Thank you to all of you who have sent thoughts my way for my Dad, Chuck Burris, who died on Wednesday, February 20th.   Many of you know him from the days when he was in charge of seeding and transplanting the vegetables and flats of flowers we grew here at Ferda’s.  He was instrumental in helping Bob and me get the Garden Center started in 1979 and 1980– giving us financial help as well as his unpaid labor and good advice.  We will all miss him!

Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill, spending a quiet day– remembering.

February –somehow the shortest month feels like the longest, dragging itself out day after dark and gloomy day. The novelty of the winter has worn off, spring is still weeks away, and the cold and snow continue.  The only thing that keeps me going is the thought of those daffodils blooming, and the memory of warm, damp earth under my nails.

Lily bulbs have been planted this week and are nestling down in the warm greenhouse soil.  The early annuals are beginning to be transplanted from the seeding flats into true flats, and Patty is seeding more every day.  Huge stacks of mulches arrived today.

Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill on another cold and blustery day.

I am taking advantage of this day, probably one of the last Sundays that I’ll have to just stay home and play house.  I’ve got bread rising in the kitchen, laundry humming away in the laundry room, and happy little fish swimming nearby.  How good is that!

The Regal geraniums are potted up now and the first greenhouse has been fired up to grow them on.  That always signifies the beginning of another garden center year.  From now on out, the pace will quicken, the hours will get longer, and we won’t have much free time.  One part of me regrets seeing that pace begin, but another side of me (the one that hates winter) looks forward to it each year.

We are taking applications now for seasonal help in the garden center and for landscape help.  If you are a friendly, team-player type of person, stop in and pick up an application.  We are closed, but we are usually at the garden center from 10-4 Monday through Friday.

Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill on a laid-back lazy Sunday morning.

Well, we’ve made it past the half-way mark of February.  I’ve been feeding my blooming-things need by reading garden blogs.  Don’t you love them?  I read beyond the everything-is-covered-in-ice-and-snow entries and into the look-what-is-blooming-today entries that make me want to get my fingernails buried in the earth.

Daffodils, daylilies and daisies (hmmm… I just realized thay are all words that start with d’s)  Those are my favorite flowers– oh, and peonies, and irises.  Can’t wait until the flowers begin to bloom again, and winter is but a distant, fading memory.

 Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill where the snow is beginning to melt.

The first cuttings (Regal geraniums) have arrived and are ready to be potted up.  And so the year begins.  We are excited to be started on the quick journey to Spring.  The pace will pick up now, as deliveries arrive nearly every day for the next few weeks.  Soon the greenhouses will smell of damp, warm earth and sunshine.  (We hope, anyway.  Let the snow go away, please!)

 Written by Lynn on the slope of Teasel Hill where the air is cold, cold, cold.

We are just back from Boston and New England Grows.  And we’re excited about the great new things we’ve found to offer you this season!  We have some great stone benches and statues coming that will add a whimsical touch of life to your gardens.  And some other surprises for decorating for Memorial Day, July 4th and the election year.