And to all a good night!!!

While visions of sugar plums may not be dancing in your head, for who among us really know what the heck sugar plums are, hopefully you are ready for the holidays and looking forward to being with family and friends as we are.

This past year John and I relied on our years of experience to launch our new venture. However, we have also drawn from the knowledge of others in the nursery business we are fortunate to know. These folks helped lead us in the right direction, avoiding pitfalls that may have slowed our progress.

One such person was Eric of Blue Mountain Nursery, a wholesale perennial grower John has known for over 20 years. John and I were going to build a make shift cold frame for our potted peony plants until Eric told John about an insulation blanket he has used successfully for years. Eric stated if he had known about it sooner he never would have built greenhouses for winter cover.

The 12'x300' roll of fabric arrived and believe me we made an amusing sight as the two of us rolled it out on our driveway in order to cut off a 90' length. Then came the task of moving this huge piece of cloth to the field. Drawing on the memory of wallpapering with my daughter-in-law, I suggested her method of folding (thanks, Mel!) and it worked like a charm. Just in time too, as you can see winter has arrived and snow is lightly falling as I write.

Our plants are nestled all snug in their beds and we wish you and yours happy gardening in 2008!

Wreath Time

After spending a wonderful Thanksgiving with our West Coast family, it is again time for us to turn our attention toward Christmas.

Upon our return, we were greeted by our first snow of the season which put a few of our outdoor perennial chores on hold until some better weather returns(we hope!). So in the meantime, John has busied himself with something he has always enjoyed-making wreaths, swags, etc. for us and our family. Using a metal wreath ring, he wires a mix of greens, mostly from our own plants, makes a red velvet bow, slaps it on, then turns the wreath over to me to finish up.

John made one while we were in Washington for me to decorate with our granddaughter. Having learned his lesson from years ago when he made one for our sons to decorate, he only brought pine cones and glass balls as decorations. Our sons had access to all the Christmas decorations when we had the garden center and believe me EVERYTHING ended up on their wreaths including plastic poinsettias, Santas, candy canes, multi-colored glass balls of all sizes, etc. Such a hodge-podge and the boys loved it, but John not so much. Quite frankly he was embarrassed for anyone to find out that the wreath had been made at our garden center, for as their proud mother I insisted on hanging their handiwork on our front door. John prefers tasteful and understated as opposed to, well, gaudy.

In any case, our granddaughter has a very good eye for design and decorated a wreath that made her Pop proud, but there's no telling what she would have created if she had had the materials that had been made available to her dad and uncle!

The Little Red Wagon

While John was going through the mail, his eyes suddenly lit up like a child discovering the Sears Christmas toy catalog. “Look at this and it’s on sale too!”

Now tell me-who could resist. Every little boy and, let’s not be sexist, every little girl always want their own little red wagons and now John was again that little boy.

So off he went to purchase his “little red wagon”. He returned an hour or so later from Tractor Supply Company with not one but two assembly not included wagons, or to be precise Gorilla Heavy Duty Utility Cart with storage tray with 1,200 lb. load capacity, 13 in. pneumatic tires, 24 in. x 48 in. steel mesh deck, and folding steel mesh sides. It seems the item on sale was too small and at $40 more a piece John felt the larger carts were still a bargain compared to those he used to buy for the garden center.


He set to work putting the carts together until he got to the part that actually required tools. Anyone who knows us well realizes we are not tool friendly folk. Our good friend, John O. who meticulously cares for his tools would be horrified at the disarray in which we store ours. After about a half hour of searching the barn, basement and junk drawer, we came up with the proper tools and the carts were assembled. They have certainly eased the work of moving dozens of potted iris and peony plants for my 61 year old bones. Hey, I’m proud of my age! Every gray hair and wrinkle has been well-earned and worn with pride. I must say the wagons are great, maneuver easily, both on the driveway and in the field, and are quite sturdy. Might come in handy for some of you other country people who have to cart around gardening and animal supplies. I also look forward to giving future rides to our grandkids. They will love them.

So now John and I have matching red wagons which I don’t mind at all, unlike the matching yellow and blue rain jackets we were forced to buy in the Everglades a few years ago and I was mortified to wear, thinking couples who wear matching outfits look goofy (no offense to those of you who enjoy dressing that way!).

