Growing dwarf conifers is our speciality!     Home Propicana  'Sterling' Selections Latest Catalog With more Photos! Retail Stores Affiliations USDA Zones FAQs Links About Us GROWTH PER YEAR Miniature........ less than 3� Dwarf............ 3-6� Intermediate..... 6-12� Large............ more than 12�

Welcome to Blue Sterling Nursery's Propicana Page! Above is a photo from 11-08-00. If at any time you want to get back to the home page please just click on the above. In order to continue to bring you the Genetically Superior CultivarsTM of dwarf, slow-growing and unusual conifers we are known to provide to the industry we decided to expand our propagation facilities. We call it 'Propicana' because when you enter the wonderful world of cutting propagation you find it has all the thrill, adventure and excitment of the world of gambling. From time to time we will update this page with both more info and photos. We are extremely excited to be able to share this activity with our customers. I will start off with a few shots of the grading of the property and then show developing structural changes from start to finish. We hope to be sticking our first cuttings by December 7th or 14th 2000. We decided to invest in a glass prop house due to the longevity of the structure. After looking around for a while we decided on a company from The Netherlands. If when we are finished this project and I am still happy I will place their name here, so far so good. Anyway here are some of the first photos just double click on the image for a larger view. Here is a photo after the grading where the propagation house will be. Above is a photo after the the cut was made. Before we started the grading we had a 6' slope from one end of the house to the other. We needed to make some cuts and get some fill. To address the fill issue we needed some good, sandy, well-drained soil. So we dug down quite deep and found the perfect sand and got it from on site, only about 250 feet away. Here is the trench. Here is a drive thru sand lot. After the initial grading was finished the drilling for the footings was started. Many large holes had to be drilled. Next the concrete trucks started rolling in and the pillers were floated. This is when the footings were poured. When the foundation was completed the crew from the Netherlands began to erect the structure. Now is when the fun begins with the erector set! Here are a few nice photos of the basic structure from overhead when it is completed. A few overhead views! This house has no fans or side vents, the temperature cooling is done by opening the roof vents which open 85%. Click on this and see some building of the roof. Another way to cool the house is with shadecloth and mist but one of the most important features is the heating system. These show some internal work being done after the glazing is on. Now an important feature in this house is the Internal Transport System. It will allow for ease of moving bench-loads of cuttings to the holding area to wait until potting begins.These photos were added around 11/10/00. Click on this and see some work on the internal transport system. Please prune the dwarf Blue Spruce to return to the top. Copyright © Blue Sterling Nursery 1997-2011 All rights reserved. All photos copyright by Jim Smith and may not be used in any manner without the authors written consent.