Plugging Away

I don’t want to jinx us, but it seems like spring is here, but for real this time. In our area that isn’t something we say lightly, because the weather turns on a dime! April Fool’s indeed. Regardless of what the weather brings, our goal at Brookgreen is to start planting out in the gardens in April. Fortunately, we have a greenhouse that allows this to happen, so we don’t have to get caught up in the intricacies of Mother Nature. Our planting process starts quite similarly to a home gardener’s…

Around the time we are swapping out our warm season annuals for our cool season ones, our staff is already looking through catalogs from wholesale growers to select next year’s warm season plants. Even though it’s sad to take out our lovely displays, it makes things a tad easier when you’re drooling over next year’s possibilities. Hey, we all cope in different ways, right? Just like with ordering for home, it’s best to get orders in promptly, or else risk losing out. Our selections include staples you can expect year after year, like zinnias and coleus, below, as well as new plants we’re eager to try out - you never know what you might see!

Towards the start of the year, seed orders begin to arrive, followed shortly by plugs, or small, rooted plants. With literally thousands of plants coming in in different forms, shapes, and sizes, it’s quite a job to keep it all together! Thankfully, we have a dedicated greenhouse staff and an army of volunteers that are ready and able to take on the job!

The amount of time it takes a certain plant to germinate dictates when the seeds will be sown. With the addition of Bethea’s Garden, our heritage farm garden near the Wall Lowcountry Center, the number of seeds sown in the greenhouse has risen in recent years. As you can see, our mist tables are housing a ton of tiny, little plants, with even more on other tables outside of this image!

A trip through the greenhouse turns up seeds in all stages of development. Some show only bare potting media, while others are sprinkled with cheerful green, while yet others are only just starting to peek out!

On freshly emerged seedlings I always enjoy looking at are the false leaves, or cotyledons. On the cucumber seedlings pictured below, the cotyledons appear as very simple looking leaves, but are in fact not leaves at all. Before the plant is large enough to feed itself, the cotyledons, which are part of the seed, act as an energy reserve until the plant is established enough to feed itself. Once the energy is used up, you’ll find the cotyledons fallen on the ground. The cucumber is a great example, as the true leaves, with their serrated margins, stand in stark contrast to the cotyledons with their smooth margins.

While the seeds are certainly a time consuming process, let’s not forget about the plugs! These little plants are rooted into media and are placed into bigger pots upon their arrival to Brookgreen. Since they are so small, we need time to grow them larger in the greenhouse before we can put them out in the gardens.

Plug season is definitely a busy time! Our volunteers work long and hard putting the small plants into four inch pots. Once inside the pots, the plants have time to put on more growth inside the greenhouse before they ultimately wind up in the gardens and on display.

Although plugs and seeds are arguably our biggest production items in the greenhouse this time of year, we also focus our attention on cuttings too. To a lesser extent, cuttings are included in the gardens, but often our cuttings are used to supplement upcoming plant sales. As you can see on our mist table, the cuttings are not nearly as plentiful as the plugs and seeds!

In addition to housing plants that go out into our gardens, our greenhouse and nursery complex also maintain mother plants, or plants that we use to propagate from. These plants are ones that are not patented or otherwise prohibited from being reproduced. We typically turn to our mother plants over seeds or plugs for plants that we need in limited quantities, or for plants that are not easily found in commerce. With our mother plants, we typically take cuttings that are then rooted, as seen below, and then potted up.

While there is certainly a lot of hustle and bustle going on in the greenhouse this time of year, the efforts are certainly worth it! The time and attention that goes into our plants starts in the greenhouse and continues out into the gardens. Before you know it, it will be time to switch out our plantings once again, and these beauties in the greenhouse will make their debuts in our gardens. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait!

See you in the gardens!