leads through an arbor (on which 

 potted roses cUmb in summer) to a 

 bright garden framed by the mature 

 shrubs. Decorative wooden buckets, 

 each filled with an Alberta spruce 

 and lots of geraniums, repeat the 

 curve of the drive. 



While all this was being done, 

 McSherry's was evaluating the store's 

 product mix. "We were in the hard- 

 ware business. There was no need for 

 it — there are two good hardware 

 stores in the area. So we got out of 

 that and put our energy somewhere 

 else. Now we're on good terms with 

 both the local stores — we refer 

 people to them and they refer people 

 to us. Things are better for every- 

 one." Today the shop contains fer- 

 tilizers, a few chemicals, but mostly 

 containers — all shapes and sizes: clay 

 pots, cedar baskets.... "We tried lots 

 of things — this is what our customer 

 wants." (They also sell plastic pink 

 flamingos.) 



Outside, a wide range of cement 

 garden statuary, ranging from an 

 "Innocent Boy" fountain to a fairly 

 realistic rhinoceros, is displayed. 

 Again, "this is what our customer 

 wants." 



Next, a "Garden Mart" (made by 

 Poly-Tex, Inc.) was put up to the 

 right of the store. This 24x64 alu- 

 minum frame structure with a 6-mil 



white translucent poly covering on 

 top and drop curtains on its sides is 

 no production greenhouse, but a 

 place to display and sell plants. Gail 

 uses it for bedding plants and is very 

 pleased with how it's worked out. 

 ("There are no annuals sitting in the 

 sun and rain: we have no rotted gera- 

 niums, no spotted petunias — we are 

 quality oriented.") 



Bedding plants and vegetables sell 

 all season. McSherry's grow none 

 themselves and in order to keep the 

 Garden Mart full, require as many as 

 three deliveries a week. Even in July 

 and August, people "want color" and 

 will buy mature, blossoming plants in 

 6 or 7 1/2" containers. In September, 

 people want mums. "If you can pro- 

 tect your plants from that first frost 

 in September, you can usually get 

 another month of color" and people 

 do just that — the season's brief and 

 people up here make the most of it. 



The next step was enlarging the 

 parking lot. It's now a large grassy 

 square subdivided by — nearest the 

 road — a long wooden planter filled 

 with evergreens and flowering crabs, 

 then lines of railroad ties behind 

 that. It can hold thirty-five cars. 

 "The lot is only really full in spring, 

 so it's planted in grass so we don't 

 have to look at a sea of dirt the rest 

 of the season." And people like it — 



it's "country," an attractive change 

 from a mall's asphalt. 



Two years ago, the perennial sales 

 area was redesigned. This is on the 

 left side of the store. Materials are 

 simple — wooden slat benches on 

 cement blocks shaded by snow fen- 

 cing on a pressure-treated wood 

 frame, peastone on the ground. What 

 seems unusual is the placement of the 

 benches — none are at right angles. 

 Previously, the area contained a ser- 

 ies of long, narrow, wooden boxes 

 parallel to the road. These were 

 filled with soil and used for displaying 

 the plants. "They worked as a bar- 

 rier," Gail says. "People would have 

 to make a conscious decision just to 

 enter." Now there are no decisions 

 — traffic seems to flow naturally 

 around a variety of benches carefully 

 arranged to draw the customer 

 through to the rear. 



The back edge was clearly deline- 

 ated by keeping the last of the wood- 

 en boxes in place. This year a peren- 

 nial display garden (more color) will 

 be planted in it, giving customers a 

 chance to see mature specimens of 

 what they're buying. Three clematis 

 vines (heavily mulched in winter) 

 growing in wooden boxes climb onto 

 the snow fencing in summer and in 

 the far comer, a fountain and a fine 

 specimen of Dutchman's Pipe 





A Weston Nurseries 

 Introduction 



A phrase which stands for the very best that fifty years of horticultural innovation and 

 testing can produce. Weston Nurseries is proud to have developed and introduced 

 these outstanding plants for the benefit of the American Nursery Industry. 



Rhododendroom PMJ 

 (Hybndtzedm 1940) 



Rhododendron PM1( 1940)* 

 Rhododendron Henry's Red (1958)* 

 Rhododendron Shrimp Pink Hybrids ( 1958)* 

 Rhododendron Agio (1964)* 

 Rhododendron Olga Me:ut ( 1 964 ) * 

 Rhododendron Weston's Pink Diamond ( 1964)* 

 Rhododendron Molly Fordham (1966)* 

 Rhododendron M i lestone (1972)* 



Rhododendron April Snow (1978)* 

 Azalea lane Abbott (1942)* 

 Azalea Vyking( 1958)* 

 Azalea Pink and Sweet (1963)* 

 Azalea Parade (1963)* 

 Azalea Golden Showers (1963)* 

 Azalea Pink Clusters (1972)* 

 *YeaTHybndtzed 



FOR THE HNEST "NEW 

 ENGLAND-GROWN'TLANTS, 

 VISIT OUR WHOLESALE SALES 

 YARD OR CALL AND ASK FOR 

 TOM WILHELM, DAVE WALKER 

 OR TOM WILLIAMS. WE LOOK 

 FORWARD TO HELPING YOU. 



Weston Nurseries I Inc. 



ff/l 



Growint.' New England's largest variety of landscape-size plants, shrubs, ttees and perennials. 



E. Main St. (Rtc. 135), P.O. Box 186, Hopkinton, MA 01748 

 Tel. (508) 435-3414. From Boston 235-3431, Toll free in MA, 1-800-322-2002 FAX 508-435-3274. 



22 THE Plantsman 



