Blog Entries

Why Some Retailers are Doing Poorly

ron@lecooke.com — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:00:00 +0100

I wanted to write this last year at this time but did not have the guts. Now that I am seeing it again, it is time to say something.

Some retail nurseries need to take a hard look at themselves as they are the cause of their own failure.

Last year in April-May I did a 3 week Texas sales trip covering from Laredo, through San Antonio, Hill Country, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Last year m [...]

Where are the Red Trucks?

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0100

"Where are the Red Trucks?" Answer: We are going "Green"

No, not green trucks. Something a whole lot more fuel efficient and cost efficient. Hybrid cars.

I was late to work today. Camera was calling.

As a photographer, light is all important. When I can get skies with clouds that give it character and soft light (but keep the camera dry) I start looking for something to photograph. This morning was one of those special mornings. And the subject was one of my favorite trees busting out in glorious bloom.

We have three Snow Fountains® Weeping Flower [...]

Albion Strawberries

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Huge and Delicious

Albion Strawberries

They say a photo is worth a thousand words. So I don't need to write much about the humongous size of these Albion Strawberries. But what a photo cannot tell you was how delicious they were. Did you notice the past tense? I was lucky [...]

USDA Cold Hardiness Zones

ron@lecooke.com — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0100

On 1/25/2012 the USDA in association with OSU announced and unveiled the latest version of the Cold Hardiness Zones Map for the U.S. Nursery Management magazine has done a nice summary of the changes here in NMPro so I won't repeat it here. In short, zones have shifted both due to warming trends but also more accurate geographically due to better data and technology. Some areas are now colder or warmer on the zone chart as technology is able to take into account [...]

Rainbows

ron@lecooke.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0100

I heard the shout from the front office - "Ron get your camera!"

Double Rainbow

We were treated to one of the better rainbows I have seen in many years. Big black clouds and associated downpour had just passed heading east and the late afternoon sun popped out brightly to create a brilliant rainbow. [...]

Disaster Preparedness Pays Off

ron@lecooke.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0100

We have made various plans in case of disasters and Friday it paid off. Not that it was a major disaster but the effects were troubling none-the less.

One of the planned scenarios is what happens if we lose utility power during our busiest part of shipping season. When shipping up to 240 orders a day, we are processing a lot of invoices, packing lists and calling a lot of customers alerting them to their deliveries. Being without [...]

Lavender Twist Redbud

ron@lecooke.com — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:55:36 +0100

Lavender Twist® Redbud

Cercis canadensis 'Covey'

GM David Cox showing freshly dug Lavender Twist® Redbud

Cercis canadensis 'Covey' is a tree I like which is still under used in the landscape. The main feature is the form - weeping which gi [...]

Grand Marshal

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:48:28 +0100

Last night my father, Bob Ludekens, was honored as the Grand Marshal of the Visalia Candy Cane Lane Parade. This is a major event for our lovely city where 7-10,000 families line Main Street in the cold (and som [...]

Seasons are Relative

ron@lecooke.com — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:24:38 +0100

Some of you are already building snowmen. In this agricultural rich San Joaquin Valley, we rarely see the white stuff so we have to be creative.

I saw this on Tom's computer monitor several times last week but each time I came to take a phot [...]

Muscat Grapes on a Roll

ron@lecooke.com — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:58:28 +0100

Muscat Grapes, Moscato, Muscatel

Ernie brought an article to me that I found interesting and thought I would share it with you. Muscat (Alexandria) Grapes have been around a long time but in relatively recent years they have been bolstered with the introduction of Golden Muscat and Summer Muscat (Seedless). And the sales of all three have been increasing. I never dreamed it was because of Hip-Hop songs.I ran across this piece this morning while reading Cybersalt Digest's daily email of clean fun and thought it worth sharing with those in the tree trade.

"Lessons From Trees"

It's important to have roots.

In today's complex world, it pays to branch out.

If you really believe in something, don [...]

Gravenstein Apple Article

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0100

The L.A. Times had a nice article: The Future of Gravenstein Hangs on a Thin Stem
Please take a minute to read it.

We have been selling Gravenstein Apples for years (and more recently the newer Red Gravenstein Apples as well). They are not big sellers and that is a shame. As the article mentions, there is a small resurgence of the Gravenstein by fans of this apple. They want to save this wonderful apple from oblivion. One of the couples mentioned in the article have contracte [...]

Jerusalem Artichokes

ron@lecooke.com — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:20:13 +0100

Our Fall harvest has started on the Vegetables and Berries. (Hint - get your orders in soon if you want the catch the November deliveries).

I went to the processing yard and ran across this trailer load of Jerusalem Artichoke roots/tubers (Helianthus tuberosus) :

Trailer full of Jerusalem Artichoke roots

Italian Everbearing Fig

A beautiful day outside. Two storms coming in - smaller one blew through with a few sprinkles overnight. Major rain maker scheduled for tomorrow. Makes the photographer side of me smile - [...]

Coffeehouse Jam

ron@lecooke.com — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +0100

We have a lot of awesome people working for L.E. Cooke Co and last Sunday I got to see a number of them in action outside of work.

Tom Fetch (Sales Manager) volunteers at the Tulare City Library helping tutor others in the Adult Literacy program (Tulare Read). Each year he has also helped do some fund raising by putting on horticultural classes about edible landscaping or pruning. This year he co [...]

Rare Fruit Growers Meeting

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:09:52 +0100

Last Saturday most of the sales and management staff had the priviledge of joining the local chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers for their monthly meeting. The meeting was held at the Home of Walter & Brenda Thoma in the foothills just outside Porterville.

Walter Thoma

(Of course the photo would be a little nicer without the junker car under it and the rain-bird sprinkler running in the foreground.)

By the red flowers, it must be the [...]

Persian & Black Beauty Fruiting Mulberries

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:40:11 +0100

Persian Fruiting Mulberries in various stages of ripening

Persian Mulberries fruit on second year wood. How do I know that? In our budwood orchards we prune almost all of it off each winter to force new growth for budding and grafting. Even with all the new [...]

Lavender Twist® Redbud - Field Shots

ron@lecooke.com — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:45:42 +0100

Rows of Lavender Twist® Redbuds

James Shao braved the 105 degree heat today to photograph the Lavender Twist® Redbuds (Cercis canadensis 'Covey') in our production field for one of his customers. I thought we might as well share the images with everyone else too.