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Contents |
PDN Newsletter Archives 2005January 2005The 2005 catalogs were mailed at the end of December, and we hope you have received your copy by now. If not, send an e-mail to office@plantdelights.com and we'll get another copy on the way. Please don't blame us if your catalog doesn't arrive. Did you know that the Post Office expects to lose 5% of the catalogs that we mail? I don't know many other businesses that could operate with that kind of efficiency.We'd like to announce some staff changes here at PDN. Petra Schmidt, who headed our research division for the last four years, has departed to return home to Wisconsin to take care of family matters. Petra has agreed to monitor her e-mail for a while so be sure to send best wishes. We thank Petra for all her contributions to Plant Delights and wish her the best of luck in this new chapter of her life. Petra's replacement is Lynn Butler, who joins us from Pennsylvania after finishing her studies at Penn State. Lynn has begun her crash course as we prepare to head into spring. We'd also like announce the hiring of a new Production Supervisor, Brie Gluvna. Brie comes to us from Montrose Gardens in Hillsborough, NC, where she spent the last 2.5 years after finishing her studies at Purdue University. Brie will oversee the propagation and potting all of the plants that we produce. Joining us in the garden as an assistant curator is Anna Mabie. Anna is a recent graduate from NCSU in horticulture and comes to PDN after finishing her hike of the entire Appalachian trail. Gardening should be a piece of cake after that. If you haven't entered our Top 25 contest, what are you waiting for? There is no entry fee, no signing up for anything, no strings attached...just a chance to win a $250 gift certificate to Plant Delights. So, don't wait any longer...the deadline is February 15, 2005. Visit the Contest Page In the catalog, we mentioned that the Horticulture Magazine Symposium will be held in Raleigh again this year. Well, the lineup has now been announced. On Friday, June 3, Ken Druse, renowned author of many wonderful gardening books and Tom Hobbs, owner of Southlands Nursery in British Columbia and author of "Shocking Beauty," will be featured. Rounding out the speakers' lineup will be Tennessee's Carol Reese, the first lady of horticultural comedy and yours truly. Additionally, Dr. Mike Dirr has agree to give a special tour of the JC Raulston Arboretum. If you love plants, this is simply not to be missed! On Saturday, June 4, the group will have a private shop 'til you drop; explore and ask questions about the gardens here at Juniper Level, then enjoy a relaxing lunch at Plant Delights Nursery. For more details or to sign up, call Horticulture Magazine at 877-436-7764. February 2005It's been great to see everyone this spring at the CENTS and New England Grows Trade Shows. Now, the speaking season switches to homeowner groups, which have also been superb this spring. Speaking of traveling, I've recently returned from a fabulous three-week botanizing expedition through South Africa in search of bulbs, ferns, and other cool perennials. We traveled over 3,000 miles from Capetown in the South to the Drakensberg Mountains in the East. The trip exploration log with photos should be ready in the next few weeks...I'll let you know when it is posted.Spring has already gotten off to quite a start when we were hit with 80+ mph straight line winds that ripped the covers from five greenhouses, tossed a golf cart 150 feet into a creek, and generally reeked havoc at the nursery. Re-covering greenhouses in a steady 40 mph wind is not the easiest of tasks, even after we were able to find someone that had extra rolls of greenhouse plastic for sale...thanks, Coors Farm Supply. It sure would have been nice if we had not been expecting 25 degrees that night.
