A Grower Perspective

This spring has been a whirlwind of activities both at work and at home. Yesterday I happened to take a quiet moment to walk out into my backyard and was delighted to discover that some of my trees were in full bloom. They were glorious. We planted them at various times over the 22 years we have lived in this house. At the time, they were small, seemingly insignificant trees. We planted them knowing that someday in the future they would grow tall and beautiful – providing colorful spring color and lush green canopies in our landscape. Yesterday, I realized that day had arrived. It made me realize, once again, how quickly time passes. I can clearly remember Dave and I planting each one and here we are more than two decades later enjoying their mature beauty.

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I just received a wonderful phone call.  A few weeks ago, some customers bought Leylandii Cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii) trees from us to create a screen.  They were trying to sell their house and wanted to block off the neighbors house to create a more private yard.  Their house was on the market and they thought this might help improve their chances for selling.

This customer just called and they were so thrilled having just received a signed offer on their house.  Many prospective buyers had toured their house previously but the first people to tour after the trees were planted were the ones that made an offer.  Coincidence?  Maybe.

Or perhaps the enriching of the landscape and the presence of these trees sweetened the deal and removed the

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If you want to read a great piece about creating stress-relieving outdoor spaces, check out this article in today's (7/23/09) Register-Guard's Home & Garden special section:

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 We started doing something new at our weekly company meetings at Pleasant Hill Nursery.  At each meeting, someone has to bring in a plant from the nursery and educate everyone about that plant.  The goal is to help those with less knowledge to become more educated about plants.  Truth is, we all learn something. 

It was my turn this week and I chose Rosa rugosa.  It was one of my mom's many favored plants.  Dave remembers her collecting seed and starting her own Rosa rugosas.  (I'm grateful he has these memories from her days being around her in the nursery.) I researched this plant and had great fun sharing my new findings with the group.  Here's what I learned about

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I own a nursery so people are always surprised that I am a near novice when it comes to plants.  (Don’t worry, we have plant experts here! My role is marketing and administration.) Through the years I’ve noticed there is much variety in the color and texture of plants but I guess I never really paid attention to the vastness of differences. While plant enthusiasts have always known this, I just didn’t tune into the small color and textural details one notices when you study these plants up close.

However, this has become so much more apparent to me as we’ve begun to build our photo library. Plant photography has become a top priority for us. It is a massive job to build up our photo archive when you consider the sheer number of varieties we grow

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