We are getting our first snow of the season today. Traffic is snarled, because people act like they have never driven in snow before. I really don't understand that about people. I don't mind snow, it's rather beautiful the way it covers the landscape. It's a reminder that winter is just two weeks away for us, I try to forget that fact. I detest the cold, and the ice. I hate the feeling of slipping. I'm not a control freak, but that's one thing I insist on being sure about. Why is it that people tend to make more about something than is really there? It's common knowledge that if it's cold and wet that the streets might be slick. So why do so many cars wind up in the ditch with the first snow. You can travel down the highway and count one car after the other right into the ditch like a great wind blew them there. I just don't understand sometimes.

I continue to monitor the progress of the Lotus seedlings. The filter system is continuing to do an excellent job. I am very pleased with the clarity of the water. Both seedlings are continuing to show strong growth. The growth is not rapid growth, but is stong and consistant. The current plan is to continue to grow the seedlings in their current pots. There should be enough room for rhizome developement before having to be transplanted into a larger pot. The aquarium will continue to be home to the seedlings until their growth patterns shows signs of slowing and growth might be at risk. I am expecting at some point that the seedling will begin to grow up and beyond the rim of the aquarium. Each seedling was given a fertilizer tab about a week ago, I won't fertilize again for at least a month or until I observe signs of needing a boost. I will be monitoring growth patterns and reacting accordingly.

I have been doing some reading and research on a couple of topics that I believe might be an asset to my growing program. The first is mycorrhizae, both endo and ecto. The next is humic and fulvic acids. And the last is the use of fish by products, seaweed, and kelp in a growing pgogram. This last summer was really rough with the record low temps in July, which is usually prime growing weather for me. In my zone 6 climate I must take advantage of every opportunity that I have for additional grow for my nursery stock. I am still reading and taking notes, but there seems to be real advantges to using fungi, fish and marine life in your growing plan. I will be discussing what I have learned and the result I am seeing in the grow room soon. I have started using a regiment that includes fungi, and marine based fertilizers. The results are still out but as soon as I have enough info I will share the results..

I have been busy working on some projects since the last entry. One which is perfecting the germination of lotus seeds. I had tried this one before with a couple ofseedlings that had already been germinated. This time I have preformed the whole process myself. The seeds (2) germinated in just five days, which is rather quick according to all of the research I have done on the subject. I was growing the in deep pots that I had purchased some waterlily in, but the were growing so rapidly that I transplanted them into four inch net pots and placed them into a fifteen gallon aquarium. As I continued to do research I learned the the four inch net pots would not be large enough once the rhizome began to develope and grow. If the rhizome is crowded then you will discover that the lotus plant will not develope properly. On Saturday Nov. 28th I transplanted both seedlings into net pots that are about 6" in dia.

I was fooling around testing if I could post pictures to my blog off of my phone and this is what happened:


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This is a picture of my Musa Zebrinas 2009 season which I posted to the bananas site.

I have made a new discovery today while on Google. I found a site called Green Culture Singapore. I am new at the site, so I haven't had a chance to really dig in yet. What I have been able to see so far is that it might be a golden opportunity to gain knowledge about gardening from a different cultures perspective. I grow many different plants that are native to Asia. so I think this may be a very unique chance to learn new techniques in growing tropicals. On a side note I have the ladang musaceae site up and running. This is a very exciting time starting something from scratch with some knowledge and insight from starting the midwest aquatics and exotics site. This is a new passion and desire of mine. The MAAE site is undergoing updates and modifications, this hasn't been tossed to the curb. I will be adding to the store inventory soon, the biggest problem with the store is that right now in this economy the products and shipping prices are constantly changing. It's hard to keep up with this and try to grow my plants, and do the planning required to build the business.

