Did you ever think in your lifetime that you would see an event take place that would reshape the lives of the whole world? Last Friday I sat in my office thinking about this. I sat here thinking about my world and the journey over the last seven weeks. There are parts of my world that I did not handle well in the beginning. To be honest I made mistakes that affected those around me. As a business owner, like so many across America, we were open on one day and completely shut down the next. I was thinking a lot about other business owners and what they may be going through. I can’t come up with any words to visualize it other than silence and shaking my head.

One thing that has been emerging of late that I have noticed for myself is that I am developing better “mind muscles.” I so want to come out of this stronger as person than even before this happened. Like so many things in my brain sometimes ideas just fire off. It’s kind of a curse because I have a tendency to be impulsive when I get an idea and I just go with it and try to not look back. Sometimes I hit a home run, sometimes I don’t. But most people who are self employed are generally risk takers, it’s kinda in our DNA as business owners. So a small light popped in my head Friday, I was thinking about all the heroes out there, first responders, nurses, doctors, the mail man, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, and grocery clerks just to mention a few.

I was thinking about what I could do for doctors and nurses besides just deliver food. I’m in the nursery business, the restaurant business, and the landscape construction business. I have decided to launch Hydrangeas for Heroes. We are going to deliver Hydrangeas to hospitals and convalescence homes around the region, to doctors and nurses who have sacrificed everything for our safety. Since Friday, we are up to over 1,500 Hydrangeas that will be delivered next week. We will be reaching from Auburn to the San Joaquin Valley, and Amador County. We will also be delivering at convalescence homes that are in lock down. To pull this off, there is a mountain of work to be done in a very short period of time.

If you’d like to volunteer for something, here is how you could help:

• I need 2,000 bows made by Monday. (I would provide the ribbon, cut to length, and the wire for them)
• I need drivers with covered trucks who would be willing to drop Hydrangeas off locally and throughout the valley curbside. My goal is to hit all six Sutter hospitals in one day.
• I need six drivers to come to High-Hand at the same time and depart at the same time on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
• I need sticker helpers.
• I need to place the label shown below on thousands of pots. Yikes!

We are very grateful for the corporate sponsors who have stepped up to date. High-Hand provided the first chunk of Hydrangeas. Teichert, Livingston’s Concrete, Berry Lumber, Placer County Treasurer, and the head nurse at San Joaquin General, and six other locations have all stepped up to help the cause, I am eternally grateful.

You can be part of Hydrangeas for Heroes as well:

1. Go to our homepage.
2. Click on the banner High-Hand To Go/Curbside Pickup.
3. Select the blue Hydrangea flower and you can be part of Hydrangeas for Heroes.

The hydrangeas are $15 each and this includes tax and delivery. Thanks volunteers 😊. We would love for you to be part of Hydrangeas for Heroes — if you are interested, email us at thoughts@highhand.com with name/phone/what you can help out with (drivers, bow makers, stickers). I thank you in advance.

Pruning

So while we are still homeschooling, let’s talk about Hydrangeas. Do you want to know about tips and tricks? Have you ever wondered why your hydrangeas have never bloomed? If that’s the case, you’re probably pruning at the wrong time of the year. Do not prune in the spring – shame on you. Most Hydrangeas bloom on old wood, while there are some varieties that bloom on new wood. I would still follow the same rule. I recommend fall pruning after the blooming is done. This could be September-ish? This allows the Hydrangea to put on active growth before it goes to sleep. Are you a bear that hibernated and missed the fall pruning? You can still prune in the spring, once you see the leaf nodes beginning to form you can cut back the end of stem to at least 3 fat and healthy leaf nodes. Leaf nodes are obvious. There are more things about pruning, but for our purpose that pretty much covers it.

Pest & Diseases

The most common pest is the snail and there are organic, non harmful, snail baits that you can apply, or broken egg shells around the base will help out as a deterrent. Share your beer with your Hydrangeas. A flat plate with some beer on it and the snails will belly up to the bar. Frogs keeping you up at night? Just know that they are eating snails — take a sleeping pill.

