Blog
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Possibility Place vs Conventional Planting with H.O.P.E.
In November of 2012 we had students from the H.O.P.E. (Horticultural Occupational & Professional Experience) program visit Possibility Place. The focus of the program is to expose college age students to different aspects of the horticultural industry. They visit and work at a different nursery/garden center for two days a month for six months. It is hoped that at each stop they learn a little more about what it takes to be a plant professional.
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Weather Adds to the Challenge
Some of you may have read my post last fall about collecting acorns and all the idiosyncrasies of the different types of oaks as well as the other consumers I have to contend with to get my job as propagator done. Well, here I am starting my fourth year at Possibility Place Nursery and I have another set of circumstances to make my job more challenging and interesting: a too-mild winter followed by one of the driest springs and hottest summers on record.
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Down and Dirty: Learning isn’t always tidy!
This April 14th from 8:30 AM to Noon we are having another of our hands-on learning experiences. It's not one of those mamby-pamby classes, either—we’re sticking you out in the weather under the same conditions that we work in every day! It will be dirty, possibly wet and loads of fun for those of us that love plants. You’ll even go home with two flats of plugs! So if you’re interested please CALL the office at 708-534-3988 to sign up. The flier is posted below and cost will be $60.00 per person. Not a bad price for a lot of learning and plants (and a donut or two)!
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From Acorns to Oak Trees
The process of growing trees from seed always amazes me. In the fall as I collect the different types of acorns off the ground they seem so unassuming; just the litter from oak trees that many people complain about. I have to watch the trees for that exact right day or two that I can convince the squirrels to share as they dart through the canopy chattering their annoyance with me as their movements send more acorns to the ground.
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Small Mammals at Possibility Place Nursery
Over the years we have had numerous employees, interns, clients, friends and even a couple of groupies. The amount of information, stories and studies that have come through our doors for discussion from these groups is quite staggering. We love this part of the job. I can not tell you how many times we’ve sat down with a prospective inquisitor of the natural world and shot the puck around. So to speak. Most of the time both sides come away with a better understanding of something. Then there are those times that we simply say “Huh?” We are always open to to these experiences and feel that they are crucial to a better understanding of nature. Its a big part of what we do.
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Night Life: Moths
We’ve all done it as kids. Gone out after dark and collected fireflies in a jar or watched in scared fascination as a bat picked off moths drawn to their deaths by a street light. Those of us that lived in the sticks as kids also knew the sound of coyotes howling and the deafening clicking of thousands of katydids. The night life in and around our yards has always been an interest to most children if for no other reason than to scare ourselves by pretending that the noises were made by something far more terrifying than the right culprit. I guess I never grew out of that phase of my life.
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The Reums' House in Kankakee County, Illinois
When Ron & Sharon Reum showed up at the nursery in March of 2010 they were only looking for a handful of trees and shrubs and maybe a couple of flowers. What followed over the next 14 months I cannot characterize as anything other than a mild addiction to planting natives and affecting a massive change in their yard. They have worked harder than most in their attempts to change a landscape that was installed 15 years before they moved in. It has been an amazing transformation and I would like to share their story with you.
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The Above-grounds are Ready
The new growth has harden off and the roots have filled out, making our above-ground trees and shrubs ready for orders and pick-up! Orders have already started coming in. So if you’d like to assure yourself a plant of a particular species, calling in sooner will increase the chances that we’ll have the it in stock. Stock is limited to the number of plants that we moved up in spring. The 2009 stock of above-ground plants look great, we even have a nice selection of Quercus alba (White Oak).