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Re: Quiet List

Chicago, however, is looking gorgeous. July was miserable-- dry, hot and HUMID, but after we got rain and things cooled off, life improved.

As you know, GWA will be meeting in Chicago next year and I just want to add a plug for the Botanic Garden which just opened its largest garden project ever--Gardens of the Great Basin with a  lake, an island and a hillside prairie. All designed by Oehme/Van Sweden. I interviewed Van Sweden and 2 of his associates last week and they've done an amazing job. the CBG is actually a series of islands and they're now working on making the place a model for shoreline restoration and management as well as an inspiration for home gardeners with a pond.  the place is getting better by the minute.
Carolyn Ulrich

VBGarden@aol.com wrote:

I suspect the list is quiet at least partly because the industry is so quiet.  Here in Virginia, garden centers and landscapers are facing huge expenses incurred over the summer when purchased plants and landscape installations that were "guaranteed" died during the heat and drought. Today's paper included a front page, regional section headline article on the thousands of dollars the drought is costing horticulture businesses. Some will undoubtably go under.

Many area towns are on mandatory water restrictions (severity level varies) and, perhaps for the first time - certainly for the first in a long time, these restrictions also apply to well water users.  We just returned from a botanical garden plant sale (Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden), held on yet another unseasonably  hot and dry weekend,  where the report across the entire spectrum of plant vendors was that this is the poorest sale they have seen in Richmond, including a sale that came on the heels of Hurricane Floyd (which completely flooded the area) and the one last year 72 hours after Sept.11.

Between the annual end-of-summer, oh-just-let-the-weeds-have-it malaise and the drought, plant enthusiasm is nil -- at least in these parts.

Sybil

Sybil Mays
Paradise Nursery Gourmet Fruit Plants
6385 Blackwater Road
Virginia Beach VA 23457
757-421-0201  FAX 757-421-7043
Paradise Nursery - Figs & Fruit Plants

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