Another 1000 ROSES!!!!!

Well of course I am smiling.....wouldn't you be too if you were right smack in the middle of 1000 blooming roses. The sweet scent filled the air as we unloading rack after rack of these beauties on Monday. Today is Thursday, and over the last three days we have been working hard to get them all tucked into the rose garden so you, and I, can wander through them. We have had rain, snow, hail and sleet and of course WIND during that time...but they are still standing in full bloom attention. See you soon, Susan

Saying Goodbye to an OLD Beauty

The wind storm this last Tuesday played havoc with us here at the nursery. We lost major parts of our roof in the greenhouse, and of course plants were down everywhere. Nothing compared though to the loss of this old beautiful maple tree. I don't know the actual age, but I imagine it has been in the ground for at least 20 years, but the wind was just too..too much for it. The guys are out there now making an attempt to get it down and cleaned up. Goodbye old shade tree, we will miss you.

Fallon Home & Garden 2010

Michelle once again created a fabulous display for this years Soroptimist Home & Garden Show. The theme this year: Before & After!!

Using the known problems in our valley, such as soil conditions, hot drying winds, cold temperatures etc.......... She showed everyone how to turn their troubles into a beautiful, peaceful, and easy to care for retreat. Raised beds for vegetables, hedge screens to block the wind, organics for the soil....it was truly a beautiful little corner of the show. Thank you Michelle, for once again helping Flower Tree shine.
Marion (Michelle's Mom) taking advantage of the opportunity to relax amongst the beauty.

Think Green Garden w/ The Mewaldt's

Bill and Korena Mewaldt, owners of Mewaldt Organic's, led another extremely informative class on April 3rd. You might remember last month when they came to talk about starting your vegetable seeds to prepare for planting on the first weekend of April. Well today was the day to put those pretty little plants in the ground. Utilizing Walls-O-Water, they demonstrated setting them up and tucking them in for the cold nights ahead. These plants will have a 45 day jump start on normal planting times for our valley. Stop by and watch their growth, they are located back in the display garden along the river. Thank you again to Korena and Bill, always a wonderfully educational opportunity whenever they come by. Their passion for gardening shines on all of us. Check out their website for more info and seeds available this year at our store. www.mewaldorganics.com

Rose Care 101

The "black roses" of Fallon are much more prevalent than I ever imagined. Over 60 gardeners arrived for last Saturdays class on rose care and pruning. One even came armed with a semi-dead rose in a bucket that was great to have for demonstration purposes. This has been such a tough winter on many of our plants. We live in Zone 5, which means an average winter low temperature of 10-20 below zero. While we did get that cold this year, I don't think that is what took out so many of our plants. It was the prolonged snow pack and pogonip freezing fog that we had in the month of February that caused us the problems.


Believe it or not, the USDA has just "upgraded" us to Zone 6/7 which would mean average winter temperatures of 10 below-0. Here at the nursery we will continue to advise you to go with zone 5, because as we saw this winter, even that can cause havoc on the garden.

Sunday the weather was 25 degrees cooler and windy, but we still had a good turnout for the class. This coming Thursday, the 15th at 1pm, is our last rose class for this season. The sun looks like it is going to be shining so come on out and prune with me. See you in the dirt soon, Susan

Florida....and back.

It was back to Florida last week for a quick five days with the kids. We traveled over the Easter weekend to help them put up a fence at their new home, and managed to turn it into a mini Henderson Family Reunion when all of Bobs siblings were able to join us in surprising his parents in Brunswick, Ga for the day. Of course there were a couple trips to local nurseries involved. While the menfolk worked on the new fence, Sara, Cash and I tore out some of her front shrubbery beds and started the transition to the perennial cottage look that she was wanting. Flowers - flowers - flowers filled the beds by the time we were done with the first stage of the plantings. Robert's sister had brought hostas, crepe myrtle and crocosmia from her beds in South Carolina so we found some nice new homes for those as well. The only thing we didn't get planted was the new banana plant that we had found at one nursery. A dwarf variety that won't bear fruit for a few years, the perfect spot was in the way of the fence builders. Sara will take care of that one on her own. It was a wonderful visit, alas - way to short, but we did manage a trip to the Jacksonville Zoo so Cash could show his PaPa how to feed the giraffe.

Getting Ready with Mewaldt's Organics

Thought you might enjoy seeing what Korena and Bill Mewaldt have been up to lately. We are so lucky to have them in our "backyard" so to speak. They will be teaching a class this Saturday at the nursery on how to get your veggie garden up and going, even in this cold weather. If you get a chance, check out their website. It contains a wealth of seed knowledge for our area. http://www.mewaldtorganics.com/

And these little pretties, they will be available at The Flower Tree soon.............or pick one up FREE by attending the class this Saturday.