Finally, Mother Nature has decided we’ve been teased and tormented enough. The past week has been nearly picture perfect Spring weather with lots of sun and warmth. People are ready to be outdoors in the garden and with Mother’s Day coming up, the gardening season is officially upon us.

We got our first shipment of floating plants in last week…people have been chomping at the bit to get them, but it’s just been too cold!! Hopefully the cold weather is over with, so it should be safe to put them in your pond now. They are great for providing quick shade and starving out algae. After the weekend, the Water Hyacinths are pretty picked over, but we still have a bunch of nice looking Water Lettuce. We’ve got another large shipment coming in this week, so we should have plenty of nice floaters for weekend shoppers. Our tropical water lilies will also be coming in this week.

This past Saturday was the Indian Creek Nature Center Plant Sale. We had never been to it before, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. They had vendors there with everything! Perennials, annuals, herbs, hostas, alpine and rock garden plants, hostas, and us with water plants… It was quite a mad house and at one point the checkout line went from one side of the Center to the other! It was a good time…our sales went well…and we found a few treasure we couldn’t live without .

This coming weekend will no doubt be busy here at the shop. Mother’s Day weekend is always busy. We’ll also be vending at Norton’s “A Day in the Country”. We’ll have several small container water gardens set up along with a selection of water plants, hostas, and a few annuals and perennials. We’ve also made up some mixed planters and hanging baskets of Wave petunias especially for this event. This is a two weekend event, so if you enjoy homespun gifts come on out!

I haven’t mentioned the Victoria water lilies for a while, because…well…I killed them . Young seedlings are very sensitive to fertilizer and I over did it. So, I started all over again about three weeks ago. After the seeds sprouted and were large enough to be potted up, we moved the heated tank into the hoophouse. There are several seedlings with floating pads and at least one that looks promising. The natural sun light really seams to help, so I’m still hoping to have a plant on display…and you can bet I’m taking it easy on the fertilizer!