Deb,
Not sure. I just did up a 10 ct tray of seedlings in deep 4.5" pots,yesterday. I have some 1 gallons to but not sure how many.
I need to find a place to plant a couple of the spicebushes and my paw-paws.
We enclosed our big front porch/patio. It has 7,4ft.x36 windows on the front side(north) and one big 4x8ft.picture window on the west side. As soon as hub's finishes the work on the septic/plumbing and dirt work on the west side I can turn that area into a butterfly/cat bed. It's a big bed that wraps around from the north side to the west side and with all those windows,a prefect place to sit and watch the butterfies and birds play.
P
Top 10 annuals and perennials
I work at a WalMart and our city actually has 3 supercenters and 1 regular store (mine) and trust me, I don't buy alot at WalMart anymore. I don't like the typical stuff you find and want alot more than bedding plants and the usually suspects. I buy a few things at Lowe's or Home Depot because very occasionally I can find something unexpected at a great deal, like this year I got Pansy Karma Blue Butterfly which is a fairly new introduction and perennial Viola Columbine for 2.97.
The rest of my shopping goes to a local nursery with an amazing variety of perennials, herbs, tropicals, shades lovers and bulbs. They also have their plants in some gorgeous landscaping along their parking lot and the street. The size and quantities of butterflies, birds and hummers I see there is crazy. Sometimes I end up sitting in the care for 15 min or so just watching them! Their annuals are overpriced but their main customer for those are the wealthy women who want their 2 matching front walkway urns to look perfect immediately and all the time. I think you'll be fine, you'd be surprised how loyal plant customers are!
Oh, I have a suggestion for your hummingbird area--Humming Right Along--just thought I'd throw that out there:LOL:
dmac,
good to hear a Wal Mart employee's opinion.
Love the Humming Right Alone.
P
Good luck on keeping your nursery open and thriving. Near here, Huntsville, AL, there is a nursery, Earth Touch, which is a block and a half from a Lowe's/ Home Depot ect complex and about 1/2 a mile from a Super Walmart. They are expensive but their qualitly is excellent, They do take a hit from Walmart during the bedding plant mania, but they also do fairly well by carring the unusual colors and types, like panolias, as well as a wide selection of violas in addition to the more common pansies, the stronger scented dianthus, odder colors of snaps. In the Spring there are to many different things to list. I use them a good bit. They also have extensive selections of trees and shrubs and a planting service. What makes them stand out is that they have well trained help who know what a plant will do in this climate, have the reference books handy for the unusual ones if the help doesn't know and they take care of their plants late in the season. If something has happened to a client's planting,squirrils, dogs or rabbits, ect., they are the first place i check for a replacement, while the plants at Walmart/Lowes/Home Depot are struggling in the heat from lack of water and fertilizer, their plants are deadheaded and happy and usually putting on a show still, at least until August and at that point even plants in the ground are suffering here. We are lucky at having 3 top notch nurseries in the area and sadly a fourth that has been bought out by a chain and is dying a lingering death in a change over to antiques and outdoor furniture. All are thriving, though each are fairly close to Super Walmarts. All of them do carry expensive ornaments, urns, fountians and statuary, except one who has a side division, son-in-law who does the concrete/bronze items, stone pallets, and the pond supply next door. Bennett's, worth a visit if you are ever in the Rocket City.
A couple of plants I haven't noticed on this thread, it is about dawn and i do need more coffee, so I could well have missed them, that do well here as necter plants are Mexican sage and fern leaf lavender, never seen cats on either, but butterflies all over them with hummers going nuts from August till they move south in October.
Nasturtium do very well for me but I agree that shade in the summer makes a difference, also as I raise them for the edible leaves I go ahead and fertilize fairly heavily, they go ahead and bloom up a storm. I plant both jewel and old fashioned running, some in the ground and some in strawberry jars, these I move into shade about July and back out about September. They struggle and stay small during hot weather but as Septmber comes around they start to get large and are massive by now., I'll cover them till about mid December and the jars i bring in and keep until January or they give up the ghost.
Thanks for your post burmundakiller.
P
Most welcome P. Something I forgot to mention on the sucessful nurseries. They all carry big sizes as well as the small suff and they all carry natives. If you wish I'll keep an eye on thing in the Spring for you, will be to late for you to do much this Spring, but will give you ideas for next. Many of the plants that do well here won't do well there and vice versa and tastes vary from one part of the country to another.
killer,
I find I do better w/ smaller sized containers 1 qt.to 1 gal. Small town..small budgets.
I already have a lot of natives but I'm always on the look out for others as long as their not collected from the wild.
P
I don't think Walmart in years to come will be much of a threat to your business. They have less and less selection and poorer and poorer quality and higher and higher prices. I used to love Walmart but I avoid shopping there more and more.
Your store is my kind of place:)
Sounds like "Hummer Heaven" to me:))
Good Luck with your expanding venture!
posy,
Thank you for your well wishes.
P