first published September 18, 2008

There are a number of garden plants quite willing to fly under the radar and selflessly let colourful bedding plants and flowering shrubs occupy the hot summer limelight. Instead, this humble lot opt to stand in the shadows and, like all good ingénues, wait for just the right moment to steal the show. That moment is fall. And when those shorter, cooler days arrive, these plants move front and centre to cap off the growing season with a dazzling display of colour and form.

Here on the prairies, the plants that save their best performance for early autumn deliver it in several acts, the first of which pertains to leaf colour. Most of our native plants are preordained to produce gold-coloured foliage. And while I like sunny colours, I have to admit that my eyes crave a bit more variety. Fortunately, there is a panorama of ornamental plants with red- and orange-coloured leaves that beautifully punctuate the fall landscape.

Amur Maple

Two of the stellar performers in the fall foliage colour category are amur maple (Acer tataricum ssp. ginnala) and serviceberry (Amelanchier). Amur maples are beautiful feature trees for small yards. Their orange-red fall colour and red winged seeds blaze with intensity, making them hard to miss and impossible to resist. Serviceberry, the other must-have tree for fall colour, turns a brilliant bronze-red. In winter, its bright-red twigs and smooth, steel-grey bark continue to wake up the white winter. If you don’t have either of these in your yard, it’s not too late to plan for next year. The fall is a great time to transplant trees. Just be sure to dig the proper hole (one that’s equal to the depth of the plant’s rootball and to at least three times its width). And don’t forget to water them right up to when the ground freezes.

Also on the list of overlooked-but-not-forgotten features is twig and stem colour. The reason we tend to forget about twigs and stems is that these structures, both figuratively and literally, play little more than supporting roles during the growing season. However, once the leaves and flowers have fallen and snow becomes the dominant background, the twigs and branches of trees and shrubs stand out beautifully against the landscape. Dogwood (Cornus) varieties with red and yellow branches, for example, provide beautiful colour that’s outstanding, and many deciduous trees, such as paper birch (Betula papyrifera), have interesting bark that can’t truly be appreciated until the leaves drop in the fall.

Lastly, it’s important to remember that mass displays of beautiful blooms and the fall season are not mutually exclusive. Garden mums are at their peak in September and October and easily compete with the best summer-blooming annuals. In fact, garden mums produce such a full display of flowers that one often can’t see the foliage through the flowers. Other plants that love the cool fall air are pansies and asters. By strategically planting a mix of fall-flowering plants, the illusion of spring can quite easily be brought to life…at least for a short time.

Fall mums and pansies

Another somewhat offbeat “fall flowering” category of plants is the ornamental grasses. Technically speaking, most perennial grasses, such as feather reed grass (Calamagrostis), bloom in the summer, but because their seed heads are so long lasting, these grasses can still be categorized as fall bloomers. The flower heads of grasses will persist right through the winter, which adds a lot of interest to gardens during the non-gardening season.

In my opinion, any garden plants that bridge the four seasons are well worth planting. Having colour and interesting plants that come into their own during cool fall or cold winter days can really raise the spirits. I guess you could say that when it comes to stellar fall plants, its not how you start that’s important but rather how you finish.

Hits & Misses: Life-long learning & cold, hard facts
Question of the Week: Why are the needles falling off my evergreens?
The Business: Healthy interactions

This past week was very hectic but very rewarding at the same time. Being president of the University of Alberta’s alumni association during its centenary, as well as being part of the homecoming-weekend committee, required some extra-strong coffee to keep up the pace. The Alumni Awards Ceremony had about 1600 hundred people in attendance, the football game about 3000, the Gala Dinner about 1900 and the President’s Breakfast about 900 people. All the events drew rave reviews, and my hat is off to everyone who helped with the organizing. Finally, to the thousands of people who attended the various events, it was a real pleasure talking to so many of you.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Life-long Learning
The official opening of the Lois Hole Library took place this past Tuesday, and I had the honour of saying a few words about what a wonderful tribute it is to my mother. Not only is the building magnificent, the gardens that surround it are also beautiful and representative of Mom’s love of horticulture. The building itself is state-of-the-art in environmental design, which speaks to Mom’s deep concern for the preservation of our natural environment. I was truly moved by all the thoughtful touches. To all those who helped dream and create the Lois Hole Library, who stocked it with books of all kinds, and who will help introduce countless Albertans to the joy of reading, we owe our thanks.

