In This Issue

In website posts and this newsletter, we've written about green infrastructure and our involvement in the NC Low Impact Development Summit. For the NC Summit, we helped create a survey about the role of plants in low impact development and green infrastructure. The results of that survey led to an article in this month's American Nurseryman magazine.

Our Marketing Director, Shannon Currey, co-authored the article with Debbie Hamrick, a colleague with NC Farm Bureau and an advisor to the NC Green Industry Council (NCGIC). Debbie was also instrumental in planning a NCGIC water conference that focused on green infrastructure.

In the article, they discuss how green infrastructure offers the nursery industry a new market for plants and horticultural services. Read the full article in American Nurseryman.

New York City recently announced plans to install 2,000 sidewalk rain gardens in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. The new gardens are part of comprehensive plan to protect neighborhoods from storm water overflow and improve water quality. 

Read more in the press release, and in this post.

Drought conditions in many parts of the country are pushing conversations about water to the forefront. Recent articles in Greenhouse Grower discussed the water crisis in California and called for a new way of thinking.

We love this recent post by gardener and author Pam Penick. She photographed a home in southwest Austin, Texas that takes advantage of grasses and other low-water-use plants. It's a gorgeous garden, filled with color, texture, and elegant hardscapes. The sense of place and connection to the surrounding landscape is unforgettable. 

While it's easy to spot perennial favorite, Pink Muhly, the garden also features Lindheimer's Muhly. This tough native is underutilized, so it's fun to see it play a starring role in this garden. For more about this useful genus, check out our Muhlenbergia page.

Thinking about low-water-use landscapes? Browse our list of grasses for dry conditions.

If you receive liners during winter or early spring, we'll probably ask where you're putting the plants. Why do we do that? It helps ensure the plants you recieve have the best chance of growing and thriving in their new conditions.

Most of Hoffman Nursery's liners are grown and overwintered in cold frames, so the plants are vernalized and ready to go when you receive them. The root systems are fully developed, healthy, and hardened off. 

Depending on when you receive them, the plants may be completely dormant or have recently broken dormancy. To learn why dormancy is important and get tips on winter and early spring shipments, read the full post.

• Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'
• Deschampsia flexuosa
• Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'
• Helictotrichon sempervirens 'Sapphire'
• Nassella tenuissima
• Sesleria autumnalis

To see them all, go to our cool season listing.

For more information, get the fundamentals and read about cool season grasses for growers.

John Hoffman plots his route through the NC Arboretum.

John and Jill Hoffman attended this year's meeting of the Southern Region of the International Plant Propagators Society (IPPS). Held in Hickory, NC, the conference included presentations, tours, and lots of opportunities to visit with colleagues.

Tours ranged over toward Asheville, with stops at the North Carolina Arboretum and the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center. The NC Arboretum has used grasses to control erosion and reduce mowing on slopes, as container plants, and in rain gardens. At the extension center, they're researching grasses for biofuels and developing new ornamental cultivars.

Panicum virgatum 'Dallas Blues' PP11202

One of our favorite Switchgrasses was featured this month in Nursery Management's Green Guide. Panicum virgatum 'Dallas Blues' PP11202 has been stunning this season. The photos in the article are from our roadside border at the nursery.

The article notes one of the big pluses with this cultivar:

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