Click on the photo to the right for Downloads of our Plant Charts and Catalog
10/6/22
Welcome to our 28th season, the year of finding the “new normal”.
As in 2021, we had a good year for sales. We’re grateful for all the innovative adjustments that all of you made to your operations to keep moving ahead through these difficult times. We’ve all brought beauty and enjoyment to lots of folks who didn’t know the wonders of gardening.
With all the talk of labor shortages across the country, we were concerned that it would be difficult to fill our staffing needs for the new year. However, the opposite was true and we found some fabulous new members to add to our team and they fit like a glove with our long timers. What a joy it is to work with a team of people who like and respect each other, enjoy the work and share the passion for plants, art, music, animals and the natural world. There might be a little too much talk about goats, but we can deal!
The supply chain was challenging for us, as for your business, so Suzanne has spent extra time searching for supplies. Her determination and creativity got us through the year and into the next with pots, flats, plants and soil. See her Growing Methods update for changes in our practices.
A large challenge for our office staff was learning and relearning our new inventory and invoicing system. Thanks to our computer guru, Amy, we are moving forward and hope that any problems with 2022 are long gone. Vicky finally stopped dreaming about it in early August. Thanks for your patience with the newness of it all.
News for 2023:
- As always, we are tweaking our list with new varieties and retiring some, based on our staff recommendations. We have added almost 75 new varieties to our perennial list with the thought that your newer veggie customers are ready for taking the next step to perennials. You’ll find new annuals, veggies and more as well.
- We have added a small but groovy collection of water plants to our list, thanks to a trip to the Cultivate 22 by Suzanne, Alex and Athena and lots of research. Thanks, guys! They are tucked in to their appropriate categories (ie perennials, natives, foliage). Check them out for all the new pond owners in your customer base.
- Natives are still growing in popularity with some local cities offering grants for homeowners to add them to their gardens/yards. We have brought back some old favorites like Echinacea tennesseensis. Our quart sized pots add shelf life and soil amendments keep them looking great.
- We are attempting to remove plants from our list that use names that are culturally inappropriate. You may see some missing varieties but should find a good replacement for them. We will continue to work on this in the coming year and hope that the broader industry will do the same.
- Inflation, fuel costs and climate change will continue to challenge all business owners. We will do our best to stay as efficient and creative as possible to address these issues in partnership with you.
Thanks as always.
Fondly,
Vicky Weis, Suzanne Baker and all the folks and critters that share our work days at Rush Creek Growers.
Growing Methods for 2023
I’m really excited about some of the new bio-control products that have just come out. They are safe for beneficial insects but really work! See the table below for a list of them and what they do. Why everyone has the name of their new product start with the letter V is a mystery! Velifer, Ventigra, Venerate. Who can remember which is which?
Supply issues have been front and center for me this year. Pots that we’ve used for years suddenly didn’t arrive in time for the crops they were intended for. There was a lot of scrambling to find trays for the pots that we could get. More than once I looked to see if we could buy a mass quantity of Dixie Cups. The saga continues for 2023 and into 2024. We’re hoping for the best.
