This time, I was fortunate enough to get a respite form the hellacious heat of the East coast by escaping to the Perennial Plant Symposium and trade show in Portland, Oregon.

What’s not to love about Portland?

Meet my new nemesis – Harlequin bugs.

While I was gone, something yucky invaded my life. It has quickly become my new nemesis.

I had a nightmare they were crawling all over me. They’ve destroyed all of my kale. They’ve destroyed all of the kale and collard greens at the City Hall vegetable garden in Baltimore. I was planning to eat kale all summer, but I had to pull it out and destroy it due to the nasty infestation.

They are beautiful, red and black insects that lay eggs camouflaged as caterpillar frass, which is a lovely term I learned in entomology class for insect poo. See, I did learn something in college.

They LOVE kale, cabbage and collard greens and they have taken Baltimore veg gardens by storm, eating everything in sight.

My veg garden looks a little bare right now. Time to sow more red Russian kale, one of my favorites (more on that soon).

Since we’re talking about veg, let’s talk about cool veg. I adore cool vegetables for spring, all summer and fall texture in the garden as well as in containers.

I’m not talking about the common, two-toned, round ball “ornamental” cabbages on a stick that look like a bi-color version of Marge Simpson’s hair.

I’m assuming you all have seen The Simpson’s. If not, I’m sorry.

During the Ohio Short Course and even on the plane ride home, I talked to many garden center buyers. Curiously, I asked them all about their veg selection.

“Why don’t you all sell larger pots of some of the prettier vegetables so folks can plant them in spring containers and in their gardens?”

Then I start frolicking on about how beautiful I think some of the kales and cabbages are and that’s when the looks begin.

They look at me like I’m insane. Are they listening? I’m a consumer too, you know?

In the last issue I talked about all the gas and energy wasted to truck plants cross- country from some of the larger growers. This week, while we focus on beautiful veg, I’d like to address how much garden centers waste to bring in early color and offer my favorite solutions (aka beautiful veg) to ease their pain and make spring-time shopping much more enjoyable for me (and other customers too).

I know most people can’t wait for the local strawberries or cherries, so they’ll buy them as soon as they see them, even when they are not in season. Not me, I’m a seasonal fruit gal, so I live without and then stuff myself once they are in season. There is nothing like fresh strawberries and cherries – in season.

I know it’s tempting to buy them as soon as you seen them. It’s like tomatoes in the winter. Good grief, what a waste of money. I’d rather do without than eat some grainy, mealy, tasteless impersonation of a tomato. I know cherries and strawberries from far away usually have more flavor than a winter time tomato, but isn’t it more fun to wait and taste them as nature intended?

They are much cheaper when they are in season too…

Early perennial, annual and tropical “color” plants are purchased the same way at garden centers and big boxes. They get things in so early that plants can be blooming up to a month earlier, especially if they come from a warmer part of the country, which is usually pretty far away from the garden center.

Dianthus (cheddar pinks) should not be blooming in April in Maryland, but it’s always for sale, in full bloom, before Mothers day. Outside, it doesn’t bloom until mid May. Why not sell dianthus from a local grower? It would bloom at the right time and there would be no chance of it getting hit by an early frost.

People can wait. If there was something naturally in bloom and it was gorgeous, don’t you think they would buy that instead? Why are we always in such a rush?

I know garden center buyers push the limit each year, trying to bring in color early to attract customers. There are plenty of things you can bring in that naturally bloom early. How about selling more early perennials like hellebores, epimediums and heuchera? Granted, heuchera don’t flower that early, but their foliage is drop dead gorgeous in early spring. They all look fantastic in April, and they won’t skip a beat if they get hit by a late frost.

Try selling Swiss chard, beets, cabbage and kale.

Scandalous, I know, but have you seen them in spring containers?

People don’t realize how beautiful vegetables can be. What a great complement to the Pansy crop. I’m not talking those funky, colored cabbages and curly leaved kales that everyone sells.

And don’t get me started on the dyed and sparkled cabbages they sell during the holidays. Eew! Ponsettias was one thing, but abbages and kale should not be dyed OR covered in sparkle paint.

How about a ‘Red Russian’ or ‘Redbor’ kale? Have you ever seen one in a six or eight inch pot?

Redbor, or Side Show Bob hair kale, as I call it, is one of the most ornamental vegetables you can grow. It’s deep purpley-red and I think it’s much more attractive than any of the ornamental kales offered in the spring. Plus, it’s much more edible. Sorry for two Simpson’s references in one e-letter, but I know you’ll get the Side Show Bob reference once you see it.

Tuscan or dinosaur kale is deep, bluish green and crinkly, also resembling crazy fountain-like hair. And it’s gorgeous too.

Imagine how much fun that name can be for little kids? Sadly, mine still wont eat it, but they love to talk about the dinosaurs in our garden.

Each night, my eight year old comes lurking in the kitchen to examine what’s being cooked just to so he can prepare himself to taste. It’s a huge deal to him and he gets so stressed out. I could write an entire issue on kids and vegetables. Mine just won’t eat them…ugh!

