The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

Stuart mentioned “it would be great to hear your views, frustrations and joys of being a nursery owner and all that entails.”
Well, this morning at 6 a.m. I look out of the office and notice the sprinklers, which go on automatically at that time, are not working. So after I check the valve to make sure its on, I grab my broom and drive up the hill about a mile. That is where the water ditch that supplies our water travels. Now I am Trey the “ditch tender.”

This ditch, and the one that feeds it, are old mining ditches from the gold rush era. They were originally built to transport water for the gold mining mining activities that built San Francisco, but were later used for agriculture, and still are! These ditches travel over 40 miles from the high country lakes, weaving their way

down to about a mile above the nursery, where it enters a distribution box that takes a portion of the water, and sends it down the “Garden Valley Pipe”, which is a 8″ metal pipe that just happens to pass right through the nursery.

What happens is debris gets caught in the wire mesh that protects the pipe from getting clogged, and you have to brush the screen to dislodge the debris and get water flowing again. Once the water is flowing it takes about half an hour for the line to fully fill and provide the pressure I need to operate the sprinklers. If the sprinklers don’t start their cycle on time, they will still be running when we open, which is no good. I have six different stations that each run for a different amount of time.

I don’t like to have to get up and do this, but the water is so inexpensive I can’t help it. We buy what’s called a “miners inch”. The amount of water that flows through a one inch opening day and night from May to October. You pay a set fee, and we get all the water I could ever use. The drawback is the occasional morning trip to the ditch.

The other thing about the water that is unique is it is untreated. No chlorine. Straight from snow melt it has minerals, and I am sure some fertilizer. I haven’t had to feed my plants since spring! Of course we dont’t drink this water. It drops down off the hill right to the nursery providing 130 P.S.I., which is enough to operate 5 to 6 rainbirds at a time.

These ditches are a part of “old California”, which will surely be gone one day. I think it’s so unique, that the occasional morning trip to “tend the ditch” is well worth it.

I wanted to comment on the post today over at Garden Rant. I basically have tried to stay away from controversial subjects that might negatively influence how my customers see their local garden center. I have never hung any political signs on my fence by the road, nor openly stated my political beliefs to my customers, even though I follow politics pretty closely, and have strong feelings about what goes on in that area. It’s just that I want my garden center to be a refuge from all that. You can come to my shop, relax, and leave all that behind. The instant I hang a political sign on the fence by the road people will make decisions, that in my mind might cause them to not shop at my store. Same goes for my blog. It may not be courageous, but I am just trying to sell some flowers. I am envious of those of you who can say what ever comes across their mind. For many of you it’s not going to effect the bottom line.
The same thing goes for controversial subjects on my blog. I don’t usually bring them up intentionally. We’ll, some times I dip my toes in, as in my post on Latin names. Why, we have had quite a discussion. Like who’s bringing the cookies to the Latin Meetings, Amy, and we even have EAL going to “the Amalfi coast Friday, where, as I am sure you Latin buffs know, some of the wines most beloved of the ancient Romans were produced. (Tuscany was not all that in those days.) I will come back with recommendations.” The controversy? I wanted a cabernet or zinfandel. I am sure we can hash this out

I am a bit like Hanna, who said “I started this blog because I am a little egotistical and a little opinionated and I really like to garden.” substitute a “little egotistical” with “egotistical” and “I really like to garden” with “love selling plants”, and that’s me.

I am also interested in what Stuart was asking for. I like reading, and perhaps commenting on the more controversial aspects of gardening. It seems right now the most controversial subject is more about what blogs are than gardening. I don’t have much to say about that, since I have only been blogging for a little while. It is quite refreshing to see how everyone has been passionate, yet respectful. I think that is the nature of gardening. Gardeners are special people, with an an ability to respond to the issues that impassion them, but see the bigger picture. Your garden is a place to retreat from the day to day events outside the garden wall. If, and when you want, you allow people inside your special place for a visit. That’s the beauty of garden blogs. If your garden is off the street where people can’t see it, you can, when you desire, show it to the world.

The reason I blog is because I feel I have something important to say about “my” garden. My “garden” is my nursery. It is a interesting place and occupation. People are always saying how much fun it must be to play amongst the flowers and make it your business. It is! But as all gardeners know, when it comes to tending their garden, it’s hard work. Not only do I have to tend my “garden’, I have to figure out what it is that you folks want so I can have it in my “garden”. Like Amy said “I am a total plant addict and the people who feed my addiction are getting rich.” I was wondering why their are so many rich nurserypeople in Eureka.

Those of you who are “Suspicious of the horticultural industry.”, fear not. I am just trying to figure out what it is you want, when you want it, and how I can get it to you.

I am also a bit of a voyeur, and just enjoy looking at your garden.

I read a post over at Gardening While Intoxicated about the use of Latin names in gardening. I couldn’t agree more to what EAL said.

