I am not an expert on the nursery industry. My interest was mainly to photograph the flowers of as many varieties as I could find. I saw lots of varieties that I had never even heard of. One thing that surprised me was the large number of old "iron-clads" that they were raising such as Nova Zembla, Roseum Pink, Roseum Elegans, English Roseum and Lee's Dark Purple. These are old fairly fool-proof plants. But they also raise many yellow rhododendrons and exciting newer hybrids. Germany, and most of Europe in general, raises most of their rhododendrons on grafted plants. Many of their plants, if grown on cuttings on their own roots, as would be done in the US where grafting of rhododendrons is virtually unheard of, would be 1) too difficult to root to be commercially successful, 2) too tall and leggy, and/or 3) too difficult to raise due to low pH demands, susceptibility to root-born diseases, or poor root structures. One thing that I found interesting in Germany was that there are basically two different methods of raising grafted plants. One method, the more conventional method, has something like Cunningham's White or Inkarho patented rootstocks that are rooted from cuttings and grown for 2 years. Then the scion is grafted on to the root stock using a side graft. The graft is wrapped with a rubber band type material until the graft takes. The second and newer method takes cuttings of both the scion and the root stock and grafts them together and roots them at the same time. For about 1.5 to 2 inches each cutting is cut from one side to the center of the base. Then the cut areas of each cutting are mated with green tissue touching green tissue. Then the two cut areas of mated cuttings are wrapped with raw cotton string and dipped in a powdered rooting hormone and stuck in a rooting soil-mix. The raw cotton string will eventually rot in the soil. The main rhododendron growing region of Germany is in northwest Germany which was once a large peat bog. It was a swamp. Success by the Dutch in reclaiming such land caused the Germans to build a ditch and canal network with windmill powered pumps to drain the swamp. Then the peat bogs turned into ideal areas for growing acid-soil loving plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas. During this process the peat bogs died. The sphagnum moss could no longer grow without the swamp. In some areas peat was harvested. In other areas plants were grown in the peat. There are more rhododendrons produced here than in the rest of the world combined and the scale is staggering. These family-owned firms are usually 2-3 generations old and are able to pass down the family tradition. They use gantry irrigation, water recycling, computer controlled potting and grading and greenhouses whose rooves lift as the temperatures rise. Most of the garden work is done by Polish laborers and some work such as grafting is sent to be done in Poland. Today things are done much differently. First, most plants are grown in containers with little or no peat moss. They tend to use more bark dust and less peat. It gives them a much better yield. They are not raising the plants in the peat bog, but in containers placed on water proof fabric on top of the peat bog. The growing areas are sloped in such a manner that they can collect all irrigation and rain water that is not used and drain it into ponds that are used for irrigation. In a normal season they can get by almost entirely on rain water. The buying habits of both Germans and Americans are shaping the nursery industry. People tend to buy from large box garden centers and home stores rather than the local nurseryman. There are now two very successful types of nurseries, 1) the mega nurseries that supply most of the garden centers and home stores and 2) the specialized nurseries that supply landscape architects with large expensive plants. Some of the nurseries in Germany did both. I will try to put together a plant list in a future posting. The blog in the link below is written by author, plantsman and plant explorer Ken Cox of Glendoick, Scotland, and does an excellent job of describing our trip. He neglected to mention that we had a couple that run a large nursery in Brazil and are introducing rhododendrons to Brazil. Here is a link that might be useful: International Rhododendron Conference in Germany

Yeah, we had one of the "local experts" say in her newspaper column, "the antique roses that are once bloomers, blooming only in the spring". *** It may hold true for gardens in harsh-winter climates. But out here, the roses which have survived with no care for a century or more are remontant things like Chinas, Teas, and Noisettes. Oh, and Polyanthas. So when someone in CA writes with certainty that "Old Roses only bloom once," I get sorta testy! Particularly when our remontant Old Roses are flat the easiest roses to grow under our conditions. Jeri

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.

My main issue with it is that it is a CHRISTMAS commercial not a general run of the mill day to day commercial or tv show. It is on to represent the CHRISTMAS season using a classic song that everyone relates to Christmas. I think there could have been something much more appropriate to represent what Christmas is really all about! Unfortunately so many apparently don't even know or care what Christmas is. Not the picture I would want in my mind or my children's mind when singing or hearing Christmas songs like the classic Jingle Bells. Don't watch Victoria Secret either, have no interest. I am definitely NOT a prude in any way,this one is all about the respect of the holiday. Just my feelings about things Christmas related, it is just one short time of the year. They could take an example from the fabulous ads from years of the Budweiser Clydesdale Christmas ads, now those are ads worth seeing and remembering. And this from a Beer company! Classy and classic. Budweiser Clydesdale Christmas Commercials