WITH MOTHER’S DAY fast approaching all across the nation, greenhouses and nurseries are fast and feverishly picking out and packing their most beautiful plants.
There is this fever pitch because next Sunday is Mother’s Day, and it is my industry’s second largest sales event, Valentine’s Day being the first.
Mother’s Day gets a boost not only because every mother deserves flowers, but the weather now is finally warm enough for most plants.
May is the month of high-gear gardening, and Mother’s Day is a great way to kick things off.
Flower baskets, combination pots, blooming peonies, fuchsia trees, flowering rose plants, beautiful bushes or serene shrubs all make for a perfect gift for that very special lady we call Mom.
That is why many greenhouses and plant outlets offer basket making classes now.
Not only will Mom get a gift that looks fabulous all season long, reminding her daily of your love, but the value-added advantage of your mother knowing her cherished ones created and made her special gift. But another extremely worthwhile endeavor and hopefully great family tradition would be the greenhouse crawl.
How this great botanical ritual is performed is its true worth.
First, book a Mother’s Day brunch at one of our many great culinary eateries here on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Then, after champagne and a toast to a great mom, the family packs back into the vehicle and off to the greenhouse crawl.
Just drive to several plant outlets, greenhouses and garden centers and let Mom do a lot of window shopping.
For you see now, because it is the second largest plant market holiday and unlike Valentine’s Day (featuring cut flowers), Mother’s Day is loaded with plants, pots, baskets, packs, trays, vines, shrubs, trees, perennials, window boxes and a whole lot more.
In other words, selection is at its peak! Because of this day, plant outlets are now stocked to the brim with selection, size, color and variety.
This abundant selection and variety are yet to be picked over, meaning quality is great as well.
However, one should still be cautious.
Keep in mind, many plant growers have pushed or forced their product in order to make this blooming market we call Mother’s Day.
Money flows through the plant industry now, every grower wants to sell every plant possible.
That means they are giving plants extra heat, fertilizer and night lighting to force them to bloom this week.
That means many plants will burn in the sun if put directly outside, because it would be the first time they have been exposed to UV rays along with the wind and our cool nights.
Forcing plants usually dictates a nighttime temperature of 70 degrees and above.
Shock can occur if plants are exposed to 42 degrees at night.
So as you are out on your greenhouse crawl, look not only for the plant, color, texture and the design mom really likes, but also look for dark green, compact, bushy, sturdy plants as well.
Forced plants are leggy, spindly, light green and weak in appearance. Avoid those if you can.
If, however, these plants are the best price, the ones Mom likes the best, that’s great. But you must condition them.
Put them outside for an hour or two in the morning sun, then slowly increase their exposure to the sun for a week.
Let them get some outside air, but do not expose them to a 40- to 50-degree night the first week.
And absolutely stay away from impatiens, coleus, begonias, tomatoes, peppers, caladiums and zinnias, for it is still too cool and will be for another two weeks.
And remember … stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
