Category: Diversions

[Return of] National Forced Affection Day

After several incredibly informative posts from Jeff, Bert, and Linda, I’m going to give you a break as I veer off into Useless-land.

I’ve written posts previously regarding how important Valentine’s Day is for floriculture, most obviously the cut flower growers and florists.  In past posts, I’ve suggested alternatives to the boring/overpriced/under-fragranced/outsourced bouquet of red roses that folks seem to gravitate to.   The National Retail Federation predicts record-breaking sales in excess of $17 billion this year; $1.8 billion will be spent on cut flowers.… Continue reading this article “[Return of] National Forced Affection Day”

Stupid plant tricks

Blog reader Ray sent these photos of his weeping peach, weeping crabapple, and a Hydrangea paniculata, along with this comment:

    

“When a tomato grower extrapolates his applied knowledge to his landscape, before learning otherwise.”

(Translation for those tomato avoiders like me:  they are all planted too deeply, which tomatoes like.  Trees and shrubs, not so much.)

New weekend feature: “what I learned from my garden”

While in Connecticut a few weeks ago I met Henry Young (a former horticulture extension agent), who did a guest post on the blog this past week about the important of “negative” results.  He also had another interesting idea for the blog that I’m going to initiate this weekend – the “What I learned from my garden” feature.

I did one of these back in July of 2010, when I worked water into a clay loam soil the same way you might work it into potting mix – with disastrous results. … Continue reading this article “New weekend feature: “what I learned from my garden””

Name This Course

Undergraduate enrollment in the Virginia Tech Horticulture program has fluctuated over the years.  The late 70’s saw huge numbers of students interested in all things green and growing – nearly 300. There was a gentle decline through the 80’s and in the 90’s number held around 150. A sharper decline took place over the past 8 years, with enrollment bottoming out at 85 students in 2009. Things have picked up a bit since – we’re currently at 100 give or take a few.… Continue reading this article “Name This Course”

A selection of GP posts from 2011 (part 2)

So much good stuff to read back through. The Garden Professors really bring the straight poop on so many topics!

July

Post:  Podcasts are here! by Linda.

Complete with a pleasant musical intro and background, Linda’s info-packed and professionally-produced podcast “The Informed Gardener” made the rest of us look under-achieving. Take some time this winter and work back through them, if you haven’t had a chance.

August

Post: Sunday Bloody Sunday by Jeff.

I’m one of those “let me tell you what stupid thing I did yesterday” people, and I really appreciate it when other folks ‘fess up to messing up in an effort to keep you from doing the same.… Continue reading this article “A selection of GP posts from 2011 (part 2)”

A selection of GP posts from 2011 (part 1)

Certainly not a “Best Of” list (because they’re ALL awesome, of course), just some posts throughout the year that I think got at the root of why we’re doing this and/or had some entertainment value with a message buried within. I’ve included some comments from our astute readers. And I’m not sure if I should refer to myself in first or third person.

January

Post: Holly’s “Er, too much coverage?” – using screen grabs of an AT&T commercial featuring some kind of weird vine overtaking a city – dubbed Clematis broadbandii (I hate to lead off with my own stuff, but feel this was some of my most inspired work).… Continue reading this article “A selection of GP posts from 2011 (part 1)”

How NOT to run a Christmas Tree Business

Some of you know we have a you-pick blueberry farm; we work very hard on it and have been successful thus far.  It also happened to come with 6 acres of Fraser firs.  Most were already in the 10′ to 18′ range when we bought the place in 2007.  There is limited value in an over-grown Christmas tree; right up there with a poinsettia still on the store shelf on December 26th. 

They look MUCH better covered in snow. … Continue reading this article “How NOT to run a Christmas Tree Business”

Just a nice photo…

…of late fall in our meadow at the Hahn Horticulture Garden, Virginia Tech.  

To our U.S. readers, happy Thanksgiving!  Pleasant weather here in Virginia means I’ll get to putter in the ol’ home garden (only to find some squishy brown things I probably should have dug up last month and now will need to replace. Oh well, that’s what great nurseries and garden centers are for). 

You say horticulturalist, I say horticulturist

Keith Hansen, an Extension agent in Texas, has proposed a fun discussion topic:  horticulturist or horticulturalist?  We both prefer the former, though he points out that the introduction to my podcast uses the term "horticulturalist" instead.  Both terms recognized as real words and seem to be more or less interchangeable.

But I don’t really think they are interchangeable, and I don’t think Keith does, either.  Horticulture is a noun and horticultural is an adjective.  Specialty titles, like economist, botanist, or chemist, are based on nouns, not adjectives. … Continue reading this article “You say horticulturalist, I say horticulturist”

Green candles identified

Not many guesses this week – too many Halloween parties?  In any case, Hap was correct – this is a closeup of the growing edge of Euphorbia lactea ‘Cristata.’  The "candles" on the edge are tiny leaves that appear whenever water is abundant but shed quickly during dry periods:

Thanks for playing, and Happy Halloween!