Wacky Wednesday April 24, 2024

It’s Getting Ranunculus around hereInstant Impact with RanunculusRanunculus are cool season annuals with incredible colors, straight stems, long vase life and abundant blooms. Ranunculus are one of the best bouquet flowers around. You can cut the flowers without hurting the plant, and the more you cut, the more flowers the ranunculus will grow. These flowers look great in almost every room, and their big flower heads help make a bouquet look lush and full even without a huge amount of …

Kalamazoo, Michigan | Main Streets

Television host John McGivern travels the Upper Midwest to celebrate the people who live there and the unique attractions, history and businesses of each community in a show called Main Streets. Last year, John made a stop in Kalamazoo. Have you seen this episode about our great city? Wenke president, Lisa Wenke Ambrosio, has the opportunity to talk about the greenhouse industry and how her family started as celery farmers here in Kalamazoo. Check it out!

Wine and Roses Weigela

Add Season Long Color to Your Gardens Wine and Roses Weigela is one of those “boy I wish I would have planted this sooner” shrubs. Its striking dark burgundy leaves provide a fantastic enhancement or background to your garden or entry way. The leaf color continues to intensify as summer progresses. Its rosy-pink trumpet shaped flowers bloom in spring and then again throughout the summer. Hummingbirds love the flowers. A cut branch of Wine and Roses Weigela in a flower …

Container Gardening Guideline

Container Gardens are extremely popular for their instant beauty, ease of growing and versatility. Planting in the ground can sometimes feel like work.  But planting container gardens is just plain fun.  Container gardens are relatively easy – just a few basic things to remember.  1.  Selecting a container – A good rule is that larger is better. A larger container will hold more soil so it won’t dry out as fast. A heavy container may be necessary to keep it …

Ride the Wave

Wave® Petunias are perfect for your summer gardens. The abundant blooms will flower continuously all summer long in full sun. Wave® Petunias create a ground-hugging carpet of color and are perfect for flower beds, hanging baskets, containers and window boxes. Plant the Wave® Petunias 12in. apart in planting beds and watch them spread up to 4 ft! These easy-to-maintain plants are ‘self-cleaning’ meaning there is no need for you to cut back or ‘dead-head’ the spent blooms. They will simply drop old blooms …

Grafted vs. Own-Root Roses, So What’s the Big Deal?

Most roses grown for sale to homeowners are produced by grafting the desired rose variety onto a rooted understock of a different rose variety, often Dr. Huey or Multiflora for northern climates, or fortuniana in southern or western climates. There are several reasons this is done: Growers are able to obtain many more propagation materials by taking bud eyes to graft versus cuttings to root, which can be especially important when there is high demand for a new variety. It …

Hummingbird Favorites (extensive list)

                                              Wenke Wisdom                                         Hummingbird Garden Genus Common Name Acanthus spinosus Bear’s Breeches (P) Achillea Yarrow (P) Agapanthus Hardy Blue African Lily (P bulb) Agastache Anise Hyssop (Herb) (P) Ageratum Ageratum (A & P) Ajuga Bugleweed – Carpet bugle …

Create a Hummingbird Garden

The ruby throat is our only hummingbird in Michigan. The primary element in a successful hummingbird garden are bright tubular nectar rich blossoms. Gardens can be supplemented with feeders but hummingbirds will always choose their natural food source first. Hummingbirds also appreciate a nearby spot of shade for rest. Hummingbirds do not use bird baths. Hummingbirds bathe on the “fly.” If possible, provide a mister or overhead sprinkler for them to fly through. When creating your hummingbird garden try using …