Grow and cook your own food and your kids will eat it…haha! Is that a joke? It certainly hasn’t worked for me.

I digress…

Garden centers…how about adding Savoy cabbage and ‘Osaka Red’ mustard greens to your spring crops?

Can you say gorgeous?

Gorgeous plants, and no one sells them. I always have to buy them from seed. Even ‘ ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard is hard to find. Savoy cabbage is one of the most beautiful vegetables I have ever seen. It’s crinkled, wavy leaves and enormous heads of truly edible cabbage make it a must for any garden. One plant can grow to 3 foot by 3 foot in just a few months.

Come on people! No dyed, sparkly cabbage could ever compare to this giant , graceful beauty.

I’m not talking peat pots or six packs either. Grow them big like you do the ornamental cabbage and kale. Have demos and classes on planting an spring container that contains vegetables for the front porch. It’s so much fun. I always have veggies in my front containers, right there along with the pansies in the spring.

Swiss chard grows and produces edible leaves ALL summer and it’s beauteous and easy to care for. It can take western facing, full afternoon sun without skipping a beat.

All of these beauties are edible. Kale can be harvested all summer too, unless the harlequin bugs get them. Kale can also take the heat and the humidity, so you don’t have to remove them once it gets warm (like the pansies). It’s not just a spring crop. We harvest thousands of pounds of greens from the garden in front of City Hall in Baltimore city. It all goes to feed the homeless. I’m talking 30 to 50 black bulb crates every other week, throughout the summer. Each crate weights about 30 pounds when it’s full of greens.

Plants can be beautiful and useful at the same time. Imagine that?

Imagine bringing in local color to your store without shipping plants from one coast to another and wasting all that gas.

I’m all about education and people need educating when it comes to the huge selection of spring color that’s available.

There’s more to life than pansies.

I’ve had great experience with loads of pretty veggies. It’s so much fun and no one ever thinks of putting them in spring containers. I’d be happy to share the good, the bad and the ugly of pretty veggie selections with anyone.

While in Portland, Oregon last week for the Perennial Plant Symposium, I had the pleasure of touring (and shopping!) at Sean Hogan’s famous zone denying nursery, Cistus. If you are in zonal denial, like many gardeners, try some of the unusually cool things Cistus has to offer.

It’s a mail order nursery and they ship all over the U.S.!!!

I was pleasantly surprised with the display gardens. They had red Russian kale, Tuscan kale and Swiss chard randomly mixed into their borders.

Sean is my hero! I was so excited!! Here are some pictures.

Nobody puts baby in the corner, so why do we plant the veg in the back corner, hidden from all?

Integrate the veg! Then eat it!

Until then, Happy Weeding!

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

PS – Let’s talk about how fantastically tough Phlox paniculata ‘Lord Clayton’ has been. I’ve practically put it through plant hell the past few weeks.

I took plants to the Ohio Short Course, displayed them in the booth and then had them trucked from Ohio to Washington state (all the while in the dark), so they could be taken off one truck and put onto another to be driven down to Portland, OR to be displayed in my booth for the Perennial Plant Symposium.

These tough plants saw no real sunlight from July 9th to July 23rd. They were indoors, in a dry environment and they did not skip a beat. I watered them regularly and thanked them for behaving, of course, but that was it. Did I mention they were also manhandled by some passer-by about twice an hour.

Not a great life for a plant, but Lord Clayton did fine.

I also discovered Lord Clayton has the darkest purple there is to be had on the Royal Horticultural Society’s Colour Chart while I was doing the patent a few weeks ago. The new foliage is nearly black. This plant deserves a trial in your garden and in gardens all over the country, so if you’d like a sample, let me know and we’ll add you to the list.

Just a bit…

I’m writing while on a plane once again, traveling this time to the Perennial Plant Symposium and trade show. I have a vase of cut Echinacea ‘Hot Papaya’ and ‘Marmalade’ flower stems between my feet on the floor of the plane. The flight attendant wanted me to put them in the overhead locker…ugh.

Finally got permission to let the guy who is sitting near the window hold them at his feet during take off and landing. I wouldn’t want my flower stems to get in anyone’s way whilst they are jumping out of the plane – should we go down in flames. Too funny- as if a vase of flowers would stop anyone.

Haha. Stupid rules.

This week, I have the honor of accepting the Young Professional Award while I’m there for the symposium. Young? Me? That’s funny. I would expect an award of this moniker to go to some up and coming star in his or her twenties. Maybe they don’t know how old I am? I do use, and have for many years, really good wrinkle cream.

I’m not sure what prompted the award and I have no idea who nominated me, but I’m hoping The Weeding Gnome and my often crazy opining has something to do with it.

I’m honored, nonetheless.

Last week I had the honor of watching Spain beat my Netherlands team in the World Cup finals. It was so great to be at a tradeshow with so many people from The Netherlands. The tradeshow floor was orange on Sunday. I really had fun. I brought face paint crayons and we painted flags on peoples cheeks, I wore my oranje van Persi jersey and I had my vivuzela (and some hand sanitizer to clean it each time) for people to blow. There wasn’t much blowing during the game since it was a low scoring game, but people were very interested to blow the horn all day before the game started.

