My niece came up for a visit and what teamwork while I was on my 2-week vacation. I started on the xhyacinthifora and once she arrived we got the vulgaris and late bloomers done. We switched from fogging to misting this year, and are using sand with perlite on the bottom instead of sand and perlite mixed. The mixing is just too much work. Everything looks great so far. This is a tray of S. vulgaris ’Violetta’.
15 inches of snow on March 14. Just when it looked like spring was right around the corner. It's a bit too much for me to shovel so that I can get the hoops uncovered. The low hoops are to the right of the tall hoophouse, and you can't even really see them under the snow.
Most of our 1 gallon lilacs are in our new hoophouse protected from the elements for the winter. A few of our more rare lilacs that are in 3 gallon pots are inside also.
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But fortunately, the lilacs are snug under their winter hoops, which are new this winter. The white plastic keeps them from drying out, as it gets very windy here at times, and if there's no snow, the pots don't get watered. It's a lot of work to get the plants arranged and the 21 hoops covered, but hopefully this will keep the plants in good shape for spring lilac sales!
We’re opening at our Hopewell Junction location on Saturday September 11 and will be open on weekends only from 10 to 4 into October. Lots of rain, overcast skies, humidity and heavy dew this summer, so some of the plants don’t look perfect this time of year. But we have another new potting mix this year which bodes well for next year. We have some larger plants for sale this month for $50 and under. These are for pick-up only. Shipping for online orders will start on Monday 9/27. I’m still adding new plants to the website and hope to publish the updated inventory on Thursday 9/9. Still making new signs for the sales area too, and have to get some price tags into the pots for easy checkout. Stop by and grab a few of these 3-5-7 gallon plants for instant gratification. I need the space for my 1-gallon plants!
A new customer stopped by this afternoon. She and her husband drove FROM WISCONSIN (!!) to pick up 90 lilacs. Granted, they did stop to visit family on the way! But it was so gratifying to meet them in person along with their faithful traveling companion Felix who made friends with my two guys. What a nice couple. I'm so glad these lilacs will have a great new home with wonderful new owners. Thank you Diane and Bob for your order!
Yesterday I pruned last year’s cuttings so they start branching this year. The plants look good, so I am going to update the website this week and start shipping before they leaf out much more and start actively growing. Less stress on the plants during shipping. These mostly look like brown sticks right now. But soon they’ll have a foot of new growth! The big stock plants look great, other than a little deer nibbling.
What a beautiful day. We cleaned up the snow fence and leaves, got the riding mower and carts out of the collapsed portable garage, moved the two blocks of stock plants and got the leaves out of the pots, and sprayed Liquid Fence since those cute deer have been nibbling. 🤬 Next week we have to replace the garage since it collapsed during the last snowstorm. The fun never ends here...
I’ve been laminating new signs since the ones from two years ago are pretty faded now. So I got the ones that are finished into the sign holders and have more cutting and laminating to do tonight - if I last that long. I tried to rake up under the oak tree, because I have some wildflower seeds that the crematorium sent with Pogo, Itty Bitty and Pooh Baby. But the ground is still too wet. Maybe next weekend.
I'm so grateful to Mark and Julio for returning for another season of torture! I couldn’t do it without them.
By the way, the plants look pretty good so far.
Yesterday the gang was covered up. Today they are uncovered! Not much to see yet. I hope we can start cleaning up the leaves and whatnot this weekend. The white plastic will stay on the sides of the hoop houses so we can re-cover fairly easily if it looks like frost. I’m doing my best to prevent frost damage this year!
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