So it's looking like our first good storm of the year is gonna be a real winner. Stoked!! I was looking out the front window, and I noticed this Blue Princess Holly I planted about two years ago. I've tried a few things in the spot that have all failed miserably - either due to the generally crappy soil that my builder left me with, or perhaps due to the hot light reflected down from my western facing windows. Regardless - this bombproof New England staple has really taken to the spot, even though I'm not the biggest fan of Blue Holly. It was a throw away from a CNLA Summer Field Day a few years back - abandoned in the vacated booth of a local rewholesaler. While they're a bit trite for my taste, I figured I couldn't turn down a free 5-gallon shrub. With some careful rejuvenatory pruning - I've finally gotten it growing properly. It's on track to fill the 6'x6' space that I've got alloted for it in a couple of years, and should anchor a considerable portion of my foundation garden. This vision of it covered with the light dusting of snow is my favorite thus far. Common in the Northeast or not, after seeing the snow highlighted by the spiky green margins, I'm glad I chose to throw it in my car!
I'm a wholesale grower. I see millions of different plants every season and try to bring as many home as possible. Some work, some don't.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Blizzard Blog
So it's looking like our first good storm of the year is gonna be a real winner. Stoked!! I was looking out the front window, and I noticed this Blue Princess Holly I planted about two years ago. I've tried a few things in the spot that have all failed miserably - either due to the generally crappy soil that my builder left me with, or perhaps due to the hot light reflected down from my western facing windows. Regardless - this bombproof New England staple has really taken to the spot, even though I'm not the biggest fan of Blue Holly. It was a throw away from a CNLA Summer Field Day a few years back - abandoned in the vacated booth of a local rewholesaler. While they're a bit trite for my taste, I figured I couldn't turn down a free 5-gallon shrub. With some careful rejuvenatory pruning - I've finally gotten it growing properly. It's on track to fill the 6'x6' space that I've got alloted for it in a couple of years, and should anchor a considerable portion of my foundation garden. This vision of it covered with the light dusting of snow is my favorite thus far. Common in the Northeast or not, after seeing the snow highlighted by the spiky green margins, I'm glad I chose to throw it in my car!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Echeveria pulidonis
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| Echeveria pulidonis |
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Thursday, December 16, 2010
A Better Black Eyed Susan
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| Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' Photo Courtesy of SBN |
From my first encounter with this disease, I knew that there was some form of chemistry that could control it, or stop it outright. This way of thinking has gotten me far in this business, and I've yet to really find many diseases that I can't stop. This on the other hand, is one of the exceptions. I'm pretty sure that I've sprayed this crop with just about everything that you're going to want to be around, and tried just about every permutation of intervals and doses known to man - all with the same result. If it's going to get it - it's going to get it...
Here's the first step in being at least semi-environmentally responsible - ask yourself if you even need to be growing such a chemically dependent plant? Unfortunately the answer is yes - I've yet to see demand for this variety wane. We've had a great deal of success by simply moving our crops at the farm indoors, getting the rain off of them, and carefully timing our irrigation so that it's dry on the foliage in the shortest amount of time possible. We've gotten the system down well enough this year to nearly eliminate preventative fungicides on this crop, which is really saying something. Regardless though - they're clean here, you're going to buy them, and then they'll get it in the landscape. What's the point?
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| Rudbeckia subtomentosa Photo Courtesy of Sunny Border Nurseries |
The first on my list of varieties that should be more popular than 'Goldsturm' is Rudbeckia subtomentosa. This seed variety is slightly larger - creating a ball of golden yellow Black Eyed Susan flowers roughly 2.5 - 3ft tall and wide. It flowers for 4 straight months - June through September in central Connecticut. Even when grown between infected patches of 'Goldsturm' - I've yet to see this plant with even a spot of Septoria on the foliage, and in my opinion, it has a much better bloom. Why isn't this more popular??