It was a quiet afternoon and even quieter when they lost.

Onward and upward, right?

The show was great. Lots of enthusiasm and everyone we talked to in the booth was very upbeat about 2011. Sadly, most had written off 2010 because it’s taken a real big turn for the worse.

Our new Echinacea selections, Marmalade and Raspberry Truffle gained many admirers, even though their color was a bit off in the indoor lights. They were still attractive and the fact sheet pictures were gorgeous. The new banner I made for Heuchera ‘Dark Chocolate’ and ‘Stainless Steel’ attracted major attention and everyone was impressed with us touting their extreme drought and humidity tolerance, something you rarely see in a heuchera (coral bell) that doesn’t have the species villosa in it’s heritage.

Last time, I promised we would have some reader feedback from my previous letter (The Nursery Industry is a Mess). I can’t think of a better way to try and solve what’s wrong with the nursery industry than provoking thoughtful conversation from our loyal readers.

Brent Horvath, owner of Intrinsic Perennials, a second-generation family owned nursery and fellow plantweenie who has introduced many new perennial selections sent 6 emails. He had lots to say about the state of the nursery industry.

Here’s an excerpt from his thoughts:

“We have too many plants from outside our area, that for one reason or another are marginal or unsustainable. I keep coming back to plants that are growing locally. These are naturally sustainable (solutions).

Local is sustainable, global is not. It’s part of the sustainable mantra, think globally, act locally. Getting (the plants) to us is a big part of the non-sustainability. Why should the ‘Red Head’ fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) at the local Home Depot come from Texas, when I can reasonably send the same thing for similar enough price at a similar time?”

Brent’s solution is support locally grown plants, like those that come from his perennial nursery. I concur, but where does this leave the growers who try and service the entire United States?

Tammy Clayton, garden designer, former nursery owner, writer and finder of our new Phlox paniculata (summer phlox) called ‘Lord Clayton’ always has a lot to say about the state of the industry, but that week, she was really worked up.

I love getting people all kerfluffled over a topic. That’s when new ideas come out and problems are solved. Make the people think…

Tammy had these comments:

My take on all of this is maybe the big boxes have the right idea. Buy local. It’s all the rage for food right now. It gives people a warm and fuzzy feeling to know they are supporting local business.

If it doesn’t, it should…

Supporting local growers who have a limited shipping range, but grow plants adaptable and good for their shipping area would be a really great thing.

But what about the big nurseries, like Monrovia and Greenleaf Nursery who try and sell to the entire United States? Where does that leave them?

Is that what happened to Carolina Nurseries? Did they try to grow and sell too much? Were they reaching too far?

Big growers are selling off auxiliary properties left and right to cut costs, but that means they’ll sell and ship even more stuff from far away places. If more medium sized growers, who only sell to two or three states, only serviced local independent garden centers and even the big boxes, would the plant material for sale be more relevant?

Would it be more timely and in bloom when Mother Nature intended? Would they be more acclimated to local climes? Would they be willing to try new things to bring in customers?

There are many medium sized nurseries throughout the US. They seem to be faring well, even though the economy and the weather have dealt the industry a really bad hand. The big guys that try to service everyone, from coast to coast, don’t seem to be handling the current situation quite as well.

Is that the answer?

Try bringing in local color to drive traffic to your store without shipping plants from one coast to another and wasting all that gas.

It’s a start…

I’ll be reporting this week from the Perennial Plant Symposium in lovely (and cool…) Portland, Oregon. We’ll talk a bit about adding beautiful vegetables to your spring line – especially for containers. After talking to garden center buyers last week in Ohio, I think I need to do a little ranting on the beauty of veg.

Until then, Happy weeding!

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

P.S. If I haven’t said this before, Astilbe ‘Deft Lace’ is really all the rage this summer. At the shows, in garden centers, on Twitter, and just about everywhere I display this plant, people are amazed.

I’m not sure what gets them. Maybe it’s the glossy, deep maroon foliage, or the clear pink, non-fading plumes on top of deep red stems. Maybe it’s the fact that it doesn’t die on the first hot, dry day after you plant it and forget to water it really well.

That could be it. You think?

This astilbe is tough – really tough. Remember my garden is super dry. We affectionately call it the tiarella torture chamber. If things can survive in my dry shade amidst pin oak and white pine roots, they get my vote for sure.

I’ve killed many astilbes. Delft Lace has survived.

It really is a fantastic performer and a stunningly beautiful selection. Try one and let me know how it did for you. We are all sold out of samples for 2010, but I’d be happy to share some bare root plants this winter if you are interested.

I’m so worn out.

Too much travel, too much heat, too much to do – it’s all getting to me. My brain is running on empty and at the same time, I’m wired because of all the upcoming shows and my ever growing to do list.

