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The Constant Gardner Blog Index
August 10, 2007
Proven Winners trip

A week ago I had a chance to tour Pleasant View Gardens in Loudon, N.H. Pleasant View is one of three companies behind the Proven Winners brand of plants.

The bus trip was sponsored by Estabrook Farm and Greenhouse in Yarmouth, and was a lot of fun.

We toured the 10 acres of greenhouses they had on site – spending a lot of energy on ponsettias now.

Most of the business is producing flats of plugs, or small plants, that are sent to other growers, who nurture them to the point of being good, salable plants in 4.5 inch pots.

My column in this week's Sunday Telegram is about how Pleasant View operates, how they select their plants and nurture them.

And then on Aug. 19 I will write about some of the new introductions for 2008

Posted at 02:29 PM

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Comments

If I'm not mistaken, I once read that those PW plants that come up from Costa Rica to Loudon, NH, in the winter are grown from tissue culture. It's the only way that they can maintain that particular variety's characteristic. They don't collect seed for these plants.

Can you explain that process either here or in your follow-up column?

Posted by
August 16, 2007 09:23 PM

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Tom Atwell has written the Maine Gardener column in the Maine Sunday Telegram since the spring of 2004. He has worked at the Press Herald/Sunday Telegram since 1974, about the same time he started gardening with any seriousness.

He gardens with his wife, Nancy. She not only is the better gardener of the pair, but also knows the botanical names of plants. They have two grown children and three grandchildren.

Tom was born in Skowhegan, grew up in Farmington and graduated from the University of Maine with a BA in journalism. His goal each year is to have continuous compost from his three compost bins, continuous bloom in his low-maintenance garden and more fruits and vegetables on his family table than the garden pests eat in the field.



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