Look Beyond the Gnomes

Dear readers,

I’ve been trying desperately to get back to writing these past two months after the merger, but every time I sit down ready to write, some big problem arises and I have to re-write yet another legal contract.

I have a new favorite word to describe legal contracts. It’s not something I would ever write in an e-letter.

Although I’m fairly versed in re-writing contracts to make every grower and breeder happy, they sure do suck the life out of me. They are a necessary evil. We use them to entice breeders to choose our new plant introduction company over another. My partner, Linda Guy and I have been feverishly working to sign new breeders and growers to enhance and build up our product line.

Exciting things sure are happening!

That being said, the rest of my life is a bit of a mess. Our house is on the market because we are trying to move to the Boston area for my husband’s work. We have to keep the garden and the house perfect everyday in case someone wants to come for a showing.

We’ve de-cluttered our house to the point where we have only the basics and all of our personality is gone. Most of the office is in storage and the worst thing of all is my gnome collection is in a box in the basement.

That’s right, I said, “The gnomes are in a box.”

Don’t everyone gasp at once. They are actually in several boxes. They have air holes and I visit them often. I’ve found them trying to escape on a few occasions, which called for another piece of tape being applied. Why are they in a box? Our realtor said they would scare potential buyers away.

Really?

If I had an elderly parent living on a hospital bed in the dining room, would that scare them away as well? Would I have to roll them out to the street for a showing? What is wrong with people? Do they not have an imagination strong enough to look past personality and imagine their own?

It’s like the people on HGTV’s show House Hunters who complain because a room is painted a nasty color. Are they serious? My goodness, I expect to replace kitchens, bathrooms and tear up entire yards when I look for a house. A little painting never scared me. I guess I’m used to it, or weird.

Don’t answer that.

So, I did what I was told, gathered my gnome collection and cleaned them, and put them into storage. Certainly some tried to hide and it took me a few days of searching to find them, but I do think I’ve finally got them all. They’re safely tucked into the basement in their boxes.

I miss them tons, and we do hear them laughing and crying occasionally. I wonder what they think? The move will be hard on all of us.

When your gnomes are in a box, all packed up and ready to move, but you still have to maintain the garden, times can be tough. I miss my little helpers. The weeds are growing, the blooms need deadheading and there is a pile of mulch that still needs to be spread, but there’s no one to help. I’m both sad and overworked.

Someone had to pick up the slack…
In celebration of my gnomes waiting to be released in their new home, I want to share with you this lovely fable of how the root (often called “Brown”) gnomes decided to explore the surface, deciding it’s much better to be on the surface, working in the garden than in the soil below.

Enjoy!

Once upon a time a gnome lived in amongst the roots of a tree. He was a brown gnome, with brown boots, brown pants, brown jacket, brown cap and long brown beard. Even his eyes were deep dark brown.

Only the tip of his nose was red—especially in winter when white frost covered the ground. Then he sneezed and blew his nose, and said: “Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”

This gnome never left his job. All day he worked for many a long year, making sure the roots had all the food they needed to keep the tree healthy. Not that he complained. He loved his job and was really good at it—that’s why the tree had grown so big and strong and had lived so long.

One day a huge wind huffed and puffed and blew the tree down.

“Crash!” went the tree as the roots were pulled out of the ground.

“Yikes!” cried the gnome as the roof of his house disappeared.

“Golly gosh!” cried the earthworms, wiggling away as fast as their squirms could carry them.

The little brown gnome stood in the hole where the tree once stood. He was covered with dirt from head to foot: dirt in his boots, dirt in his pockets, dirt on his cap, and dirt in his ears.

He climbed out of the hole and looked around. He saw green-green grass, blue-blue sky, and red-red poppies waving in the wind.
“Ah!” cried the little brown gnome in surprise. “What lovely colors! I want some of those!”

He’d never seen anything other than brown before and his eyes were dazzled.

So he took the green from the green-green grass and moss and lovely spring leaves and made his pants and jacket the brightest green you have ever seen.

