Have you ever wondered where all the plants came from that you buy from your local garden centre? Here’s a look at some common annuals and their journey to your garden.
We live near the town of New Summerfield, Texas, which is known for a thriving wholesale nursery industry. When the local horticultural agent for our local master gardeners assocation emailed us and offered to take us on a tour of one of the largest wholesale plant nurseries in Texas, I jumped at the idea.
Bale after bale of potting soil:
Neat machines fill soil into the trays:
A worker loads seeds into the funnel, which then places the seed perfectly into the tray:
The sown seeds get covered with a shower of vermiculture, then watered:
Germination!
Here was the line where they pot them up into the larger 9 pack trays:
And then they wait for the trucks to take them to the nurseries around the region.
Both Joanne's article and your images and photos, Dave, are really eye openers.
I never would have thought of all the precise effort that goes into the plants we buy.
Amazingly synchronized efforts, all of them.
Thanks for all the information.
Dave, Thanks for the great photos. The equipment we have is very similar.
Most people with a passion for gardening find this type of operation very interesting. I have to say, it is weird to work with the majority that look at it as just a job. They strive for the best looking healthy plants to leave the facility, but they are not home gardeners, so no passion or excitement about a great looking plant. I insist that our "office staff" take a walk everyday, with hopes that they will appreciate the beauty of plants.
I went on a similar tour last spring at Skagit Gardens with my garden club. It was very much the same. I did not know the cutting came from around the world!! Loved the article. Thanks
Just amazing. Thanks, Dave, for the virtual tour. Our daughter-in-law worked for a time at Ball Seeds in Illinois. She said that sometimes the office staff got to go out and plant some of their new introductions in their gardens there, which she enjoyed doing very much. She also has a friend who has since retired and maintains a lovely garden in GA.
Any day you wake up on the sunny side of the grass is a good day.
"The moving hand writes and having writ moves on. Neither all thy piety nor all thy wit can lure it back to cancel half a line nor all thy tears wash out a word of it." The Rubiyat by Omar Khayyam
Joanna - I encourage our administration staff at the Naples Botanical Gardens to walk through regularly as well; sometimes all they see is the website!!
