New Events for this Weekend!

As of Yet Unannounced Events.

It's been an exciting week. We've been working on making this weekend Special and have added a few events to our calender.

We will have a few of the crew at Ice Age to help us this weekend. As part of a nationwide initiative, Fox will be hosting Family Fun Days this Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25. We will have a professional pumpkin carving artist on Saturday (he just dropped these two pumpkins off). There will be movie giveaways and we will have a craft table set up on both days.

You will have the chance to win prizes including DVD copies of the first two installments of the Ice Age trilogy, and all kids will receive a branded Ice Age glow stick to keep Halloween night fun and safe.

Child Safety Day

We have partnered with New York Life this Saturday to help keep your child safe. They will be here from 10am-4pm giving free fingerprint and photo ID cards. These cards can be an important tool in an emergency. They will also be providing information on safe trick or treating.

Win at our 18th annual Costume Contest

This Saturday October 24th at 2 P.M.

Please arrive early

There will be 3 age categories:
5 years & under
6-12 years
adults (age disclosure not required).
Prizes will be awarded for First place winners for both the 5 and under, and the 6-12 year olds and adults. First prize is a $50 Gift Card, Second prize is a $25 Gift Card, and third is a $10 Gift Card.

Shown is last years 5 and under winner Georgia from Mountainside as Charlie McCarthy.

See the other pics from Last Year.

Cider Donuts
We will have cider donuts both Saturday and Sunday. Donuts arrive fresh around 10:30. We will also have plenty of Cider and more apples.

Don't let the Rain keep you inside. Lots to do, and lots undercover.

Hours

We are open 9am-6pm 7 days a week weather permitting.

Hayrides
Hayrides will probably not be running on Saturday because of the rain, but we will keep the status updated on our blog.

Remember events are weather permitting, and you can get event status by following williamsnursery on Twitter, or by visiting our blog williamsnursery.blogspot.com.

See you Soon!
-Dave Williams
Williams Nursery

Dry Pumpkins Under Cover!

I know its raining this weekend, and the weather has messed up your decorating plans. Greg has moved tons of pumpkins inside to the greenhouse, so you can pick out the best for carving and decorating and not get wet. We also have hundreds of mums that just arrived with flowers starting to open and they're nice and dry.

You can even get a head start on carving this weekend. I had found a product called Dr Frybrain's Pumpkin embalmer at the Halloween show this year. One jar is enough to do all of your pumpkins. (and yes we have it in stock) Your carved pumpkins will last for 3 weeks with a treatment. It will also make your pumpkins squirel resistant, since the squirrels only attack the pumpkins looking for the seeds.

So don't let the rain let you down. Stop in grab a pumpkin and some tools, to take home and start carving. If you get a gallon of cider this weekend, we will even throw in a package of mulling spices to help warm you up.

Apples Currently In Stock - Oct 10th

Sun, October 4th - hayrides opperating 10-5pm

A beautiful fall day! Stop in for a hayride, pumpkin picking. Jersey fresh apples.


-- Post From My iPhone

Harvest Festival Rainy Day Fun

Last Sunday we proudly were a sponsor of the Pumpkin Patch at the Union County Harvest Festival. Although it was a misty sort of day, My son Dakota, and his friend Max helped, and even though there wasn't any large crowds, we considered the day a success, and we had quite a bit of fun.  
 
 
 

Fall Events at Williams Nursery

Pony Rides
Oct. Sat & Sun 10-5pm
& Mon. Oct. 12th

Scarecrow Contest
More chances to win! Judging Throughout October.(See website Or stop in for details)

Food Drive Weekend
Sept 26th & Sept 27th
Bring in a can of food for a FREE hayride. Visit our Website or stop in for a requested food list.


Pumpkin Weekend
Oct. 3th & 4th
Free Mini-pumpkin for kids.




Tastes of Fall
Oct. 10th &11th.
Stop in for a FREE taste of one of the many fall butters and salsas.

Costume Contest
Oct 24th 2 pm-Prizes!

Gift Shop Open House
Nov 13-15th. All Giftware 20% Off as we kickoff the holidays.

Trees for Troops Weekend
Dec 4th-Dec 6th
Help us in supporting our troops. Its important that soldiers and their families receive a Real Christmas Tree for the holiday.

Some events weather
permitting. Visit our website
for last minute schedule
updates or follow
williamsnursery on twitter.

Fall is for Decorating Fun!

I put this animoto video together to showcase some of our new fall items. It is a great time to get the family to start decorating. Everything shown is available now.

Garden Game Changing Freeze Frost Protection

Several weeks ago, I was at the Independent Garden Center show in Chicago. This is the show for independent garden center owners (attendance this year was over 6000) to see products that are new and exciting. Myself and several other Garden Center owners were on the panel to select the best new product being shown at the show.

