Seeds are here!

Oh my gosh, 

spring fever is rampant here in 

the north woods.

Wanna scratch that itch?

We've been getting questions about the seeds

we'll have this spring at Gracie's Plant Works.

And, in case you didn't see it, we were featured in the latest issue of

The Ely Winter Times, talking about spring fever and

planning for your seed purchases.

The seeds we'll have this spring are from

Botanical Interests, 
and are of exceptionally high quality.

Much of the confusion in seed ordering is caused by the
outstanding job seed companies do in writing descriptions of
the varieties they offer.

We all, at one time or another, have gotten caught up in the hyperbole 
and ordered seeds that weren't appropriate for the growing conditions here.
Consequently, that entire season was lost only to find out
that we had chosen an inappropriate variety. 

 The real meaning of plant catalog terminology:
"A favorite of birds" means to avoid planting near cars, sidewalks, or clotheslines.
"Grows more beautiful each year" means "Looks like roadkill for the foreseeable future."
"Zone 5 with protection" is a variation on the phrase "Russian roulette."
"May require support" means your daughter's engineering degree will finally pay off.
"Moisture-loving" plants are ideal for landscaping all your bogs and swamps.
"Carefree" refers more to the plant's attitude than to your workload.
"Vigorous" is code for "has a Napoleonic compulsion to take over the world."
"Grandma's Favorite" -- until she discovered free-flowering, disease-resistant hybrids.

All humor aside, I recently read a book by Howard Buffet entitled
Forty Chances.

 The message of the book struck me;
in essence, we all have 40 chances for a garden,
assuming we'll garden our entire lives.

The first 18 years are generally not spent gardening,
and the latter 18 are not, either.
That leaves about 40 chances to get it right.

This was a sobering thought for me.

The success of our customers foremost in our minds, 
this collection of seeds we are offering has been 
carefully selected northern gardeners.

All will grow well and will perform in our short growing season.  

On another note, we are allowing you to cash in on our experience 
by offering seeds for crops that will suit our growing conditions,
and well as offering vegetable starter plants for those that need more time
to mature for harvest.



You can read more about this here:
How to Choose Healthy Seedlings 

At the end of the post, there is a photo gallery of crops in my Ely garden, 
illustrating that they do, in fact, thrive in our area.

We'll be carrying flower seeds this year for the first time

to compliment an even larger selection of vegetable seeds.

For flowers, we will have:
Bachelor Buttons
Common Milkweed
Calendula, Pacific Beauty Blend
Chinese Lantern
Cosmos, Bright Lights
Cosmos, Candy Stripe
Cosmos, Sensation Blend organic
Bring Home Butterfly flower mix
Save the Bees flower mix
Forget-Me-Not, Spring and Summer
Morning Glory, Sunrise Blend
Nasturtium, Mahogany
Nasturtium, Trailing Single Blend
Poppy, Black Swan
Poppy, Shirley Single Blend
Rudbeckia, Autumn Gloriosa Blend
Rudbeckia, Indian Summer
Sunflower, Autumn Beauty
Sunflower, Flash Blend organic
Sweet Pea, Bouquet Blend
Texas Bluebonnet Sundial Lupine
Zinnia, Northern Lights Blend

Many of these flowers were selected specifically to attract pollinators to your garden.
Sweet Peas can be interplanted with pole/runner beans to increase pollination,
and it looks beautiful, too.

Calendula and Nasturtium flowers are edible, and 
make a salad look especially pleasing.

For herbs and vegetables, we'll have:
Cilantro, organic
Dill, Bouquet organic
Arugula, Dragon's Tongue
Bush Bean, Blue Lake 274
Bush Bean, French Filet
Bush Bean, Royal Burgundy organic
Pole Bean, Kentucky Wonder
Pole Bean, Trionfo Violetto
Beet, Detroit Dark Red
Beet, Gourmet Blend
Carrot, Carnival Blend organic
Carrot, Scarlet Nantes organic
Sweet Corn, Delectable Bicolor
Endive, Olesh Tres Fine organic
Leaf Lettuce, Salad Bowl Blend organic
Lettuce, Romaine Freckles organic
Parsnip, All American
Snap Pea, Sugar Snap organic
Snow Pea, Oregon Sugar Pod organic
Radish, Cherry Belle organic
Rutabaga, American Purple Top
Spinach, Bloomsdale organic
Turnip, Purple Top White organic

Endive

Rutabaga

Snow Pea

Rainbow Carrots

Purple Pole Beans

Beets

Snap Peas

Cherry Belle Radish

Leaf Lettuce

Milkweed with a pollinator

 
Give a shout to either Patty or me to pre-order your seeds.
You'll save postage, calm down the spring fever a bit,
and be ready when the snow melts to start planting
and taking advantage of the chance you have this 
year to grow beautiful flowers and vegetables.

You'll be SOW inspired!!

Kathy's e-mail

Patty's e-mail