A Slow and Snowy Start

Even though we do our work indoors this time of year, the snow is still affecting our progress.  The photo at the left shows the view looking out the door of our greenhouse that is located on Barrow Hill Road, where we will be growing our Zonal Geraniums, our Ivy Geraniums and most of our hanging baskets.  (To get a glimpse of the plants we will be growing for this Spring Season, click on the tab "Spring Plants" located just below our Home Page logo photo.)

Snowy and icy roads and airports have slowed the shipment of both our plant plugs and liners, and our supplies.  The arrival of our pots, flats, trays and potting media was a week later than planned due to icy roads in the Mid-South in mid-January.

When they did arrive, our guys (James Ward, Norman Carter, Michael Boles and Randy Holiday) got right on top of it and started filling the pots, hanging baskets and flats, and began to get them ready to plant.

The first of our Geranium liners (what we call the rooted cuttings that we use to start the Geraniums that we grow) finally arrived, and when the weather and the road conditions permit us to get back to the greenhouse on Barrow Hill Road, we'll get started with the planting.

The green pots are ready to be planted with the Geranium liners, and the white hanging baskets are ready to be planted with the Shockwave Petunia liners.  Planting the hanging baskets should have begun this week with the planned arrival of the Petunia liners.  Our supplier informed us yesterday that shipment of the liners for the Petunias, the Ivy Geraniums, and more than a dozen other plant varieties will be delayed at least a week because of another winter storm system covering much of the country.

But, the snow will melt... the roads will clear... and we will get everything planted eventually!  The target date for opening for the Spring 2011 season in Thursday, March 31.  Until then, whenever you need a little "plant fix," just go back to our "Spring Plants" page and browse through the pictures!  And come back to check our blog often... we'll keep you posted on our progress with more photos.

Getting Ready for Spring Planting

Our Christmas season was a great one, thanks to all our wonderful customers.  Now that 2010 is behind us, we're getting ready for our Spring Season.  It's time to get our hard-working staff in full swing to start filling baskets, pots, and flats, because our Spring plant cuttings, plugs and liners begin arriving the first week of February.

The bags of our soilless mix potting media will be carried in and used to fill our hanging baskets, pots, and flats.

The guys will get to work filling the hanging baskets (as you see James and Louis doing in the above photo to the left) and the flats (as Randy is doing in the above photo to the right.)

When the plant cuttings, liners and plugs arrive, they look something like the ones pictured at the left.  Each one, depending on the plant, will initially range in size from 2-inches tall to as small as 1/2-inch tall.



When our hanging baskets are first planted, they will look something like this.  In a matter of weeks -- on average, 7 to 8 weeks -- they look like the photos below of the Shockwave Petunias we grew and sold in the Spring 2010 season.



Shockwave Denim Blue



Shockwave Pink

Shockwave Rose

In addition to the Shockwave Petunias for our hanging baskets, we will also receive our Zonal Geranium plugs the first week of February.

Diabolo Red Geraniums - Spring 2010

Our tentative opening date for Spring is scheduled for Thursday, March 31.  Until then, we hope you will visit our blog often and follow the growth progress of the plants we will be selling this Spring!