The Greenhouse Effect

 
It is April 22nd, and it's snowing.  Again.  I don't care if we are forecasted for as much as four inches of snow tonight, I put my parka in the winter storage closet on Saturday, and it's not coming out again until autumn.  Period.  Especially since we are also forecasted for 74 degrees on this coming Saturday.  As you might well imagine, the gardeners in Minnesota are getting really antsy.  Even I, grower of the worlds largest heirloom free-range dandelions (all organic, of course), am getting mighty anxious to at least play in the dirt.

A handful of gardeners (and me) from our local garden club got to spend a few hours in semi-paradise on Saturday. Pearson Greenhouse in Jordan, MN, let us come in and plant up our flower pots and hanging baskets. Andrew says he's never done this before, and was a little hesitant, but Dan, the garden club's self-proclaimed curmudgeon, somehow sweet talked him into it.

Garden club members browsing Pearson Greenhouse.  This is maybe about a fifth of the big greenhouse, and there were several smaller hoop houses behind it.



My (365 Being bookazine) business partner and her husband joined the garden club recently.  Cat really loves beautiful gardens, and Steve really loves gardening, so I guess they're a match made in heaven.




Dan, the curmudgeon, who is usually on the other side of a camera at garden club meetings.



Beth (right) whose cats once starred in a blog post (Zen and the Art of Cat Herding click to read, if you like stories wherin the cats humiliate the human), gets some help choosing plants.

 Oh.  My.  Stars.  It was such heavenly tonic!  The allyssum in one corner of the huge greenhouse scented the warm, humid air with such honeyed perfume, I could imagine bees getting drunk on the fragrance.  Maybe that's because I was getting drunk on it.  Hmm...does this make me a  reeeeally cheap drunk?!  "Greens-tender, I'll take another shot of that there nectar!"

Andrew Pearson, a gardener's best friend.

The folks at Pearson's were so helpful, and very patient with our questions.  Some of us brought along magazine clippings of planter arrangements that we liked, and they helped us choose similar plants rated for our zone (normally 4/5, though I'd be inclined to call it a zone 2, if I looked out the window right now), and sized for our planters.  They will water and tend our pots for a few weeks, until Mother's Day, by which time the weather is usually warm enough to put them outside.  Now that we've all had a preview of what they have growing, I'm betting most of our members will be going home with more than just their pots that Sunday!

We got to belly up to the potting bench and play in the dirt.



Bonnie (left) and Carol (right) were having fun in the, well, um, fluorescent lights.  Even without any sun, it was fun.  And in case you're wondering about the laundry detergent jugs, those make great scoops for things like potting soil, when you cut the bottom end out.

Big box stores sell plants cheap, but if you have a local nursery, try to give them your business.  Sometimes their prices are higher, but spending your money locally means you keep your neighbors in business, your friends employed, and your community thriving.  In the long run, the cost evens out.  Besides, you won't find the intoxicating air of a well-tended greenhouse at the Big Orange Depot, and if it's snowing three weeks later than a normal late winter where you live, believe me, that's some priceless stuff!