Weekly News, 07.15.24
Every July one of our industry’s biggest conventions and trade shows takes place, Cultivate. It’s always in Columbus, Ohio, and attracts thousands of people from the United States and the world. It’s a little bit of geeky, plant nerd heaven for us.
I was unable to attend this year, though I’m excited that four staff members went. The amount of networking and learning is exciting and even a little overwhelming. There are so many great tours and classes, it’s hard to choose!
Anyway, I was reminiscing about my trip there last July and reviewed my notes from a plant talk by Sam Hoardley, Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center. The work they do there is fascinating. He gave us intimate details about various plant trials that they have done over the years, and which new ones are in the works. These evaluations take place over 3-5 years, are non-biased and self-funded. They focus on eastern US natives and after the first year of planting, the plants get little to no maintenance, so if they survive 3-5 years you know that they are tough! Their research team studies native plants and related cultivars closely for performance as well as horticultural and ecological value.
Anyone out there a garden phlox lover?
Every time I see them this time of year in the garden center, I can’t help but stop and smell their big, colorful blooms. Sam taught us about the Phlox trial they did from 2015-2017, and how the best performer by far was Phlox ‘Jeana.’ It had the best resistance to powdery mildew, and it attracted more butterflies than any of the other 94 types of phlox in the trial. After learning this, and that the Perennial Plant Association named Phlox ‘Jeana’ the 2024 Perennial Plant of the Year, I had to plant some!
Since I’m showing you a bit of my main landscape bed, I thought I’d mention two other plants that I’m loving: this grouping of six Frosted Fire Sedum I planted last October and next to it a group of Cat’s Pajamas Catmint, one of Russ’ favorites to use in landscape designs. If you don’t like how big many of the other catmints get, this one only grows to about 12-14”, and is great as an edging or border plant and for small areas. If you trim back the plants after blooming, you have a good chance that they will rebloom too.
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- Sedum Frosted Fire
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- Sedum Frosted Fire
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- Nepeta Cats Pajamas
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- Nepeta Cats Pajamas in bloom end of May
There’s always so much to learn in the gardening world. I can’t wait to hear all about what my co-workers learned at Cultivate this year!
Melanie has been with the family garden center business since 1999, gaining hands-on experience in nearly every aspect–from cashiering and greenhouse production to bookkeeping, perennial buying, marketing, and store management. Now serving as Finance and Marketing Director, she combines her expertise with a passion for growing the business. She and her husband, Russ, have loved seeing how plants, gardening, and beautiful landscapes bring joy to our community.
