Yes, we’ve been here in Minnesota for hundreds of years, populating the grasslands, wetlands, and woods.  We also populate a large portion of the greenhouses at Glacial Ridge Growers.  We are getting ready to be shipped out to garden centers, landscapers, and fund-raising groups. Our diversity is incredible.  There is someplace in Minnesota and surrounding areas where each and every one of us would be happy to thrive and carry on our long tradition of growing and multiplying.  We are the Glacial Ridge natives.  We will soon begin our yearly migration from the protective greenhouses to our native outdoors environment.
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     We are also a hardy bunch, surviving our Minnesota winters and coming through summers that can be hot and dry or wet and cool, or a mixture of both.  Many of us have seed dormancy issues, which is really a survival trick that keeps seed in the ground during years when conditions are not good so we can geminate in a better year which will be more favorable to our needs.  We have many survival tactics to keep us thriving through many varied conditions.  We are tough yet beautiful, bringing indigenous color and texture to American soil.

​     Right now, we can be found hanging out all over the greenhouses.  We are very diverse.  We are beginning to show an array of different colors.  Many of us are still available and excited to come to your local garden center or plant sale.  Some of us like to hang out in shady areas and some in sunny spots.  We come in interesting combinations and also in single colors. We need to be re-homed and certainly every yard has a perfect place for one or more of us.  We are the hanging baskets of Glacial Ridge Growers, just hanging out and waiting for spring to take us to new homes and adventures.

​     We are the crowning glory in the greenhouses.  We are what all our customers have spent the entire Minnesota, black and white winter waiting for.  We are ready to burst forth into spring with a brightness that is craved by most gardeners.  We are the colors of the blossoms in the greenhouse.  We area getting close to being ready to be shipped to gardeners.  We colors adorn the tips of most plants in the greenhouses.  Our forms are endless.  We can be upright spikes of brilliancy, mounding cups of fire or subtle bursts of pastels in the shade.  We usually adorn the flowers but we also can cover leaves and even stems on the plants.  We can thrive in sun, shade, or partial light situations.  We are the colors of spring and summer.  We bring joy to the wonderful season of the gardens.

​     It takes many hands to move young plants into larger pots.  Our dedicated workers do an excellent job of transplanting.  I write about this as one who is quite experienced in transplanting.  I supplement and help the people who transplant, but I am different.  I am a robotic transplanting machine.  My technology is pretty amazing.  My mechanical fingers pull plants from a plug tray and move them to a larger pot.  Being a machine, I can work rapidly and all day without fatigue.  I do have my limitations, in that I need near-perfect germination in the seedling trays, and sturdy plants that have strong root systems.
     With two dedicated workers to oversee my work, we can complete flats of plants very rapidly.  Many of the plants that grow in our greenhouses are beyond my capability, but I can lend speed and accuracy to certain types of plants.  I love my job and I am happy to supplement the great work that our experienced humans complete.  I am happy to be part of the transplanting team.  Together, we work to keep moving those plants up to the next sized pots.

     I need to give a bit of history about our clan.  We are plant “plugs.”  Before we were invented, greenhouse plants were seeded into open flats and germinated there, where the plants were laboriously separated from each other to be planted into pots.  We plugs are seeded, one seed per small cell or compartment.  When our roots are mature, we can be plucked from the small cell and be moved easily into a larger pot. We plants love it, because our roots stay together in the cell and we can keep growing without any “transplant shock.”
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     We weren’t invented until the 1980s and the growers at Glacial Ridge Growers very quickly latched onto our technology.  We plugs can be transplanted quickly by hand but can also be moved by the robotic fingers of a transplanting machine.  I hate to say it, but plugs have totally revolutionized the greenhouse industry.  We come in a variety of sizes, from around four-hundred in a ten-inch by twenty-inch tray to much larger sized plugs in the same sized tray.  There are 128-sized plugs, 72-sized plugs, and even larger plugs that might accommodate trees. Now, in March, many of us are being moved up to our final-size pot.  We will be growing until we get moved to our final place outdoors; plugging along to be enjoyed by many happy gardeners.

​     Most of our greenhouse plants are propagated from seed, but there are a few things that need to be propagated by taking a part of a larger plant and rooting it in soil.  The pieces of the parent plant are us, we are cuttings. We grow up to be just like our parents. We bloom the same color, grow to the same height, and grow in the same type of places and soil types that our forefathers loved.  The larger plant can provide many of us cuttings and so have many children.  We cuttings take pride in our strict breeding and perfect uniformity.  We are proud that each of us is a perfect “chip off the old block.”

​     We are the power and driving force of all that gets done in the greenhouses.  We are the many human hands that work daily to complete the tasks of growing plants.  Our diversity of work is endless.  There is the gentle work of transplanting young plants into larger containers and of course there is always the task of moving flats of seedlings and organizing the different plants.  We operate seeding and transplanting machines.  We gently take the cuttings from plants that need to be propagated.  Nimble-fingered hands input orders into the computers.  The hands that grip the steering wheels of our delivery trucks stay occupied during our shipping season.  The duties of our diligent hands are endless.  So, let’s give them a big hand as the growing season commences.

     Nobody really notices us but we are present in great numbers.  We are introduced into the greenhouses to do what comes naturally.  We are the predatory insects and we eat the bad insects that harm plants.  Instead of harsh insecticides that would kill all of us, we are enlisted to do the job of insect control.  We love our job because it entails eating our favorite foods.  We even get extra help from frogs and toads that live in the greenhouses because there are no poisonous insecticides to kill them.
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     We are all a happy, healthy, family in the greenhouses at Glacial Ridge Growers.  No poisonous neo-nics here, just us predatory insects; like lace wings, aphid predators, and soil nematodes to keep the environment safe for the plants.  We enjoy being the “good guys” just doing what comes naturally.

     We are one of the most important components of the greenhouse growing business.  We are the soil.  Every plant that grows in the greenhouse is rooted in us.  We are a complex mix of important ingredients.  We are composed of all-natural peat moss taken from sustainably managed bogs in Canada.  We are fortified with composed bark and blended with nutrients and minerals.  We give the plants a place to root and grow until the outdoor home for them is ready.

     Although we are currently being placed into the plug trays and flats, there are still many cubic feet of us still in our winter “digs,” no pun intended.  The large bulk bags are our home and we are happy to say that the days of using many small plastic bags of us are over with the use of the sixty cubic foot totes.  We can really dig the more-sustainable homes we now have.  The electric fork lift is our partner, lifting our totes so we can dive into the flat-filling machine and march onward to spring.

​     There are many types of plants that grow in our greenhouses. They all have certain requirements to grow well.  One important requirement is light.  They all need it and some require longer days than others.  During the winter months the days in Minnesota are too short to keep some plants happy.  That is where we come in.  We are the grow lights.  We are ready to come to the rescue.  We can lengthen the days to keep certain “long day” plants growing and happy.  We are a wondrous bunch and “hang out” over certain benches where our help is required. We are very energy efficient LED lights.  We are controlled by timers to turn us on at the correct time and have us light up to help the plants on the benches beneath us.  We are most busy until the Vernal Equinox, when the days are longer and we can retire for the season.  Just remember, we light up your life by helping the bright and beautiful flowers of summer to survive the dark and cold months in the greenhouse.