The Lois Hole Library is located at 17650-69 Avenue.

Miss: Cold, Hard Facts
For years I’ve walked by heat pump #1 in Greenhouse #1, and for years I thought everything was normal. In fact, it wasn’t until Don Burrows (our relatively new and hawk-eyed employee) noticed that the flow arrows on the pump were pointing the wrong way that we finally understood why Greenhouse #1 was always slightly cooler than the others. A quick flip of the pump and Greenhouse #1 left us with a warm feeling.

Question of the Week
Why are the needles falling off my evergreens?
Like deciduous trees, evergreens shed in the fall. However, unlike deciduous leaves, needles last for several seasons before dropping. Some years you may see more drop than others, which is often the result of the needles not getting enough water. To avoid this, water your evergreens heavily once per week during the growing season. When dealing with newly transplanted trees (which are particularly vulnerable because their root systems aren’t well established), it’s important to water them two or three times a week for the first few weeks. Needles can also dry out and turn brown in winter because once the soil freezes, the roots can’t replace the water lost from the needles. This problem is worst during sunny, mild and windy winters. To reduce winter browning, get outside this fall and give your evergreens a good soaking.

The Business
Healthy Interactions

The Pet Society of Northern Alberta was out at our show garden this past weekend to photograph pets for their fundraiser calendar. The society describes pet therapy as an organized program that encourages therapeutic and mutually beneficial interactions between companion animals and people. Hmm…I wonder if pets could be taught to weed gardens. Sounds like a beneficial interaction to me. For more information on the society, visit their website.

Did You Know?

Technically, a pumpkin’s fruit is really a berry until the hard rind forms, at which time its proper name becomes pepo.

“There comes a time when autumn asks, ‘What have you been doing all summer?’”
–Author unknown

Bill Hole’s State of the Industry

When my father was first on the farm, he used coal to heat the house and the barn. Natural gas wasn’t available, so regular trips to the Starkey Coal Mine was an event I looked forward to. When it was cold, I realized just how much Dad had to go through to keep the buildings warm.

He tried lots of interesting ways to prevent heat loss and to save on energy costs. Both house and barn were insulated with wood shavings, and extra straw was added around the entrances to beef up the insulation. In the greenhouses, he would lay black plastic on the ground to absorb heat, and he located the water tank in the greenhouse so that it would absorb the sun’s energy during the day and release it back to the greenhouse at night. A second plastic wall was added to most of the greenhouse to reduce heat loss. All his ideas were tried and tested, all at his initiative.

In our new facility, we are going to take a page from the past and use as many energy-saving methods as we can: heat from a tenant’s glass-blowing furnaces, wastewater and solar energy, just to name a few. R-100 walls, air-cooling with integrated air movement systems, and grey water recycling are also all being considered.

One thing that’s clear, however, is if we expect and demand a 10-year-or-less payback, we won’t be able to incorporate these initiatives. Regardless of one’s desire and ability to make important changes toward energy savings, businesses still need incentives when developing ideas that could take 20, 30 or 40 years to show a net gain. Who knows; perhaps exploring Stéphane Dion’s Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance for Green Technologies will bring us a step closer to the solution. Time will tell.

first published September 11, 2008

If you’ve never grown a plant in your life and don’t plan on it, beware of fall bulbs; they are the gateway to getting hooked on gardening. Many who have tossed a few fall bulbs into the garden in September have succumbed to the intoxicating feeling of seeing shoots of bulbs pop through a bleak, snowy landscape in early spring. After a view like that, there’s just no turning back.

But it’s not just the splash of spring green that’s addictive. The fact that fall bulbs are so easy to plant and so bulletproof makes them highly alluring, too. They really are as easy as 1-2-3 grow.

Don’t believe me? Well, here are the three steps to growing the queen of fall-planted bulbs: tulips. First hold a tulip bulb above a 15 cm (6”) hole that you excavated by kicking away some of your garden soil with your foot. Second, drop the bulb into the hole. Third, reverse the motion of the heel of your foot, which will cover the hole with soil. That’s it. OK, you do want the “pointy part” up, but even if the tulip bulb is lying on its side, it has a knack for knowing which way is up.

If you follow these three steps, I can virtually guarantee that your tulip bulb will push its way out of the soil come spring. The only thing left for you to do is to rejoice in the beauty of the flowers.