Thrips and Spittle bugs suck the moisture out of leafs, they love the shade those little bugs. Any garden insecticide should send them packing.

Powdery Mildew and Black Spot could pop up in shady locations, usually when there is poor air circulation. Cut the leaves off which have traces of mildew and fungus without hesitation.

Rust. Pops up up with too much sunlight after overhead watering. Water in the morning or late afternoon and allow the leaves to dry before the night air settles in.

Deer love Hydrangeas. Its a salad bar. Don’t have much help for you here — build a fence or get a dog.

Flower Colors

The color of blooms — here’s how it works. To create blue blooms (say that 10 times – I cant even say it once without having to slow down my mouth and think) is achieved by applying an acid based fertilizer. The degree of blueness is controlled by the amount of available aluminum. Burying a fish worked for the Pilgrims, but no, you cannot bury a beer can! You can buy aluminum sulfate and that will do the trick. A rule of thumb is a quarter cup per foot of Hydrangea. Do you want pink to red blooms? Applying lime once or twice a year should do the trick, apply until you get desired bloom color. Don’t have lime? Apply a fertilizer high in phosphate — there you go!

Where do I plant a Hydrangea?

Find a location that does not get afternoon sun. The good news is that they can take some direct sun once they are able to get established. Keep the plant thoroughly moist during hot weather until well established. At Maple Rock, I have them in deep shade, morning shade, afternoon sun, morning sun, afternoon shade, and because I’m a risk taker — full sun. They are extremely hardy and are an awesome plant. I don’t know if I have answered the question of where to plant? If you want to be a risk taker go ahead and plant wherever you want and experiment. Your best bet will be to plant in morning sun and afternoon shade.

Would you like to help with Hydrangeas for Heroes? Click here or on the HIgh-Hand To Go banner on our homepage and you’re in. We would love to have you as a volunteer. Send us an email. We will make every attempt to reach out to everybody in a timely manner — we will do our best. I would love to hear from you.

Class adjourned.

High-Hand Nursery is open!
Thursday thru Sunday 9:00am-4:00pm

If you can respect social distancing for your health and ours, welcome to the nursery. We wear masks and have plexiglass at the counters 😊.

High-Hand Cafe is open for takeout!
Thursday thru Sunday 11:00am-3:00pm

There are two ways you can order:

Visit www.highhand.com and order online.

What’s the second way to order? Come to the nursery, buy plants, order online, we will have your food ready in about 15 minutes at the cafe when you leave.

Check out our menu at High-Hand Curbside Marketplace online:

• Fresh produce
• Farm fresh eggs
• Cafe favorites
• Fun Plants

Here’s how the High-Hand Curbside Marketplace works:

1. Click here to order online or visit our website and look for the banner.
2. Select a time for pick up. We are open for pickup Thursday–Sunday 11:00–3:00pm.
3. Now here’s the tricky part, toggle our menu options at the top. The menu options are listed as Grocery, Beverages, Nursery, Restaurant and don’t forget the Olive Oil Company.
4. Make your selections then head to check out and pay online. We will have your order ready at your scheduled time in the Cafe parking lot.

Do you walk your garden in the search of green life? I think we all walk our gardens and don’t see beyond the green life that lies in front of us. Most of the time we just look at a flower and say, “oh that’s pretty.” You expect flowers in your garden, but have you ever asked yourself what is a flower?

Since we are all being home-schooled right now let’s step back into class. Ask yourself a question the next time you see a flower. What is the point? Is it necessary for the plant?

So check this out. There are two types of flowers. Perfect flowers and imperfect flowers. It sounds simple enough but it is not. Perfect flowers have both male and female reproductive parts. Imperfect flowers have either male or female reproductive parts. We are all walking imperfect flowers.

Let’s talk about the petals, what are they for? Do they have a purpose?

Flowers have evolved into bright, colorful appearances to lure us in. I am here to catch your eye. The flower says, “look at me.” The bright colors are seductive for pollinators such as birds, bees, and butterflies. Like mosquitoes, I have always wondered what the functionality of a wasp is in nature. They are pollinators too. Now we know about petals, we can stop there but let’s go a little bit further. In the center of the flower is the stigma, in the middle of that are pollen tubes, inside there, believe it or not, is an embryonic sac. Pollen works its way down the pollen tube into the embryonic sac and “would you look at that” a seed is developed. On a fruit tree it would develop into a fruit, on a flower it could develop into a seed.