Our crack shipping team is hard at the tasks at hand and so far, the results have been extremely good. We still haven't maxed out their capabilities, so keep those orders coming. The first top 25 list of the year is filled with surprises. Instead of finding many of the usual suspects, the list is filled with an array of newcomers. Hosta 'Hanky Panky' marks the first time that a hosta has cracked the top 25 in our records. Ditto for Epimedium 'Purple Prince. If you entered our top 25 contest, how are you doing so far? If the answer is not good, don't give up as we are still very early in the season and some of the horses in the back of the pack still have some "giddy up" left. April 2005Spring has finally arrived at Plant Delights and we hope that we are out of the woods for late spring frosts. The overwintering greenhouse covers are being removed this week, so we'll be sweating if the night temperature drops much below 40 degrees F. Because of the late spring, plants in the garden are slower than normal in emerging. This should make a stunning show for our spring open house which we hope you will be able to attend. We are open two consecutive weekends, Friday-Sunday April 29- May 1 and May 6-8 from 8-5 on Friday and Saturday and 1-5 on Sundays. Our new shipping team is doing a marvelous job and plants are arriving in better shape than ever before and problems are at a minimum. If you haven't watched the shipping process on the PDN Shipping Cam, why don't you take a look at www.plantdelights.com/Camera/Shipping If you've tried to access it earlier and it was inoperable, we are sorry for the technical difficulties. June 2005Spring open house is history for another year, and despite 3 days of rain, we had very good attendance. It's been a wonderful spring for plants and a cool spring for people. Visitors to open house found everything about 10 days behind. Because of the cool, moist English weather, the garden looks better than ever. Visitors were treated to a new Jim Gallucci (see Botanical Art and Sculpture links) bridge that crosses the stream below Mt. Michelle. We've also finished the renovations on the left side of the entrance drive with the installation of a new sunken garden complete with a marvelous faux stone fountain. We've also just finished the 2nd Annual Horticulture Magazine Great Plants Symposium which featured an array of fabulous speakers including Ken Druse, Carol Reese, Tom Hobbs, Mike Dirr, and yours truly. If you missed the symposium and accompanying workshops and tours, you missed a superb event...and a great season to see the gardens here at Juniper Level. Our next event at PDN is the Region 4 meeting of the Garden Writers Association on July 7. The meeting is open to both members and non-members. For more information, go to http://www.gardenwriters.org/Meetings/Region4.html. We also hope you will join us for our summer open houses July 8-10 and July 15-17. If you've never seen the gardens in summer, you've missed quite a treat. If visiting isn't enough, a house and property that adjoins the back part of the nursery is on the market now. [ View MLS Listing ] We're trying to lure good gardeners to the region, so if you would like to be a Plant Delights Neighbor, come on down. I'm just back from a June 1 meeting with scientists from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service to discuss progress on the new USDA Hardiness Zone Map. While there are still a few kinks to work out, great progress has been made, and we are looking at a hopeful completion by years' end. The new map will be searchable by zip code or location and will give 30-year average minimum temperatures, accurate down to 1 square meter. Progress was slowed a bit since their top statistician was borrowed by the Department of Defense to help find Osama. Not to worry, Hardiness Zone Map files are still being sent back and forth from Iraq. If you have fallen into the trap of not being able to sleep at night fretting over invasive species, be sure to read the wonderful article in Discover Magazine May 2005...full article available to subscribers. http://www.discover.com/issues/may-05/cover/ Unfortunately, we also have some sad news to report, Michelle Avent's (co-owner of PDN) mother passed away last week after a battle with cancer. Anyone who attended our open houses until last year met Mary Jo Morgan (1925-2005) when she checked you out. Mary Jo was also the one that kept the paper shredded for the shipping department. She will be sorely missed by us as well as nursery customers. If you feel compelled to remember Mary Jo, a donation to Hospice of Wake County, NC would be a wonderful memorial. August 2005Well, so far we've dodged the hurricanes, but not the oppressive heat. Summer 2005 is heading toward being one of the hottest summers in recent history in NC. With 25 of 31 days above 90 degrees F, we just missed having the hottest July on record by a scant .2 degrees F. At least we're better off than those of you reading this in Arizona. We hope wherever you are that you and your plants are at least coping until fall weather arrives. The Plant Delights Fall 2005 catalog is at the post office today and should be in your mailbox shortly...unless your postman likes to read it first. In the meantime, you can find everything (and much more) on line at http://www.plantdelights.com Our 2005 Expedition Log from South Africa is also now posted, along with nearly 300 photographs at www.plantdelights.com/Tony/south_africa.php. There's nothing quite like taking a quick, inexpensive trip via the web. September 2005It's been quite a summer for most of us. I was fortunate to spend most of August in North Vietnam and Northern Thailand in search of new plants. It was an amazing trip that I look forward to sharing the details. It will take a few more months to complete the photo log for the website, but I'll let you know when it's posted. Our final