The reason fall bulbs are so addictive and easy to grow is that the breeders and growers of bulbs have done 99 per cent of the work for us by painstakingly cross-breeding bulbs and collecting seeds. The seed for tulips, for example, is grown into mature plants and then the best characteristics from those plants (such as flower shape and colour) are cloned so that we can have the best of everything. In essence, these bulbs are “programmed” to produce beautiful flowers. All that remains is for retailers to choose the best of the best varieties and for gardeners to find them. Once you do, be sure to buy plump, large, firm bulbs and to plant them shortly after purchasing. Shopping early for the best selection also helps. So give them a try this fall! Here are a few of my favourites.

Tulipa spp. (Tulip ‘Akebono’)
This double, late tulip gets its name from a world famous Sumo wrestler. The blooms are large and change from peach to yellow, displaying apple-green streaks. Expect them to reach their peak in May. Akebona grows to 45 cm in height; space bulbs one to two times the height of the bulb.

Crocus chrysthanus (Snow crocus)
Crocuses are the most colourful and most widely grown of the early-spring blooming bulbs. They can persist in the garden for years with virtually no care and are marvellous naturalizers. Give them well-drained, sandy soil. Plant the corms 10 cm deep and space them about 3–5 cm apart. Don’t be stingy; they’re stunning planted in drifts.

Narcissus (Narcissus ‘Fortissimo’)
Who doesn’t love daffodils? This large-cupped variety has a soft yellow perianth (outer petals) with a bright orange cup. They can bloom as early as March or as late as May, depending on the weather and location in which they are planted. They belong to a group that range from 30–35 cm in height and can be forced indoors if you are feeling adventurous. Plant them 15 cm deep and space twice the bulb width.

So get out there and see what happens. If you think that you can’t possibly get hooked on fall bulbs, well, you could be right. Then again, as a friend of mine said, “Fall bulbs are not habit forming, and I should know—I’ve been growing them for years.”

Hits & Misses: Great escapes & bronze leaf disease
Question of the Week: Can I bring my tender roses inside for the winter?
The Business: Size matters

I have a birthday party to attend this week for a friend who’s turning 100 years old! Her name is the University of Alberta. Since I’m the president of the Alumni Association and honorary co-chair of the U of A’s centenary celebration, I have the pleasure of attending and speaking at a multitude of homecoming events throughout the week. What started as a campus comprised of some 50 students, has grown to a world-renown university with 36,000 students and 216,000 alumni worldwide. Happy Birthday!

Hits & Misses
Hit: Great Escapes
I’m happy to report a reprieve from what looked like an early end to the corn season. After having a few near misses, temperature wise, we managed to escape the frost, and with the hot weather making a comeback, we should be enjoying our late-season corn varieties for a few more weeks to come.

Sweet corn is essentially a mutant type of maize—one with a genetic defect that prevents the rapid conversion of sugars to starches.

Miss: Bronze Leaf Disease
This last week, I received a few diseased leaf samples taken from some aspen poplar trees. The problem seems to be the result of Bronze Leaf Disease (BLD), which is caused by a fungus that turns leaves a coppery colour. BLD is relatively new to Alberta, so Alberta Agriculture is currently funding a survey to see if this new fungus is becoming established here. If you suspect your aspen poplars have BLD, bring a sample down to our garden centre (sealed poly bags only, please!), and if it looks suspect to us too, we will forward it on to the plant pathology department at the Crop Diversification Centre in Brooks, Alberta.

Question of the Week
Can I bring my tender roses inside for the winter?
You can, provided you’ve got the right place to store them. If you have a cold room or garage where the temperature stays within a few degrees of freezing, it’s worth giving a try. A few degrees may not seem like a big deal, but if roses get too warm (greater than 5°C), they begin to grow and “burn out” from using energy faster than they can obtain it. If they get colder than about -5°C for prolonged periods, they can also suffer severe damage. As for the maintenance, check them from time to time throughout the winter, and water them just enough to prevent drying out.

The Business
Size Matters
Our fall pansy crop (Viola x wittrockiana) looks much better than last year’s but is a little on the late side due to the small plugs that we ordered. Next year, we’ll accommodate for it by adjusting the timing back by a couple of weeks, but the unanimous consensus is that the smaller plugs produced much superior plants than the larger ones used in the past. Turned out to be a great decision.

