Wrapped in soft throws and sipping warm lattes, five women business owners gathered on overstuffed couches in a Charleston, South Carolina, beach house in October to mastermind strategies for overcoming challenges and positioning themselves for 2024. Their expertise spanned real estate, finance, marketing, business leadership and energy healing. Ideas were flowing like the gentle waves rolling to shore just outside the home. However, all motion stopped inside with the task of creating online … [Read more...] about Buckle Up for 2024: Artificial Intelligence is Vastly Accelerating Small Business Efficiency
Warner's Nursery
Reaping the Joy, Benefits of Family Gardening
When you have a family garden, you cultivate more than food and flowers. That’s what I’ve learned as someone who has gardened with my parents and grandparents, and as a mom who has spent countless hours having fun with my sons planting and growing things. Now, our family is unique – my boys are the fourth generation to work at Warner’s Nursery – but I think the benefits of gardening with your loved ones are pretty universal. First and foremost is the quality time you get to spend … [Read more...] about Reaping the Joy, Benefits of Family Gardening
Fall is a Special Time for Northern Arizona Gardens
It’s a time of transition – there’s still a lot of life left in your late summer garden, with late bloomers that grow quickly and give your garden beds or patio containers a splash of color. (Deadheading flowering plants will help encourage those last few blooms, by the way). Then, there are the flowers that love the cool temps of this time of year: mums, asters and the second wave of hardy pansies and violas that you haven’t seen since spring. You can also still harvest from your veggie … [Read more...] about Fall is a Special Time for Northern Arizona Gardens
Summer Watering Tips for the New Normal
When it comes to weather and climate in Northern Arizona in 2021, there’s good news and bad news. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. The National Weather Service (NWS) recently announced that our region and much of the Southwest is experiencing a “new normal” that is hotter and dryer than it’s been in recent history. In the past decade, we’ve had higher temperatures, fewer inches of snowfall and less precipitation in general. Nothing seemed to symbolize this sad state of affairs … [Read more...] about Summer Watering Tips for the New Normal
Christmas: From Our Families to Yours
This year has been a hard one for family gatherings. For several months we’ve been limiting big get-togethers out of concern over the coronavirus pandemic. It’s likely that COVID-19 will be impacting your Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, too. With lots of families foregoing travel and staying put for the holidays, it’s time to capture the spirit of the season in our homes by decking them out with as much holiday cheer as possible. The centerpiece of that décor, of course, is your … [Read more...] about Christmas: From Our Families to Yours
Why You Should Plant Trees in the Fall
As we start to wrap up summer and head into fall, it’s tempting to think that that the gardening season is over, but nothing could be further from the truth. There are still flowers to enjoy (mums in particular), last harvests to be gathered from your vegetable plots, and bulbs to get into the ground that will bloom next spring. Often during this time, planting trees is an activity that gets overlooked. It’s only natural that many people associate tree planting with spring. After a long … [Read more...] about Why You Should Plant Trees in the Fall
Pollinators Still Need Our Help
Flagstaff should give itself a pat on the back. A few years ago, the National Pollinator Garden Network (NPGN), a group of stakeholders in the gardening, pollinator and conservation communities, challenged Americans to create one million gardens rich in pollen and nectar-filled flowers to help out our pollinators like bees, birds and butterflies. In three short years, the NPGN reached that goal. When they announced their success last year, the NPGN called attention to a handful of communities … [Read more...] about Pollinators Still Need Our Help
How to Water Well
Here is a scene that plays out pretty frequently at the nursery: A gardener comes in to ask about his or her dying outdoor garden – trees, shrubs, veggies or flowerbeds. In the course of conversation, it will become apparent that the problem is the plants simply aren’t getting enough water. The gardener is shocked. “But I water my plants all the time,” he or she will insist. While we don’t doubt our customers’ sincerity – it really might feel like they are watering all the time – we … [Read more...] about How to Water Well
Gardening Sustainability: The Greener Good
This past April, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Now, it is possible you missed it, since coverage of the anniversary got swallowed up by the coronavirus pandemic, but it is an important milestone. Think about how much has changed in our view of ecology in the past five decades. The message of reduce, reuse and recycle is now standard; we are all looking to lower our carbon footprint; and water conservation is understood to be incredibly important. That extends to our … [Read more...] about Gardening Sustainability: The Greener Good
Time to Bring Back the ‘Victory Garden’
Over the past few weeks, we have been told we are on “war footing,” with all the nations of the world battling an invisible enemy called coronavirus. It’s probably the most unconventional war we’ve ever waged; instead of taking up arms and gearing up to fight, we’re asked to stay home, self-isolate and do a lot of handwashing. In the spirit of this, I think we might want to bring back one of the staples of the previous century’s war efforts – the victory garden. If the phrase is new to … [Read more...] about Time to Bring Back the ‘Victory Garden’