Before I forget, please visit the Plants Nouveau, new and improved, double-wide booth at the Ohio Florist Association, Ohio Short Course, July 11-13 in booth 2232. There’s sure to be lots of color and if I can pull it off, we’ll be watching The Netherlands take on Spain for the World Cup Championship in the booth. I was hoping for a Germany vs. The Netherlands, sister country rivalry to the death match, but my dreams were shattered Wednesday when Spain clearly out played my young Germans.

I digress…

It was a blast being in The Netherlands to cheer on the team for a game. We went to a pub to see the game. We were the only Americans, of course, and our lovely Bed & Breakfast host called to tell them we were coming, so they knew we were there. The Oranje fans were so nice to us, and we kept getting congrats on the run of the US Team – as if I had something to do with it.

It was a fantastic time and we were thrilled to be a part of such a huge win for the Dutch team. Sneijder!

We also ended up in Bonn, Germany for a game as well and this time, took to the streets for a public viewing. There were flat screen TVs everywhere. Every store and pub, every restaurant and ice cream shop (and if you’ve been to Bonn, you know there’s no shortage of ice cream shops). Everyone was watching the game. It was happy mayhem when they won.

We blew our vivuzula horn (which was orange cause we bought it in Holland, but we dressed it up with a lay of flowers the colors of the German flag for the German game…we are very adaptable folks) for each goal, which isn’t an easy task.

Ever blown one of those? It’ll give you a sore throat in a New York minute if you don’t do it right.

OK, enough about futbol, or Soccer, as we Americans say. How about some plant stuff, eh?

My goal for this trip was to visit some of my breeders in The Netherlands to see what they are working on and to visit as many garden centers as I could find in both The Netherlands and Germany to check on how they are doing things in Europe.

I can’t really tell you about what I saw while visiting the breeders – I’d have to kill you.

It’s all top secret stuff that will be released in years to come, but there was some really exciting new stuff!

My last day in The Netherlands was spent eating pancakes, French fries with mayo and hoping from garden center to garden center. No herring yet, for me. I was going to try one, I swear, but I chickened out…sorry.

I noticed one thing in every garden center, small and large, while I was in The Netherlands… the merchandising was phenomenal.

Imagine walking into Macy’s, or Old Navy, looking for a white shirt. How many sections would you have to shop to see all the white shirts they have to offer? What if all the products were merchandised according to color? Would that make your shopping experience more pleasant?

What if you knew nothing about plants and all you really wanted was a pink flower? Wouldn’t it be nice to see a bench with all of the pink flowers they had in one spot?

Well…that’s how they merchandise in The Netherlands and somewhat so in Germany. Not so much with the perennials, shrubs and trees, but most certainly with the “cash and carry” or gift plants they sell.

The majority of the garden center is devoted to gifts. You know, gifts that you would take to someone if you were invited to Sunday dinner or a gift for your mom when you visit or a friend who just had a baby.

What do you mean you don’t do that?

Ah ha…therein lies the problem with the comparison. In the US, we don’t buy disposable plants as gifts unless it’s a major holiday. Poinsettias, lilies and mini roses pretty much dominate that market. Maybe the occasional African violet and orchid, but there’s not usually much to choose from.

Plants, especially houseplants and forced flowering plants used for indoor display, are not a huge deal here. They are not part of our culture. On any given day in The Netherlands, whether you are in a huge garden center or a small, village flower shop, there are shelves and shelves to choose from and they are merchandised meticulously, like they were the shopping equivalent of Anthropologie or Norstrom in the states.

Besides that, the outside plants weren’t that exciting. Can you believe I only saw 4 selections of coneflowers altogether? Nary a garden phlox to speak of and the woody plant selection consisted mostly of hydrangeas and evergreen conifers.

Everything was very modern and colorful, as most items in Europe are, but there was nothing revolutionary, except the grouping by color, which I think really could work…especially for the novice who has no idea what they are looking for.

The tool sections were amazing! The most colorful tools I’ve ever seen. They had Gardenia and Wolfe Garten galore (my two most favorite brands). I bought myself a new Dutch hoe attachment for my Wolfe Garten pole. So very exciting!!!

I also found 6, very handsome new gnomes, as you can see from this issue’s top picture. It’s a gnome family photo.

What was surprising was the lack of perennials in German garden centers. Some of the most useful, well known perennial selections have come from Germany and The Netherlands. Are they just really smart and, only selling them in the spring, when its better to plant?

Each and every center I visited in mid June had a less than stellar showing of perennials. Some had none.

There were plenty of conifers, evergreens and annuals, but barely a perennial section between them all. For all I know, they could have been full of perennials in the spring. Does anyone have any experience with German and Dutch garden centers in the spring? Are they loaded with exciting, healthy perennials?

I was expecting more. I guess I was searching for answers that just weren’t there. Is their industry any better off than ours right now? Are they doing things differently?