The advice we get from nursery trade magazines these days is to keep it simple for the gardener. We are told that using botanical names for plants will make the customer feel intimidated and talked down to. Use common names to make the customer feel comfortable, we are told.You don’t need to know the Latin names of plants to enjoy gardening, but it is nice to learn something about Latin names for the reasons you stressed. We don’t over use Latin names here when talking to the customer, but we don’t hide from them. Our plant signs have the common and Latin names on them. When I write an article for the paper, I always try to use the common names with the Latin names.

The trend to use only common names is an attempt to appeal to the mass audience, which apparently needs to have things made simple for them. We are a smaller garden center appealing to a smaller, more gardening astute crowd. They, and we, want the Latin names to help prevent confusion.Is it creeping zinnia or Sanvitalia procumbens. Want a tulip tree? Magnolia soulangiana or Liriodendron? Want a Redwood tree? Sequoia sempervirens or Sequoia gigantea?Latin is necessary in our trade, and besides its kind of fun.

Since it was Monday, and the nursery is closed, we took a drive up Wentworth Springs Road past Georgetown to Loon Lake and Gerle Creek Reservoir. These bodies of water are where we get the water for the nursery. It sits at about 6500 feet in the Crystal Basin Region of The Eldorado National Forest. The snow must have just melted since I came upon a Snowflower (Sarcodes sanguinea). These plants show up right as snow is melting, sometime poking up through the snow. I found out that where we were was inaccessible just a week ago, because of snow. It was hard to miss driving along the road as it was the only bright red flower in view. It only occurs between 4000 and 8000 foot elevation. Here is what John Muir had to say, “… It is a singularly cold and unsympathetic plant. Everybody admires it as a wonderful curiosity, but nobody loves it as lilies, violets, roses, daisies are loved. Without fragrance, it stands beneath the pines and firs lonely and silent, as if unacquainted with any other plant in the world; never moving in the wildest storms; rigid as if lifeless, though covered with beautiful rosy flowers.”

The drive up Wentworth Springs Road is one of the most beautiful drives in California. It takes us a little over an hour to get to Loon Lake, if we don’t stop
to look at spectacular views and plants along the way. The dogwoods and ceanothus were still blooming since in the high country spring was just starting.

We started something new with our latest e-newsletter. While we have always had a place to e-mail questions, we never shared the answers or the questions with everyone. Now we will post both the questions and answers on the the e-news, and on our web site www.thegoldengecko.com, under Gardening Q and A . This will allow everyone to share in the knowledge. I am getting people with differing or added advice commenting on the questions and answers. Great, we will put those there too.

Check out a new blog Dirt: Garden Rant Takes Over the World. Amy Stewart, one of the bloggers, says –’We are delighted by people with a passion for plants. Show some excitement! Have an opinion! Fall in love! Get mad! If you’re bored, put your pen down and go outside. Just don’t bore us, too.’

Here is ‘Garden Rants’ manifesto:

We Are:

Convinced that gardening MATTERS.

Bored with perfect magazine gardens.

In love with real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens.

Suspicious of the horticultural industry.

Delighted by people with a passion for plants.

Appalled by chemical warfare in the garden.

Turned off by any activities that involve landscaping with plant materials.

Flabbergasted at the idea of a no maintenance garden.

Gardening our asses off.

Having a hell of a lot of fun.

I can’t wait to read about the horticultural industry, which I am a small part of, and the authors are ’suspicious of..’ Good, lets hear what people have to say. I’ll check out ‘Rant’ regularly.

We have gotten back to holding our workshops every other Saturday. What with the anniversary party, quilt show, garden tour, etc. we hadn’t held a class for a month or so. Monica’s hypertufa container class is always popular as you make the pot here to take home.

Hypertufa pots are made to look like English troughs originally made to hold water for livestock. When the old stone troughs we no longer used, gardeners found them great as containers for plants. Since these were stone and hard to deal with, hypertufa came along to resemble stone, with a lot less weight.

While there are lot’s of recipe’s for making these containers Monica uses this formula:
1 1/2 parts peat moss
1 1/2 parts perlite
1 part Portland cement

The shape of the container is really only limited by your imagination.
You can brush yogurt onto the hypertufa to create a moss covered look quicker than nature would.

Our next workshop ‘container gardening’ is Saturday, June 24th. Some of the people who came to this workshop will bring their hypertufa pots for planting. I’ll post some pictures of what they come up with for plantings. Cactus, succulents, miniature conifers, bonsai, or flowers. We’ll see.

We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary at the Golden Gecko Garden Center a few weeks ago. I found some before and after photos of the nursery. When we were building the facility I had to remind myself to stop and take some photos. I knew they would be fun to look at later.

When we bought the property we found this willow, just about to fall over. I thought it would be safer to cut it down, but fortunately was convinced to try and save it. We put a brace on one end,
and give the tree a haircut in the winter. It has become a favorite of our customers and guests.
Sometimes you get so involved in what your doing that you don’t realize how far you have come. We love this place, and enjoy adding to the beauty of the location.