Ask Jamie

March 5 2010 - Early Spring Planting

Hope that everyone is starting to warm up just a little. The days are getting longer, the earlier snows of this week melted rather quickly, and its starting to get just a little warmer….that may be just wishful thinking, but it’s comforting to know that we can always count on spring arriving with blooming plants and emerging foliage, birds, bees and insects flying-regardless of everything else going on in our lives.

One of my favorite early season plants with one of the best names is just starting to emerge this week Spring Beauty-Claytonia virginica. Easy to grow, these Beauties grow from small corms(bulb like underground roots) that will colonize over a small area in time. Not to worry, this is not a pushy or invasive plant at all. Delicate blooms atop grass like foliage last for several weeks in the spring, and are pretty immune to frosts and freezes once they are established. They tolerate a little foot traffic, but I really like to use them in shady gardens, as an early debut in a showy garden path-side area that will hold Hostas and Ferns later in the season. About the time the Spring Beauties are finishing up, plenty of other plants will be emerging and blooming, so Spring Beauty makes an excellent native plant early introduction into your garden.

We have been busy around the nursery, tweaking the new website, finishing our new shipping barn, and doing our spring cleaning, painting and all of the assorted chores that most everyone seems to have this time of the year. Take a break from your work, and enjoy a look around at our new website, and get a taste of spring!

Lots of specials this week, we have a nice azalea selection with free shipping.

This offer is a great way to get into the world of deciduous azaleas. We also have several great plants on special at great prices, take a look at the plants marked SALE on our new plants and specials page. We will continue to have various sale pricing on some great plants throughout the year, so check back often to see what specials we have in store for you! My favorite color of rhododendron, a peachy orange/yellow-Percy Wiseman is being offered at an outstanding 40% off price of $14.00 this week.

Hope you have a chance to get outside and enjoy your garden this week- Thanks for taking the time to visit with us,

Jamie

Late Winter/Early Spring Gardening

Finally, some warmer and snow free weather to get out into the nursery and begin the enjoyment of early spring bulbs and wildflowers. The Tomassini’s Crocus have all come into full bloom and the Snowdrops are almost fully emerged. The Hamamelis vernalis ‘Sachet’ which is located almost in the front door of the nursery has remained in bloom and FRAGRANT since Christmas, and the warm days of last weekend really wafted the scent throughout the nursery, I mean you could smell it several hundred yards away. Its fantastically smelling to walk into the house which holds the Witchazels for shipping-a barrage of sweet smells attack your nose, and make you smile and think, spring is coming! Even though it is supposed to snow again on Weds of this week, it will be gone and spring will be here before we know it.

Toad Trilliums are starting to slowly emerge under the leaf litter and snow cover, its always fun to pull back the leaves in your garden where you know that the trilliums and other ephemerals are growing and find the early emergence of green coming from the ground.

Our Royal Heritage Hellebores are just now beginning to bloom for us here in the Nursery gardens, one of the latest times that I remember them blooming in many,many years, but we have had a REAL winter here in Western North Carolina this year, and it has reset the clocks on many plants.

Back to getting the nursery ready for spring-Winter’s Snow has required a new roof on the barn, and we have moved our shipping area into a larger space in the barn to make sure that we continue to carefully pack and ship your plants in preparation for their trip to your garden. It makes it a lot warmer and drier for us as well!

Get out in your garden for just a few minutes this week, even if the weather may be a little less than perfect, it will do wonders for the winter doldrums to look under the leaves and begin to see nature emerging for the season!

Thanks for spending some time with us.

Our Website is New for 2010

Hey there - Welcome to our New Website! We hope that you will enjoy the new look and that we can help with your plant needs.

Well, since prior to the holidays, here in the sunny South, we have had a real winter-snow, sleet, rain and plenty of it. Snow has been on the ground since mid-Dec.and more is forecast. No worries, our plants are all safe in unheated greenhouses, ready for shipping in late winter. But, usually, we have kind of a mild winter here in Western North Carolina, and this year reminds me of some of my winters in CO-where by the way, they are lacking snowfall for the year. Oh well, our onsite Polly Spout is running strong for the first time in many years. Don’t want to jinx anything, but we finally have ample water supplies! Get ready for Great Planting Conditions this Spring!

Our Witchazels are starting to bloom around the nursery-regardless of whatever winter weather gets thrown at them. What a fantastic and easy to grow plant that is sure to brighten up any drab winter’s day! Tons of colors, LONG Bloom times and many have spicy fragrances that make these one of our favorite plant groups. We have an outstanding selection to choose from, and our 2 gallon plants are a bargain due to their large SIZE-They are ready to plant in your garden and take off for blooming next winter. Once they are mature, cut branches brought into the home really brighten up the dark corners and add a great fragrance. One sure way to help cure any Seasonal Affective Disorder is to have some colorful, blooming plants brought into the room!

When you visit the nursery this spring, you will find I have finally understood how to garden with Black Walnuts-With a chainsaw!! During the first winter storm in December, we had one of our older greenhouses, very gracefully, succumb to the heavy snow. No plants were hurt, but the greenhouse had seen better days. After moving the plants to other greenhouses, we decided after many years of trying to understand what might grow in our Juglans grove, the chainsaw was administered to around 40 of the Black Walnuts. Wow, what a difference light makes! I think that we still have plenty of shade for our Ephemerals and Ferns, but we won’t have all of the limbs, nuts and allelopathic affects of Black Walnuts on our display gardens. Now, we are excited about planting new gardens to showcase our great plants. Plan on coming out to see the transformation this spring!