The rolling green hills of Kentucky's Bluegrass Region hide a sinister secret. Beneath that lush surface lies heavy clay soils that turn to muck when wet and rock-hard when dry. Though the land seems fertile and productive, it's not the easiest place to grow plants.

But this is where Charlie Wilson, owner of Wilson Nurseries Inc. in Frankfort, Ky., wants to be. He knows that if you want to sell plants that thrive in this region, you have to grow them locally -- in those very same difficult soils.

Wilson's company has 450 acres of field production and an extensive trial program. His goal is to single out trees and shrubs that will not only survive, but thrive in these conditions.

"We probably evaluate 12 to 20 new trees and shrubs a year," Wilson said. "We'll plant them in small numbers, but most don't make the cut."

New varieties come from breeders and liner producers across the country. Wilson looks for these qualities:

* Tolerance of heavy soils (his pH ranges from 5.8-6.4).

* Tolerance of drought and poorly draining soils.

* Survival with little extra care, fertilizer or soil amendments.

* Easy to dig and responds well to transplanting. "We want to know if they're going to sit there, go backward or flush out new growth after we transplant them."

* Ornamental qualities. Do they live up to their promises regarding flowers, foliage, fall color or exfoliating bark?

* Performance in a ball lot. Can it be balled and burlapped and survive several months at a landscape distribution center?

Wilson Nurseries operates a distribution center in Lexington, Ky. B&B trees there are typically heeled in and irrigated via overhead emitters. Holding their ornamental appeal in these conditions is a challenge for many tree and shrub varieties.

B&B for me

Wilson Nurseries grows 99 percent B&B material sold at its own retail facility. At the garden center, Wilson employees try to teach customers the value of field-grown stock produced locally.

Container plants produced in a light, peat- or barked-based media will not establish as well as B&B stock produced in heavy soils. The soils are incompatible, leading to many potential problems for the plants.

"We know that B&B plants have better survivability here -- especially during the first few weeks," Wilson said. "When you have bark mix planted in clay soils, it's very difficult to maintain the correct moisture. It's easy to have it waterlogged or overly dry. It's even possible to have a dry soil ball, but wet native soils."

Wilson also feels that plants root out easier when they're going from clay soils to clay soils. When going from light soils to clay, some plants' roots have difficulty penetrating native soils.

Production cycles

Digging at Wilson Nurseries typically runs from mid-January through early February, and the bulk of B&B material is shipped mid-April through May.

Liners are planted out the first of April through May. However, this can change due to weather. This year a wet spring delayed the completion of planting until the third week of June.

"We were fortunate to have a wet summer to help establish these plants. If we hadn't, we would have had some losses," Wilson said. "That's whey we don't like to normally plant that late. The rain in July really helped."

Liners are irrigated with a portable irrigation system their first year. After that, they're typically on their own. The only major exception is that sometime Wilson waters second-year material during extremely dry periods.

Own propagation

Cuttings are taken beginning in mid-April and the company tries to be done by the end of May. These are rooted and potted for one to three years before being lined out in fields. Wilson grows five types of liners:

* Bare-root, raised in sand beds.

* 3-inch cells.

* 1-quart containers.

* 2-quart containers.

* Gallon containers.

While many nurseries have dropped propagation and opt to buy liners from propagation nurseries, Wilson feels doing it in-house is preferable.

"This way you get exactly what you want, when you want it. If you want it to start branching low, you have that option. You can do whatever you want," Wilson said. "You also have more control over inventory and quality."

Through experimentation in the propagation houses, Wilson also feels that he has improved his techniques enough to shave a year off of production cycles.

"It starts with taking quality cuttings," Wilson said. "From there, we've learned better timing, forcing methods and some other things that we feel shortens crop cycles by an entire year."

Wilson Nurseries Inc.

Location: Frankfort, Ky. The company also has a landscape

distribution center in Lexington, Ky.

Founded: 1979 by Charlie Wilson and his brother Greg,

who left the company after less than two years.

Acres: 450 in field production. The company also has 600,000

square feet of heated greenhouses for propagation

and greenhouse crops, and 40,000 square feet of unheated hoop houses.

Employees: 45 full time. Employment balloons up to 100 during the busy season.

Sales: One-third through Wilson Nurseries' own retail center,

one-third through the company's landscape distribution center and

one-third wholesale. Wholesale plants are shipped to Illinois, New York,

New Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

For more: Wilson Nurseries Inc., 3690 East-West Connector, Frankfort, KY 40601; (502) 223-1488; fax (502) 223-3159.

- Todd Davis 

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