few days in Thailand were spent watching Hurricane Katrina as it steamed toward Louisiana and Mississippi. Our thoughts and prayers are with those residents and former residents of the Gulf Coast, many of whose lives were changed forever by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Many of the nurseries in the region were hit hard, but fortunately many are up and running again... except those inundated with salt water. We've already heard from one customer in the region who sent photos of the plant damage in his garden. It was great to hear that he is already planning his re-planting for next season. We even had a Landscape Architect from New Orleans stop by during our fall open house, wondering when he would be able to return to his own garden. I returned from overseas to find that the excessive heat of the summer had been joined by an extended period of no rain. 2005 has not been one of the best summers to be out in the garden and nurseries in affected regions around the country have felt the effects. I hate to say it, but there is little doubt that we will lose more good nurseries and garden centers after a year like this. We actually hoped that Hurricane Ophelia would head our way with rain, but it was a dud inland. It did wreak havoc on some coastal customers gardens, albeit nothing like what it could have done. We finally did manage a nice 2" rain about a week later, which really re-invigorated a tired looking garden. Our fall open house was very poorly attended, no doubt due to the weather, but certainly the high gas prices also played a major part. Even several botanic gardens around the country are seeing cutbacks and layoffs due to decreased visitation. I would like to thank all those who attended and supported Horticulture Magazine's GardenFair in September. Considering the excessively hot weather, the event went extremely well. If you missed it this year, be sure to watch for the details of the 2006 version. Now that cooler weather and some fall moisture have arrived, we have resumed planting again. If you're ready to do the same, I wanted to let you know of a number of new plants that have been added to the website. Many are available in very limited quantities, while a couple are actually previews of our 2006 offerings. We are very excited to offer the hard-to-find Echinacea 'Razzmatazz' and if they don't sell out this fall, we put them in the spring catalog. The new listings can be found at www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/web_only.html and click on the September additions sections. We also have another crop of Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant' and Hosta 'Hanky Panky' ready for sale. While I wouldn't plant the colocasias outdoors now in cold climates, they would make good houseplants for the winter and we're not making any promises on spring availability, so get 'em while they last. In other news, Plant Delights would like to congratulate Dr. Dennis Werner of the NCSU Horticulture Department, who has been selected as the new director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NCSU. Dr. Werner is completing his class load this fall and will assume the directorship duties on December 1, 2005. We encourage you to continue supporting your favorite gardens and nurseries during this difficult period for our industry and let's hope for a great 2006. November 2005The 2005 shipping season is drawing to a close at the end of November, so if you've procrastinated until now, time is running out. If you need to purchase Christmas or holiday gifts for that special gardener, remember that a Plant Delights Gift Certificate may be just what the plant doctor ordered. You can order these online athttp://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/gifts.html. In a couple of weeks, we'll be announcing the winner of our 2005 Guess the Top 25 Best Sellers Contest for the $250 PDN gift certificate. If you didn't enter the contest this year, be thinking about next years' contest that begins January 1, and check out the contest rules at http://www.plantdelights.com/New/contest.html. We've been busy writing the 2006 catalog that is now only a few weeks away for hitting the presses. To fill the pages, we've propagated an amazing array of great plants that includes 125 new offerings...enough to drive even the most hardcore gardeners completely over the edge. To make room for these new offerings, we will, unfortunately, be rotating an equal number of our old favorites out, so if you've been thinking about ordering that obscure gem, it's often best not to wait. Remember that fall is a superb time to plant, provided your ground is not already frozen, and the plants you are planting are more than marginally hardy in your zone. For marginally hardy plants in your zone, it is very important that you wait until spring to plant. We have enjoyed a beautiful fall season and have so far only had 2 light frosts. It's amazing how many plants are still in flower, and I'd like to take a few moments to highlight a few. We all know that fall is the peak season for many ornamental grasses such as Muhlenbergia capillaris, many of the miscanthus, Pennisetum 'Tall Tails', and the giant Saccharum arundinaceum, but there is so much more to offer color now.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page50.html
If you don't grow salvias, then you have missed out on some of the best fall bloomers. The Salvia greggii and microphylla cultivars are simply superb for fall bloom. If you like yellow and haven't tried Salvia madrensis 'Red Neck Girl', you have missed a real winner with its 18" long flower spikes. Another fall bloomer that has put on a real show this fall has been Salvia 'Blue Chiquita' along with the ever-popular Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page59.html
The tree Dahlias have been great this fall, since we have had a late fall. The single, purple D.