The modern pansy is actually thought of as a winter annual, meaning it can survive some pretty cold temperatures with little damage.

Did You Know?
Ergot (Claviceps purpurea), a fungus that infects rye, produces a powerful hallucinogen that causes psychotic delusions. The symptoms were known as St. Anthony’s fire. It’s thought that the famous witches of Salem were simply women who had inadvertently ingested ergot-laced bread.

“If you take risks and have trust, you’ll almost always be rewarded with a beautiful harvest.”
–Lois Hole

First published September 4, 2008

I was in Jasper National Park recently and spent a couple of days hiking in the high alpine regions. At about 2500 metres elevation on a treeless, sunny, windswept slope, I noticed some ferns popping out from the moraine. And what struck me at that moment was just how remarkably tough our native plants are—an epiphany that begged the question: why don’t we see more of these durable plants in our gardens?

Well, part of the reason is that there simply isn’t a huge demand for native plants. And the inviolable laws of supply and demand, being what they are, dictate that growers aren’t going to provide a product that no one wants to buy—a simple observation that begs yet other question. Why don’t more people want to buy native plants? Well, the simple answer is that native plants aren’t showy enough for most gardeners.

Now, before I get criticized for trashing native prairie plants, let’s make one thing clear: I think they’re amazing. While in Jasper, I was completely captivated by the beauty of the indigenous blanket flower and fireweed plants. But by the current standards of flower growing in gardens, neither of these two plants—nor any of the others I noticed while hiking—could be described as particularly showy. It’s just not something that’s inherent in most native plants. What native plants do exceed at, however, is being functional. That means they’ve made an art of expending only as much energy as they need to pass on their genes to the next generation.

It makes sense then that showy plants are often the result of plant breeders who seek out pretty plants and take them to the next level. For example, native cleome has much shorter stems and smaller flowers than that of the cleome we see sold as bedding plants. It’s not that our native cleome isn’t just as pretty as the commercial variety, it’s just that it is much less showy and, therefore, nowhere near as popular with gardeners.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking that our native plants are inferior to those bred for the market. Native plants are obviously well adapted to our environment, and in a game of survival, native plants would be around long after their hybridized cousins withered away.

So should you convert your entire garden to native plants? Well, I wouldn’t, but if you have the space, you might want to try a small assortment of native plants. Here are few well worth including.

Monarda fistulosa (bergamot)
Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) is a native perennial that grows in large clumps and spreads through creeping rhizomes. Plants can reach up to 90 cm tall and the foliage is lance-shaped and toothed. The mauve-pink blooms are borne in clusters appearing from June to August. This plant thrives in dry, lime-based soil. Apparently, herbalists consider it to be an active diaphoretic (sweat inducer) but I am not making any medical claims.

Gaillardia aristata (blanket flower)
The common name of this plant refers to its orange and burgundy flowers’ resemblance to the patterned blankets made by Native Americans. The plants grow 45 to 60 cm tall, and it blooms profusely in midsummer. Grow it in full sun; it’ll thrive in almost any kind of soil.

Helianthus maximiliani (narrow leaved sunflower)
This native favourite adds height to the garden and serves up flowers that make lovely bouquets for the house. Butterflies and birds are attracted to the yellow blooms and seed heads. It can reach a height of 150 cm and stays upright and blooms more in full sun.

Elymus canadensis (Canadian wild rye)
Canadian wild rye grows quickly to 90 to 150 cm producing long arching seed heads that dance in the wind. Nonplussed by any soil requirements, this is an underused and unappreciated plant for full sun, dry areas that can be left standing over winter.

So can one design a native garden that is as beautiful as one containing non-native plants? I suppose it depends on the designer. But one thing I can say with certainty is that whoever designed the mountain landscape in Jasper nailed it perfectly.

Hits & Misses: Garden mums & bad breaks
Question of the Week: Should I pinch off the flowers on my tomatoes?
The Business: The new black

I scored 100% in Issac Asimov’s Super Quiz in Monday’s Edmonton Journal! Well… really, my perfect score is nothing to brag about. The subject was gardening terms, and it takes only a few fired synapses for the old brain to figure out the answer to:

“An uninvited and usually unattractive plant that surfaces in gardens.” Still, anytime I can get a perfect score, I take it… After all, the time between perfect scores for me could be best described, in Super Quiz terms, as a prolonged drought. By the way, for anyone who has never set foot in a garden, the answer to the above question is “weed.”

