We have many mums available for fall decorating. Some of the mums did receive hail damage and those have been removed from our sales area and we brought in several dozen more plants from our supplier. We also have several planters of annuals that were protected from the hail. These are being sold at a reduced price so those customers who lost theirs in the hailstorm, can come and get a new one or two to bring a little color back to their yard!
This week, the Plant Pathology Class from the University of Minnesota taught by Professor Dave McDonald came to the nursery to have Leif speak to them about pest and disease control. He talked about how methods vary from one nursery to the next and explained and showed them how we handle things here at the nursery. In the aftermath of the hail storm - they also saw how we need to deal with the hands of Mother Nature as well. It was an honor for Professor McDonald to seek us out and have his class visit.
On Thursday - August 24th - the worst hail storm in memory for many Northfielders hit without much of warning. The storm started just west of Northfield, and moved Northwest to Southeast - striking our nursery - St. Olaf College and the Northfield Hospital, moving through residential areas, the Northfield High School, Bridgewater Elementary and the Hwy 3 South business strip.
The hail that hit here at the nursery was golf ball to tennis ball with a few softball size ones thrown in the mix. We lost the plastic and shade cloth on all of our greenhouses, and many of the plants received some damage while others were completely untouched. The damage to all of our vehicles equaled everyone else’s in the other areas affected by the storm. 
The storm came in waves - after the third wave we thought everything was over, and there was some damage but not alot of overwhelming hail. Little did we know that the fourth wave and most severe was on the heels of the third wave.
The top picture was taken right after the storm stopped, in one of our greenhouses. The middle picture was taken out of the window right by Leif’s desk as it was raining and hailing. The bottom shows the power of the hailstones having ripped off one of the branches from a Louisa flowering crab.
Our employees have been working very hard cleaning up the mess and removing the damaged plants. We continue to have a full inventory of plant material. It’ll be a while before we have the new plastic on the greenhouses and some of the other damage repaired but it’s business as usual!