He took the red from the bright red poppies and made his cap and boots the reddest red there has ever been – except for his nose in wintertime.

He took the blue from the blue summer sky and let it rest in his gentle gaze.

Last of all he put a sparkle of yellow sunlight on the tippy-top of his cap. There it glistened like magic!

Off he went to find a new tree. He looked here, he look there, he looked everywhere, but all the trees thereabouts had brown root gnomes working away and who didn’t need any help.

“Then I shall live in a garden,” he said to himself, and off he went and found a garden. There he became a flower gnome and lived in a house made of petals and drank nectar all summer long. And he still lives there—even until today!

And how do you know if this little gnome lives in your garden? That’s easy! Go outside when the white frost lies on the wintry ground and you will hear him sneezing: “Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”

A little gnome story is always welcome.

On a sadder note, our industry lost a great man and a super talented visionary last week. Don Riddle, founder and owner of Homestead Gardens, one of the largest independent garden centers on the east coast, was discovered on his boat Thursday afternoon. The boat was tied up to the pier in front of his house.

I actually worked for Don as his perennial buyer/manager for a short while when we moved here from Chicago. Homestead Gardens is one of the best garden centers in the country. He will be missed and his vision and kindness will never be forgotten. Today’s Garden Center reported on this.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Riddle family and the rest of my friends at Homestead Gardens. R.I.P. Don. I know in my heart Homestead will go on because Don would have wanted it that way. Homestead is his legacy. Here’s hoping it is a strong enough, well-oiled machine that will run for a long time, even in his absence.

If you are on Facebook, you can visit their Homestead Gardens fan page to leave thoughts and prayers for Don’s family and employees.

That’s it for this week. I promise to write more often and keep in touch. There’s lots of traveling to do these next few weeks, so I’ll be reporting from the shows to let you know what’s hot and what’s new and exciting.

I hope to see you all at one of the many summer tradeshows and symposia. Stop by the Plants Nouveau booth to see our newest, most exciting introductions. We will be unveiling our Garden Candy line of perennials, our new Zone 6 hardy tropicals in the Tropi-cools, Punch and Sparkler series as well as new Everlasting series of hydrangea and hypericum in both the garden and gift plant lines.

Stop by the Ohio Florists Association Short Course booth this weekend to see some really fun, exciting new selections. We are in booth 2232, right across from the big Ecke Ranch booth. We will also be showcasing three new varieties in the new varieties area.

I’m also on a panel for the famed Town Hall Meeting with a cast of fun, ferocious characters on Sunday night during the short Course. The session is hosted by our good friend, Lloyd Traven, owner of Peace Tree Farms, and the topic is “Why Don’t Our Customers Love Us Anymore?” It should be a jolly good, no bars held, frolicking time. Please come and add some fuel to our fire for another lively audience driven session.

Take care, please take a deep breath, enjoy your family, and have a wonderful week! Try not to let the stresses of the season and the economy get you down.

Happy weeding…

Angela

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
Partner, Plants Nouveau

P.S. Want a sneak preview of some of the really cool new plants we’re bringing to OFA? How about this new hydrangea, part of the Everlasting Series of hydrangea?

We proudly present to you Hydrangea macropylla ‘Hokomathyst’ Everlasting Amethyst.

From the meticulous breeding of Kolster BV in The Netherlands, we bring you this new series of hardy hydrangeas that are as comfortable in the garden as they are in a vase or as a gift on your holiday table.

Everlasting Amethyst is a brand new selection with amazing potential for the gift, the garden and the cut flower industry. Sturdy, mop head blooms held high on thick, upright stems emerge bright, fuchsia pink, aging to a reddish pink with lime green markings, often fade to a blue-green combination and then to lime green. That’s a whole heck of a lot of colors for one hydrangea. This parade of colors means the blooms last and last and last. As the colors change, they remain strong and sturdy as a cut flower. You’ll want this beautiful new selection in your garden for viewing, on your table as a centerpiece and for cutting year after year.