It is November now and all of the nursery stock is in, protected from the winter cold that is soon to be here. We have already had several light frosts. The older I get the more I hate winter! I have several bamboo that were planted in the yard back in Aug/Sept, some of them have had damage due to the pesky deer. Fortunately they either don't like the taste of the Henon, or they just haven't discovered it yet. I tend to believe that they don't like to eat it for some reason, they are quite domesticated and have been as close as 5-6 yards from me in the past. I might be working in the yard and look up and there they are! They don't over run the place, but they don't mind sampling anything that looks like it might taste good. I have some nursery updates to pass along. I will continue to grow Plumeria, that was announced several months ago. I will also grow Bamboo, and Bananas. This is a new decision made just recently. I have already set up an additional domain to market the bananas on. I want them to have a stand alone identity. As for how I will market my bamboo, for now it shall remain under the Midwest Aquatics and Exotics site. In the future they may get their own site, but I don't want to stretch myself too thin. Right now the question being pondered is what will I grow under the Aquatics part of the company? I have contacts that want me to purchase lotus and lillies from them. Right now I need to maintain diversity in the things I grow. My niche has been to grow and sell what other local nurseries don't grow and sell. It has always worked until this season when some of the banana varieties I grow showed up on the shelves at The Home Depot. That was like a firm punch in the stomach, it really took the wind out of my sails! I operate this nursery out of passion, not necessity. Honestly my life would be easier if I didn't run it (or it run me, I'm not sure which). I could enjoy the Fall season without dreading the growing season coming to an end. The cold weather might not even be so bad, maybe. It's a passion, and hopefully be my legacy I leave behind; that I was a good nurserymen, businessman, but most important husband and father.

Michael

I haven't posted in a while so here is the latest updates. I think I posted that I will start growing different varieties of bamboo, I have planted several new groves for future harvests. One contains Phy. Nigra Henon, I have Phy. Nigra in two places, and I have a Fargesia 'Dragons Head'. I hope the their placement proves to be satisfactory. I had some success at the Arboreutum Fall plant sale. The Spring sale was rather disappointing. The only two nurseries their were Rightway and myself. I think it's just a matter of understanding the sales format and making adjustments. I was able to sell all of the Desert Rose that I had, so I think I will start growing it also. I can get the seed dirt cheap and sell it at a fair price and still clear a nice margin. What more can you ask for from a plant; beauty, ease of care and a nice profit margin.

Like many plants that I grow, they start out as a curiosity and then be come an adicition. The same has happening with me and bamboo. I purchased a clump of black bamboo about three years ago. It was a fascination to grow some bamboo and see what it would do. These days I have found myself turning to plants that are less trouble and more self sufficient. I have worked with some plants that demand to be pampered and are so fussy, just to loose them because the rest of my life became busy. Bamboo has proved to be one of those some what care free plants, but it's much more than just a plant. They are gentle giants full of grace and beauty. I enjoy growing them and they will continue to be a part of my life and my nursery for many years to come..

I just purchased another bamboo tonight. I purchased a phyl. Henon, which is a very beautiful bamboo. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to put it. I was really going to get the Temple Bamboo for this very reason. Unfortunately they were out of it for the 09 season. They were also out of Vivax which it was a toss up between Henon and Vivax. I am very pleased with this new bamboo nursery so far. The last shipment was very nice and continues to do quite well, although I should pot it up a couple of sizes before the cold sets in. I hope to be able to get one more before the season is over. I have my sites on several varieties. Well see how it works out.

The weather has been much cooler the last several days. It seems to go from one extreme to another. I hope this isn't the start of Fall weather quite yet. I'm not ready to bring the plants in quite yet. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but it also marks the start of additional care I must provide to get my tropicals through the winter. The Fall sale at the Arboreduim is coming up on Sept 12th, I'm hoping to clear out certain plants so that I can transition. Into the new format. I'm not going to continue to grow certain plants anymore. I need the space for the new offerings. I'm also looking into possibly changing the name of the nursery, I'm not sure about that part as of yet. More to come later.

Summer has come on with a vengence all of the sudden! The whole month of July was cool 70's and low 80's now we finally make it into the 80's and 90's. I only fear that the trend will be short lived in September. I wasn't able to get as much growing done as I wanted to. I'm going to have to invest in a small greenhouse. Something about 12 to 16 feet wide and about 20 to 24 feet long. I am currently remodeling the growroom. I'm going to put up a wall that will control the cool air that gets in around the edges of the garage door. This year I'm gong to set up the lab portion of the space where I'm going to germinate seed, propagate cuttings and practice TC. I have also designed a new means to heat the growing area. It always looks great on paper, but we will have to see how it works in the real wolrd.

I have found a new love, it's called a poison garden. I already grow a member of the soleance family, so I am a little familiar with these plants. There is something about caring for a plant that can kill you that is appealing to me. It's the intrigue and mystery that makes you venture just a little closer. I bought a Book at Borders that sparked the interest titled, "Wicked Plants", it's a good read! Having the book kind of makes you feel guilty of something. My wife jokingly told our son that if she winds up dead from what looks like a poisioning to look for his father. I am kind of leary of buying more of these kinds of plants because we have so many kids in the neighborhood and I am working long hours and can't be watching who is in the yard and what they are doing. My first purchase will be the Atropa Belladonna or the Deadly Nightshade. This beauty is cold hardy and can be left outside.

