This Saturday’s seminar is on proper composting with our speaker Susan Cowling. While composting is not what one would think of as a glamorous topic, its value lies in the changing of waste into eventually valuable humus. Humus is the “glue” that holds soil particles together and that binds nutrients to the soil for a […]

After the cold rain last Saturday and then the very cool, sunny, windy day on Sunday followed by two freezes at the nursery, the question really is “what’s next?” As always, weather patterns vary widely from year to year mainly due to the winds of the jet stream. Needless to say, there is no shortage […]

Moles burrowing just beneath the ground can make for an unsightly mess as any homeowner knows. While difficult to get rid of them, persistence will pay off. Controlling grubs in the lawn with a timely application of grub control will help to mitigate a mole problem.   See Grub Control section for more info. Milky spore […]

This information applies to teas, floribundas, climbers, English and miniature roses. Shrub roses are treated as any other shrub and will not need winter protection, special planting or disease and insect control.  A well-drained sunny site (5 hours of sun or more) away from tree roots is best.  Provide well-drained soil with a high organic content.  […]

The weather has been pleasant with lower humidity and temperatures making it easier to perform chores in the nursery like weeding. How many times a “weeding emergency” has occurred but only to be ”corrected” in hot, humid 90º F weather. Years ago in early July of 1980 as we constructed a new quonset type greenhouse […]

Welcome to our Perfect Plant® interactive PLANT, WEED and BUG finder.  We are the first and only garden center in Ohio with this amazing technology! The Perfect Plant® is an interactive module that categorizes plant, bug and weed information into an easy to find fashion.  The time and effort searching for plants and pest information is reduced with this handy tool. The data within this module was not written for […]

Surprisingly the weather has been mostly cooperative to complete outside work as the hauling of stock to winter storage still goes on in order to facilitate covering in about 10 days with the overwintering polyethylene. For the higher houses, we have a contractor with the proper tools and equipment to cover with a heavier clear […]

With the first day of June comes the start of the long, long daylight hours and warmth that push growth on all plants in the garden and landscape. Then too, rainfall has been adequate as just last Friday one and one fourth inches of rain had fallen in a 30 minute storm. Tests of the […]

This past week heavy snow and an accompanying cold snap is a reminder of what January is really like and maybe should be like. While the snow itself was not enough to place enough stress on the greenhouses the ensuing freezing rain and then rain made it necessary to burn the heaters in empty greenhouses […]

Tomorrow is the first in our series of winter educational seminars that we hope will enlighten our customers on a variety of gardening topics. Tomorrow’s speaker will be Dr. Laura Deeter of Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute. Dr. Deeter is known for her teaching about herbaceous perennials but now will focus on the use of […]

The fall festival last Saturday went well and as always was centered around the market. Trees, shrubs, mums, asters and the winter hardy inspire pansies are available in various sizes and even hanging baskets. Transplanting or shifting up plants into larger pots still goes on and more stock still coming in for sale and what […]

The year went by so fast as we get ready to enter the cold and dark of December.  The first week of December seems quite dark as the sun does set earlier than during the winter solstice about 3 weeks later. Many deliveries of grave decorations have been already accomplished for those wanting the decorations placed […]

While the weather department still behaves like a roller coaster, the extended periods of warmth are mimicking last year’s relatively warm winter. With some exposed vegetation from the lighter than normal snowfall, deer browsing at the nursery is less than it had been in the two recent previous cold winters of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. In […]

Mother’s Day weekend was quite busy not only for shopping for gifts for Mom, but also folks interested in landscaping their homes. The perennial house seems to be stocked well most of the time although its been quite a job to keep up with it! And so it goes in the annual flower greenhouse as […]