Looking Back at 2016
Winter is such a wonderful time of year for everyone. It’s a time to relax by the fire and reflect on the spring, summer and fall seasons that have gone by so quickly!
Some may say it was too hot or there was not enough rain, but most will tell you it was amazing. Thanks to our hard working and dedicated staff at Brantim, we were able to take some time off away from the farm this summer. Our fishing vacation trip at the end of June was to Lake Nagagami, at a fly in fishing resort near Horne Payne, Ontario. It truly was a wonderful experience and, as fishing stories go: Brian caught the most, but Joanne caught the biggest!
Our next road trip took us to the Michigan Garden Plant Tour and Flower Trials at the end of July. These trials and presentations gave us a chance to review the performance and characteristics of new plant material offered by plant breeders from around the world. All plants from similar cultivars (i.e. petunias, begonias, impatiens, both old and new varieties) are grown with the exact identical growing standards and environmental growing conditions. Usually grown and presented side-by-side, the exceptional performers really stand out.
These trials are also a display of new ideas possible for the 2017 garden season, and boy did we get lots of great new ideas. The amazing displays of plants and colourful plantings in both garden and containers were by far the best that we have seen. These flower trials help to reassure us in our choice of plant material at Brantim for the 2017 season and we look forward to sharing some new ideas for both gardens and container plantings in the New Year.
You can visit Four Star Greenhouses, home to Proven Winners (one of the number one flower brands in the industry) at www.pwfourstar.com and you can see some of these amazing plants and displays coming for 2017.
While Brian and Joanne were gallivanting all over the country, Andy was busy at Brantim all summer working with staff to improve the property landscaping with new fences and garden plantings. One of his assistants in this endeavour was his ever faithful dog, Maggie, a beautiful golden retriever who thought her prime responsibility was rearranging the mulch beds that Andy had installed.
With Andy’s guidance and a total team effort, a complete rebuild of one greenhouse, and the recovering of three others with new plastic, we are ready for and look forward to continued success in upcoming growing seasons.
We hope your 2016 was just as fantastic as ours, and we look forward to seeing you this winter season at the farm!
