LAST EPISODE, YOUR FECKLESS AUTHOR...

...was about to head south to determine if our Florida folk were being candid about their allegedly world-class fall weather. The numbers looked, and the stories sounded, almost too good. Could reality match the plaudits? Or could it be that the searing, wringing-humid summers had warped their perspective? Read on.

 

DOWN ON THE FARMS

Everything the Panhandlers say about a Pensacola autumn is true. Each day was mild, sun-kissed, breeze-caressed. The jade-green sea looked Photoshopped, sunsets were downright gaudy, and we kayaked in shorts and shirtsleeves. Best of all, the tourist herd had shuffled back to Buffalo. One wonders why.

At our Milton grass farm, I watched a nifty new planter line out liners by the acre, simultaneously installing irrigation tape. More flexible than its predecessor, it can optimize spacing for Lilliputian Miscanthus 'Gold Breeze', Brobdingnagian Arundo donax, and everything in between with equal aplomb and precision.

At Klondike Road HQ, a spacy-looking LED germination chamber, still in beta mode, is already enhancing our seed-spawned crops. Eerie looking, but young plants love it. If you could hook this thing up to your stereo, you'd have one heck of a light show. Break out the mirror ball, it's Panicum at the Disco!

 

John Friel - "Break out the mirror ball, it's Panicum at the Disco!"

I hated to leave all that Florida sunshine. Autumn in the North hath its charms also, but short-pants season is over except for those macho guys who bare their legs all year. One wonders why. As I type, our first frost is expected any day. Long sinewy Vs of geese wedge the sky apart. It's time to plant garlic and mulch it with leaves, of which there is no shortage. The trial garden has a new irrigation system and will soon boast new shade beds. Inside, our production folks are divvying Festuca 'Elijah Blue' and 'Boulder Blue' and sowing Carex testacea for your future planting pleasure. The cordwood is stacked, the hatches battened.  Bring it on, winter!

Festuca 'Elijah Blue'

Ireland: Hands Across the Water! 

VP of Finance Al Mueller found a sly way to expense part of his Hibernian hiatus: He visited Fitzgerald Nursery in Kilkenny, source of the popular EverColor Carex collection. Pat Fitzgerald started his nursery on the family farm about the time ECG opened. He now has two growing locations and a TC lab to help ramp up numbers of new varieties. Al got a sneak preview of potential additions to 'Everdi', Everest, 'Everillo', 'Everlime', 'Everoro' and 'Eversheen', but of course, we're sworn to secrecy. Back home, Al learned to his sorrow that once you've slaked your thirst at the headwaters of the river Guinness, the stout by the same name on tap in the States is a pale impersonation of the real, fresh thing in its native habitat. Sláinte!

Fitzgerald Nursery in Kilkenny, Ireland

 RANDOM USELES FACTS DEPARTMENT

Ornamental Grasses from Emerald Coast Growers

Cameo Appearances! 

 Regular readers of our fascinating Availability know that we can do some of the plants all of the time, and all of the plants some of the time, but yada yada yada. Right now, though, some frequent AWOL items are ready to make the leap from our benches to your pots. Stuff like Bouteloua 'Blonde Ambition', a neat native. Carex 'Treasure Island' is so fickle, we don't even have it in the catalog. Carex testacea is more cooperative, but demand often outstrips supply. Get 'em while they're What's Hot!

Bouteloua 'Blonde Ambition'

Scorpio: It's time to conquer your over-the-top, beyond-ironic fear of scorpions. It's bad enough that they're your symbol, but you live in Pittsburgh! Get over it.  Sagittarius: Take your bow & arrow over to Scorpio's place and offer to stand guard against the imaginary creepy-crawlies. She'll make it worth your while, Cupid.

TRAY BON!

Coreopsis Li'l Bang™ 'Starlight'