size, is further baci^, at the edge of 

 the woods, it's planted with cattails, 

 edged with boulders and potentilla, 

 and decorated with cement frogs 

 painted bright green and white. 



There will soon be a waterfall, 

 created by diverting some of 

 Granny Clark's Brook at a point fur- 

 ther up the slope, first into a six- 

 inch pipe, then into a four (to cre- 

 ate a stronger flow), then over 

 rocks. The water follows a channel 

 into the pond, then drains through 

 a culvert into a second channel 

 which rejoins the brook further 

 downstream. 



There's a lot of green here. Focal 

 points — places to sit, well-placed 

 points of color — metal holders con- 

 taining tiers of potted impatiens 

 are good examples — draw the eye. 



Statuary is large and often quite 

 lifelike. A buck stands among the 

 shrubs in one of the far gardens; a 

 boy fishing, sitting on one of the 

 capped springs, is so realistic that 

 Paco, the family black Lab Imellow, 

 but without an exceptionally long 

 memory!, will forget and start bark- 

 ing at the seated figure. 



SMALLER GARDENS surround the 

 greenhouses. Perennials border all 

 the houses. Customers like to check 

 out what's doing well because 

 these areas are subject to a lot of 

 winter abuse — snow collects and 

 snow is plowed there. At the end of 

 one house is a rock garden. This is 

 not surprising, but a Cactus Gar- 

 den — various hens-and-chickens 

 planted around a protruding 

 ledge — is. Pots of cacti are added 

 in summer. Also surprising are 

 shrub roses surrounded by a box- 

 wood {Buxus mkrowinterqreen) hedge 

 and chives. The boxwood has sur- 

 vived one winter (North Haverhill is 

 Zone 3); the chives are cut weekly; 

 the smell apparently repels rose- 

 loving insects. 



Because so much is going on 

 around the greenhouses, many cus- 

 tomers never go further. In order to 

 "introduce them to all we have to 

 offer," the first Flora Fun Day was 

 held on August 16 Refreshments 



were served; there were end-of-the- 

 season specials and a perennial 

 sale, but the highlight of the day 

 was The Tour. A map of the prop- 

 erty, with a suggested self-guided 

 tour indicated by a dotted line, was 

 given to each customer. Along the 

 route were sixteen stations — the 

 germination chamber, the vegetable 

 and dried flower garden, the frog 

 pond, etc. At each station, a hand- 

 lettered sign interpreted the site, 

 describing plants and giving ideas 

 for customers to try themselves. 

 Also at each station were "tickets," 

 with a question to be answered. 

 The customer took a ticket and 

 filled in the answer. Those custom- 

 ers with all sixteen tickets (the an- 

 swers didn't have to be correct) re- 

 ceived a "prize" — two perennials of 

 their choice. 



The whole thing sounds like a 

 lot of fun — which obscures the fact 

 that it is excellent marketing. 



THE HOUSES ARE SIMPLE: floors 

 are dirt, but raked and without 

 weeds; the center and two side 

 benches — going the length of each 

 houses — are of wood. "We have some 

 wire benches, but I don't like them — 

 I guess we're all into 'natural'." 



The entire production system — 

 production begins in March — is 

 housed within the greenhouses. A 

 germination chamber (holding 96 

 fiats, thermostatically controlled, a 

 water reservoir in the bottom) is 

 here. Priscilla <^ecds (with a Perkins 



seeder) all but the earliest. For 

 plants like begonias and coleus, 

 she buys in plugs. One house has a 

 checkout counter by the door; in 

 two, bench space is given board 

 sides and potting is done in the 

 broad shallow box. 



The houses are propane-heated 

 in winter, covered with shade cloth 

 in summer; Promix is the standard 

 medium (nursery material is in a 

 mix of Promix, sand, and pine bark); 

 watering is by hand, feeding (20-20- 

 20), with a Dosatron. 



One house fills with geraniums; 

 the others, with bedding plants. 

 Above everything are hanging 

 baskets. 



BUT UNDERNEATH the rustic look 

 sit some up-to-date business prac- 

 tices. The entire operation — the fi- 

 nancial records, the stock inven- 

 tory — is computerized. All pot la- 

 bels for the nursery material are 

 printed out on computer as well. A 

 white plastic strip stapled to each 

 pot tells name, year bought, price, 

 and a description of characteris- 

 tics — height, blossom color, etc. 



The Green Thumb seems some- 

 what away from major traffic patterns 

 and Priscilla advertises heavily — 

 from Mother's Day to Columbus 

 Day in three local weeklies — and in 

 other papers during special sales. 

 Each ad offers discount coupons. 

 Each ad's coupons are different; 

 customers sign them when they 

 turn them in — which gives informa- 



OCTOBLR «^ NOVEMBER 1997 