Let me introduce you to Miss Osteospermum Eckionis aka Denim Blue. This flower should be in every garden. Osteo’s are extremely easy to grow and I think they are very underrated. They are friggin’ flower factories, blooming from spring all the way into fall. But Beware, they are heroin addicts, they LOOOOOVE fertilizer. They also love to be touched unlike your grumpy cat that sits on the couch and looks out the window all day. Deadhead this plant, not to be confused with the Grateful Dead, which I as an 18 year old got to see live in San Francisco. I didn’t know what a contact high was but I learned that night, sorry… off topic. Now, if you don’t want to touch this plant and pull of its dead flowers here is what I do. I wait until the blooms slow down and are 50% spent, I sheer it, and feed it. A few weeks later, Natures smiles.

So as we wrap up class, next time you look at a flower you’ll know a few basics. Oh and two fun facts before before we adjourn.

High-Hand Nursery is open!
Thursday thru Sunday 9:00am-4:00pm

If you can respect social distancing for your health and ours, welcome to the nursery. We wear masks and have plexiglass at the counters 😊.

High-Hand Cafe is open for takeout!
Thursday thru Sunday 11:00am-3:00pm

There are two ways you can order:

Visit www.highhand.com and order online.

What’s the second way to order? Come to the nursery, buy plants, order online, we will have your food ready in about 15 minutes at the cafe when you leave.

Check out our menu at High-Hand Marketplace online:

• Fresh produce
• Farm fresh eggs
• Cafe favorites
• Fun Plants

Here’s how the High-Hand Curbside Marketplace works:

1. Click here to order online or visit our website and look for the banner.
2. Select a time for pick up. We are open for pickup Thursday–Sunday 11:00–3:00pm.
3. Now here’s the tricky part, toggle our menu options at the top. The menu options are listed as Grocery, Beverages, Nursery, Restaurant and don’t forget the Olive Oil Company.
4. Make your selections then head to check out and pay online. We will have your order ready at your scheduled time in the Cafe parking lot.

Can I just say this? I want to thank you for thinking about us, it has been heart warming. Our nursery team and cafe team thank you for your support. Without you, we would just not be here, it’s that simple. From the bottom of our hearts to yours, thank you.

I hope to see you,

Scott

P.S. Buy an Osteo, you will smile all summer long.

Lets talk about Peonies, why? Because they’re cool. I was walking the nursery yesterday and came across a crop of Peonies that we have grown. I am sure at this point most of us whom are stuck at home have gotten out into the garden and found little surprises here and there. Natures details. At Maple Rock Gardens we have a hill full of Peonies, every year in the fall they go dormant. Every spring, after I have forgotten they are even there, their power emerges from the ground faithfully.

I was never a fan of the traditional garden Peony. I would have to tend to it, stake the flowers, and just wasn’t willing to put in the work. Yes, I have been know to be a lazy gardener.

Well don’t worry lazy gardeners, I have the perfect Peony for you! As you can see by the flowers in the picture they are pretty friggin’ awesome. Awesome blossoms you could say. The Peonies we grow at at High-Hand are Itoh Peonies — these aren’t your grandmother’s Peonies.

With the schools closed down let’s do a little bit of home schooling. In the early 1900’s plant breeders scoffed at the idea of breeding a regular garden Peony with a tree Peony. They were simply considered to be incompatible. Fast forward to 1948. After over 1,200 failed attempts a Japanese horticulturalist, Dr. Toichi Itoh succeeded. Can you imagine the patience it took to cross pollinate these plants and wait year after year to see if it worked?

