We have reached the time of the year when the growers are no longer planting new 4” flatted bedding plants so we are unable to replenish that size of plants.  Thankfully, they know we still want and need those flowering annuals to plant in pots or replace them in the bed where our sweet dog dug them up or laid on them, so they grow them in larger containers.

We currently are offering Zinnias, Impatiens, Angelonia, Vinca, Pentas, Salvia, Coleus and other favorites in quart and gallon size containers.  This size is perfect for creating new containers and hanging baskets.  

Deadheading flowers refers to cutting off faded flowers from annual and perennial plants.  You can use clippers or pinch the blooms off with your fingers below the spent flower and just above the first set of full leaves.

Deadheading can help improve the number of flowers and extend the bloom time of some plants – here’s why.

Once a flower fades, the plant spends it’s energy on making seeds where that flower was. This is natures way of producing future generations of plants.  If you deadhead, the plant focuses that energy on producing more flowers instead of seeds, thus increasing flowers and bloom time.

Not to confuse you, but not all flowers should be deadheaded and the practice is detrimental to some.  Do your homework first and look up information on your plants before deadheading.

Here’s another twist – Proven Winner plant varieties are bred to be seedless making deadheading these annuals unnecessary.

If you don’t have time to deadhead, that’s perfectly OK, don’t fret or beat yourself up.  Your plants will still naturally reward you with beautiful blooms and be healthy throughout the season.

We are well into our project of installing shade cloth over the perennial section.  This will allow both customers and us to be more comfortable while shopping or working in that area.  This project was scheduled to be done in February but instead we spent those 3 weeks preparing for and surviving the snowy weather.  The guys are now dripping in sweat completing this project, but it will be so nice once it’s finished for all of us!

What can you do with gourds?  Well, Pinterest has an article listing 680 projects you can do with gourds, so the answer is a lot!!!

As a child, I remember painting a gourd bird house and hanging it in a tree.  I was so excited when a bird made a nest in it.

We planted gourds here at the nursery last year, harvested them, and dried them out. There are many different shapes and sizes available and are perfect for one of those 680 projects.