Christmas Open House

Our Christmas Open House is only a few short days away and you're invited, of course!  

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Tucked Away

Always a fun surprise:  praying mantis chrysalis in our yellow twig! (Actually called the "ootheca"- and yes, I did look it up just for this post!)  This season there seems to be a surplus of these little guys tucked away in our red and yellow twig.  So look twice when you're choosing your twigs and berries... there just might be a little bonus!

Deck the Halls!

We're now in full wreath-making mode!  If you stopped by this past week you may have noticed our assembly line in the back of the greenhouse.  We were kept busy cutting up greens, bunching them and then clamping them into wreath frames- a time consuming process.  The best part?  Choosing the perfect embellishments, of course!  

Petite Paperwhites

Poinsettias are a Christmas staple- no doubt about that!  However, the last few years we've been learning to love bulbs just as much.  It's so enjoyable to watch a Paperwhite or Amaryllis sprout, grow and finally bloom!

These little guys are amazing!  Depending on the variety, their fragrance can be mild or strong and their height  can reach up to one and a half feet.  A common concern we hear about Paperwhites is their height and if there is any way to control it.  We recently stumbled across an article published by Cornell University's Horticulture Department called "Pickling Your Paperwhites" that suggests using a mixture of hard liquor and water to keep your Paperwhites on the petite side.  Here's their "recipe":

Pickling Your Paperwhites

1.  Plant your Paperwhite as you normally would and add water (we usually use just enough so it barely reaches  the bottom of the bulb).

2.  Wait for the roots to grow and the bulb to begin to shoot up some leaves.  This should take about one week.

3.  Once the roots are established and your Paperwhite is growing, drain the water.  Replace the water with a mixture of roughly seven parts water and one part hard liquor.  Continue to "water"  the Paperwhite with this mixture as you would normally.

The full article is available here: Pickling Your Paperwhites  Scroll to the bottom for a great illustration of the final product.

Easy enough, right?  Best of luck with your bulbs this winter!

Getting Ready

Beginning tomorrow morning, we'll be open for retail!  We've been busy bees this week- cutting, planting, arranging... Christmas must be on the way!

2012 Christmas Open Days

November 17- December 22

Monday- Friday 9:00- 5:00

Saturday 8:00-12:00

Hope to see you soon!

Flashback

As promised, a few more of our favorites from Patty last Christmas:

So much can change in a year!  This picture was taken last December when we had barely begun construction on our latest greenhouse. (You can check out this blog post to see how the landscape has evolved:  A Transformation!)

All of the beautiful pictures in this post were taken by Patty O'Brien. Thanks so much for sharing these with us, Patty! 

Double Take

So Christmas-y!  Our growing greenhouse is just stuffed full of red poinsettias... or is it?

Can you see them?  Take a closer look on the right:

There they are!  These red begonias are being grown for a contract customer so we only have them for a short while.  So many begonias are an unusual sight for us in November (well, anything other than poinsettias, really!) but we can't complain.  Such a pretty sight in a sea of poinsettias- we just had to share it with you!