Coastal Current   

December 2013   Issue #48

 YouTubeTwitterFacebookVimeo

The Grinch and the Caterpillar Follow Us On Our Social Networks













Folklore says the woolly bear caterpillar (larva of the Isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella) predicts the coming winter: Mostly black = cold, mostly brown = mild. But Science says the color is determined by the previous winter and has no bearing on the future. Yo, Science: Take this Almanac and crawl back into your cocoon.



DOWN ON THE FARMS

 

Florida: In Tibet, monks spend weeks creating intricate sand mandalas only to tear them asunder, echoing life's transitory, cyclical nature. At ECG, we spend all summer growing gorgeous grasses in the field only to spend the winter pulling their roots apart in the greenhouse. But they're not destroyed: They're multiplied by division, reborn first as our Panicum, Miscanthus and Pennisetum liners and then as your finished products. Embrace the cycle. Chant the mantra. Order the starters. Om.
 

Panicum - Pennnisetum - Miscanthus

Pennsylvania:

We're in creation and preservation mode simultaneously. In warm (yang) houses, we're sowing, dividing and dibbling to make new trays of Alchemilla, Armeria, Campanula, Gaillardia, Carex, Coreopsis, Digitalis, Heuchera, Isolepis, Leucanthemum, Lewisia, Nassella and more. In cooler (yin) space we're tucking in our well-established Hakonechloa, Festuca, Aquilegia and such for their winter nap.  ☯


Emerald Coast Growers Liners


 

 

Our RANDOM USELESS FACTS DEPARTMENT is on winter sabbatical in Kokomo. Please welcome our 
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES DEPARTMENT

* My Irish ilk & kin say Slainte'! to Repeal Day: On December 5th (har!) 1933, Congress trashed the 19th Amendment, allowing law-abiding Americans to get trashed again.
* Saddle up for National Day of the Horse on the 13th. Sick of our gerrymandering, glad-handing DC menagerie -- the other Washington zoo, with panderers, not pandas -- who can't agree on anything? Well, in 2004 both sides of the aisle voted Neigh! to establish Dobbin's very own Day. Yay, Congress! Now, about this health care mess...
* Once upon a time, Christmas fell on the 25th. Now it starts around Halloween, so when it finally arrives, we're kinda Bah! Humbug! about it. Merry Christmas anyway.
* Are you aware that this is Awareness of Awareness Months Month? Make a note. All year, when beleaguered by earnest souls importuning your Awareness of their righteous (or otherwise) cause, just tell them, "I'm good. Got my fix in December."

 

 

 

Emerald Coast Growers

 

December's dregs & doldrums descend. Winter winds make the inflated poly go WHOOMP! The fridge bulges with Thanksgiving leftovers. Baby, it's cold outside! Wouldn't this be a great time for a heat wave? Dream a little dream of sunblock, and fire up your perennial mix with Agastache 'Heatwave', a blast of magenta/red-hot flower spikes. Still chilly? Stand closer to the Salvia Heatwave™ series, Australian-bred for heat and drought tolerance. Four varieties (Blaze, Glimmer, Glitter and Sparkle) are ready to ignite spring sales. It'll be here before you know it. Promise.

 

Salvia Heatwave Series

 




Hortiscope

Sorry, Sagittarius and Capricorn: Our staff astrologer is AWOL with the RUFD. She'll be back next month with fresh star-spangled insights, and she'd better bring salt water taffy, too.

 


 

Tray Bon!

Emerald Coast Growers


We can grow all of the plants some of the time, and some of the plants all of the time, but... well, you can guess the rest. Production windows vary greatly among our greatly varied crops. We schedule propagation so you don't have to think about it, but there's always something on "Book It While You Can" status -- i.e., when current availability is gone, the next batch will be a long time coming out of the oven.

Currently, that status applies to Carex 'Gold Fountains' (October) and 'Silver Sceptre' (July), Chasmanthium 'River Mist' (June), Leptinella 'Platt's Black' (July), and others.
You don't have to take delivery immediately, of course. We'll babysit them til your production window opens.


 

Epilogue

Last year, This Space crowed, "I got a full week into November without tapping my firewood stockpile." This year's woodstove debut came in late October, when our first frost adorned PA Dutch Country. That's on the early side of average, as our norm is November 1-10. Maybe Science has a point: This year's woolly bears were mostly brown with small black ends, but the winter of 2013-14 is off to a colder, earlier start. Yo, Science: bring back that Almanac, I need kindling.
 


John Friel

 

 

John Friel  

Marketing Manager    

[email protected]  

Give us your feedback