A Red Wave... of Poinsettias!

by Stacey Haag

Several Robertson County Master Gardeners attended South Central Growers’ Annual Poinsettia Open House on Saturday, November 12. It's the only day each year that SCG opens its doors to the public. To many, it's a bit like entering Willy Wonka's chocolate factory; however, no golden ticket is needed here. SCG welcomes visitors warmly with refreshments, visits with Santa, photos next to the constructed poinsettia tree, facility tours, and special sales. Each visitor also leaves with a free poinsettia as a gift.

This year, visitors were also encouraged to view about a dozen trial poinsettia varieties and cast their votes. They were all beautiful, but Trial #9 named Poker Dark Glitter was voted as the crowd favorite.

Although their wholesale plants are not usually available for purchase at their location, a selection of poinsettias and arrangements are made available for one day during this annual event. These plants are sold at cost, and 100% of the proceeds are donated to a local charity. This year’s proceeds were donated to The Master's Table, a safe place where food insecure and unhoused individuals and families can find a warm meal and caring hearts. A different nonprofit is selected as the beneficiary each year.

South Central Growers is a Dutch wholesale grower in Springfield, TN that provides ornamentals, mums, and poinsettias to retailers such as Lowe’s and Sam’s Club. They have more than 1 million square feet of indoor greenhouse space, plus 16 acres of outdoor space. With a special commitment to sustainability, they only use rainwater for their plants, capturing and recapturing, using ponds for storage. Custom floors allow the recycled water to be pumped in, flooding the greenhouses while watering plants from the roots as they sit on the floor. After watering, floor drains open, allowing the water to be drained from the greenhouses and pumped back to the ponds for storage until the next watering.

Be sure to mark your calendar for next year’s event! 

November Meeting at the Arboretum

by Karen House

RCMGA had a casual November meeting at the Ridgetop Arboretum. Arborist Robert Bruce came to talk to us about trees. We had a nice walk around the arboretum, and Shawn showed us the impressive arboretum map that he made. You can view it online here. We also had a mini session around a nice stand of fig trees, thanks to Rich. Refreshments were wedding themed to honor Bill and Laura, two interns, who are getting married later this month in Ohio. RCMGA would like to congratulate the happy couple and wish them a blessed marriage!

If you read the September issue of The Leaflet, I'm sure you'll remember Kathy Doss's article entitled I Soiled My Undies! Well, the results are in. Kathy dug up her undies in late October to find that they had, in fact, been broken down by the soil. All that remained was an elastic band! Congrats on the healthy soil, Kathy! 

If you missed Kathy's amusing and educational article, you can read it here.

Please welcome Bob Ary as the new Master Gardener Coordinator for Robertson County!

The election of officers for the 2023 year is fast approaching. If you are interested in serving as an officer next year or nominating a current member, please submit your nomination to one of our current officers.

Don't forget... to log your volunteer and educational hours at https://temg.tennessee.edu/. Attending a regular monthly meeting earns 1 volunteer hour plus 1 CEU for the presented program. Online classes and videos also count as educational hours.

The Robertson County Master Gardeners wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!