DOWN ON THE FARMS
FLORIDA
Our expansion into Dianthus has really put us in the pinks, with an all-time high 19 varieties on current Availability. Select stalwarts like 'Bath's Pink' and Firewitch, or update your mix with our Scent FirstTM, Star and Devon CottageTM series from Whetman Pinks. All will have gardeners following their noses to that enticing sweet/spicy fragrance on the retail bench. (For more, see Tray Bon!)
PENNSYLVANIA
We're holding our breath, hoping this mild (so far) winter doesn't suddenly turn nasty. Reminder: You can pick up your FL-grown starters in PA (or vice-versa) with no freight charge. Wherever your starters started, with a little lead time we'll move 'em to where it suits you. If you're located close enough to one of our locations, this could save you some serious bucks. North or South, we're always rooting for your success.
RANDOM USELESS FACT DEPARTMENT
Did you know you can use Google Maps to find cell phone dead zones? Naturally, they think it's a problem to be solved, but isn't it also an atlas of oases to flee to when you feel overconnected? Hello? Hello? Sorry, boss, you're breaking up! I'll call you back!
TRAY BON
Shear beauty!
Ever wonder why all Dianthus are called "pinks?" It's not the flower color; reds, whites, maroons and bicolors of this versatile genus answer to the same colorful nickname. It persists from a time when every household had a seamstress or two. The toothy petal edges look as if someone trimmed them with tiny pinking shears.
By any color, any name, our pinks picks are tailor-made for your containers. Slip into the Devon CottageTM or Scent FirstTM series. Get fitted with Firewitch ('Feuerhexe'), a Perennial Plant of the Year winner. Don't let your schedule unravel. Sew up the season with our dynamite Dianthus starters.
HORTISCOPE
Aquarius: Even hardy hydrophiles go cold turkey on liquid fixes this time of year. Stay dry, go south, or find some nice hot water to get yourself into.
Pisces: Consider a line of fishy forbs: Trout lily, shrimp plant, goldfish plant, shadbush, Campanula 'Pink Octopus'. Stock an aquarium with plant-named sea creatures: Garden eel, bamboo shark, grass carp, pumpkinseed, thornfish, sea anemone. If you know others, share them. Don't be koi.
WHAT'S HOT
Carex ciliato-marginata 'Treasure Island'
You don't need your secret decoder ring and a map to find our 'Treasure Island', matey.
It's hiding in plain sight at ecgrowers.com, on our Availability list. Get on board with our favorite broad-bladed, variegated, celebrated, understated, happy-when-shaded ornamental grass. Cute as a bug's ear, tough as a boot, this little treasure (just 9"-12" high) is too pretty to stay buried in our catalog. Yar!
SCRAMBLING FOR ANSWERS
A big Thank You! to the horticultural literati who took our puzzle challenge last month. The winner, selected seemingly at random from all correct entries by Puzzlemeister Anna Graham, came from John Rich of Connecticut. Way to go!
Answers:
A belated New Year's resolution: Stop mocking Florida winters. I recently complained to my daughter about the chill in Pennsylvania: Just 24 degrees that evening, dropping into the teens overnight! The line got quiet; I swear I could hear her eyes rolling. "Dad," she finally replied, "It was seven here this morning. It'll be minus five tonight."