As far as this plantweenie could see, things were much the same for the majority of green goods sold. As I said before, the only Wow! moment I had was the merchandising by color. It reminded me of Garanimals (boy, I’m dating myself now, aren’t I?) Remember the line of children’s clothing that was sold by the color family? So you could buy a pair of pants and then two or three shirts off the same rack and they were sure to match? Apparently, they are still being sold. Have they been successful?

Infant clothes are sold that way. Why not clothes for adults? Why not plants?

Imagine the how helpful it would be to shop the houseware departments if they were merchandised by color? If you needed a lime green accent, you’d go to the lime green section. Crate and Barrel does that well. Ever been to one? One of my favorite “looking” stores.

It’s sort of like gardening for dummies or paint by number, but guess what folks…most consumers are “dummies” when it comes to buying plants. That’s why it’s often intimidating for them to walk into a garden center. It’s like me walking into the Apple store at the mall.

I have to do it because everything I own is a Mac, and I know how to use this stuff – I’m no tech dummy, but every time I walk in there, I feel intimidated. Intimidated by young kids mostly, but also by all the new stuff that I don’t know.

Apple is the king of marketing to “cool” people. Their stuff makes you cool, or at least you think it does. Their commercials are hip and cool and their colors are so much brighter than any other computer company. Everything for the iphone is cooler. The covers are cooler, the apps are cooler, the price, now that’s not cooler, but people pay to be cool.

People may be intimidated by all the stuff in there, but they are so helpful and once you get in there, it’s like a big toy store for adults where you can play and try anything you want and a 16 year old will answer any question you have about anything – and if they don’t know (which is rare…) they find someone who does. They go out of their way to help you and make sure you get what you want and have a pleasant experience.

Our plants can be intimidating. Garden centers can be very unfriendly, from the phoney, retired greeter at the entrance handing you sales fliers and trying to get your kids to smile, to the unfriendly, usually unknowledgable sales staff who put their heads down and pretend they are tending to the plants as soon as you need to ask them a question, and finally to the checkout lines manned by gum chewing teenagers who don’t know an annual from a perennial.

“Intimidating!” I say. Intimidating.

How can we make garden centers cool, like the Apple store? How can we make garden centers (and home stores) the place people go to ask questions about gardening – like the Apple store is the place to ask anything about one of their products? Apple trains their employees.

Novel idea, eh?

I still don’t think consumers who buy plants want brands. Many people will argue with me about this. We haven’t conditioned them to look for brands like they do when they shop for clothes or electronics. They want pretty plants that will live and they want to know everything there is to know about taking care of them. The next generation wants even more information than I do and they want it fast. They want it really fast. And they don’t want to wait for it. I bet hey have no knowledge of plant brands.

Sadly, I have yet to come up with the golden ticket to fix our nursery/garden center industry, but I’m frantically working on it. I will be merchandising my trade show booth this weekend like a Dutch garden shop. I can’t wait to see if it draws more people in. I’ll surely keep you posted on Twitter (@plantweenie) and on the Plants Nouveau Facebook fan page.

Next week, I’m excited to bring you some feed back from my readers – feedback that may point us in the right direction. Here’s a hint – buy local.

For now, I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite movies, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (this is from the Johnny Depp version, but I adore them both).

Veruca Salt: I wanted to be the first to find a Golden Ticket, Daddy!
Mr. Salt: I know, angel. We’re doing the best we can. I’ve got every girl in the place to start hunting for you.
Veruca Salt: All right, where is it? Why haven’t they found it?
Mr. Salt: Veruca, sweetheart, I’m not a magician! Give me time!
Veruca Salt: I want it now! What’s the matter with those twerps down there?
Mr. Salt: For five days now, the entire flipping factory’s been on the job. They haven’t shelled a peanut in there since Monday. They’ve been shelling flaming chocolate bars from dawn till dusk!
Veruca Salt: Make them work nights!

Working night and day to find our golden ticket…

Happy weeding!

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

PS. Have you seen the press release about the new Burpee digital vegetable tag?

I think they may be onto something. I’m not sure how it works, yet because they are unveiling it at the Ohio short course this weekend. I’ll surely have more on this once I see it, but it sounds really awesome and right on target for GenY customers.

PPS. OMG…Echinacea purpurea‘Pink Double Delight’ truly has looked these last weeks of 100+ degree days and low humidity, on top of extreme drought conditions (although I am trying to keep them sufficiently watered…) smack dab in the face and it just keeps saying, “Bring it on!” There’s no stopping this ever-blooming coneflower from AB-Cultivars. It really is a winner and a selection that will be hard to top for many generations to come.

I hate to keep pushing this one, but it really is great everywhere it is planted. According to Stephanie Cohen, famed landscape designer and best selling author, “’Pink Double Delight’ tripled in size, covered in blooms, and it certainly has a wow effect. You may get one prettier, but you won’t get one that grows any better!”

Thanks for the comment Steph. Comments on the plants we introduce are always appreciated – both good and bad!

It’s sad, but true. After 20 years of trying to get ahead, I had an epiphany this week. I actually said to myself, “What if I simply strive to catch up?”

The thought is indeed a novelty.

