( Glowing Embers, Nikko Blue, Bluebird)

I have this 15 year old son that plays football and wrestles for South Lyon High School. I like to take an active role in his activities so I got involved with the boosters. What I do for the wrestling boosters is I take pictures of the matches then I upload them to a photo sharing web-site for the parents to download. I also send a couple of pics and a little story to the local paper once a week. Parents love seeing their kid's picture in the paper.

So I got this great idea, I could do the same thing for the nursery,  So this first album I'm going to share is a bunch of recent nursery pictures that I had in my computer. Here's how it works, click on the link, then click on the "slide show button" (upper left corner) then click the play button. The pictures will change every three seconds, you can also manually scroll through. So without any further ado,
http://picasaweb.google.com/Rushtonfarms/NurseryPics?authkey=Gv1sRgCISM-f_GzLD0pQE#

I'm a very fortunate guy because I'm one of the few that actually likes winter. It's just so peaceful, calm, and relaxing. I like sleeping in til about 8:00, sipping on some good strong coffee, and watching the birds in the bird feeder. I might take a trip to the market, come home, put on some jazz, open a bottle of wine, and cook up some osso bucco, or maybe beef bourguignon. You know, a nice hardy, winter kind of dish. I get angry at the weather man when he talks jealously about the weather their having in Florida, or says stuff like "only two more months until the first day of spring" What makes him think I'm in a big rush for spring?

It's not like I don't work at all, I do, I'd go crazy if I didn't, but it's just me and the owner of the business, and he and I are very like minded when it comes to winter. So we work 8-4 four days a week.  We are closed for the last three weeks of December and the first week of January for the holidays. I also take a week off in February while my son is out of school for mid winter break, It's a nice schedule.

Well we held off calling in the guys for as long as we could. Winter haters rejoice, spring is here.
The frost laws are coming off, we're digging trees, potting plants, and starting to sell a few things. I have to say, I don't think things are going to be as bad as we all thought they where going to be. I'm not expecting to set any records this year, but I think we'll do, um, okay.



We are loaded with plants and ready to go



Something new I'm going to try this year is to keep an inventory and e-mailit out once a month. It will look something like this...

