Vacation is over with, and I’m back to posting on a regular basis. We are currently in the middle of Gustav’s deluge that is flooding most of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The rain is supposed to move out by tomorrow. I will have an availability with pictures (if it quits raining) posted on Friday.
First of all, I want to thank everyone who posted feedback comments to our request for help. We really appreciate you taking the time to tell us what you think. While we will not be able to grow all the new varieties you requested, we will definitely be adding some of them to our spring line up.
We have been getting a lot of calls about when we will have what ready so here’s where we are:
Pansies, Panolas and Violas: The pansies and violas are filling out and most varieties should have the dirt covered by Monday. The majority of pansies will at least have quite a few buds up by next week and several will be showing color. The violas all have good color, and should have the dirt covered by Monday as well. Panolas are a little slower and may not have all the dirt covered next week, but they are showing some color.
Dianthus, Petunias and Snapdragons: all the J6 dianthus, petunias and snapdragons currently have buds with a some light color. I expect them to all be showing some decent color by Monday. The Sonnet snaps in #4 need to grow some more.
Mums:
Our #6.5 mums look good. We did loose a few varieties due to the nutrient/iron problem, and unfortunately most of them were early blooming varieties. We are running behind on having color showing. I have decided that we need to not sell any until I am sure we have enough color to cover our existing orders. We expect to have some available in two weeks.
Our #8 mums are not as large as I had hoped they would be, but they are also a little behind the #6.5s in color so they may grow a couple more inches before they bloom. Again, we lost all the early blooming varieties in these. We also have several large orders to fill for our #8 with very little showing any color. We will also be holding the availabiltiy on these until we have enough cracking to cover our orders. We expect to have some available in two to three weeks.
Our #12 mums are looking very good. We did loose a few, but not as many as we did in the other sizes. This is probably due to the large soil volume of the pots. A lot of varieties are close to cracking, but I need the first 1200 to cover orders. We expect to have some available the week after next.
Kale and other fall annuals: The #4 and #6 ornamental cabbage and kale are also looking good. I think that they need one more week to fill out, but I will check them again on Monday to see what they look like. The #8 red bor kale will need at least two more weeks. The #6 Swiss Chards need another week or two to fill out. We can get a few wave baskets, but most of them need another week. The calibrachoa baskets need two more weeks or more to fill out, and our combo pots will probably be ready in two to three weeks.
I will have the first ready list posted on Friday for next week and hopefully have some picture to go with it. I may even have some video as well.