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!