Trip to Broken Arrow Nursery

Mountain Laurels in the fog at Broken Arrow Nursery

Yesterday, my sister and her husband, my brother, and Sean and I met at Broken Arrow Nursery for a get together. My sister is a zone 6 gardener, and my brother lives in the Boston area. Both are vastly superior gardeners to me. My brother is a day lily breeder and also appreciates all kinds of plants. I dabble in koi ponds as you have seen.

Broken Arrow Nursery was begun by Richard Jaynes, Ph.D., who specialized in breeding mountain laurels, in 1984. But it is a specialty and full service nursery offering all kinds of trees, shrubs and flowering plants.

Being there with my brother and sister was kind of like being on a public broadcasting system gardening show. They knowingly discussed the attributes of each plant and the care needed while mentioning its common and latin names. Sean and my brother-in-law kind of stood off to the side and sneered and rolled their eyes. I felt a bit out classed, knowing nothing about plants.

Oh well. In the past, we had bought a Japanese snow bell and a Sarah mountain laurel there that did very well.

Sarah

We were there to get a mountain laurel for under one of our maple trees that created a very shady spot. We had already killed a fragrant clethra and an azalea that we had planted in that spot.

Clethra

The staff advised us that our best bet was mountain laurel Nathan Hale; a good choice for the Independence Day weekend. Nathan tolerates shade well and grows stocky, while plants in deep shade will tend to grow leggy. The shrub we bought is dense and thick. We planted it this morning and it is being watered with a soaker hose as I am writing this.

Nathan Hale

Both my brother and sister bought carts of trees and shrubs. I coudn't even keep track of their purchases. You can track what my sister bought on her site. Later, we all went for lunch together. It really was a wonderful time.


"Hey man, I said water the plants! What the f**k? God, good help is hard to find!"