For me, 2010 has been a weird weather year. As if forty-nine inches of snow in Baltimore wasn’t hard enough to handle, we’re now in a pickle of a drought and it’s just passed mid June.

Everything is blooming two weeks early and that means I have been traveling like a mad woman to see everything I need to see before my journey to The Netherlands to see this year’s crop of new plants.

I know I promised you thoughtful answers and a revolutionary solution that would save the nursery industry, but hard as I try, I just don’t have time to put pen to paper to express those very important thoughts. Not this week and I didn’t get much of a chance to breathe last week either.

I was on the road most of last week.

My journeys took me to West Virginia and back (insert banjo playing the theme from Deliverance here…).

Boy, is it beautiful down there, but don’t count on using your cell phone to call for exact directions to visit my friend Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm and Gardens in Renick. That is, unless you call 3 hours before…cause there’s NO cell service there, so you’ll be driving up and down and up and down and up and down the mountains to find one service bar.

Thank goodness the mini is great on gas. Too bad my friend Becky, who accompanied me, was overtaken by carsickness. Or was she?

Was this merely a ploy to get to drive the mountain switchbacks with the top down? I guess I’ll believe she really was sick…

We seriously had to use longitude and latitude coordinates to find Barry Glick’s place – and this isn’t the first time I’ve been there. It’s easily seven miles from any major road and many more from a cell tower.

I knew Sasquatch (or a man with a long beard and an axe) was jumping down from the mountain, onto the very thin pass we were traversing by the light of the moon and stars, at any moment.

Did I say how lovely it was?

We saw a mountain of Hellebores and so many cool things. We also learned that being so far from civilization, Barry has no choice, but be prepared, so he shops – for everything – in bulk. Barry gave me a Telekia speciosa (tall Oxeye Daisy), a plant I’ve been searching for since I saw it in the Bonn Botanic Garden in Germany.

Here’s Becky and Barry and the mini (top down of course) and Barry’s brood of loving pups.

Becky and I spent the night in a lovely bed and breakfast called the Great Oak. It’s a lovely place run by a lovely couple in the quaint little town of Lewisburg, West Virginia.

The next morning we traveled even further west to Hinton, WV to visit Enchanter’s Gardens and Peter Heuss. This wonderful, humorous man knows more about native plants – local to WV – than anyone I’ve ever met.

Did you know West Virginia has one of the most diverse, untouched collections of native plants on the East Coast?

Peter knows them all and is growing many of them in his mountain valley nursery. Here’s Peter with some of his new selections.

Peter grows a lot of plants from seed, so he finds all sorts of little treasures. He and I are working on some fancy new coneflowers and a stellar new Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower) seedling that may very well take your breath away. Peter also specializes in drought tolerant plants because there are so many rocky slopes in his neck of the woods.

Anyone need drought tolerant plants? Na, really?

So, two days in West Virginia, then I had to be back home for my son’s lacrosse camp.

The next day, I took a day trip just south of DC to visit a new breeder, originally from South Africa, who is a brilliant man. Alan is working on hydrangeas and hibiscus and many, many other things. He has his own tissue culture lab on the top of his house and he’s quite possibly one of the most organized breeders I’ve ever met.

It was a great trip and I promise we’ll have some fantastic new selections to introduce in the next few years.

So back to fixing the nursery industry…

I received so many comments from last week’s e-letter entitled, The Nursery Business Is In A Mess. I never expected so many heartfelt, thought provoking replies. It really got me thinking.

I talked to a lot of my industry friends this past week too, trying to come up with an easy solution. We all decided there isn’t one, but we want to be on the team that comes up with the plan.

It’s exciting. Really! I embrace change and I know the solution will involve a lot of change – change that may be painful for some, but necessary for survival.

I have some really great ideas, so while I’m away these next ten days, I’ll put pen to paper and we can discuss this more when I return in July.

Until then, here’s a Summer Solstice video update of the trial gardens. See what’s in bloom and what’s doing well. There’s new coneflowers in bloom – imagine that!

While in The Netherlands this week, I’ll be rooting for Holland in the World Cup and wearing lots of orange so I fit in. I travel to Germany after that…will I root for the Germans?

It’s a hard choice for me. I have so many good friends in both countries. I do know I’ll be voting for Portugal and Christiano Ronaldo… just because. Have you seen the June issue of Vanity Fair?

My book club was ogling it last week. He’s lovely. Perhaps a tad bit overpaid, but lovely nonetheless.

Please do a rain dance for Baltimore and Happy Weeding.

Until next time…

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

I must first apologize for not sending out an issue last week.

It’s the first one I’ve missed. The Native Plants in the Landscape Conference took way too much of my time and there just wasn’t a moment for me to write.

That’s how it goes.

I missed one issue of the Weeding Gnome and the nursery industry fell apart. What?

That’s right…I said, “Fell apart.”

Some really big stuff is going down, in case you’ve been cut off from the World these last few weeks.

Did you see the Carolina Nurseries ad for the 5 million plants they are trying to auction June 24-26th?