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| Rudbeckia fulgida var deamii Photo Courtesy of SBN |
We've recently begun working with Cornell University trialing the whole thing. From hard evidence on disease resistance, to effective strategies for controlling this disease in the nursery and landscape. What I'm looking forward to will be some good backup on what we've been seeing here all along - that there are several options for full on replacement of 'Goldsturm'.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Petunia Black Velvet, Phantom, and Pinstripe
Ball Hort has released a devilish new group of Petunia this year that are poised to be some of the top sellers for 2011. Petunia Black Velvet, Phantom, and Pinstripe are the first ever to actually get to claim true black for a bloom color. Not "Nurseryman's Black" either - these are the real deal! I've seen too many "black" German Iris, and while they're extremely dark, you can still tell they're just a dark purple. While these do have a slight hint of purple, they are the closest thing to black that I've seen and the effect is one that I think will dominate impulse buys this season.
Blooms - Black Velvet gets to claim The First All-Black Petunia prize. The blossoms are large, and the name aptly describes the appearance. Phantom is essentially the same plant and bloom, only with a fat, bright yellow stripe down the center of each black petal. To say its a good accent plant would be putting it a bit lightly. Pinstripe sports the same star-burst accent, only with a slightly thinner strip of creamy-pinkish-purple. Yet again - if it's impact you're looking for...
Size and Habit - I planted several out, both in the landscape and in some baskets early this summer. I was surprised to see that they didn't form the typical trailing Petunia mound, rather they were much more upright. I wouldn't call them vertical - but don't plan on these cascading well out of any window boxes. Size appears to be somewhere in the 12" tall and wide range - although my plants at home never see the kind of attention that I give to the ones at the farm - so I'm sure bigger is possible. As long as you're thinking "mounded", you'll be all set.
Vigor and Longevity - Cool season performance is top-notch. The plugs we received early in the summer exploded and bloomed profusely until July. Ridiculously hot and dry temps forced nearly everything in the landscape into stasis, and occasionally death - these were not immune. Not that it's a slight against them however - we lost Sedum this July to the weather. That's right, Sedum. It was bad. At the peak of this heatwave - I left Connecticut for even warmer locales. Upon my return - my baskets were not very happy with me. They were thoroughly baked, and required multiple soakings to fully re-wet the soil. Most things were pruned back and I crossed my fingers. Within a week or two - I had Petunias again, and the basket was loaded up with black flowers until November. So as far as landscape/container performance is concerned - I'm thinking they're at least as tough as any of the best varieties already out there.
Bottom Line - These are going to be huge! Regardless of whether they're good plants or not - it's a crazy new group of colors and people will buy these by the cubic yard. From what I've seen with our trial plants, as well as with a fresh crop of unrooted cuttings for trade show season (that are now finished and starting to bloom) - these plants will live up to the hype and provide a full season's worth of easy color.
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| Petunia Black Velvet and Calibrachoa Can-Can Terracotta |
Size and Habit - I planted several out, both in the landscape and in some baskets early this summer. I was surprised to see that they didn't form the typical trailing Petunia mound, rather they were much more upright. I wouldn't call them vertical - but don't plan on these cascading well out of any window boxes. Size appears to be somewhere in the 12" tall and wide range - although my plants at home never see the kind of attention that I give to the ones at the farm - so I'm sure bigger is possible. As long as you're thinking "mounded", you'll be all set.
Vigor and Longevity - Cool season performance is top-notch. The plugs we received early in the summer exploded and bloomed profusely until July. Ridiculously hot and dry temps forced nearly everything in the landscape into stasis, and occasionally death - these were not immune. Not that it's a slight against them however - we lost Sedum this July to the weather. That's right, Sedum. It was bad. At the peak of this heatwave - I left Connecticut for even warmer locales. Upon my return - my baskets were not very happy with me. They were thoroughly baked, and required multiple soakings to fully re-wet the soil. Most things were pruned back and I crossed my fingers. Within a week or two - I had Petunias again, and the basket was loaded up with black flowers until November. So as far as landscape/container performance is concerned - I'm thinking they're at least as tough as any of the best varieties already out there.
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| 7 Weeks after sticking the cuttings, Black Velvet is full and blooming. |
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Ensete, or Abyssinian Banana
Few plants get me going more than this one. Fargesia being about the only other one, actually. That however, is a topic for a later post. Seeing as how Ensete is up here first - I guess that makes it my favorite plant. Ever. Of all Time. Just saying this means nothing though. Here's why.