Variety	Qty	Gal
Amelanchier Laevis	150	7
Aronia Black	400	5
Aronia Red	450	5
Azalea Exbury	10	5
Azalea Exbury (ast varieties)	90	7
Berberis Crimson Pygmy	3642	3
Berberis Rose Glow	350	3
Buxus Green Mountain	1885	3
Buxus Green Velvet	4602	3
Buxus Winter Gem	5660	3
Campsis Balboa Sunset	30	5
Caryopteris Dark Knight	50	3
Chaenomeles Texas Scarlet	150	3
Chamaecyparis Goldmop	200	3
Chamaecyparis Sungold	275	3
Clethra Hummingbird	250	3
Clethra Ruby Spice	150	3
Clethra Sixteen Candles	50	3
Cornus Kelsey	40	3
Cornus racemosa	65	3
Cornus Redtwig	980	5
Cornus Variegated Redtwig	150	5
Cornus Yellowtwig	80	5
Corylus americana	45	5
Cotoneaster apiculatus	1360	3
Cotoneaster divaricatus	10	5
Cotoneaster Tom Thumb	30	3
Deutzia gracillis	240	3
Euonymus Burning bush	7000	5
Euonymus Greenlane	100	3
Euonymus Sunspot	700	3
Forsythia Bronx	10	3
Forsythia Lynwood	620	5
Forsythia suspensa	30	5
Hydrangea Annabelle	650	3
Hydrangea Climbing	20	3
Hydrangea Limelight	60	5
Hydrangea Oakleaf	80	5
Hydrangea Pee Gee	65	5
Hydrangea Tardiva	225	5
Ilex g. Shamrock	550	3
Ilex v. Afterglow	45	5
Ilex v. Jim Dandy	22	5
Ilex v. Red Sprite	200	5
Ilex v. Southern Gentleman	35	5
Ilex v. Sparkleberry	50	5
Ilex v. Winter Red	250	5
Itea Henry's Garnet	440	3
Itea Little Henry	200	3
Juniper Andorra	460	3
Juniper Blue Carpet	50	3
Juniper Blue Rug	798	3
Juniper Blue Star	1482	3
Juniper Broadmoor	875	3
Juniper Buffalo	1600	3
Juniper Calgary Carpet	140	3
Juniper Gold Coast	2100	3
Juniper Grey Owl	1830	3
Juniper Grey Owl	1075	3
Juniper Hughes	350	3
Juniper Kallay Compact	920	3
Juniper Procumbens Nana	900	3
Juniper Sargent Green	711	3
Juniper Seagreen	700	3
Kerria j. Pleniflora	70	3
Ligustrum Cheyene	200	3
Ligustrum Vicary	500	3
Lindera benzoin	330	3
Lonicera Clavey Dwarf	100	5
Physocarpus Diablo	135	5
Physocarpus Summer Wine	50	5
Picea Alberta	170	7
Picea Alberta	340	5
Picea Bird's Nest Spruce	735	3
Pinus Mugo pumilo	460	3
Potentilla Abbotswood	20	3
Potentilla Goldfinger	1350	3
Prunus Cistena	1055	5
Rhus aromatica	20	5
Rhus Grow low	30	3
Rhus Grow Low BI	40	3
Rhus Staghorn	50	5
Ribes alpinum	275	3
Ribes Green Mound	300	3
Salix Dwarf Arctic	125	3
Sambucus canadensis	50	5
Spirea Anthony Waterer	1850	3
Spirea Dolchica	100	3
Spirea Froebelii	1690	3
Spirea Goldflame	2210	3
Spirea Goldmound	895	3
Spirea Little Princess	1600	3
Spirea Magic Carpet	900	3
Spirea Neon Flash	780	3
Spirea Shirobana	450	3
Spirea Vanhoute	300	5
Syringa Dwarf Korean	1345	5
Syringa James Macfarland	65	5
Syringa Ludwig Spaeth	250	5
Syringa Miss Kim	1370	5
Taxus Densiformis	500	5
Taxus Emerald Spreader	30	5
Taxus Hicks	450	5
Thuja Emerald Green	360	5
Thuja Hetz Midget	150	5
Vib Burkwood	100	3
Vib dentatum	825	5
Vib dentatum Blue Muffin	250	5
Vib dentatum Chicago Luster	400	5
Vib Juddi	75	7
Vib lantana Mohican	300	5
Vib Lentago	150	5
Vib trilobum Bailey Compact	20	5
Vib trilobum Redwing	15	5
Weigela Java Red	225	5
Weigela Midnight Wine	250	3
Weigela Minuet	120	3
Weigela Red Prince	320	5
Weigela Variegated	40	5
Weigela Wine and Rose	1000	5

So if you're ready to start landscaping, and ya need some plants, swing on by, it'd be great to see ya. Also, if you'd like me to e-mail you our availability, go to the contact page of the web site and send me an e-mail. Or just call.

It was just one year ago I put up a post about how we (Rushton Farms) continue to bring in new plants late into the season. This current post just proves that nobody reads this blog. I can't tell you how many calls I've received in the last couple of weeks from customers and potential customers wondering if we "still" have any of these or "still" have any of those. What do you mean "still"? If we run out, we get more. Why should October be any different then June? October is a big month and in order to maintain that we need plants to sell. This week, the week of 10/20, I have four trucks comming in with plants like 4-5' Emerald Greens, 6-7' Nigras, 18-24" Hicks and Densiformis. There are also 15-18" and 18-24" Green velvet boxwood, Rhododendron, Climbing Hydrangea, Fragrant viburnums, pieris japonica and a bunch more stuff, and that's just this week! Look, this is a serious opperation, we see on average 30-40 landscapers a day, these guy's jobs are hard enough these days they don't need their suppliers making it harder by cutting back on inventory just because it's late in the season. As the buyer here I feel a responsibility to have plants available when they need them.

I like to compare us to a really busy delicatessen, our product is always fresh, always good, and lots of variety. And it's you the landscaper, our customers, that makes this possible, if it weren't for you buying from us, we would look like the other nurseries this time of the year, with a limited variety of tired looking plants. (Or a deli with grey lunch meat) 

I had a difficult time putting together the Friday fun quiz last week with all those hyperlinks and all so I thought we could exercise our brains a different way by learning some facts about plants we use everyday. Today we'll do Boxwood, A plant that we sell a real lot of.