We selected liquid fence's new product FreezePruf™ as the best product at the show. It truly is a transformational product that will change the way that people will garden. Developed by botanists, FreezePruf™ helps a plant survive hard frost and sudden freeze, extending the growing season by at least one month for growers and gardeners.Using Freezepruf is almost like moving your temperature zone 200 miles south. It improves a plants' natural cold tolerance up to 9.4F, depending on the variety of plant.

Freezepruf™ protects the plant externally and systemically (throughout the plant) by enhancing both its natrual "anti-freeze" like properties and its ability to survive ice crystal damage. The formula is biodegradable buy designed to resist washing away by rain or snow. One application will last upto six weeks.

If you've ever had flowers knocked down by an early frost, or wanted to get a head start on your garden in early Spring. This is one of the must have products of the year.
I made sure at the show that we would be one of the first garden centers to have it available. It is now in stock!

Wooden Pumpkins

My sister and brother-in-law have a friend who stopped in this week
with some large wooden pumpkins that have he carved out of giant
blocks of wood. Sizes range from 12 inches to 30 inches across.
They're very cool and you don't have to worry about the squirells
eating them.

These are only here for a few days on consignment.

Just Me in the bogs

Me in the bogs
Originally uploaded by williamsnursery

Yesterday I got a little bogged down with work....

Actually I got to spend the afternoon in the cranberry bog at Lee farms. Many people have a list of things that they want to eventually do...and instead of driving in a fast race car, or going to the moon, I've always wanted to partake in a cranberry harvest.

NJ is third nationwide in the amount of cranberries that are produced. There are only three fruits that were native to this part of the country. The concord grape, the blueberry, and the cranberry.

There are approximately 3500 acres of cranberries in production in NJ. Most Cranberries in NJ are wet harvested. To wet pick, floodgates on the reservoir feeding the selected area are opened and water flows into the ditches and over the vines to a depth of about 18 inches, just enough to allow the water reel, which resembles a large egg beater, to work. The rapidly rotating water reels stir up the water with sufficient force to dislodge the ripened-cranberries, which float to the surface in a brilliant red mass of color. More info here.

I've included a slide show of some of the pictures I took below. The colors are amazing.

Bellagio Conservatory

Here are the pictures from the Bellagio Conservatory in Las Vegas, showing it in its Fall Splendor.

That's Ent-ertainment!

Yesterday my meeting ended at 4pm so I had a chance to rush to the
conservatory at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas.
The conservatory changes there display seasonally and the change into fall was stunning.
Here is a picture of an 'Ent' decked out in berries. For those that haven't read Tolkien, an Ent is a is a race of tree-humans from middle earth.

A sign states that their Ent "takes the time to sit among the colossal pumpkins and enjoy the view of the conservatory.

What's all the Stink about?

 

I caught this guy running across the desk in my office. Unfortunately in the past several years, the end of September has become the time that the Stinkbugs begin to get into the house. The first US sighting of Halyomorpha halys (Stål), the "Brown Marmorated Stink Bug," was in Allentown PA in 1996. It has since moved east, and every year there seems to be more in the fall.

They spend the Summer feeding on plants in the garden, and as opposed to other species of Stink Bugs that hide out in dried leaves in the garden. These stinkers want to move inside to where its warm. The best way to keep them out is to keep your screens closed. Also they tend to find an easy path past the window mounted air conditioners.

When you piss off a stink bug (squishing them is one way, but startling them is another) they tend to give off a stinky odor. Once they are inside, the best way to remove them from the house is to vacuum them away.

Rutgers Cooperative Extension has more information here.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Well this week it was my father Ed's turn to go with me for apples. It was tricky to get him to stop sampling the apples, but at least I got him to help me load them.

New varieties this week include:

• Red Delicious - Dad's favorite, but I'm not really fond of them
• Johnagold - Dakota's favorite - a cross between Johnathan and Gold Delicious
• Honey Crisp - Super Popular - and one of my favorites

I've put together a spreadsheet that lists which apples we have in stock, and shows their best attributes.

Our 88th Year

I got such great feedback on the Enews that I'm repeating the story on our history here.

Celebrating our 88th Anniversary!

In honor of our anniversary I have to tell you it's hard to believe that 88 years ago my Great Grandfather William Edward Williams, and Grandfather Roy Williams started a business selling plants in Union County. Originally called Williams Floral Farm. Last night I went through some old dusty boxes of pictures that my Grandmother Helen had saved, and found a few great shots to share with everyone.

Originally the property was 13 acres, but in the late 1920s roughly half of the property was deeded to the Union County Park System through the newly created Green Acres program.

The store consisted of an open building with a large overhang. A brightly colored camelia flower from the then named “Williams Floral Farm” proved to be a well-sought item.

