This 'n' Data

Here’s what industry folks have been telling us in recent online polls. Be sure to check www.gardencentermagazine.com each week to cast your vote on various pertinent topics.


Do you offer a plastic pot/tray recycling
service for your customers?

Some best-laid plants go awry
I have spent years trying to inform people on what is good to plant. I think it is about time I mention a few things I would never plant again.

Take, for example, the yellow leaf tree, Sunburst Locust. Please. Its big selling point is that you don't have to rake the leaves. This is true. You don't, because they stick to the bottom of your shoes, and you carry them into the house. Wives, I have discovered, frown heavily on this.

Another bad point: During the summer the tree gets worms that dangle from the branches. I think the worms find it especially humorous to fall down the back of your shirt while you are mowing the lawn. The neighbors find this considerably funnier than I do.

The silver maple is another no-go for me. Forty-two years ago when I moved into my home, there was a 10-foot-high silver maple growing in my backyard. The tree is now about 50 feet high and 90 feet wide. I think the roots soon will be invading our kitchen. Also, the branches on the tree are weak and may fall on your head while mowing under them.

If you have a silver maple, let me suggest wearing a hard hat while cutting the grass. You can also sing "YMCA," since you already have the helmet on. Arm motions are optional.

Finally, in the vegetable line, there is one thing I'll not try again. After I planted my tomatoes, Carol the Cook asked, "You didn't plant any of those black tomatoes did you?" I tested them last year and they tasted okay, but it looked like you were eating rotten fruit.

Actually, what we need is a vegetable that tastes like brownies or fried chicken. Now, that I would grow.

- Gary Church, a former grower, is a columnist for the New Castle (Pa.) News