January

Picea abies 'Cupressina'

“Sure's pretty when it's white outside,” said J., a young woman who has been with my company since this past summer. I appreciate her positive outlook, but for me ice and snow are problematic, not pretty at all, and I face the challenge to task my employees with useful projects indoors. I wish it was Sunday with nobody here so this old grump could go home and sit on the couch and drink tea with my wife...and later imbibe pinot noir.

The truth is that some employees actually like me – or at least compare me favorably with their past employers – and they are satisfied with a career working with plants. Others view the experience like a trip to the dentist, but they need to make money and Buchholz Nursery pays a little more than other companies. I deal with and tolerate the latter group, but believe me: I receive no inspiration from them and I look forward to retirement. There are days when I just don't want to be in charge. There's actually plenty to do, and I wish it was easy as saying, “Just go make everything better: fix what needs to be fixed, prune and stake and pot up wht needs to be taken care of, but just spend the labor money wisely because we don't have anything extra.” But for some reason I am the Shepherd and the sheep are not able to find pasture on their own.

Ah, look! The snow has stopped and there's a patch of blue as I look out the office window. Well, maybe life is not so gloomy after all. Still it's cold, but I need to go out and cut scions to finish grafting our Abies (true fir) rootstocks. Cold or not, to survive I must crank out a product, but at least I am a promoter of a floral future, a booster of...plant/planet continuation. It is my intention that every tree that leaves Buchholz Nursery will outlive me, but then I've already killed my share. As we gear up for another shipping season, I appreciate our customers, some who have been buying for dozens of years. If you are a new customer I look forward to impressing you with our plants. Thanks to all.