Apparently, it’s a B.F.D., literally. A full-page ad was placed in both American Nurseryman and NM Pro. An ad with a gravestone announcing the death of Carolina Nurseries as we know it.

That’s what I would call a B.F.D.

This is one of the largest wholesale container nurseries in the U.S. and the founding partner of the Novalis Plants that Work™ program. I won’t go into the details, but they are trying to sell 5 million plants to pay back the bank for their line of credit that was pulled.

Apparently, Novalis will live on, but Carolina, as we know it is facing a sudden death overtime round that doesn’t look promising. My heart goes out to all of them, especially my good friend Linda Guy, whose husband J is one of the original partners in the nursery, as they trudge through this tragic mess.

And – as if that wasn’t enough for me to handle while I was directing the conference (with the surprise of no air conditioning and 90+ degrees in a room with 340 people) last week – I got a call from my good friend Jacques Ferare from The Conard-Pyle Co./Star Roses.

I knew something was up…

Apparently, The Conard-Pyle Co., where I wet my appetite for new plants and learned way more than I did in 5 years of college about growing, selling, selecting and marketing new plants, is also dead as we know it.

Here’s the difference – Conard-Pyle is merely changing directions, which has happened several times over the company’s 113 year existence.

“It has been an emotional decision,” Hutton says. “We’ve been doing this an awful long time and have great relationships with our customers and have great employees we’re not going to have room for because our new direction is less personnel intensive. I know it’s the right thing for the company, but it’s bittersweet because it means hurting people who mean the world to me.”

Going forward, the company will still be known as The Conard-Pyle Company and will be headquartered at the present location.

Its divisions will be:

• CP License, which develops new plant varieties, seeking patent and trademark protection, and growers and sublicenses them to third-party growers
• CP-Meilland Star Roses in California, which focuses mainly on proprietary rose genetics and distributes bare-root rose plants and brokers plugs and liners.

I loved this quote from Steve from an interview by Grower Talks’ Chris Beytes:

“The nursery business is in a mess,” the third-generation nurseryman stated frankly in a phone interview Thursday. “There’s too much of everything. There are too many plants, there are too many nurseries, too much breeding—even in my part of the business. Too many wholesalers. Even, in some cases, too many retailers. There’s too much of everything except consumers.”

According to interviewer Chris Beytes, “The other “mess” we face”, he says,“is the macro-economic mess, the recession, which as we all know is a global issue.”

“I’m firmly convinced that when we nursery folks get on the other side of these two messes, it’s going to be a different landscape entirely,” Steve continued. “You had better be very, very good at at least one thing—and probably only one thing. So we had to pick, and we’re going to use the time that these two messes have given us to transition from what we’ve been for the last 25 or 30 years into what we’re going to become.”

I’ve always admired Steve’s thoughtfulness and vision. I think he’s spot on with his thinking. I worked closely with Steve for many years and he taught me a lot.

I concur. There ARE too many plants, especially new ones. Who are we creating these new plants for?

That’s the million-dollar question.

There’s not much new construction right now and when people do build, they are not planting like they did before, to save money.

What are we going to do with all of the plants?

Perennials and anything with colorful foliage (shrubs, small trees, annuals, tropicals) are selling well, but landscape staples, which were the bread and butter for many nurseries are not moving.

I learned a whole heck of a lot last week at the native plants conference. My favorite saying had to be from Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farms, who was lecturing on his new “Know Maintenance Approach”. Roy said, “In America, we select plants for Home Depot. In Germany, they select plants for the garden.”

Wow! Things that make you go hmmm, right?

It’s so true. Light bulbs were flashing in my head like crazy. What are we thinking?

He meant we select and grow plants in this country so they fit on the specified racks and look good on the shelves of the big box store. Big growers especially only want plants that fit on the racks. They only want plants that are in bloom. That means if I want to buy a purple coneflower (Echinacea sp.) in May, so I can get my perennials planted and established before it gets too hot and dry, I’m out of luck. That plant will most likely only be for sale in June and July, when it is blooming.

Isn’t that sad for gardeners? Why are we letting the big box stores dictate what is sold to customers?

Thank goodness there are still a few independent retailers out there who try to carry everything all season. But without reaching the masses, we won’t sell many plants. And you know where the masses shop – not independent retailers. They shop at Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes and the like.

Ever seen any good perennials at a big box in May or September? That’s the best time to plant perennials (at least in most of the non-tropical areas of the US), isn’t it? So, why are they telling consumers those plants don’t exist?

Apparently they think you can only plant creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) and cheddar pinks (Dianthus sp.) in the spring, right?

And only mums (Chrysanthemum sp.) and purple and orange leaved coral bells (Heuchera sp.) in the fall, right?

That’s all there is, right?

Not an aster in the place…never. Not an ornamental grass in fall color…never. No bluestar (Amsonia hubrectii), with it’s amazingly golden fall color on the shelves…never.

People who shop for plants only at big box stores will never meet a bluestar, just like the people who shop for food at Walmart will never see a kohlrabi, one of the coolest looking, kid friendly veggies out there.

