November

November 20, 2008

Now that it's freezing cold...

We all realize, hey, Thanksgiving is next week!

If you haven't yet put greens in your outdoor pots, the dogwood, rose hips, bittersweet and curly willow (all local) are particularly beautiful this year. Hopefully, you were on top of it and emptied the soil during your fall cleanup, but if not, you may need to drag the pots inside to thaw or use a drill to get into your frozen soil.

We have begun to make wreaths and we will again feature an all local wreath, called the Green Grown, as well as many other lovely creations. Garland looks gorgeous this year, we have lots of great ornaments, thoughtful gifts for gardeners, and interesting local gifts and cards, including some hand sewn tree skirts, garden and wildlife drawing sets and fused glass ornaments.

Holly and mistletoe will be arriving soon.

Speaking of wreaths, a number of customers have asked us about wreath care. Our boughs are fresh cut the day before they are delivered, so your wreath will have moisture to start with, but the key to its longevity is keeping the moisture in it. It has to be kept outside (not between the storm and the front door - the sun will fry it), unless you are willing to spray it with a pine based product called Wilt-Pruf (there are some other brands as well) to help it retain moisture.  It is a safe product derived from pine oil. Centerpieces should be treated like cut flowers, with the floral foam kept watered. We put ours in the cooler (a refrigerator) overnight. At some point, they will start to go south, as they are not live plants, so centerpieces should be ordered fairly close to the time of your gathering. A little attention can go along way toward keeping them fresh.

Trees are on their way! Like the boughs, the trees are cut the day before our weekly delivery, and they looked great out on the Anderson's farm when we visited this fall.

Check out the dates to remember - we are doing wreath classes this year, seminars in early 2009 and Santa will be making his yearly pilgrimage to south Minneapolis very soon...

Dates to Remember:

Week of November 10: Greens, sticks, berries, etc. available for outdoor decorating. We will start taking wreath orders soon after the arrival of our greens.

Sunday, November 23: We expect our first delivery of trees.

Tuesday and Sunday mornings: Wreath Classes at the store. Please email info@motherearthgarden.com to sign up for one of these workshops. Click here for a description and specific dates.

Saturday and Sunday, December 6 and 7. Santa comes for a visit, he'll be flying in from 1 to 5 pm.

December 23rd: Our last day of business for the year.

January 21st: Opening day, 2009. Click here for our preliminary list of 2009 gardening seminars, most are free of charge.

Not on the list: an urban poultry farming class (hey, why not?) which we are still gathering details about.

See you there.

Karen, Paige and All of Us at the Store.