We started growing this maroon colored Banana relative a couple of years back, and sales have subsequently gone through the roof. People who have bought in have been made believers, and demand seems to be continually increasing. Since I'm addicted to growing tropicals in a climate that isn't necessarily conducive (Connecticut) - the ones that really give the tropical effect in the short time I can give them are obvious standouts. Ensete wins this race every time.
While typical to the common banana (Musa) in form- it far outstrips even the most vigorous cultivar in rate of growth. I brought home both a massive 12" potted form that was 2 years old, and a single 5" pot that had only been planted in the pot for about 2 months. They were both planted in late May. The 12" was already 4 ft plus in height when planted, the 5" was somewhere around 2 ft. While the 12" was in the obvious lead for awhile - through July - the 5" pot caught up at around the 6 ft height range. It then made it to 8 ft before the one that was 5 times it's size at planting. This wasn't set up as an experiment, so I have no idea why this happened. Regardless - the typical 5" pot that the consumer will pick up at the store for somewhere in the $10-15 range, formed a massive 8 ft plus tall purple banana tree by September. That is insane value in my opinion. This thing dwarfed nearly every other plant in my 6 year old landscape, and certainly was the main focal point in my entire yard.
A severe thunderstorm managed to blow it over while we were away on vacation. I got back to work and forgot to stake it back up. This would prove to be the coolest thing I've seen with this plant yet - it stood itself back up within a week. It went from somewhere near a 45 deg angle back to vertical in about 5 days... I'm no botanist, but that was too cool, and really highlights the vigor on this colorful beast.
Forget fruit. That's everyone's question with the bananas that we sell, and that's my response. Sure, there are some that will get you something that tastes pretty horrid after several years of winter vacations in a cool basement, but who cares? These are foliage plants. Think of them as you would Coleus - but 8 ft tall.
I've got a situation that most plant geeks not already in the industry would kill for. I can throw these things away every season and just get a new one next year. This has been my M.O. for some time, although I'm trying to get away from it. Hence two massive purple Ensete stumps in my basement as I write this. Getting them both out of the garden was a trip - as you'll find with any banana - the plant is full of water. When you're tasked with removing a foot thick stump that's 36" tall and full of water - have fun! I'd almost rather dig a tree up and move it... They were super-heavy and awkward, but I ended up sliding them onto a snow sled and dragging them into the basement that way. We'll see what happens next spring. I want a 15 footer just to really freak out my kids.
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| Part of my back yard. |
While typical to the common banana (Musa) in form- it far outstrips even the most vigorous cultivar in rate of growth. I brought home both a massive 12" potted form that was 2 years old, and a single 5" pot that had only been planted in the pot for about 2 months. They were both planted in late May. The 12" was already 4 ft plus in height when planted, the 5" was somewhere around 2 ft. While the 12" was in the obvious lead for awhile - through July - the 5" pot caught up at around the 6 ft height range. It then made it to 8 ft before the one that was 5 times it's size at planting. This wasn't set up as an experiment, so I have no idea why this happened. Regardless - the typical 5" pot that the consumer will pick up at the store for somewhere in the $10-15 range, formed a massive 8 ft plus tall purple banana tree by September. That is insane value in my opinion. This thing dwarfed nearly every other plant in my 6 year old landscape, and certainly was the main focal point in my entire yard.
A severe thunderstorm managed to blow it over while we were away on vacation. I got back to work and forgot to stake it back up. This would prove to be the coolest thing I've seen with this plant yet - it stood itself back up within a week. It went from somewhere near a 45 deg angle back to vertical in about 5 days... I'm no botanist, but that was too cool, and really highlights the vigor on this colorful beast.
Forget fruit. That's everyone's question with the bananas that we sell, and that's my response. Sure, there are some that will get you something that tastes pretty horrid after several years of winter vacations in a cool basement, but who cares? These are foliage plants. Think of them as you would Coleus - but 8 ft tall.
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| One of my Ensete after a run in with my 10" Henckels Santoku. |
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