  GrassSolutions™
An e-newsletter from Hoffman Nursery, Inc.
October 2010
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(and deep quantity discounts!)
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Follow
John Hoffman  @wegrowgoodgrass as he explores grasses and the green industry. For archived editions of GrassSolutions™ click here. |
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| In this Issue |
In the News
Grasses for texture, westward for fall, and Martha Stewart advises us to "Think beyond the lawn..."
Hoffman Nursery had a busy month, with a television show, IPPS touring, and other events.
Grass Forecast
The coolness just won't stop. Sedges dig the weather and pot up beautifully.
We hear about grass successes in North Carolina and Kentucky. Availability info, too.
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| When monthly GrassSolutions™ just aren't enough, our Facebook page gives you the latest news, facts, and ideas on ornamental and native grasses. And let's face it, can you really know too much about these grasses?
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Finding Great Grasses: Eastern Native Grass Symposium
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 | | Panicum virgatum field being harvested for biofuel production |
This month we find great grasses in a different kind of place. The 7th Eastern Native Grass Symposium, held in Knoxville, Tennessee, gives a different perspective on grasses than ornamental folks get normally. Focusing this year on native grasses on working and natural landscapes, the symposium was hosted by the Center for Native Grassland Management at the University of Tennessee. Talks at the Symposium addressed grasses for biofuels, for forage, and for ecosystem restoration. There were tours to pine savannahs, working farms growing switchgrass for biofuel feedstock, and nature preserves filled with native grasses. Seeing acres of switchgrass was an awe-inspiring sight, as was visiting a former tall fescue field converted to native meadow. Truly a twist on the usual great grasses.
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In the News: Who's Talking Grass?
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 | | Fabulous fall color on Miscanthus x giganteus |
With their impressive display of blooms and foliage color, grasses seem to get noticed most this time of year. To see who's talking grass, we start in North Carolina, go westward to highlight grasses in fall, and hear from a media maven.
- Want gorgeous grasses for garden texture? The North Carolina Extension program's Fall 2010 issue of Extension Gardener has five suggestions for making it happen. This issue also features showstopper Muhlenbergia capillaris on page four.
- The Jamestown Sun in North Dakota features a delightful article on adapting elements of natural grasslands to our home landscapes, including adding color to the fall garden.
- And finally, if Martha Stewart says it, it must be a good thing. We loved seeing the GrassSolutions™ frame of mind in a recent web posting about ornamental grasses for specific uses.
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| The Latest at HNI |
We've been talking grass. A lot.
 | | Videographer, Simone Keith (on left), and Producer, Sonya Williams Harris, filming In the Garden with Bryce Lane at Hoffman Nursery. |
It's been pretty busy since the last issue of GrassSolutions ™
- At the end of September, John Hoffman was the featured speaker at Hawksridge Farms' open house.
- NCSU students from a senior studio in Planting Design visited the Nursery. Shannon Currey, Director of Sales & Marketing, showed them our demonstration gardens and talked about working with grasses in the landscape. Anne Spafford, their instructor and co-author of Rain Gardening in the South, is a real grass fan, and she was thrilled to have a venue for teaching about grasses.
- The following week, John gave a Nursery tour to the Kerr Lake Master Gardener group. They were eager to learn about grasses and to pass along the information to their community.
- The week after that, we hosted IPPS (see below), and just this week, we taped a television show at the Nursery (see below), and John and Shannon gave a talk on low-impact gardening with grasses at the Durham Garden Forum. Whew. Is October over yet?
 | | John Hoffman (on left) tells Bryce Lane, host of In the Garden, about Hoffman Nursery liners. |
Hoffman Nursery Featured on In the Garden with Bryce LaneOne of our favorite NC State faculty, Bryce Lane, visited the Nursery this week with his television crew to film this popular garden show. Bryce chatted on camera with HNI owner, John Hoffman, about the history of the Nursery, the decision to focus on grasses, and how liners are produced. Shannon Currey, HNI Director of Sales & Marketing, walked him through our new GrassSolutions ™ Garden and explained how grasses help solve problems in the landscape. We had a great time. In North Carolina and the Tidewater Virginia area, you can see this episode of In the Garden with Bryce Lane on Saturday, November 20 at noon on UNC-TV. It will also be available on the show's website. We'll be posting photos and more info on our Facebook page soon, so check there for the latest. IPPS Tour a Rousing SuccessOn October 12, we hosted around 150 visitors who were attending the International Plant Propagators Society-Southern Region annual meeting in Raleigh. This diverse and engaging group learned about our growing operations, explored the production facilities, got a look at our propagation house and irrigation systems, and were able to chat with NC State faculty about research going on at HNI. An extremely tasty lunch was supported by Clarks Liner Farm, Sungro, and Hawksridge Farms. Other friends sent us plants to complement our demonstration gardens, including Carolina Nurseries and Novalis, Itsaul Plants, Intrinsic Perennial Gardens, and Hawksridge Farms. It was a group effort, and we appreciate all the help!  | | The tie-dyed, HNI staff ready for IPPS tour. |
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| Grass Forecast: It's Getting Cooler |
 | | Carex muskingumensis 'Oehme' |
Cool keeps coming this fall, and that means sedges. Species in the genus Carex are cool season plants, so they're responding to the current drop in soil and air temperatures. They're experiencing a growth spurt right now, making this a prime time to pot them up or plant them in the landscape.
Our Carex favorites include C. pensylvanica, C. muskingumensis 'Oehme', C. morrowii 'Ice Dance', and the snazzy sport of 'Ice Dance', C. morrowii 'Ice Ballet' PP20228. If you're not familiar with sedges, learn more about them in our article that appeared this summer in NMPro.
Call (919-479-6620) or email our Sales Team, see a current availability, or visit our website for more great sedges!
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| Comments & Features |
 | | Muhlenbergia capillaris at NCMA |
Tell Us About Your Grasses
Two institutions shared their grass successes with us this month. Matt Conley, Site Manager at the North Carolina Museum of Art, sent us this photo of Muhlenbergia capillaris glowing in the morning light. He put in this planting because this spot was difficult to mow, and the Museum is trying to reduce the amount of turfgrass it must maintain. Paul Capiello, Executive Director of Yew Dell Gardens in Kentucky, knew we would want to see this beautiful stand of Schizachyrium scoparium 'Prairie Blues'. According to Paul, "We brought in plugs of your little bluestem (Prairie Blues) this spring and planted this bed. These images were from midsummer and they looked spectacular. They look even better now with some early fall color. Great selection and great vigorous plugs."
 | | Schizachyrium scoparium 'Prairie Blues' at Yew Dell Gardens |
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