G&S Nursery Spring 2015 Newsletter
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’S<br />
Insider<br />
SPRING <strong>2015</strong><br />
FUN TIMES<br />
AT THE BEACH<br />
PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR <br />
WHAT’S INSIDE | THIS ISSUE<br />
WWW.GSNURSERY.COM<br />
386.754.0161<br />
MESSAGE TO SPACE DAD<br />
FREEZER GEEZERS<br />
BULBINE FRUTESCENS
Message to My Astronaut Dad<br />
YURT LIFE<br />
Greetings friends!<br />
13-year-old<br />
Stephanie knows<br />
when she looks into<br />
the night sky that<br />
her dad is somewhere<br />
up there. Her<br />
dad is an astronaut<br />
on an extended assignment at the<br />
International Space Station.<br />
When a representative from Hyundai<br />
motors sought her out and<br />
offered her a chance to send him<br />
a one-of-a-kind message that he<br />
could see from space, she eagerly<br />
agreed.<br />
The plan was to use a fleet of Hyundai<br />
sedans equipped with nubby<br />
tires to leave tracks in the sandy dry<br />
bed of a lake in Nevada to spell out<br />
the words of a note in the handwriting<br />
of young Stephanie. The note<br />
said “Steph s you!”<br />
A whole lot of people were recruited<br />
to make it happen, including IT guys,<br />
surveyors, stunt drivers, mechanics,<br />
and a video crew. Timing was of the<br />
essence. It had to be finished within a short<br />
time before the ISS would be passing over<br />
the area since a windstorm could come up<br />
at any time and erase the whole thing. The<br />
pass over would need to happen during<br />
daylight hours, and the sky had to be clear<br />
of clouds.<br />
The fleet of 11 cars deployed in formation,<br />
tracing and retracing each line of the note<br />
and then exiting in single file between the<br />
letters to leave a minimal trail where no<br />
marks were wanted.<br />
The video that resulted from the event<br />
shows the cars in motion, some footage<br />
from the space station, and an audio<br />
transmission from space of a man telling his<br />
daughter back on earth that he<br />
loves her, too.<br />
The video can be viewed at<br />
https://youtu.be/3EOAXrTrsOE<br />
. The effort earned the distinction<br />
as “the largest tire track<br />
image” by the Guinness World<br />
Records®.<br />
Photos: Hyundai Motors<br />
I recently got back from a weekend trip to a state park north of Atlanta<br />
called Fort Yargo. My young family and I went with two other young<br />
families to do a little fishing and boating on the small lake they have<br />
there and each of our families stayed in our own yurt. If you don’t know<br />
what a yurt is, there’s no shame in that. They are a form of shelter that<br />
have been used for centuries by nomadic people<br />
in Mongolia, and more recently have been<br />
embraced by outdoor types looking for a way<br />
to get close to nature<br />
that isn’t as flimsy<br />
as a tent yet is more<br />
rustic than a cabin.<br />
The yurts they are<br />
building in state parks<br />
and other wilderness<br />
outposts aren’t quite<br />
as portable as their<br />
asian namesakes, but<br />
they incorporate many of the features of an<br />
actual yurt, such as the round shape of the<br />
structure and the soft outer skin (although I<br />
daresay the material is synthetic as opposed<br />
to the hides used by the originators).<br />
Our yurt had finished wood floors and electricity. We had to bring our<br />
own bedding and the bathroom facilities were elsewhere. It had an<br />
attached deck that overlooked the lake from which I was able to go<br />
fishing.<br />
Spending a weekend in a<br />
yurt was entirely satisfying.<br />
It was bright and cozy, and<br />
it struck a very congenial<br />
balance between comfort<br />
and nature.<br />
To Your Success!<br />
Zack Kirsch<br />
General Manager<br />
G&S <strong>Nursery</strong><br />
2<br />
2<br />
ON OUR COVER: Jorge Diaz and daughter Nina with Westly at Fernandina Beach<br />
3
Let’s go to the beach!<br />
4<br />
Florida isn’t the only state in the<br />
country with beautiful beaches, but<br />
the plain unvarnished truth is that<br />
Florida’s beaches are the finest in the<br />
continental United States. It’s something<br />
we Floridians can be proud of.<br />
It doesn’t hurt that Florida’s ratio<br />
coastline to land mass is the third<br />
highest of the states. The two states<br />
with more coastline per square mile<br />
are tiny Rhode Island and Hawaii.<br />
Climate also helps.<br />
