Coastal Current   

January 2013   Issue #37

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WE WISH YOU A COLORFUL NEW YEAR

The 2013 Color of the Year is Emerald Green, and we're incredibly honored. Pantone #17-5641 trounced nine other candidates, five of them also plant-related: Nectarine, Poppy Red, Tender Shoots, African Violet and Lemon Zest.

What? Emerald is a gem, not a plant? Not around here. Minerals can get their own venue. In this newsletter, Emerald is all about the plant kingdom.

 

Pantone #17-5641  

 

DOWN ON THE FARMS

 

Florida Va-va vamp!

We're working on our infrastructure again, revamping our shipping house to increase holding capacity by 50% while improving plant care and streamlining shipping. But what does "revamp" mean, anyway? Who vamped it in the first place? The term originally meant shoe repair, which no one does anymore, so never mind.

What's important is, our new Atlas racking system lets us stage 9,000 flats with easier access, better light and enhanced air circulation. The floor is all new concrete. Bottom line: A cleaner, safer, more efficient environment for our people and your plants.

 

Shipping revamped  

 

Pennsylvania

Two lovely snowfalls closed out 2012. One gave us a white Christmas morning, then vanished by afternoon. The next was more substantial: kids went sledding, and VP Al Mueller got to fire up his new snow-blower. Neither storm hampered travel or damaged structures. If they'd all be so cooperative, we'd say, Let it snow!

Snuggled up in the greenhouses are great-looking Heuchera, Carex and Hakonechloa crops, to name a few. They'll be even more handsome on your benches than on ours.

 

Heucher Miracle  

 

RANDOM USELESS FACTS DEPARTMENT

What common thread unites FBI czar J. Edgar Hoover, Paul Revere, Betsy Ross, Mad Anthony Wayne, musicians Country Joe McDonald & Milt Jackson, novelist J.D. Salinger, and Annie Moore, the first entrant through Ellis Island? They were all born on January 1. Annie arrived from the Emerald Isle on her 15th birthday in 1892. Happy New Year and Happy Birthday, one and all.

 

 

WHAT'S HOT

Hakonechloa macra 'Fubuki'. That's Japanese for "snowstorm." Seasonally apropos, and well-named, too, with snowy white and rich emerald green contrasting stripes on the familiar cascading Hak mac form. It's quite new on the market and not in abundant supply. Let a little 'Fubuki' brighten your grass selection before availability melts away.

 

Hakonechloa Fubuki  

 

HORTISCOPE

ugly socks Capricorn: This is no time to pull in your horns. Butt your way to the front of the line and exchange those ugly socks for something from the garden center. Do it today, before you lose the receipt.

Aquarius: Careful with those ewers, water-bearer, or you'll snuff that candle you're burning at both ends. Holler if you need a light.

Capriquarius: You'd get more dates if you didn't smell like a wet goat, cusp-straddler. Forget the Epimedium, ask your doctor if Febreze is right for you.

 

 

TRAY BON!

In keeping with the Pantone pick, we're highlighting two of our phavorite Phlox subulata varieties, 'Emerald Blue' and 'Emerald Pink'. Put our sturdy 72s to work rooting up in your pots. Or book 'em for April, when you can also choose our thrifty 128s (pictured).

 

Phlox Emeralds  

 

EPILOG

Pantone calls Emerald Green "A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being." We categorically deny the rumor that the judges named the Color of the Year after us because we enhanced their well-being with bushels of flowers and Super Bowl tickets. People who say such things are just jealous. So please, put that gossip right out of your head. Happy New Year! Watch for us onstage with Beyonce'!
  
John Friel    

  

John Friel  

Marketing Manager    

[email protected]  

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