added him to the collection. Then along came this guy, Poco, who just couldn’t be parted from his pasture pal .. so that made three. Then, after 50, she decided she’d become a cowboy and went Western. That meant a different kind of horse? Here’s the upshot: they look pretty darn good in the pasture and they are really gentle and hey, I like animals so all’s good. These guys are in heaven … just look at the green pasture and buttercups. Yum!
Here is the gang – Lady, Dunkin and Poco! They are a good natured bunch, and mind their manners for the most part. Dunkin is a typical pony, so you never know where he might show up!
by Briscoe White | Apr 5, 2010 | Flowers, Growing |
Selling plants over some years, each plant develops its own unique history. Diascia is a little known plant we have grown since our beginning. Eager to please anyone willing to walk in my brand new garden center, I promised to find some Diascia for someone. In the mid- eighties, when The Growers Exchange was new, most of our potential customers wanted little more choice than geraniums in red or coral.
Finding that diascia took some looking, but we found some in Florida and added it to our houseplant order. It is strange looking back and seeing what motivated us to begin growing our own plants. What we did have was a neighborhood of gardeners ready to break with traditions and try new plants in their containers and beds. Actually container gardening had not caught on beyond two pots framing the front door, preferably with a neatly trimmed evergreen.
Twenty some years later we realize we have been riding a tidal wave of new plants. Perennials and especially flowering annual plants were bred in all shapes and sizes. That seed grown Diascia we grew years ago would look skimpy compared to the new cultivars we grow now. If you have a dry sunny spot you should try Piccadilly Baskets series Orange and Coral Red, truly beautiful colors.
Diasia ‘Piccadilly Coral Red’
