Vicky Poole, marketing and events director for the Galleria mall in Cleveland (who worked on her grandpa's farm as a child), expects that by late spring or early summer, there will be fresh tomatoes for sale among the shops and galleries.

The crops are being grown in bags and troughs hanging from steel stair-banisters and ceiling beams in the shopping center, The Plain Dealer reported. Because of Ohio's short growing season and the fact that the Galleria will not be heated to greenhouse temperatures, Poole is focusing on easily raised greens, herbs and tomatoes.

Read more about this innovative setup here.
 

Four buyers are in final negotiations to purchase Gardens in Austin, Texas, The American-Statesman reported. This is good news for many longtime customers who have been lamenting the closing of Gardens, the 35th Street landmark opened by James David and Gary Peese nearly 30 years ago. The two sold the business to Bill Bauer in 2006, wanting to simplify their life, Peese said. They still own the galvanized metal building and operate David/Peese Design at a separate location.

Bauer closed the Austin business and a second Gardens location in Dallas earlier this year. “The economic forces that brought down so many other businesses in Austin and around the country were the cause,” he said.

Two of the new potential owners, Vivian Wilson and Ellen Lake, were among Gardens' devoted customers, but didn't know each other until each expressed an interest in purchasing the business.

Bauer will continue to operate the Gardens landscape design and construction business, and most, if not all, of the staff will be rehired, Wilson said. Nurserygoers will find handpicked plants at the peak of health when the store reopens.

She said it is too soon to anticipate when that will be. “We want to put all our effort into making this store as amazing as we can. Our goal is to get this done as quickly as possible so that people who rely on it will not be disappointed.”

Report courtesy of Floral Notes Newsletter

Late blight, caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans, is a very destructive and very infectious disease that killed tomato and potato plants in gardens and on commercial farms throughout the eastern U.S. during 2009. As a result, many farmers across Massachusetts lost their tomato crops and incurred extra fungicide and labor expenses. While late blight is a problem on farms each year, the occurrence of late blight in 2009 was different compared to most seasons.

In 2009 it was the earliest the disease was reported over such a broad region of the country. More problematic for the Northeast, was that infected plants were distributed through large local retail stores throughout the region (Ohio to Maine). Never before has such an extensive distribution of infected plants occurred. This distribution, the exceptionally contagious nature of the disease and the cool, wet growing season all contributed to a disastrous year for farmers.

Garden retailers can help prevent the spread of late blight in gardens and on farms this growing season and provide customers with the facts about this disease.

Tomatoes. Late blight is not seedborne (however, it is tuber-borne in potato), so tomato plants started from seed locally (in the Northeast) would be free of the disease. Growing your own transplants from seed or purchasing from a reputable local grower will ensure a healthy start to the season for your customers and local farms. Disease-resistant or tolerant varieties of tomatoes exist, however seed is in limited supply this year. ‘Mountain Magic,’ ‘Plum Regal,’ and ‘Legend’ are three varieties with resistance or tolerance to late blight. Note that the variety ‘Legend’ has been grown primarily in the western U.S., where conditions are different than here. In addition to late blight, each year tomatoes become infected with early blight and Septoria leaf spot, which look very similar. If possible, also provide your customers with tomato plant varieties that are resistant or tolerant of early blight; these include ‘Mountain Fresh,’ ‘Mountain Supreme,’ and ‘Plum Dandy’ and others.

If you purchase plants to sell, inspect all transplants for stem, petiole cankers or leaf blight as long as plants are on the shelf. Teach your staff what to look for, using the web-links below.

Potatoes. Purchase certified, disease-free potato seed from a reputable source, and ask your supplier about their source of seed and if it was inspected in the field for late blight. Potato seed from the northeast are less likely to carry the disease.

Know the FACTS for staff and customers
Train employees about this important disease and provide information to your home gardening customers.

Potatoes that freeze or fully decompose will not carry the pathogen over winter. Tomatoes will not carry late blight over the winter, because freezing kills the whole plant. Tomato seed, even from fruit that was infected with late blight, will not carry the pathogen, so no need to worry about the tomatoes left behind in the garden or compost pile. Certain perennial weeds can become infected with late blight, but none of their above-ground tissues live through the winter. Late blight will not survive on tomato stakes and cages.

The biggest threat for overwintered disease is on potatoes. In the spring, advise home gardeners to inspect last year’s potato plot and any compost or cull piles for volunteer potato plants that might come up. If potato plants are found, pull them out and put them in the trash or destroy them. If tubers were infected and survive, then the late blight could grow upward from the tuber, infecting the stem and producing spores when weather conditions are favorable. These spores could then disperse to other tomato and potato plants.

During the growing season, pay attention to pest alerts to learn about whether late blight has been observed in New England, and what actions you need to advise to customers. If you or a customer suspect a problem, or to confirm a diagnosis, contact the UMass Plant Diagnostic Laboratory.

Photo galleries and other web resources
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/Facilities/lihrec/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm
http://blogs.cornell.edu/hort/2009/06/26/late-blight-a-serious-disease-killing-tomatoes-and-potatoes-this-year/

Author Tina Smith is the outreach educator, UMass Extension, Amherst

Tampa-area nurseries could get a big pick-me-up in March, when people rush to replace their brown shrubs and trees, Tampa Bay Online reported.

“Our industry has been hit harder than anybody because we're tied into construction and there is no building right now,” said Doug Meyer, whose family started the wholesale Meyer's Nurseries in Thonotosassa more than 70 years ago

He and other sellers predict customers who've been freeze-burned two years in a row will be looking for more cold-hardy plants this time around.

Get the full story here.