Reblooming and Remarrying

John and I arrived home from Cyprus, a lovely island in the Mediterranean, a few days ago where we attended the second wedding of our son, Jeremy and his wife, Christina. Her parents still live in Cyprus, which was the reason for a second ceremony, not a second wife!

Sightseeing in Cyprus certainly put in perspective the history of our humble Hunterdon home. We are no longer impressed by the fact that the original portion of our house is 175-200 years old after standing in the remains of houses dating to 5 AD! What an experience and one which we hope to repeat in the future.

Davey Jones
And speaking of repeating, it was a pleasant surprise for us to see a number of our bearded iris varieties reblooming when we came back home since we had divided them this summer. Davey Jones, an intermediate variety, has been going like gangbusters with multiple blooms in rich color.

Autumn Circus

Here and there among the tall bearded we have seen white Immortality blooms and now realize why Autumn Circus was so

named. When they flowered in the spring, the lavender and white blossoms weren't colors one associates with fall, but their lively blossoms in mid-October bring to mind big top fun. Perky little Baby Blessed, a dwarf variety, appeared in both the bed and in our driveway garden. We anxiously await the flowering of Harvest of Memories which are well-budded.

Baby Blessed

Next year should provide much more color in the fall as the display beds we planted come into bloom and add to the more common chrysanthemum, aster, and dahlia blossoms we have year after year. Feed back from any of you who purchased rebloomers from us in the spring would be greatly appreciated so we can continue to provide the most reliable possible.

Hole Digger Discusses Spuria Iris

OK, so I'm told I have to contribute to this blog. I'm told everyone has to. Forget the fact that I am cheap labor. I do most of the digging, planting, potting, spraying, etc. I must admit the wife helps but not with the heavy stuff.

I'm told by the "think tank" that I could write something while I'm on break. Break, what break? So pay no attention to the sentence structure or spelling.

If I could do that I wouldn't be a hole digger!

Today we just received our last shipment of iris from the west coast. Hundreds of Siberian iris and one really different one, Iris Monnieri. It is in the spuria iris family. First described in 1808, it was found growing in Versailles where it was called Iris of Rhodes.

Spuria iris are some of the tallest of iris, up to 4 1/2' originating in the Mediterranean. They are grown in England and California, but rarely seen in New Jersey (yes, they can grow here.) The flower is large and is similar to the Dutch iris but bigger and is a very long lasting cut flower. The plant does well for years and years without dividing.

The work never ends...

John "Hole Digger" Gulish

Small Business Seminar

Greetings from the west coast. Jeremy the marketing director and English major has been eliciting all of us to add contributions to the blog. The real triumph will be when Dad embraces the blog and begins adding planting and growing tips. Of course he may be too important and use Jeremy as his ghost writer, all of the presidential candidates do it, why not him?

I am in Washington state and am a little removed from the physical location of the farm, however I am keeping involved in the business development partly as an interested family member and partly as a real life application of what I am learning in my current MBA program.

With introductions complete, let me get to the heart of my post. I attended a free seminar geared toward small business owners in Washington state this weekend. The Small Business Administration and IRS were there in force with tips as well as a multitude of marketing, IT and consulting firms with advice for the small business owner.

I brought three main point away from the seminar along with numerous ideas to improve the farm and the business with it.

1. Develop a business plan-the business plan is a great management tool to identify company strengths and weaknesses. It help devise ways to address the weaknesses, helps determine your market audience and how to reach them. It also forces a business owner to take a long term financial view of the business.

2. Find out your market niche. Basically what makes your business different than the multitude of other businesses out there. Why are you special. At Pittsgrove we are the only retail peony grower we could find in NJ and we are only aware of a few retail iris farms. Our goal is to make a trip to Pittsgrove Farms an experience unlike any other iris farm in the area through beautiful grounds and unique plant offerings. We believe there is a market for this type of gardening experience in NJ and eastern PA. This is where we need to solicit information from the local gardening community, what are we lacking in NJ and PA. What do you as the gardener want to see and experience at a garden? We are listening and open to a variety of ideas.

3. There is a lot of free and low price help available to the small business owner. The SBA offers free confidential one-on-one counseling to the small business owner. They also have free online tutorials and training and low cost seminars on a multitude of topics. Definitely a great resource to improve operations.

Lots of fun building a new business at least while I am not relying on it for a paycheck it is lots of fun. I understand, it's a bit more stressful once you need that paycheck.

Cinema Botanica (the Cinematic Trailer)