I hope you enjoy this article on why I hate gardening though I love growing plants and talking about it with those that garden.
I'm the sort of guy who would like to sit outside on the patio all day with my coffee and latest novel, just enjoying the natural outdoors. I love the fragrance of mock orange, lilacs and roses more than anything.
I dont like long hours spent watering, weeding and killing off the local insect population. I prefer plants that surprise me when they bloom not something that has bloomed for so long it has become just part of the background.
I don't mind the initial preparation of the soil, the process of planting and the rest just so long as it doesn't have to be repeated over and over and over.
I am interested in the plants my ancestors admired and am intellectually stimulated by the process of discovering new ones that share some of the characteristics.
Its from this that the concept of Azalea House Flowering Shrub Farm has evolved.
Growing plants my ancestors might have appreciated for their momentary bloom, their fragrance and the grace with which they resist disease, insects and cold weather.
Selling the plants in a laid back manner, not trying to get you to buy something you dont really want.. Selling plants that you might not have seen before but that are easy enough to find out about in books and journals of a hundred years ago. Plants that you remember Grandpa and Grandma talking about that they remembered from their childhood.
Selling plants from a micro-nursery that grows the plants locally in a relaxed atmosphere. Well that will follow soon. I'm setting up little coldframes, large enough to contain 100 one gallon pots. Then in spring, the lid folds back and the coldframe and lid become a table where the 100 can be spread out.. A sprinkler system with pop-up rotating heads like you might use to water the lawn but pools of water spread throughout the sales area so its easy enough to dip in a watering can when customers are there without having to walk to far. Benches set around so that when your feet are sore you can sit down and enjoy the flowers and fragrance. Pots are numbered for identification and lists are availble that tell you what number correspond to what plant.. People tell me to use picture tags but I say sell it in bloom and I say to you "Buy it in bloom". I'll take the pictures and post them on my web site. Or have an album that shows them blooming in their numbered pots.
When plants grow so large that its difficult to move them we'll plant them in individual raised beds (individually numbered above 10,000). Roses will be trained by pegging. Apple trees and Pear trees will be trained to espalier at another location and shown on the web site. The fruit of Antique Apples, Pears and the Bluecrop, Bluejay and Blueray blueberries may be sold in the future dates and times anounced to my newsletter subscribers.