Well sadly Dr. Itoh passed away, never seeing his creations bloom. Years later, an American named Luis, not to be confused with Luis and Clark, bought some original Itoh Peonies from Dr. Itoh’s widow and continued Dr. Itoh’s work. For some reason when I think of Dr. Itoh I think of Mr. Miyagi, the wax on wax off guy from the Karate Kid movie, both men had incredible patience.
It’s been four weeks since we closed the High-Hand Cafe. It’s been almost three weeks since we closed High-Hand Nursery. This allowed our team some time to settle their family, and create space between our families and the uncertainty we find ourselves in. After much thoughtful consideration we have decided to open up the nursery Thursday to Sunday from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. While Disneyland may be closed, we are still on Wild Toad’s Wild Ride.

We welcome you to High-Hand Nursery, but we ask for your patience as we adhere to social distancing practices to keep ourselves and you safe. We encourage you to wear your face coverings and please help us remain at a safe distance. Don’t be offended by our Plexiglass sneeze guard when you meet us at the counter.

High-Hand loves you, please be patient with us while we are lightly staffed.

Great Peonies, a fresh shipment on Friday of vegetable starts, and of course what you have all come to love us for — our Japanese Maples.

Curbside Pickup? Click here to get some. WOW what a success! Did you know that you can buy fresh produce boxes, flower baskets, and other great High-Hand Nursery items online? Don’t forget about Collin’s farm fresh eggs — his girls are cranking out eggs for your enjoyment.

Check This Out

Here’s how the High-Hand Curbside Marketplace works:

1. Click here to order online or visit our website and look for the banner.
2. Select a time for pick up. We are open for pickup Friday–Sunday 12:00–4:00pm.
3. Now here’s the tricky part, toggle our menu options at the top. The menu options are listed as Grocery, Beverages, Nursery, and don’t forget the Olive Oil Company.
4. Make your selections then head to check out and pay online. We will have your order ready at your scheduled time in the Cafe parking lot.

Let’s Recap:

• High-Hand Nursery is open Thursday through Sunday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
• We love you!
• Buy a Peony, why not? And buy one for your neighbor too.
• Help us help you to be safe.
• Please respect our social distancing practices.
• Visit the High-Hand Nursery Marketplace for curbside pickup. It’s fun!
• Most importantly relax and stay safe.

Over the course of the last four weeks its been an emotional and wild ride for all of us. We have all been forced to re-calibrate and find our equilibrium. There is an eternal flame of optimism that burns in all of us that says tomorrow will be a better day.

And it will be,

Scott

It seems like the entire world has come to a stop. Nature has not stopped spring bringing all of its glory and happiness. With flowers blooming, birds hatching, busy bees, and the miracle of butterflies, nature welcomes us with her grace.

Great news from High-Hand! Check it out! You can enjoy all things that you love about High-Hand by ordering online at the High-Hand Curbside Marketplace!

Here’s what you can enjoy: items from our grocery including fresh farm eggs from Maple Rock, fresh fruit and veggie boxes, crisp salad boxes, as well as High-Hand brand preserves, salsas, and tapenades.
*The fruit, veggie, and salad boxes must be ordered by noon the day before for Friday, Saturday, Sunday pickup.

From the nursery — happiness: Savvy Succulents, Playful Pot-ups, Cheerful Flower Baskets, and Happy Flowers for Pots. With great flavors and flowers from High-Hand, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Miss the flavors of High-Hand Olive Oil Company? We will have select options available on our Curbside Marketplace menu. Wish to have olive oil shipped to you? Visit us online by clicking here to shop. We’ll take care of you.

Here’s how the High-Hand Curbside Marketplace works:

1. Click here to order online or visit our website and look for the banner.
2. Select a time for pick up. We are open for pickup Friday–Sunday 12:00–6:00pm.
3. Now here’s the tricky part, toggle our menu options at the top. The menu options are listed as Grocery, Beverages, Nursery, and don’t forget the Olive Oil Company.
4. Make your selections then head to check out and pay online. We will have your order ready at your scheduled time in the Cafe parking lot.

How cool is that?

While we have most of our favorites on the menu, we are just getting started and will be adding more soon. What else would you like to see? Would you like to see offerings of our Mighty Maples or maybe favorites from the Cafe? Let us know! Go on and try out the High-Hand Curbside Marketplace. Thank you for supporting us at High-Hand.

See you soon,
Scott