There is a professor from Florida<br />
International University, Dr. Stephen<br />
P. Leatherman, who has assumed a<br />
position of authority when it comes<br />
to grading the quality of beaches.<br />
Dr. Leatherman—or Dr. Beach, as<br />
he likes to be called—has a Ph.D.<br />
in Environmental (Coastal) Sciences<br />
and has been rating beaches in a<br />
serious way since 1991. His role as<br />
de facto beach rater came about<br />
when a travel writer asked him to<br />
cite his favorite beaches in 1989, and<br />
his offhand answer caused such a<br />
reaction that he spent the next two<br />
years devising a 50-point checklist<br />
and scoring beaches so that the next<br />
time he gave his opinion, he could<br />
defend his choices with cold, hard<br />
facts. Judging beaches by statistical<br />
analysis of 50 key indicators<br />
rather takes away the romance of the<br />
choice, but it also lends his list an<br />
air of authority that keeps him from<br />
losing his reputation as the go-to guy<br />
for rating beaches year after year.<br />
Nice work if you can get it.<br />
Dr. Beach’s Top picks for 2014 were Duke<br />
Kahanamoku Beach (Oahu, HI), Barefoot<br />
Beach (Bonita <strong>Spring</strong>s, FL), and St. George<br />
Island State Park (Apalachicola, FL).<br />
It’s interesting that Florida and Hawaii are<br />
consistently at the top of every list. Also<br />
interesting is that all of the Florida beaches<br />
on the top of these lists are on the Gulf<br />
of Mexico side of our fair state. Daytona<br />
Beach? Fort Lauderdale? Miami Beach?<br />
These evidently don’t score as highly as<br />
their reputation would suggest. And where<br />
is California on any of these lists? For all<br />
the songs the Beach Boys sang glorifying<br />
the California coast, you’d think there’d be<br />
some better representation on these lists.<br />
The closest ocean beaches to the nursery<br />
are found in Jacksonville, 90 minutes from<br />
here. They may never find their way to the<br />
top of Dr. Beach’s list, but don’t tell the<br />
thousands of visitors who passionately love<br />
these beaches even though the sand isn’t<br />
sugary white and the water isn’t azure blue.<br />
They do have sand, sun and surf, and for a<br />
lot of beach lovers, that’s all they require for<br />
a day in paradise.<br />
Our own sales rep, Jorge Diaz, is one such<br />
beach lover. Jorge lives within a few blocks<br />
of Fernandina beach even though he must<br />
commute often to Lake City. He considers<br />
the long miles in the car a small price<br />
to pay for the opportunity to spend more<br />
time combing the beach. “I go there all the<br />
time,” he says. “I’ll go for a walk at night<br />
with my family and we always wind up at<br />
the ocean.”<br />
Jorge and wife Leslie enjoying<br />
the sun and surf<br />
Past Dr. Beach Winners<br />
• Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin/Clearwater, Florida<br />
• Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York<br />
• Coronado Beach, San Diego, California<br />
• Fleming Park Beach, Maui, Hawaii<br />
• Fort De Soto Park, North Beach, St. Petersburg, Florida<br />
• Grayton Beach State Park, Florida panhandle<br />
• Hanalei Bay Beach, Kauai, Hawaii<br />
• Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii<br />
• Hapuna Beach State Recreational Area, Big Island, Hawaii<br />
• Hulopoe Beach, Lanai, Hawaii<br />
• Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii<br />
• Kailua Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii<br />
• Kapalua Bay Beach, Maui, Hawaii<br />
• Kaunaoa Beach, Big Island, Hawaii<br />
• Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii<br />
• Main Beach East Hampton, New York<br />
• Ocracoke Beach, Outer Banks of North Carolina<br />
• Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii<br />
• Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Florida<br />
• St. Andrews State Park, Florida panhandle<br />
• St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Florida panhandle<br />
• Wailea Beach, Maui, Hawaii<br />
5
Featured Plant<br />
Bulbine Frutescens<br />
Bulbine Caulescens<br />
Just in time for summer, we have a<br />
sale on Bulbine Frutescens in a 1<br />
gallon pot. This is a clumping succulent<br />
that sports a pretty yellow<br />
flower on a long stem that blooms<br />
continuously in spring and fall,<br />
slowing down a little in the hottest<br />
months of summer.<br />