Various medicaments have been extracted from the leaves of Boxwood. These potions where employed mostly by quacks and physician wanna-bees and almost always had a negative result. As late as the 19th century a concoction derived from boxwood leaves was recomended for leprosies. (I thought they just shipped them all to an island someplace and let nature take it's course) The leaves in fact yield an extract called buxine which was used during WWII as a narcotic, sedative, and to get someone to puke.

One of the Quacks from the ignorant ages suggested that if you boil boxwood leaves and dust from the wood in lye, the rusulting potion will grow hair. There is a story about a young woman who lost all of her hair due to "milignant Dysentary" (whatever the hell that is) She washed her head in the stuff and grew "a fine mane of chestnut locks". Unfortunately for her, but fortunate for us, cause this parts funny. She lacked the foresight to protect her face and neck and ended up looking like an ape. (Ha!)

Boxwood are poisonous to camels (that's good to know) and the stupid creatures love them, and in parts of persia where boxwood are abundent the caravans have to be restricted to horese, mules, or oxen. (or so it is said)

Here at Rushton Farms we sell more than 20,000 boxwood every year.

Have a nice weekend

--Frank
                                                                                  

I made it through my great wilderness oddesey unscathed. While I did not have any confrontations with grizzly bears or mountain lions, I did get charged by the much feared pica. Turns out his charge was a bluff so no physical harm came to me, however emotionally I was rattled. I could not get this fearsome creature's attack out of my head and for the remainder of the trip I was on red level Pica alert.

My time spent in the wilds got me thinking about what it would take to survive out there without one of those big boxes of wine and a cooler full of tortellini, cheese, and buffalo sausage. So one of the first things I did when I got back was purchase a book about edible wild plants. I was shocked at how many edible plants we grow right here at Rushton Farms! So for the rest of the season I will not be bringing a lunch to work. I'll be foraging for my lunch out in the container blocks.

Before I list some of the plants that I'll be dining on, I want to tell you that not all of the parts of all of the plants on the following list are edible. So if you eat the wrong thing and get sick, don't come crying to me, I'm by no means an expert on the subject. (I just bought the book two days ago)

Daylilies (unopend flower buds are yummy)
Serviceberry (amelanchier)
Elderberry (sambucus)
Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
Bunchberry (cornus canadensis)
Sweetgum (the dried sap makes good chewing gum)
Dandelion (we don't grow these on purpose, but there's a few out there)
Bayberry (myrica)
Crabapples (these are a little tough to eat all by themselves)
Oak (acorns)
Sumac (rhus)
Highbush Cranberry (viburnum trilobum)
Roses (rosa)
Spice bush (lindera)
Ostrich fern (fiddle heads)
Redbud (cercis, you can eat the young seed pods)
Hackberry (sugary pulp is delicious)

It's good to know that if things get really bad, I've got a virtual grocery store of edible plants right outside my office door.

Happy foraging

--Frank

                                                            

According to Ben Bailey, the weather guy on chanel 2, it is officially the dog days of summer. And what does a nurseryman do when the temperatures rise and sales slow down? Well he goes on vacation of course. Unfortunately, I can't tell you where I'm going, because if I do then everyone will want to go there, and they'll also bring with them their sundry bacterias and viruses and crass midwestern folkways, thus destroying the delicate cultural and ecological balance I will be fortunate enough to enjoy. I will tell you this though, I wont be at the top of the food chain,and the prospect of becomming dinner for a large predaciuos carnivore is a bit unnerving. 

                                                                   

So I need to ask all you landscapers a favor. I'm concerned that my absence will go unnoticed by my coworkers, and equally or maybe even more importantly, my boss. (who, by the way bares a slight resemblance to the predaciuos carnivore depicted above. Good thing he doesn't read this blog.) So I need everybody to come to the nursery next week and buy as many plants as you can. If work is a little hard to come by you could always re-landscape your own home. This way, they'll be so busy they'll just keep saying, "gosh, I wish Frankie where here" and they will be very happy to see me when I return.          GENIUS! 

Thanks for reading,

--Frank   

As you may or may not know, my wife does this Q & A article for the Landsculpter. The Landsculpter is the trade publication (magazine) published by the Michigan Green Industry Asscociation (MGIA). I look forward to reading her article each month, well at least the beginning part, I kind of fade when she starts talking about plants.

