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Re: newbie

Hi John

You sound like a really amazing person, all that passion and zest for life
is so infectious.  I am 29 and also totally in love with all flowering
plants
and quit my horrible job at the rotten bank (totally negiative atmosphere)
to establish a perennial wholesale nursery.  Am wanting to sell on-line
as I believe the visual aspect of the flowering perennial sells rather than
the
thing in the bag non flowering that most people would not know what it is
or appreciate it's later beauty.  I hope to specialise in something
different, 
things you dont see here in NZ very often but are so incrediable to look at
you have to have.

You have done so much, makes me feel inspired in my own endevaours.
If you would like to communicate further please e-mail me as follows:
networks@clear.net.nz

Lara

----------
> From: John & Pat Adney <jga@fyiowa.infi.net>
> To: perennials@mallorn.com
> Subject: newbie
> Date: Tuesday, 5 August 1997 06:18
> 
> Greetings from Iowa!
> 
> I'm a new subscriber to this list, but certainly not a new gardener.
> 
> My grandfather started me on vegetables when I was around 5 years old.
> He taught me how to prune trees and shrubs a few years later. He wasn't
> a commercial grower; just a darn good dirt gardener who could grow just
> about anything. I've inherited his green thumb and love of plants.
> 
> I, too, grow a lot of different varieties and am successful with most of
> them. In face my wife, Pat, seeing the lawn get smaller year by year and
> plant shelves expanding in the house, tells friends, "He has terrible
> luck with plants; none of them die."
> 
> Pat is the practical gardener; she runs the vegetable patch. We've been
> enjoying tomatoes since July 1; also beans, onions, lettuce, peppers,
> cucumbers, egg plant. Because the garden is small, we don't grow sweet
> corn or melons. 
> 
> Dry to the bone here; have to water deeply every 2 days. Haven't had
> rain for nearly 2 months. Severe thunderstorm warning was out last
> night; huge, dark clouds everywhere; thunder and lightning show was
> great. Five (at best) sprinkles of rain. 
> 
> We moved to our current house July 1 1996 after spending 11 years at
> another location, where I developed nice perennial borders and operated
> a small perennial nursery in the backyard while also working part-time
> for a nursery/greenhouse business and as a freelance writer. The people
> who bought our big old house were not interested in flowers so as part
> of the sales agreement I put in that we would take whatever plants we
> wanted. We hauled 5 van loads of perennials, a few shrubs and a few
> roses to our new house July 1-4. All made it into their new locations
> before late fall, and only 3 failed to make it through a miserable
> winter.
> 
> It was quite a challenge, not only because of the number of plants
> involved but the fact that I have been disabled by arthritis. Yes, I
> still get around, but not as well as I did 2 years ago. I've had 2 hip
> replacements and other joints are starting to go, but I keep plugging
> away. I use certain tools now, and crawl carefully. Can't use a spade
> anymore because I can't lift either leg high enough to get a foot on a
> spade. Shovels still work fine, thankfully; I just have to watch what i
> do and how a do it. I'm not used to this slower pace of gardening.
> 
> I am addicted to hosta and daylilies but have many other perennials in
> the new borders (now a little more than a year old). I have several
> everblooming shrub roses that are doing nicely (they were set out in the
> spring. Have only one hybrid tea remaining; they and I have not gotten
> along very well, for some reason. Now I grow floribundas and the hardy,
> old shrub roses (only requirement: they must have season-long bloom).
> 
> The vast majority of my perennials require little care, which is a
> blessing now that I've had to slow down. But they do get plenty of TLC,
> because I don't want to spend much time out of the soil and away from
> the plants.
> 
> I was in the newspaper business for 35+ years, then left because it
> wasn't fun anymore (I'm not a corporate team player). I decided I would
> enjoy gardening-for-pay. I got a horticulture degree after 2 years of
> study at a community college, then work for several years for a
> nursery/greenhouse business while at the same time running my small
> perennial nursery and landscape consultation/design business. Then about
> 3 years ago arthritis decided to set in, and eventually I had to give up
> working at the nursery and close (a year ago) my nursery. I still do
> landscape consultation/design, and I write horticulture articles and
> take photos (always must do something involving growing).
> 
> I've also become active as a volunteer for disabled patients at a local
> hospital and help teach disabled gardeners how to change their growing
> habits so they can continue to enjoy gardening.
> 
> Although I am totally disabled, or labeled as such, I can walk around
> pretty good. I'm just limited to what I can do in lifting, bending, etc.
> 
> I'm looking forward to meeting new friends on the perennials net. I also
> belong to gesneriad, begonia and hobby greenhouse sites and am a member
> of the Good Earth Garden Club in Cedar Rapids. I'm considering starting
> a saintpaulia/begonia retail business at home (less hard on the body). I
> have a light setup in my basement workshop and am planning more.
> 
> Great growing to you all!
> 
> John G. Adney
> Marion, Iowa (next to Cedar Rapids in east-central Iowa)
> Zone 4-5 (the line appears to run through our back yard)
> 
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