The last two days have been really rough. We have had so much rain, that I am sick of rain. There has been a lot of flooding problems in the region. In Louisville they received 6+" of rain. Church Hill Downs was under water, loosing a lot of printed history. The track was also under water. Here we had flooded basements, and some roads under water. Some of the damage has not yet been realized quite yet. Many cash crops cannot handle so much water, and the crops are drowning in the soaked fields. Especially tobacco, which is a double edged sword. I am thankful that quite a bit of tobacco will never make it to market this year. On the other hand my heart goes out to the farmer trying to support a family. This should be a wake up call to those farmers to switch to a more stable, and useful crop. Many tobacco farmers have already made the switch to wine grapes. Many vineyards use to exist in this region, so many that this region was known as Cincinnati's Valley of the Rhine.

Well its official July 2009 is the coldest in recorded history with an average temp of 70.3 degrees F. My plants are not very active this year. The Brugs are not blooming as much as they should be. Some of the plumeria are blooming by the leaf developement is very slow this year. They should have more leaves that are larger in size. It is Aug already and I have Plumeria the have tiny little leaves still trying to develope. They are growing, but probably not as quickly as they could if it were 10-15 degrees warmer. I don't hear much talk about Global Warming this year!

I had a really good experience with Santa Rosa Gardens Nursery this week. This is the first time I had ever purchased any nursery stock from them, and I was pleased with the plants that they shipped. I ordered a cordyline 'Bangkok' (Hawaiian Ti) and two different ornamental grasses. I couldn't resist because they were on close out and I only paid $1.99 each. I was impressed with their packing, the box was packed well with heavy packing paper and each pot was in a netting material that is suitable to be reused. All three plants arrived in excellent condition. I also thought that the plants were of a nice size, especially if I had paid full price, which I didn't this time. When I was browsing their online catalog I remember thinking that they had a nice selection of plants in stock. I was so impressed that I left good comments on the Daves Garden watchdog. I will be a returning customer in the near future.

I am rather excited about my new bamboo that I ordered yesterday. I will soon be the proud owner of a 1gal pot of Dragons head bamboo. This is a cold hardy clumping bamboo that is hardy to -10. I'm not sure if I'm going to pot it up or plant it. My black bamboo has been quite content in a pot since it arrived about 3 years ago. The only drawback is that it is currently in a 20gal pot that weighs well over 100 pounds. I just divided it for the first time and that was a real treat trying to man handle it while being careful not to damage any of my cane. I have my sites on either a temple bamboo, a phyl vivax or a phyl bory (tiger stripe). I'm willing to trade phyl nigra for any of these if anyone is interested. I also have yellow groove which is a runner hardy to - 10. It has cane which is over 8 feet tall right now.

I went to pondarama this last Saturday with my wife. I wish the weather was better but nothing you can do about that. I find it fascinating that so many elaborate ponds are hidden in the back yards of common homes. The last pond we visited was on a street I have been past so many times with no idea that such a treasure was hidden from view. Both Gina and I were inspired and full of ideas for the pond project I have been working on. I have a contact in Thailand anxious to sell me lotus and water lillies. I hope to have details about the project real soon, so check back often to find out what's next.

It has been a rainy morning, would have been nice for getting some good solid sleep. Unfortunately I was scheduled to work this morning. I am so glad that I turned off the irrigation system last night. With the cooler temps I try to be careful about how much moisture the Plumeria get, rust also starts to become a problem this time of year.

A new blog in town

Welcome to myBlog.

This is my place to share with you about plumeria news, and what going at the nursery. This is season number four, and it has been different than the others. The economy has made it difficult to predict what the public will buy, and what to grow. Today people are having to make hard decisions, and cut back on the things that they would normally not mind spending a few dollars on. There has also been a trend I have noticed lately. I have noticed the tropicals that I sell showing up at the big box store. This removes my niche market, this forces me to search for different plants to maintain my unique identity. With this in mind, I have decided to go back to my roots and where it all began for me. I have decided to concentrait all of my efforts into being a Plumeria nursery. This is where my heart truely is. I have quite a few plants that I will want to sell off so that I can focus on my plumeria. I will continue to grow different tropicals but just in smaller quantities, and mainly for personal interest. If there is something your looing for, just ask I may be growing it and have a few available. I appreciate my customers, and hope that you will continue to look to me for your future purchases.

Michael White
Owner

Midwest Aquatics and Exotics