The foliage stays green throughout<br />
the year and grows in thick grassy<br />
clumps from which the small yellow<br />
flowers arise on gangly stems.<br />
This plant prefers full sun or light<br />
shade and is cold hardy to 20° F.<br />
It requires minimal watering—no<br />
more than once per week during<br />
a drought. Each plant achieves a<br />
maximum spread of 2 feet.<br />
This plant is native to southern<br />
Africa. Like the aloe, its succulent<br />
leaves contain sap that is soothing<br />
6<br />
Rick Gets a New Bicycle<br />
Rick Lacey, one of our truck drivers (and Charlie’s<br />
uncle) likes to stay in shape by riding his<br />
bike to work, weather permitting. He recently<br />
celebrated his 60th birthday, and his children,<br />
grandkids and other assorted relatives honored<br />
him with enough cash to upgrade the<br />
bicycle of his dreams. Uncle Rick is awfully<br />
proud of his new wheels...<br />
Bulbine Frutescens prices<br />
1 gal ..........................$1.85 $1.75!<br />
to burns and is used in some cultures for a<br />
variety of treatments.<br />
PRICES GOOD THROUGH MAY 31<br />
NEED PHO-<br />
TO OF RICK<br />
ON HIS<br />
BIKE HERE<br />
Tales from the Road<br />
The Rites of <strong>Spring</strong><br />
By Billy Clements<br />
Ahhhhh, spring has<br />
sprung. That magical<br />
time of the year when<br />
nature awakens out<br />
of its wintery slumber<br />
and explodes<br />
in wide varieties of<br />
colorful blooms and<br />
blossoms. It is yet<br />
another opportunity<br />
for God to illuminate<br />
the world around us by painting the<br />
landscape with the vibrant color<br />
of life renewed. As I travel down<br />
America’s highways and byways, I<br />
am allowed to enjoy this spectacle<br />
from the front row as the miles<br />
pass beneath me… Slowly, sometimes<br />
VERY slowly! For, you see,<br />
this is also the season that sparks<br />
another annual event known as<br />
“The Northern Exodus.”<br />
The Northern Exodus, more commonly<br />
referred to as “The Flight of<br />
the Snowbirds”, is when many of<br />
our so-called Yankee friends abandon<br />
their southern posts and return<br />
to their motherland; seemingly all at<br />
the same time. Thousands of miles<br />
of northbound interstate highway<br />
become clogged with “freezer<br />
geezers” (as they may be known<br />
on the C.B. radio). Traffic becomes<br />
a virtual parking lot as the migration<br />
continues, giving one a perfect<br />
chance to witness creation’s<br />
metamorphosis while strengthening<br />
their clutch muscles. Indeed, you<br />
are actually able to “stop and smell<br />
the roses.”<br />
As if this weren’t enough, you can<br />
also mix in the endless stream of teenaged<br />
individuals attempting to make<br />
their way home after weeks of celebrating<br />
their brief hiatus from school. Their<br />
scientific classification being: <strong>Spring</strong>breakus<br />
– Aggravatus, they represent<br />
the complete opposite of the aforementioned<br />
species. Still in the mood for<br />
carousing and raucous behavior, they<br />
manage to fill in any gaps that might<br />
have remained in the parade; therefore<br />
securing the inevitable reality that the<br />
sun may well rise and set before the<br />
speed limit is once again obtained.<br />
In short, springtime for a truck driver is<br />
usually spent honking the air horn for the<br />
entertainment of the kids in the car that<br />
just crawled past, and praying we make<br />
it to our destinations before autumn<br />
arrives and begins the circle of life once<br />
more.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong>time on I-75<br />
7
P.O. Box 215<br />
Lake City FL 32056<br />
www.gsnursery.com<br />
RIDDLE OF THE MONTH<br />
HIVE BORER is an anagram of a word that can be used to describe<br />
kangaroos, geese, iguanas and cows. What’s the 1-word answer?<br />
Send in your answer to sales@gsnusery.com before March 9.<br />
All correct answers will be entered into a drawing to win one<br />
of 3 Green Poly Lined Rainsuits!<br />
LAST MONTH’S RIDDLE:<br />
The task was to find a 4-digit numeric sequence that met<br />
the following requirements:<br />
2nd and 3rd digit of the code is the same<br />
4th digit is 2X the 1st digit<br />
Last 2 digits together is 2X the first two digits together<br />
ANSWER: 4998<br />
NEED LAST<br />
ISSUE<br />
WINNERS<br />
HERE<br />
Last Month’s Winners:<br />
ROSS GWIN<br />
SCOTT SOLTAU<br />
STEVE NELSON