Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 4/13/2022
PALMER/GILBERTVILLE- Spring has sprung and it’s time to smell the roses. Reminder Publishing asked local garden centers what new plant varieties they are offering for the upcoming season and discussed low-maintenance plants that are easier to sustain for new gardeners.
Lazy Lady Farm
Owners Paul and Becky Lukaskiewicz of Lazy Lady Farm in Palmer have several new products to offer this year. They are a family-owned greenhouse retail business; with “a little bit of everything” from specialized hanging baskets to annual flowers, pots, garden decor, vegetable starters, herbs and more.
The Lukaskiewiczs explained they are excited about a new hanging basket that contains salvia hummingbird falls. “Salvia has always been a hummingbird magnet in the garden,” said Becky. “Because of new breeding, we now have a salvia available that is mounding/training. I’m hoping this hanging basket will serve as a natural hummingbird feeder which people can place on their porch and enjoy watching them feed on the flowers.”
As for their edible selection, Paul and Becky are introducing a hanging basket pepper plant with jalapeño peppers. They currently offer cherry tomato hanging baskets and strawberry hanging baskets, which they said customers “can’t seem to get enough of.”
When it comes to flowers, Lazy Lady Farm is offering new colors and varieties of petunias, calibrachoas, SunPatiens, verbenas, perennials and begonias. For the first-time grower, Becky would recommend they try some type of begonia or SunPatiens. There are many new varieties of begonias - some can even be grown in both sun or shade. She explained that begonias are a “dependable plant” that need little water or care. The SunPatiens can also be grown in sun or shade. She noted they need to be watered very well for the first couple of weeks after planting, but then require minimal care throughout the season. Becky added, “As always, we are more than happy to answer questions our customers may have.”
Paul and Becky said they spend time with their customers on how take care of plants; showing them which plants and flowers are going to do well for the type of condition they have at their house and steering them toward those that would perform well. “One of the key things that we do is we’re not just selling the product to them, but we’re teaching them how to grow it and how to maintain it with minimal effort,” Paul said. “For someone who’s never been here before, I will certainly suggest they stop by and see what we have to offer.”
Lazy Lady Farm’s opening season is on May 1. The business is located at 60 Olney Rd., and is open seven days a week from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. until they sell out of plants, which the couple said is usually the first week in June. To learn more about Lazy Lady Farm, go to llfgreenhouse.com.
Five Star Gardens
Five Star Gardens, located in Palmer, sells many different plant varieties based on availability. The most popular are perennials, knockout roses, hydrangeas in particular Bobo hydrangea, butterfly bushes and ornamental grasses.
“We try to mix our inventory up with fresh plants on a weekly basis, especially if it’s a plant that will flower longer or an easy-care plant,” said Five Star Gardens President John Rakouskas. “Whenever a new plant comes out that is worthy of being carried because it has a long blooming life or has a low maintenance feature about it, we always try to bring some of the new stuff in.”
Five Star Gardens provides a variety of design and installation options from do-it-yourself plans to fully installed designs by their own professional installation team. They can do a project from start to finish, design and installation, or simply complete the design aspect and let the customer do the installation if they feel comfortable doing that. In addition, Five Star can assist with hardscapes such as patios, walkways, retaining walls and water features.
“There’s things that we do that a customer may not feel comfortable doing, but they may feel comfortable doing parts of the project like the planting, or mulching and maintenance,” stated Rakouskas. “We try to make our customers feel as much at home and comfortable as we can when they visit us at Five Star Gardens.”
One of the low-maintenance plants Rakouskas likes designing are dwarf Spireas. He explained they are easy to grow, prune and take care of. In addition, he said he enjoys colorful foliage plants like Wegelias, which is becoming popular. Rakouskas said people are becoming more and more interested in growing their own vegetables and fruit to become more self-sufficient.
Rakouskas shared with Reminder Publishing that during the pandemic, people were more attracted to jobs that were outdoor-oriented and didn’t feel they were exposed to being in tight quarters with other workers. He noted that people were also home and wanted their yards to look nice. He explained that there is so much gardening happening that plants are becoming more scarce.
“When you have a big push where a lot of plant material is being purchased by customers, it takes a while for the industry to recover from that,” Rakouskas added. “We’ve had shortages, but we’ve managed to make some new contacts with suppliers in the industry because we’ve been in the business for over 30 years.
People are looking for things that are native, not invasive and friendly to the environment. They’re interested in seeing new and improved varieties that are not hard to maintain and look good throughout the seasons.”
Five Star Gardens is located at 181 Ware St., Route 32 in Palmer. They will be opening for the 2022 season on April 11. Their hours are 9 a.m. -5 p.m. every day.
Visit fivestargardens.com for more information.
Hardwick Farmers Co-Op Exchange
For Hardwick Farmers Co-Op Exchange, customers can look forward to annuals, perennials, vegetable starts, fruit trees, berry bushes and ornamental trees and shrubs.
When it comes to the classics, Greenhouse Nursery Manager Betsy Lenahan said, “Typically for shrubs, it’s usually azaleas, rhododendrons - anything that flowers. Ornamental grass trees, ornamental cherries, flowering dogwoods and fruit trees.” She continued, “We usually always sell out of our fruit trees and berry bushes, and we continue with perennials through spring right into the fall.”
For a new gardener, Lenahan suggests to begin with annuals which flower for one season, but do not return. She explained the gardener could plant petunias, marigolds, salvia or herbs. She noted conditions such as sunlight or shade, soil conditions and more are paramount when understanding what type of plants to purchase. Lenahan also noted that certain flowers serve different purposes – is the gardener looking to grow food, have a cut flower garden to create arrangements, or are they looking for ornamentals?
Established in 1914, Hardwick Farmers Co-Op Exchange is a member-owned cooperative, a feed and grain store along with nursery garden center. They have a wide range of products anywhere from grain and feed to bedding for animals, fertilizers to anything lawn and garden-related, whether it’s tools, seeds, gloves, hoses, plants, pots, soil or mulch. They also have a house-wear department selling men and women’s clothing and children’s toys.
Since Hardwick Farmers is considered an essential business, they were open from the beginning of the pandemic doing curbside pickup. Customers had to call their orders in or stand outside their door. Lenahan replied, “It was extremely difficult because you’re doing all the shopping and then all the processing and everything for the customers. However, we’ve seen our sales increase dramatically over the past couple of years due to the pandemic.”
She went on to say, “People were staying at home more and they were more interested in doing their own landscaping or their own gardening or home improvement projects where they couldn’t go on vacation, so it definitely helped our business.”
Hardwick Farmers are still increasing their sales, which Lenahan said she did not think would happen, and so far this year the business is on track. She said she is hoping for a good season and thinks this will be an “interesting spring.”
Hardwick Farmers Co-Op Exchange is located at 444 Lower Rd. in Gilbertville. They are open from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit their website at hardwickfarmers.net.
Reminder Publishing reached out to Wales Nurseries Garden Center of Wales but did not receive a response by press time.