That’s really sad. Don’t ya think?

I also learned that Americans have an obsession with mulch – especially the new dyed mulches. Oy, don’t get me started on dyed mulch – especially the red stuff. Mulch should be used when you first plant, to keep the weeds down (that is if it’s good, composted mulch, because dyed, chopped up palettes probably create more weeds) and retain moisture until the plants fill in the space and their leaf litter creates an even better mulch leaving you no reason to buy mulch again.

Imagine that.

It’s sad to think the local CVS Pharmacy is teaching Americans how to garden. Apparently, CVS thinks they need the red dyed mulch because it matches the color red in their sign. Apparently, they spent so much on mulching the massive parking lot beds that they could only afford one of everything too. One gold mop cypress, one dianthus, one – yes, I said one – variegated liriope.

Should I go on?

Who in their right mind thinks this is attractive? This is not gardening.

Roy also said, “Americans garden with mulch.”

“Haha!”, I said out loud. I seriously laughed out loud in the lecture hall. No one else did.

It’s true. People are obsessed with mulching. They mulch every year. They put down the landscaper recommended 3-4 inches on their entire garden every year. There’s no time for this mulch to breakdown, so they keep piling it on, year after year.

Have they ever been for a walk in the woods? Do they no understand the concept?

Mulch is no good unless it breaks down and decomposes, giving organic matter back to the earth. If it doesn’t decompose, it means nothing to the plants. You might as well use stone. At least you don’t have to put that on every year.

I also learned that we need to select, grow and sell differently and stop using so much mulch. Was that it?

Not really…

This all got me fired up and I truly think we need an industry makeover. We need to re-evaluate what the heck we are doing and ask ourselves why. Why are we letting the big box stores tell us what plants to grow and how to grow them?

Who are they?

For starters, they have the capability to sell a crap-load of plants. Right?

So, we need them, right? Do we? Or…try this on for a novel idea…do they need us?

They totally need us. Who will grow plants for them if all the big nurseries go out of business? Remember a few issues back I told you about Lowes and possibly Home Depot starting local grower networks to supply individual stores?

Could this be the way? Is this how we stay in business and reinvent ourselves?

I’m not sure I have the answer (yet), but this week’s happenings have fueled me to want to work with the industry I love to help it move forward in a profitable, sustainable way.

I would love to gather all the great minds in horticulture and meet to see what we can come up with. The one thing I think we all love about our industry is the willingness to work together to solve things and move forward. That doesn’t happen on Wall St. or in any other industry I know.

Can garden centers survive?

I think they can.

Can we teach consumers about plants and the proper way to garden…without red-dyed mulch? Imagine the day when big boxes and even some garden centers get a conscience and try to educate their customers.

Riddle me this…Do Farmer’s markets have a candy aisle to entice children?

Do health food stores, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods sell Coca-Cola?

Does the dentist give candy as a treat for young patients?

On the other hand…

Does McDonalds serve healthy, low calorie meals?

Do inner city convenience stores sell any beverage (besides water) that does NOT contain high fructose corn syrup?

Nope.

They sell to the masses. They don’t care if they kill people. Of course, the stupid people don’t have to eat the stuff, but I believe they don’t know any better. The masses buy a lot of small purchases that add up to a crap-load (can’t believe I’ve said that twice now…) of revenue.

But…

Are you going to tell me Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s aren’t making money? What about the only fast food place with a moral conscience, Chipotle?

Go ahead…tell me they aren’t profiting. That’s one of the hottest stocks on Wall St. Did you know that?

I have friends who have changed career paths simply because of their moral conscience. Successful, profitable nurseries who decide not to sell invasive plants – ever – no matter how many customers ask for them. They offer alternatives and educate their customers about the consequences of planting those invasives. What about garden centers who refuse to sell dracena spikes! I applaud them all!

But what are we going to do to fix the nursery industry so either not one more giant grower falls or we re-adjust, change course, and follow a bit in the footsteps of the Buy Fresh, Buy Local food campaigns?

Come back next week when I’ll desperately try to help and find the answers.

Until then…Happy Weeding and hooray for the World Cup!

Can there be World peace through Fútbol?

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

P.S. If you haven’t heard about our newest coneflower from my favorite coneflower breeder, Arie Blom…let me tell you a bit about it. It’s a fantastically surprising new selection called ‘Raspberry Truffle’. I must say, when I fist saw this plant in the field, I was not impressed.

It was another pink double – or so I thought.

After having this plant in my trial garden, I really like it. It’s on the short size, reaching only to 22 inches in full bloom. The name is quite apropos for the blooms do remind one of a rich, chocolatey, raspberry treat. The ray petals are a saturated salmoney-pink and the centers begin in a most lovely dark chocolate hue and then open to reveal a double center the same color as the ray petals.

The stems are quite fuzzy and appear to be cloaked in deep, dark chocolate sauce. How yummy. This is a strong, sturdy plant with upward facing, long-lived blooms that hold up well in a vase or on the stem.

It’s certainly not just another double pink!