We can pretend that this is Wednesday and you are receiving the email on a Wednesday, as we normally do. But that would mean we’ve gone back in time and added another day to our work week. So, let’s not do that. Wednesday’s email on Thursday. It’s good to change it up. Yes? Well, not really. Our internet was down most of yesterday due to an area outage. Sorry about that.
We need your help.
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, PRETTY PLEASE
I realize that voting online is a pain. We have been nominated to be part of KCRA’s Best of the Best for 2017. Fun! But then I thought, “Oh no, online voting. Capturing my information. Selling my email. Sending copious amounts of email and eventually the auto calls will come on my cell phone during work.” Yes, I thought all this was going to happen. So I went online and I voted for myself. At first, it felt kind of weird, voting for our nursery, but then I thought, “Wait a minute, if politicians can vote for themselves, why can’t I? Am I exempt from voting because it’s for our nursery?” I think not. So with a big breath, I went online to vote. As I was typing in my email and creating my password, blah, blah, blah, and, yes, giving them my zip code so they know where I live, I was fearful that I had given up my goods. All of my fear was erased as I went through the prompts for voting for High Hand Nursery, I found a box that said, “Click here and we will not contact you.” Perfect. My fear melted away and now I was voting with confidence. So, if you would do me a favor (by the way it only took me about 55 seconds), would you vote for us? We will love you for it.
Holy aftermath of the heat! Have you walked around your yard and noticed that a few plants melted, or that a tree that normally doesn’t drop leaves is shedding leaves like clothing? The heat we had last week was brutal. We survived. Some of our plants did not. If you’re like me, I lost a few things. Some of them I knew I would lose. I was just too lazy to go out into the heat and water the petunias that were in a steel bucket on my brick patio. So I sacrificed them.
But if you noticed that some of your Japanese maples are dying, I have good news. They’re not. Last week we received numerous calls of “My trees are dying!” We rolled out our standard question. “How much are you watering per day currently?” One of the answers was “I’ve been gone for a month. I’ve been watering ten minutes by drip twice a week. Over the winter, things did just fine. I don’t understand.” “Hmmm.”, I thought.
I know what you are all thinking because you’ve gone to High Hand Nursery’s watering class called “Math”. Ten minutes on a 1 gallon drip emitter is about a pint of water. So, I’ll say it again. Go run a marathon in the heat and drink a pint of water. Let’s see over time what will slowly happen to you.
Think of your plants as human beings running a marathon in the heat with no protection, other than the fact that they have to rely on you and your mathematical bent. Let me put it bluntly. If math is not your thing, chances are your yard will suffer. If math is your thing, then chances are your yard will flourish. Sixty minutes on a 1 gallon drip emitter is one gallon of water. There’s your formula.
So, let’s talk about our friend, Mr. Japanese Maple in the picture. Can you see the dry leaves? We’re professional plant people, or PPP’s with PhD’s. If I’ve lost you, we are professional plant people who are professional hole diggers.
So, here’s what the tree is saying to you when it has dry leaves or it is dropping leaves. Pardon me while I talk like a tree.
“Look, you planted me. I love that you chose me, took me home and planted me. Thanks. But, on the way home I wondered, ‘Hmmm, are my new owners good at math? Since I can’t ask them, I’m sure I’ll find out soon’.”
“So, here’s what happened to me. You didn’t give me enough water when I needed it the most. By the way, I’m not dying. Far from it. You didn’t water me enough, so I decided to flag. I am forced, due to lack of water, to make a choice. So, as a tree I chose to insulate myself and let the top layer of leaves dry. So, do me a favor. When I do this, do not remove my dry leaves. I’m not dying, nor am I frying. My dry leaves act as insulation between the sun and the rest of me. With all the energy I’ve just gone through just to survive, give me a little extra water. I just ran a marathon. Well, not really, but figuratively speaking. Scott sent me an advance copy of this email and I think his reference to running a marathon in the heat and water are quite accurate, by the way. So, leave me alone. Give me a drink of water and let me rest. I will drop my protective shield of leaves when I’m ready and will replace with new ones”
Well, there you go. You just heard it from the tree’s mouth. Not really. That was me. But they talk to me and that’s the voice in my head. Sometimes I can walk the nursery and I have a tree committee talking to me. Energy says a lot about your garden. Tune into it, especially moving into hotter months.
Holy Echinacea! One of my favorite summer flowers. They go dormant back to the ground, store up energy over the winter and come busting out all summer long. I don’t know why we don’t plant more of these. They make great bouquets in your yard, are faithful bloomers and are hardy. Native to the prairies of our country (Happy Fourth of July United States, by the way), they are great, tough plants.
In celebration of Holy Echinacea Day at High Hand Nursery, you can buy one and get 50% off a second one. Planted in groups or masses, they are stunning.
I plant Echinacea with Agastache. Say that three times. “Echinacea, Agastache. Echinacea, Agastache, Echinacea, Agastache”. Can’t speak? Type it three times. It’s just as hard. We’ve been growing this plant for a few years. We never seem to be able to sell it. I don’t get it, but I’m not giving up on it. It’s called Hummingbird Mint. Can you guess why? Being part of the sage family an added side benefit is that it is deer resistant. If a person reading this email recognizes the picture, can you let me know how your Echinacea/Agastache patch is doing?
I’m sure this last paragraph of my email just blew my stats according to MS Word. Sorry, Farmer Fred.
September 9th, join us at Maple Rock for a fun day with trains. Who doesn’t like trains? We’ll have live steam engines, BBQ and music. Come see the trains presented by Sacramento Valley Railroad Society. Tickets are $10 and parking is free.
So, here’s your task. Here’s what I need you to do:
- Cast your vote for High-Hand Nursery on KCRA’s Best of the Best. Click here to vote.
- Buy a train ticket. Don’t be left at the station. Click here to purchase your tickets.
- Take advantage of my echinaceas. Sounds weird. Buy one, get one half off.
See you at High Hand Nursery. Remember, do the water math.
Scott
P.S. A secret. There are coupons on our website. Look for them.
P.S.S. July 8-9th is our “Name Your Own Price Sale”. You can make an offer on some plants we’d like to move. A few scratch and dent plants and a few that have been around for awhile. And, a lot of crape myrtles. Beautiful ones. Name your own price while supplies last. Here’s a picture of a group of crape myrtles being offered.
Are You Willing to Name Your Own Price?
See you July 8th and 9th!