Mums the word... or is it?

Fall is here and it's officially the beginning of mum season here on the southeast coast. However, I have noticed a decline in the demand for mums these past few years. It seems to me that lately that only a few people are interested in fall planting. Usually, the people interested in mums in the fall are those whose homes are featured on the fall garden tours. Perhaps this is because the newer varieties of spring and summer plants have a longer bloom time (or are more likely to survive out summer heat!) Or it's possible that mums are perceived to be a short season plant. In actuality, mums are a perennial shrub in our neck of the woods. Not only will they bloom this fall but they will also bloom next spring and fall.

Mums are a very easy plant to grow and come in a wide variety of sizes and colors. Therefore mums can make great fall plants. They aren't very picky about the ph levels in their soil. They have minimum food requirements and when properly pruned will provide you with almost continual blooms from April through October.

The Plant Place in Wilmington North Carolina

A Hidden Treasure:
A newcomer, passing by on Market street, might assume that The Plant Place is a cute, little mom & pop nursery. Actually, while the nursery is locally owned and operated, it gives serious competition to the mega marts. There are 30 greenhouses that streach quite aways out back and a 1/4 acre field full of tables of plants. No small place indeed! In the shop itself, you can find just about any trendy gift and lots of nifty decor items as well as your gardening staples. Out in the greenhouses you will come across the usual plants of every season. They also have a variety of plants that are something a little different and new for each season. Additionally, the Plant Place carries a large selection of indoor plants from the smallest plant imaginable (such as a baby Orchid, perfect for your kitchen window) to six foot plus trees to decorate the foyer or other larger areas of the house. The Plant Place puts great emphasis on high quality plants and friendly, knowledgeable service. The staff is always willing to take some time and answer questions or offer advise. This store is an absolute must for any flower gardener.

The innerworkings of a nursery... V

V Feeding & Watering:

Here at The Plant Place we use a two pronged approach to fertilizing. Most plants are on a liquid feed program as well as receiving a one-time application of a time release fertilizer.

A) The time-release fertilizer we use is ‘Florikan’. This is a new combination of ironite and osmocote along with a handful of trace elements that plants require much like the trace minerals of zinc and magnesium (that we get in food) that we need. This fertilizer will release small amounts of nutrients every time they get wet for up to 3 months.









B) Our liquid feed program is applied to baby plants on average once per week, increasing as they mature. We use ‘Peters’ plant food (20-10-20) most frequently. The numbers are for the amount of Phosphate-Nitrogen-Potash in the plant food or in simplistic terms the numbers are for foliage/blooms/roots. Each group of greenhouses has a food injector that mixes the concentrated feed in with water at a 1ppm (part per million) ratio that allows the gardeners to mearly water with a standard garden hose.


C) Because we are such a large facility (30 greenhouses and a field of plants) there are always some plants each day that need to be watered or fed. In fact, if you look around while walking through you will probably see some of our nursery staff doing just that!

The innerworkings of a nursery... IV

IV Greenhouse Environmental Controls:

Each greenhouse has 3 primary controls (heater, shutters, and fan) that help maintain the correct environmental temperatures for baby and growing plants. Each greenhouse also has a secondary control for air circulation to ensure a consistent temperature throughout the building.

A) Newer Buildings:

In our more recently constructed greenhouses the primary controls are all bundled on a computer for each greenhouse. You set your desired core temperature for both day and night and then set the heater temperature for a few degrees less than the core temperature (usually –1, -2). The shutter temperature is usually set +4-6 from core temperature and the fan temperature is usually set 10 degrees higher than the shutters. So, for example, if you set your desired temperature at 64 the heater would start running when temperatures dropped below 62-64; the shutters would open at 68-70 degrees and the fan would begin to run when the thermostat reads 78-80. The long plastic tubes that run lengthwise in the greenhouse (over your heads) are the air-circulation tubes that keep the air flowing evenly throughout the house, thereby maintaining a consistent air temperature.

B) Older model greenhouses: In our older, smaller greenhouses the shutters, fan and heater each have a separate dial but are all connected to the same thermostat. Instead of large plastic tubes overhead for circulation there is a small fan on the end of the middle third of each side of the greenhouse facing opposite directions that performs the same function of air circulation.