With Halloween 2017 behind us, and Christmas already in the bag according to the big retailers, I’m starting to think about Christmas 2018. Why not? ’17 is in the bag. Time to look at ’18. I’m sorry, but these are majorly sarcastic words. If you read my last email, you’ll understand. Please petition the retailers to not mention Christmas before Halloween. But, just in case you’re a planner and everything has to be planned out, there are only 419 days until Christmas 2018.

Have you ever had somebody whistling a tune, oh, let’s say like the Barbie doll commercial jingle? You know the one – “Here comes Barbie doll.” And then you find yourself as a grown up humming the tune throughout the day. Well, I’m sorry, I probably just stuck Christmas 2018 in your head for the rest of the holiday season.

So, let me help you out. It’s Fall. It’s not Halloween, it’s not Thanksgiving, it’s not Christmas. It’s Fall. And when you’re in the nursery business such as High-Hand Nursery business is, Fall is a really big deal.

“What the caterpillar calls death, the master calls butterfly.” Those of you with a literary bent will know where that phrase came from.

I get to witness this unassuming, basically blah green Japanese Maple that everybody walks by and snubs their nose at it because it’s just a green Japanese Maple. We get to witness great things in the Fall.

We get to see colors change. It’s a caterpillar that nobody notices and it turns into a butterfly that we all stop to look at in wonderment.

There are three Japanese Maples that I think are the best in our region to plant. They are all green and they are all boring. They are all Acer palmatums.

The first maple is Tobiosho. This green maple comes alive in the Fall with vivid scarlet color.

Seiryu – this green maple is a bit of an anomaly. It’s a lace leaf. With bright green leaves throughout the season tipped with reddish tones, it turns into fiery red that is spectacular.

Last, but not least, the Pine Bark maple. Yes, it’s green also. It’s bark is rough like a pine tree turning fiery orange in the Fall.

You may ask why I’m picking on these three maples. They are three maples I have been planting for years. They are the three that are best suited for our hot climate.

Let me step off the trail for a moment and not follow the leader. I don’t care what you hear about these three maples. I’m telling you they can live in full sun quite well. Everybody comes into the nursery wanting a red maple. Fine, but these three maples are spectacular. I highly recommend you give them a shot.

So, let’s play a game buried deep in this email. Here’s the secret phrase. You know how it works. You’ve done it before. “What the caterpillar calls death, the master calls a butterfly.” Say these words and get 20% off a Japanese maple through Sunday, November 5, 2017.

Now, I know this may seem a bit corny, but I got two things accomplished here. I get to learn whose paying attention and I get to entertain myself at the same time.

What’s a Pumpkulent? We will teach you.

November 12, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Cost for the class is $65.00, plus tax per person.

November 12th, click here to sign up.

Mimosas and treats included. Seating is very limited, so don’t wait to reserve a seat to learn how to build a pumpkulent (pumpkin + succulent = pumpkulent).

I don’t know what it is about Fall, but it seems like olive oil is kind of a big deal around Fall. Visit our form of a tap room. With 50,000 olive oils and vinegars to choose from. We are convinced you’ll find the perfect one for our Fall/Holiday season. Okay, it’s not 50,000. It’s many, many, many. I don’t know if that represents a number, but I think you get the point. Click here and we will give you some motivation to come into the store.

High-Hand Olive Oil Company is located by High-Hand Art Gallery, which is just past the High-Hand Flower Market and High-Hand Mercantile store, which in between all of these are other unique shops. Click here to start exploring the fruit sheds.

There you go. Links, clicks and High-Hand.

Looking for something unique this Fall season? Come explore.

See you at High-Hand Nursery.

Scott

P.S. I so want to mention the Christmas event in this email. It’s so against my retail nature not to. I so want to keep up with the big boys, but I’ll hold off and announce it next week. You can, however, read up about High-Hand’s Holiday celebration by, yes, clicking another link.