|
 We stopped by
Connie's Country Greenhouse in Latham to get a few ideas about what
is new, or what is old and good this year.
Connie Burgett runs the greenhouse operation with husband Greg
and assistance from son Elliot. Elliot also runs his own landscape
business on the side.
Connie's grows a wide variety of annuals and perennials. The
greenhouse also offers the most popular herbs, shrubberies and
ornamental trees.
In early April the greenhouse was a rainbow of colors from floor
to ceiling with geraniums, impatiens, petunias, begonias, lantanas,
herbs, marigolds, zinnias and much more.
In a far corner, hibiscus, great for the patio with their large
tropical peach and yellow trumpet flowers, were shouting, "Summer's
here!"
If you ask Connie, "What's your favorite?" she'll quickly steer
you to her Calibrachoas. "Calis," she calls them. The petunia-like
plants bloom up a storm and are easy to care for. Long, trailing
stems are especially nice in hanging baskets or planters and great
either alone or in combination with other plants.
The newest Cali varieties, called
Superbells, offer compact growth, are heat-tolerant and
disease-resistant, and come in spectacular colors that bloom all
season. Cali blooms also attract hummingbirds.
But then, Connie looks around and with the same enthusiasm says
she likes all her "Proven
Winners."
Proven Winners are best varieties chosen for performance --
vigorous growth, vibrant or unique. You'll get more blooms, better
growth and disease resistance.
Connie uses Proven Winners brand in her combination planters and
baskets. Proven Winners also come as 4 1/2-inch pots. Look for the
special tag:
And then Connie looks over and sees her wave petunias. She loves
the new colors, like chartreuse. Could petunias get more charming?
Yes, with more range of color: brighter and bolder to softer, and
delightful, multicolored flowers such as black and purple.
Blooms in sun or shade
Often gardeners struggle with getting color into shaded areas.
Red, pink, orange and white impatiens and begonias have been
wonderful additions to landscapes and in planters. However, yellow
pops better than any other color. Ball Seed introduced new yellow
impatiens. You can now choose from 20-30 different varieties of
impatiens.
If you have a porch wall or fence that you want to accentuate
with a mass of bloom, how about hanging one of the easy-to-care-for
vertical bags? For shade, choose impatiens; if it's a sunny place,
how about petunias?
Sunny ground
If you have a patch of ground and you want something that creates
drama, how about a mass planting of Echinacea? Gone are the days of
only purple coneflowers. Echinacea's all-season performance, new
varieties and new colors have made this plant a favorite. Connie
says people put in whole beds with different colors mixed. The
greenhouse has 25 different colors.
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 Perennial foliages, shrubs and trees
According to Connie, people are still planting more ornamental
grasses. And no wonder -- beautiful, elegant and easy to care for,
grasses offer texture, color and fill a space nicely at a reasonable
price. While some grasses are annual, many are perennial.
Though the purple fountain grass is an annual, it is another one
of Connie's favorites. She likes to combine it with other flowers as
a pot filler. Even if the other flowers die out, the grass lasts
through the summer and is great with fall mums added, she says.
To satisfy the customer's preference, the greenhouse carries over
30 kinds of grasses.
Growers continue to develop new plant varieties. New shrubs and
perennials are more drought-, pest- and disease-resistant.
Hostas continue to be a top favorite in central Illinois
landscapes. Primarily grown for their foliage, hostas offer elegant,
broad-leaved low growth suitable for deep shade. Several new hostas
are sun-tolerant.
The stir this year is a new deer-resistant hosta. While
interested, Elliot remains slightly skeptical, saying he's "yet to
see how it performs."
He does give his stamp of approval to the new Korean-like lilac
varieties with longer bloom-time and compact growth, making it quite
suitable for formal landscapes.
Elliot favors the Japanese maples, both standard upright and a
wonderful new weeping variety. He also recommends low-maintenance
boxwood. "I always suggest putting those in landscapes," he said.
Something else exciting this year, new butterfly bushes offer a
more compact, bushy appearance, maturing at 5 feet tall and up to 4
feet wide.
When summer is all but done, a new crop of colorful blooms will
become available at the greenhouse as 30,000 field-grown mums reach
maturity.
And then, the Burgett family will slow down just slightly as they
start looking at seed catalogs, go to trial gardens, talk to sales
reps and plan next year's garden surprises for you.
[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]
Connie's Country Greenhouse
325 2400th Ave., Latham, IL 62543
Visit the
2012 Spring Home & Garden Magazine for these great articles:
-
A fresh coat of paint
-
Marrying technology
and decorating
-
Lighting your
interior
-
Creating a cool
breeze
-
Weekend warrior takes
on the bath
-
Manicuring the lawn
-
Happy trees
-
New outdoor blooms
and foliage
-
Attracting
butterflies to your yard
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