As the guy who usually answers the phone around here, I get asked a lot of questions too. I thought it'd be fun to do my own little Q & A but the Landsculpter wants nothing to do with me...... Good thing I've got this blog.

These are actual questions that I've recently received;

Q: "What size globes do you guys got ?"

Now I've been doing this plant buying and selling thing for a long time so I was pretty sure he was either referring to yews or arborvitae. Thanks to my years of experience and knack for dipolmacy, I was actually able to answer his question after asking a couple of questions myself. Do ya think this same person would call the hardware store and ask, "What size pipes you guys got?"

A: 24" (he was looking for Woodward globe arborvitae)

Q: "Where is the nearest laundry mat?"

You may be wondering, what does this have to do with the nursery/landscape business? My answer to that would be a lot actually. This customer obviously feels comfortable enough to call us for this information (I'm flattered). Think about it, this question is akin to calling your favorite Chinese restaurant to ask them where the nearest bowling alley is. I like to think we maintain a good relationship with our customers, this question confirms it.

A: Pontiac trail and Reynolds Sweet, right next to Hungry Howie's

Q: "Do you have the same Japanese maples as Christensen's?"

Where this question seams simple and benign, it actually is a bit complex and has more layers then a giant vidalia onion.
First off, this is Christensen's, Christensen's inc. is the legal name of Rushton Farms, Rushton Farms is our DBA (doing business as). That's why, here at the farm, we refer to "Christensen's" as "the Plant Center" and at the Plant Center, they refer to Rushton Farms as "the farm".       I told ya          I don't even want to go into the differences in Japanese maple varieties, different sizes, and vendors. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I kind of fade when the talk turns to plants. So I answerd thusly....

A: No

Well, that was kind of fun, and, I don't mind saying so myself, I think I did a pretty good job. (Look out Kim) 

                                                                      

           We will be closed July 4th, 5th, and 6th, to celebrate our nation's birthday!

I don't have any big plans myself, but I'm sure there'll be some of this.



Please have a safe holiday weekend, and don't forget to wear your sunscreen.

--Frank

So I'm sitting at my desk eating my lunch (home made pizza with mushrooms and black olives) and I hear the following conversation taking place at the write up counter....

Customer: "You know those little henry itea you have out there?"

CRF sales person: "Yeah"

Customer: "Are they like a Spirea?"

CRF sales person: "Ahhhhh,    they're not a spirea."

Customer: "Do they like full sun?"

CRF sales person: "Are you a landscape contractor?"

At that point I had to take a look, so I got up from my desk, walked around the corner, and pretended I needed something off the counter. (I think it was a pencil.)  As soon as I saw the, so called, customer he was dealing with, I knew this wasn't a landscaper. A well dressed woman in her sixties who looked like she just came from her hair dresser. I am suprised she got three questions before she was asked if she was  landscaper, and it just goes to show how much patience our sales guys have. 

It turned out that she is the Mom of one of our customers and her son just did not have time to come in with her. (understandable) She had already gatherd up some plants, so we told her that we would sell them to her this time but in the future she will have to have her son accompany her.

So, what's the moral to this story? Well there's two actually.

1) We are wholesale only! Some examples of a wholesale customer are; Landscape contractor, Nursery or Garden center, University, Municipality.

2) If you are one of our customers, and you're at our nursery and see some activity that looks "retail", it may not be. It's probaly just someone's Mom, the owners dentist, or the daughter of the guy that owns the big landscape arcitechture firm in town.

We are diligent about keeping "home owners" out of the nursery. So if you're a new customer visiting the nursery for the first time, you can expect a few questions from us about your business. We are just trying to protect you.

If you're a home owner looking to save some money on your own landscaping.......don't bother

Stella Dora is a cookie...


      

They are really good with a glass of ice cold milk, or I like to enjoy mine with a steamy cup of good strong black coffee. Unfortunately, we don't have any Stella Dora cookies.

Stella D' Oro is a daylily



Stella D' Oro is Italian for "star of gold" nice eh? it is pronounced stella day odo, you roll the r so it sounds kind of like a d.

We do have a lot of Stella D' Oro daylilies, and a bunch of other varieties too.

The latin word for daylily is Hemerocallis (hemmer o kalis) It is Greek for beautiful for a day. This is some cool stuff that you can share with your customers and they'll think you've really got it goin on. Which, of course, if you're a customer of Rushton Farms, you do have it "goin on".