*Compressed
Video Sessions for Growing Season 2007:
Our locations
for Horticulture Question & Answer sessions via compressed video
this season are:
Afton (sheriff's
office),
Casper (1 - UW
Outreach),
Cheyenne (City
Center),
Cody (Old
Marathon Oil),
Gillette (1 - UW
Outreach),
Laramie (Beta
House),
Powell
(Northwest College),
Rock Springs
(Western Wyoming Community College),
Sheridan (1 -
Sheridan College), and
Worland
(Extension office).
Dates are:
Tuesday, June 12
Wednesday, June
27
Tuesday, July 10
Wednesday, July
25
Wednesday,
August 8 and
Thursday, August
23.
ALL TIMES ARE
11:00 to 11:50 AM.
*Abstract
from the Latest Issue of HortTechnology: "Determining
Interest in Value-added Planters: Consumer Preference and
Current Grower and Retailer Perceptions," by Jonathan Phillips,
E. Jay Holcomb, and Kathleen Kelley, The Pennsylvania State
University, in HortTechnology, 17(2):238-246, April-June 2007.
"Three intercept
surveys were conducted at the Southeast Research and
Extension Center in Landisville, Pa., at three separate
field days during the period of 28 July to 4 Aug. 2004 to
determine grower (n = 78), retailer/landscaper (n =
52), and consumer (n = 55) interest in annual planters. Survey
participants were self-selected and asked to answer
questions evaluating their preferences and past experience with
annual planters. Consumer participants also evaluated
planters based on flower-color harmony, container
style, and price on a scale of 1 to 7 (1 = very unlikely
to purchase, 7 = very likely to purchase) and answered
sociographic and demographic questions. Container
evaluations were analyzed using conjoint analysis to
determine consumer preferences. Price was found to be
the most important factor, accounting for 43.1% of
the decision to purchase an annual planter. No significance
was found comparing the lowest ($19.98) and middle
($29.98) prices; however, both were significantly
more preferred than the highest price point ($39.98).
Color harmony was the next most important factor,
accounting for 34.9% of the decision to purchase
followed by container style (22.0%). When asked what
they would pay, on average, for the containers on display,
consumer participants responded with a price of $25.68. A
majority of retail/landscape participants in this
study had never sold annual planters within their
company (75.0%), whereas a majority of grower
participants had produced annual planters in the past
(75.0%). Retailer/landscape participants also indicated that
they would charge their customers an average retail price
of $31.67, which was 14% less than the growers’
suggested average retail price of $36.83 based on the
$21.68 wholesale price they assigned."
*Need Some
Good Jokes? Try these, courtesy of University of California
Cooperative Extension
What did the lettuce say to the
celery?
Quit stalking me.
What do you say to rotten
lettuce?
You should have your head
examined.
What vegetable did Noah leave off
the Ark?
Leeks.
Boy Melon: Honey, can we run away
and get married?
Girl Melon: Sorry, I cantaloupe.
Where do watermelons go for
holidays?
John Cougars' Melon Camp
What is small, red and whispers?
A hoarse radish
Source:
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/history/joke.HTM
*In the
Panter Back Yard: The snow
has finally disappeared (probably temporarily) and green growing
things are showing up. Hyacinths are up and blooming but crocus
and little Iris reticulata are already finished
for the season. Tulips and daffodils are up too, but no color
yet. Lots of other perennials are slowly waking up, but it's
still too early to tell what we lost over the winter - it was a
cold one! The birds are back too - lots of house finches and
sparrows as usual, but also grackles, doves, and goldfinches.
The robins are congregating again - one evening at dusk a few
days ago there must have been two dozen of them in the front
yard - all happily pulling on earthworms and other delicacies.
They made a mess of the front garden too - when they pulled
worms out of the soil, it scattered over the sidewalk. So we had
to clean up after their evening meal!
Inside we still
have orchids blooming, along with the bougainvilleas and African
violets. We've still got a couple of struggling poinsettias from
Christmas plus an Easter lily that will probably get torn apart
as a demonstration plant in class tomorrow.
*Upcoming Events:
--Small Acreage
Workshop, April 28, 2007, Sheridan. Contact: Justin Moss at
jmoss@uwyo.edu.
--Grape Workshop, May 19, 2007, Sheridan R&E
Center. Contact: Justin Moss at
jmoss@uwyo.edu.
--UW CES
Horticulture Train-the-Trainer, hopefully June 2007.
--American
Society for Horticultural Science annual conference, July 16-19,
2007, Westin Kierland Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona. Contact:
www.ashs.org.
--OFA (Ohio
Florists' Association) Short Course, July 15-17, 2007,
Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio. Contact:
www.ofa.org.
--Perennial
Plant Symposium, August 5-12, 2007, Hyatt Regency Hotel,
Columbus, Ohio. Contact:
www.perennialplant.org.
--Wyoming
Groundskeepers and Growers Association Annual Conference,
January 30-February 1, 2008, Parkway Plaza Hotel, Casper.
Contact:
www.wgga.org.