Hits & Misses
Hit: Garden Mums
The late-season garden mums are just huge this year! Staying with the percentage theme, I must give the plant breeders 50% of the credit for the success and give our growers the other 50%. The biggest challenge now is to find creative ways of squeezing these monster mums into our customers’ vehicles.

Nestle pots of garden mums into tired flowerbeds for an instant fall makeover.

Miss: Bad Breaks
If talking to poinsettias were effective, I’d be telling a few of them to give me a break—literally. You see, to get six or seven nice flowers on a poinsettia plant, the centre shoot must be pinched out to allow the shoots further down on the stem to grow and produce the flowers we enjoy at Christmas. If everything goes well, a half-dozen or more breaks (the shoots that grow between the main stem and the leaves) should grow vigorously into flowers. But each year a few stubborn poinsettias produce three or so shoots that have vigour and about three shoots that remain stunted. Because these plants won’t give us breaks, we don’t give them any either—it’s off to the composter they go. Fifty percent simply isn’t a good enough score to meet our quality standards.

Question of the week
Should I pinch off the flowers on my tomatoes?

Well yes and no. First off, the flowers on tomatoes at this time of year don’t have a hope of developing into fruit that will mature before a killing frost. On the other hand, pruning off the flowers will not result in the diversion of a lot of sugars into maturing fruit because the weather is cool. So just keep enjoying your harvest, but don’t expect the flowers to be anything more than ornamental at this time of year.

The Business
The New Black
This year we are trying white-coloured spacing mats as opposed to black. Growers expect the white mats to reflect more light and absorb less heat, making for better plants.

Did You Know?
Many gardeners can’t figure out where carrot seed comes from because carrot plants never seem to produce seed. The reality is that carrots are biennial, which means that they take two years to produce seed. If you were to leave your carrots in the ground over winter and they survived, you would have “seedy” carrots next year.

“You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn’t enough, in the second half you give what’s left.”
–Yogi Berra

first published August 28, 2008

I was sitting and chatting with my wife and some of her friends a while ago, when the conversation veered in the direction it always does when I’m around: gardening. Because I like to find out which plants are performing well in people’s gardens, I casually mentioned that my Yucca glauca succulents were doing a great job of shrugging off the dry weather.

Innocent enough comment, right? Umm, not if you despise yucca, as I discovered one of our guests did. What ensued from that comment was a flurry of admissions by each gardener as to the planta non grata that would never be given a centimetre of space in their yards. The conversation had officially taken a 90-degree turn, going from talk of the intrinsic beauty of plants to our love/hate relationships with them. All I needed was a dark curtain and couple of chairs to make the confessions complete.

The doctor is in
What I found intriguing about the plants that made the hit list was that the pariahs covered a wide range of genre. Granted, yucca is an acquired taste, but tulips and roses were also on the chopping block. Tulips and roses? How could anyone hate tulips and roses?

After listening patiently to the heresy, I felt obligated to ask each person what it was in particular that she disliked about her hated plant. What surprised me was that the answers didn’t really reveal a genuine loathing, per se (quite a few people even described the plants they hated as rather pretty). Instead, it was that human personalities and experiences were clashing with the “personalities” of certain plants.

Take the tulip hater, for example (sure she’s okay with that…), who after berating and beating up on tulips in general, revealed it was really only red tulips that drove her crazy. In fact, she liked understated soft pink tulips so much that she planted an entire bed of them. However, when an errant red tulip popped up one year, it destroyed the tranquillity and she had to rip up most of the bed trying to remove it.

The rose hater of the group confessed to despising roses because they were unruly and messy. She couldn’t stand a messy and disorganized house and had no less tolerance for plants that looked wild or messy, either. Any plant that wasn’t neat and clean had no place in her garden. She did, however, admit that she loved a rose flower floating in a bowl of water because it brought back happy memories of the times she spent with her grandmother. The flower in her opinion was beautiful. She just despised the plant’s attitude.

Then, of course, there was the woman who hated “cat pee” plants. That’s right, I said cat pee plants. Now, I’m not actually sure to what plant she was referring, but Salvia x sylvestris (or blue sage as it is commonly known) does apparently smell like feline urine to some people. I’ve grown this plant in the greenhouse many times and I can honestly say that thoughts of cat pee never crossed my mind when I’ve smelled the flowers. Then again, I suppose if I had a cat and cleaned up after one, I might think otherwise.

