We Wait In Anticipation of What the New Year Will Bring.

Of course at this early juncture, not a single seed or plant plug has been stuck into any of the thousands of potting mix-filled flats and pots that we have in our many greenhouses. But we are more than ready to sow some early seeds of creativity in advance of the new growing season. Here are a couple of inspiring ideas to get you, our customers, primed for the green days ahead in 2012!

1) We are all ready to offer a new gardening concept to the area… it is called Vertical Gardening. The idea is to plant a variety of plants into a series of modular plastic planters and join them all together to create a vertical living “wall” of texture and color. These living plant walls are designed to add interest to a variety of vertical surfaces, both indoors and outside– sunrooms, porches and patios, retaining walls, fences, in unison with signs on commercial buildings, on the side of a house or utility shed– virtually any unobstructed, blank vertical surface. Tropical plants, low-growing or spreading plants and succulents seem to work best in this application, but you can use your imagination to make many different arrangements to suit your style and individual situation. It’s fun and a new way to show off your gardening skills– it is almost like you can “paint” a picture using plants! We already have these new modular planters in stock and ready to go, so stop in and take a look. We will be happy to explain some of the features of these unique products. You can also see what this new concept in gardening is all about by going to www.brightgreenusa.com to view some great examples of vertical gardening in use. Plus, if you choose to use tropical plants in a vertical gardening application, you may even be able to purchase what you need today and get your garden going indoors during these cold winter months. It’s a new idea that we are very excited about– and we think you will be excited about vertical gardening, too!

2) Our second idea focuses on an upcoming event that is bound to get anyone who is interested in gardening inspired. Sponsored by the McLean County Master Gardeners, it’s the 10th Annual Home, Lawn & Garden Day on Saturday, March 3rd at Bloomington Central Catholic High School from 8:00AM-3:00PM. This is a daylong event that features a wide range of classes conducted in three (3) different work sessions that are available to registrants throughout the day, a keynote speaker and many informational booths manned by area gardening businesses. To sign-up and attend any of the thirty-five (35) different classes being offered on that day, you must be pre-registered. There is a fee involved to register for the classes and pre-registration needs to be done through the Master Gardeners via the McLean County Extension Service website– so to find out more about this event, you will need to visit www.mcleanextension.org, then click on Home, Lawn & Garden Day 2012 on the right hand side of the page. Explanation of the classes being offered and registration procedure is detailed there. And even if you are not interested in committing to the classes, the general public is still invited to come to the event and browse the vendor area. Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses & Garden Center will have a booth there on that day and we would love to have you stop by to visit with us.

Either of these activities is very worthwhile and should be checked out in the coming weeks. After all, it’s a great way to “get growing” in 2012, even if it technically still is winter…