Tuesday, March 07, 2017 – Transplant Ornamental Tobacco seedlings, Disbudding Snapdragons, Making Room

All morning Sis. Johnson and I transplanted about a thousand “Nicotiana Perfume” seedlings. There were two varieties we transplanted into 72 cell pony packs, deep purple and mixed color. If the name “Nicotiana” looks like the word “Nicotine” that’s because it is. The common name for “Nicotiana Perfume” is “Ornamental Flowering Tobacco.” 

Last year’s crop of ornamental flowering tobacco plants had either white or pink blossoms, they were beautiful. This year Richard is trying out several new varieties in different colors.  (Tongue in cheek, I asked Richard if LDS Missionaries should be handling Tobacco plants. He said I could wear rubber gloves if I wanted too!)

After lunch we disbudded all of the trays of Snapdragons. There was a whole bench full of Snapdragon trays and they all had the top half of their stems cut off. Just like the Coleus “Haircut”, the growth of the Snapdragons needs to be slowed down. They won’t get planted into the gardens until the middle of May. Also, cutting off the top of the plant will make the plant produce more side shoot that will keep the plants shorter and fuller. 

Today we also rearranged a lot of the potted plants, combined, consolidated and cleared tables to make room for more shipments of plants to arrive tomorrow or the next day. Richard will be hard pressed to make everything fit in these four greenhouses. Most of these 72 cell trays of flowers should be transplanted into 4” pots but there simply isn’t enough room in the greenhouses for them. So, all of the seedlings in the pony packs will have to stay in their 1X1 cells until they get planted in the gardens in May.

This evening we were delighted to have Sis. Winegar back with us in the Emma Hale Cast. Early Saturday morning she took a terrible fall. Her injuries required a trip to the emergency room, stitches, and dental work. Fortunately she found a good dentist that could see her the same day. She is still bruised and sore and her right wrist is in a brace but Sis. Winegar is a trooper! She was back on stage tonight with the rest of the cast performing in Rendezvous tonight. Welcome back Sis. Winegar!

Tonight’s Rendezvous attendance was huge. There wasn’t room to squeeze in one more person. We had 120 guests. They were an enthusiastic and engaged crowd with their laughter, applause and tears. Most of the guests were youth from the Plano Texas Stake. They are here in Nauvoo with their leaders for several days. Half of their group of 175 attended tonight’s show. The other half will attend tomorrow night’s performance.

I talked to one of the leaders from the Plano Stake after the show and I was fascinated to find out some interesting facts about the Greater Dallas Texas area. He said that the Dallas Metro area now has 25 Stakes (including the Plano Stake) and it is one of the fastest growing areas in the church. He said during their last Stake Conference with a visiting Authority, the General Authority said: “In Salt Lake we refer to Dallas as the new Mesa Arizona!”  I like that; I was born and raised in Mesa Arizona.