Self-analysis 101
The “I hate certain plants” conversation did make me a bit introspective about what I dislike in the garden. To be honest though, I had a hard time thinking of any plant that would fall into the hate category. I genuinely find each plant fascinating in its own right and even like those with rare, exotic diseases. One plant, however, did eventually come to mind: Cerinthe.

Cerinthe is an annual, ornamental plant that is far from stinky or hideous-looking. In fact, it has lush oval leaves that blush a beautiful shade of purple at the top. And therein lies my problem with Cerinthe: it’s the purple, pea-shaped leaves. No matter how hard I try to separate the image of this plant from the image of nutrient-deficient garden peas, I can’t. I grew up in the market garden business scouting plants for nutrient problems, and the colour purple was one indication that a plant was starving for phosphorus. I know; it’s my problem and I’m doing my best to deal with it, but it doesn’t stop the visions of phosphate fertilizer that dance in my head.

Oh yeah, back to the woman with the yucca issue who got the whole plant-hating session started. She revealed that she liked the sword-shaped leaves of the yucca; it was just the masses of flower spikes that grew from the crown that she hated. Where is Freud when you need him? This doctor is out.

Hits & Misses: Old charms & plumeria
Question of the Week: What is the white stuff on my lawn?
The Business: New product lines

Phase Two of gardening has started. Spring and summer bedding plants have pretty much reached their pinnacle of performance and are starting to look a touch haggard, but fear not! There is plenty of growing season left and no better time to find a spot for some fall bulbs. As I always tell gardeners, fall bulbs can make any gardener look like an expert. The reason? Simple. The hard work has already been done. Professional growers have painstakingly nurtured bulb-bearing plants in their fields and harvested them, meaning the high-quality bulbs are in essence “pre-programmed” to produce beautiful flowers with minimal effort required from gardeners. If you have a reasonably sunny, open spot in your yard and you drop in a few tulips, narcissus and the like, by next spring you will have spectacular blooms.

Fall planted bulbs are an effortless way of providing an early start next spring.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Old Charms
If you were to walk through our greenhouses today, you’d be overwhelmed by a sea of yellow—yellow sticky tape, that is. We string the yellow tape between posts to attract and trap any insect pests that might be roaming about. The growers inspect the tape on a regular basis to see what species of insects have become entangled in the goo. If they find any bad bugs, the growers can immediately address the problem and stop an insect problem before it really gets started. And, yes, in case you’ve guessed, sticky tape is from the “What’s old is new again” file and just a slightly better name for flypaper.

We string bright yellow ribbons between posts and post bright yellow signs all made of sticky tape to trap insect pests.

Miss: Plumeria
If you’ve ever worn a Hawaiian lei, you may know that their flowers are commonly from the plumeria plant. We brought a few of the plants in several months ago in the hope that the stunning blooms would charm customers. Unfortunately, the plants just don’t seem to want to cooperate. My feeling is that we’re really dealing with a maturity issue and that given some more time (without poinsettias breathing down their necks) the plumeria will live up to their reputation.

Question of the Week
What is the white stuff on my lawn?
The white stuff is almost certainly powdery mildew. Powdery mildew is the common name for a number of species of a disease that causes leaves of plants to appear as though they’ve been sprinkled with flour. With lawns, the culprit is likely Blumeria graminis, which likes to attack grasses that grow in shadier spots around the yard. The solution, however is not to spray the grass. Instead, replace mildew-infected grass with shade tolerant plants wherever possible.

The Business
New Product Lines
As the cooler weather forces us indoors (and we try to find places to store all the new outdoor accoutrements we bought this year), retailers are busy setting up displays of items that will make us more comfortable indoors. Our buyers are busy unpacking all of the goodies they ordered way back in the spring. There’s a real trend toward very natural, organic feeling products with textured finishes, deeply hued glazes and sinuous shapes. Case in point, we’ve brought in a line of products from 18 Karat, a Canadian company that has this trend nailed. Our staff loves the pots, giftware and accessories that we’re setting up. Come on down and check them out.

Did You Know?
Equinoctial is a term used to describe plants with flowers that open and close regularly at a particular hour of the day.

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”
–Erma Bombeck