Poa chaixii

Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa'

side view of a small living wall

Jim has always been acutely aware of the pressures society has placed on our environment and as a nursery owner he does what he can to reduce Bluestem's impact. For instance, when plants are shipped they are sent as bare root plants, which reduces the weight, therefore greatly reducing the cost to ship,along with the size of the box, packing materials, etc. Plugs are removed from their plug trays so that the tray can be used again. The plugs fit into a much smaller space too!

In this year's catalogue Jim and his brother Frank, describe their thoughts in greater detail. It begins with:

"Bluestem Nursery is stepping up its efforts to grow and sell more varieties of
native plants. Two good reasons to landscape with native plants:

• to help preserve species that are part of our natural and cultural heritage; and
• to cultivate plants that have adapted to local conditions.

Recently however, entomology professor Douglas W. Tallamy’s eyeopening book “Bringing Nature Home” made us appreciate the role of native plants in preserving biodiversity. How we manage and plant our landscapes in the coming years can have long-term positive impacts on the environment."

Read more here.

To print the price lists and the 2011 Grass Comparison Chart, go to this page.

• Deschampsia cespitosa 'Pixie Fountains' - Dwarf tufted hair grass
• Calamagrostis canadensis - Bluejoint
• Carex rosea - Rosy sedge, Curly wood sedge
• Festuca pulchella
• Poa chaixii- Blue meadow grass
• Sesleria argentea - Silver moor grass
• Sesleria sadlerana - Green moor grass
• Sporobolus wrightii - Giant sacaton

• Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa'

We also list S. matsudana 'Golden Curls', which is a new name on our list, but is really just S. babylonica var pekinensis. We have changed the name to the more commonly used S. matsudana 'Golden Curls'.

The two matsudanas are very similar to each other. The only obvious difference is that the bark colour of the new growth of S. Golden Curls is reddish-gold, while the new growth of S. matsudana 'Tortuosa' is dark bronze.

Both have the same contorted branches, as you can see on the right. By the way, the bright orangey-red in the background of the picture on the right is Salix Flame.

We are increasing our selection of Sedums. The Sedums in our list area all the shorter, creeping types that do well on 'green roofs'. In many European cities, Sedums have been growing on flat rooftops for at least 50 years. We now have pictures of all of the Sedums we carry.

For those of you who live in cold climates, there is a post on our blog that will likely be useful to you. It is called Growing Grasses in Cold Climates. Amongst other things, It will help you to understand why you might not be happy if you choose too many warm season grasses for your landscape.

Two recent postings on the blog have been about some new and interesting uses of plants:

• Vertical Gardens, aka Living Walls
• Sod Furniture

One last thing. I will be away from Jan 21 to Feb 13. If you have any questions that you would like answered sooner, rather than later, I suggest that you ask ASAP. During the time I am away Jim will be available to answer questions by phone, or you may go ahead and send them via the Contact form on the website, but I will most likely only be able to answer them when I return.

It will be the same situation for orders that you send in during that time. I hope this is not an inconvenience to anyone. If you are wanting to order our Enviro-Turf lawn seed, and have it shipped ASAP, then please order by phone: 888 747 6363.