With the March sun and warmer days, the plant world is just now showing signs of life from the long winter slumber. Witch hazels are the first to bloom with these strange but beautiful thread-like flowers resistant to frosts and even freezes. (Insert picture) The native witch hazels through much breeding and many crosses have been morphed into varieties with many beautiful colors of bright yellow, red and copper with names such as Barnstedt Gold, Jelena, Arnold’s Promise and Wisely.
Narcissus for a while now along with hyacinths have been popping above the ground. One of the first to bloom Narcissus varieties at the nursery is a variety called ‘Tete-a-Tete’ which means head to head in French and accurately describes the golden yellow blossoms so tightly crowded together. Many thousands of tulips too are beginning to show and soon after they achieve a height of about two inches, a deer repellent called Deer Stopper will be sprayed over the foliage to prevent the plants from becoming a deer salad. (Insert photo of deer
stopper)
Perennials are arriving now from Michigan and Minnesota by the thousands in which the plants have to be planted quickly with an assembly line style system. Then there is the problem of Clematis in storage that must be cleaned and spaced to avoid the plants becoming entangled.
Tomorrow is our final seminar on “What’s New” for 2018 in which over 200 new plants from breeders all over the world will be unveiled. Our soon to follow 2018 digital catalog will facilitate easy viewing of these new wonders as it is in full color with high resolution photos. Karen Martin our perennial expert will explain all the new “stuff” in the herbaceous perennial world as I’m sure the audience will try to keep up with the presentation as concentrating too long on certain photos would mean the seminar might end at 6 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. See you at the seminar.
Tom