​     As we grow our plants in the greenhouse, we control the environment.  We try to keep stress on the plants low so they grow straight, uniform, and healthy.  We keep the temperature favorable, feed the plants properly, and control harmful insects.
     Outside in the woods and fields the plants endure the changeable climate here in Minnesota.  Cold snaps, heat waves, droughts, and floods all affect the trees and other plants.  Tall, straight, and uniform is not always the outcome in nature.  The result of the stress in nature can grow some amazing and unique plants.  Perhaps we all are the product of a certain amount of stress.

​     Outside in February, dormancy is a fact of life here in Minnesota.  A still-feeble sun sets upon a frozen, dormant, landscape.  Inside we have created dormancy in our walk-in cooler, where flats of seeded plants put in their required “quiet-time”, before being paced into the greenhouse where spring begins in February.  Now the magic of warmth and moisture, coupled with the light of lengthening days brings the dormant seeds of many native plants to a yawning stretch, as germination takes place.

​     Outside we still experience a cold and frozen sunrise each morning.  In the greenhouse our little thirsty, wooly-worm mascot has discovered spring, as the greenhouse warms and puddles of water are again on the floor.  Yes, the groundhog saw his shadow and predicts more winter outside, but our little wooly-worm did not see his shadow and predicts spring to begin in the greenhouse.