The next decade brought diversity. Roy Williams became the known local expert on plants and flowers. When the Depression hit, much of our inventory was sold to Echo Lake Country Club for pennies on the dollar.

After the Depression, the store was moved to where the existing store is now. Roy Williams began traveling throughout the United States for new and exciting plant varieties. Many of these rare plants were sold to the Doris Duke estates, and many were planted in the quickly developing Westfield community.

In the early 1950’s the store was rebuilt into a gift shop with a glass greenhouse roof. (shown at the right) “Williams Floral Farm was the only place in the state that offered gorgeous camellia plants in bloom”. The 1950’s also brought a large cut-flower boom. Ed Williams, then a teenager, was following in his father’s footsteps,” He said his father taught him that hard work leads to success, and the entire spring season would pass without a day off.”

This of course gives me the opportunity to share this picture of my father Ed. Taken in September of 1938. (I'm assuming at this point that twenty years from now my son Dakota may be showing some sort of embarrassing photo of me when it's our 108th anniversary)

First the trend was cut gladiolus, then as the market shifted it was cut dahlias. We adapted our crop to meet the market demand. In the early 1960’s the cut-flower market tapered off, our focus was diverted to selling plant material again. At this point the name of the business was changed to Williams Nursery. I did find a shot from inside the giftshop. I'm thinking its from the 50's since it has the large bouquet of gladiolus. For those that haven't been in the giftshop, it's worth visiting inside of the brick building. (We retrofitted the giftshop with an apartment on top in the mid 60's. Mom and Dad were living up the street from the nursery renting a house from the Geigers. After my sister Denise and I were born, my grandfather Roy built the apartment, and Mom, Dad, my sister and myself moved into the house)

In Roy and Edward Williams’ travels they found new suppliers in California and Oregon. In a first for the nursery industry, they brought these unusual plants to the east coast.

They began selling these plants to other garden centers, and became the first plant broker in the eastern United States to bring in west coast material. Now 50 years later, almost all garden centers receive some material from the west coast. While we take for granted transporting things across the country in 2008, it was something unique in my grandfathers’ day. What my grandfathers did was start a legacy that we are proud to carry on. It’s still on my mind to bring you interesting plants for your home and family.

As a family business we try to stick to our roots. I am proud to work with my sister Denise who manages our giftshop, and my brother-in-law Greg, who is in-charge of day to day operations. We appreciate you allowing our legacy to be shared.

Special Anniversary Sale

Don't miss this once a year Sale event.
Now thru Oct 1st we are having a celebration Sale. The more you buy, the more you save.
Buy 1-3 Shrubs get 20% Off.
Buy 4-8 get 25% OFF.
Buy 9+ get 30% OFF
Some items have been reduced even more, including Fruit & Shade Trees, Rose Bushes and Native Rhododendrons. These are 50% OFF.
Sale ends Oct. 1st. Sorry but does not include previous purchases.

How do you like them apples!

Wow, I didn't know that going to the apple farm was a favorite of more than one member of the Williams family. First when I said I was going, my son Dakota said, "Oh can I go" then when my father Ed heard he said, "Oh, can I go."

Since our truck only seats two, it was a tough call, but I compromised. Dakota went with me this week. Ed goes next week.

This weeks just picked, Jersey Fresh, apples are

• Gala
• Macintosh
• Greening
• Cortland
• Golden Delicious
  
• Macoun

Also appearing this week Bosc Pears and Melick's Apple Cider

Don't lick this Toad lily

I took this picture at the ofa show this Summer. I originally thought
that I wasn't going to be able to get them until 2009, but I found a
supplier that had a few listed for this weeks availabity. (they
haven't been confirmed yet, but if we are going to get them it will be
towards the end of this week)

The plant is Tricyrtis 'Imperial Banner' which is a new variety of
Toad Lily. Toad lilies are fall blooming perennials that tollerate a
fair amount of shade. This one is unique in that it has a creamy
varigated folliage.

The flowers of the tricyrtis is very exotic looking. They are covered with lots of contrasting speckles. They may look like they are from some tropical island, but they are extrememly happy in our climate.

Hot Color for the Garden

When you're looking for some Hot that's different for the late Summer
garden, these peppers may fill the bill.

Ornamental peppers are closely related to the ones that are planted in
the vegetable gardens. There had been quite a bit of breeding work on
peppers in the past ten years. The colors change on the peppers as
they ripen. Colors can range from green to yellow to red to purple.

The peppers can be small round pea size fruit. Or they can be thin
and long. They will last a bit longer than a mum.

One thing about ornamental peppers is they are super HOT!!! I would
almost classify them as blistering, and would NOT recommend eating
them. (and no it's not a good idea to give them to a friend as a joke
either.