imperialis must have several hundred flower buds atop the 14' tall stalks. The double purple form seems
to be the earliest in flower in our trials. We have now assigned a name to this previously unnamed
cultivar...Dahlia imperialis 'Double or Nothing'.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page21.html
If tall is your thing, Verbesina microptera is not to be missed. This giant Mexican frostweed
makes a huge, 14' tall clump, topped now by giant panicles of yellow flowers with the unique fragrance
of burning sugar. If you need something smaller, Verbesina persicifolia 'Autumn Sunburst' is also
flowering as we speak.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page68.html
If you live in Zone 7b south, I hope you are growing Hibiscus mutabilis. We offer a superb
selection of these fall-flowering Chinese hibiscus that have been long-prized in Gulf Coast gardens...back
when there were some Gulf Coast gardens.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page34.html
Other plants of fall include some of our splendid offerings of all blooming garden mums. Do not
confuse these with the marginally hardy plants that you purchase from your local garden centers.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page16.html
The surprisingly hardy Coreopsis integrifolia, fall-blooming South African Kniphofia rooperi, and US
native Eupatorium greggii are all fabulous additions to the fall garden for late flowering.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page27.html
Other great fall flowering perennials with an obscenely long season of bloom include Geranium
'Rozanne', which has been in flower since May and Dianthus 'First Love' which started in May. If you
would like something taller, the evening-fragrant Cestrum parqui is still in full flower after starting in May.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page29.html
I couldn't conclude without mentioning cyclamens, especially the easy-to-grow C. hederifolium
that is in full flower now. As long as you plant it where it can stay reasonably dry in the summer, you
can't loose with this gem.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/page20.html
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours and hope you are enjoying a great holiday season. There.s not much gardening going on in the colder zones, but down here in NC, we're still re-arranging plants and beds in the garden in between rain showers. We've now had over 7.5" of rain here at the nursery in the last 4 weeks and they tell us we are still in a drought... bah, humbug! We can't wait for you to see the dramatic changes in the older section of the garden when you visit for spring open house... very exciting stuff and lots of new plants.
The 2006 catalog came off the printer Friday and are now being folded, stapled, and prepared for mailing, which is scheduled for years end. We hope you enjoy perusing the new catalog as much as we enjoyed preparing it for you.
We've finished tallying the votes for the Top 25 contest and congratulations to Shari Dyson of North Carolina, who won the contest for 2005. Shari was the only entrant who scored less than 1000 (897) to win the prize...a $250 PDN Gift Certificate. The top 10 finalists broken down by states were: NC-4, CT-1, GA-1, MD-2, IN-1, PA-1. The 2006 contest will begin as soon as the new catalog is posted on line January 1, 2006. Remember that eligible entries must be received by February 15, 2006. In order for you to start studying, visit the
top sellers for 2005.
-tony
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