Oconomowoc Landscape Supply and Garden Center's
Annual Flat Sale and
Herb and Vegetable Market Sale

Come to OLSGC for some of the most dramatic and colorful plants available for summer planting! We've expanded our list and are offering new annuals that bloom longer. Bedding plants produced in flats are the easiest and most economical way of filling your garden with all your favorites.

Herb and vegetable gardening is at an all-time high. Shop our Herb and Vegetable Market Sale for great values in transplants for your own gardens.

Don't miss these great values!

53 million homes will plant a garden this year. Learn the basics of planting a vegetable garden and do it right the first time. Most gardens produce 1/2 pound of fresh produce per square foot; at $2.00 a pound that's some green savings--in fact, the average home owner can save $500 dollars or more each year on produce alone! Registration is limited. Please RSVP by May 22nd.

Great landscape design has both style and function. Learn about elements of design in the garden, common mistakes and ways to maximize "the great outdoors". Gain insights and ideas for your home landscape in this fun class. Registration is limited. Please RSVP by May 29th.

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations we know of were ancient Greek spring celebrations in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods; the ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno. But those were in honor of one particular mother. England's "Mothering Sunday," begun in the 1600's, is closer to what we think of as "Mother's Day." Celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis started a drive to establish a national Mother's Day. In 1907 she passed out 500 white carnations at her mother's church in West Virginia--one for each mother in the congregation. In 1908, her mother's church held the first Mother's Day service, on May 10th (the second Sunday in May). That same day a special service was held at the Wanamaker Auditorium in Philadelphia, where Anna was from, which could seat no more than a third of the 15,000 people who showed up.

By 1909, churches in 46 states, Canada and Mexico were holding Mother's Day services. In the meantime, Ms. Jarvis had quit her job to campaign full time. She managed to get the World's Sunday School Association to help; they were a big factor in convincing legislators to support the idea. In 1912, West Virginia was the first state to designate an official Mother's Day. By 1914, the campaign had convinced Congress, which passed a joint resolution. President Woodrow Wilson signed the resolution, establishing an official national Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May.

Many countries of the world now have their own Mother's Day at different times of the year, but Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, and Turkey join the US in celebrating Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May. Britain still celebrates Mothering Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent--but they now call it Mother's Day. By any name, and at any date, it's a special day to honor a special person.

Having trouble thinking of a gift? Why not do something a little different for Mother's Day? Instead of giving her a bouquet of roses, plant her a rose garden! If she already has a rose garden--add to it! If she lives in an apartment, consider a potted rose plant--many roses will do quite well in containers (ask us for suggestions).

Why give one bouquet that will soon fade away, when you can give years of pleasure from living roses instead?

During these difficult fiscal times, we can choose to throw our hands up in despair, or we can embrace the creativity, imagination, and determination of our predecessors who came together in adversity, and in so doing, made this country the great land that it is. During wartimes and depressions, Americans re-assessed their priorities and realized that so much of what makes life easier, also strips it of the very qualities that make it worth living.

Victory gardens are not a new concept, but have come back into favor as grocery store prices have skyrocketed. Ironically, the food that we grow in our own backyards has a richer, fuller flavor, with aromas that have been bred out of the pre-dried, pre-packaged foods to which so many of us have turned. This is particularly true of fruits and vegetables; tomatoes have been hybridized to make them symmetrical and red, with a long shelf life, and a durability to survive the rigors of automated harvesting and long-distance shipping.

But heirlooms, or heritage tomatoes, have become increasingly popular and available. Prized for their outstanding flavor, their unusual shapes and vast range of colors add to the plate as well as the palate. They range in color from purple to orange, green, white and even black, and many are every bit as hardy as hybrid varieties.

By definition, an heirloom tomato's seeds can be traced back at least a century, and reproduce through an open, or natural, pollination process. You may choose to grow your heirlooms from seed, but a quick visit to our garden center will yield starter plants such as the popular Brandywine tomato, and other varieties that are local favorites. Check the tag, looking for a string of letters; these denote resistance to the following diseases:

• A--Alternaria leaf spot
• F--Fusarium wilt
• FF--Race 1 and Race 2 Fusarium
• L--Septoria leaf spot
• N--Nematodes
• T--Tobacco mosaic virus (never smoke around your tomatoes!!)
• V--Verticilium wilt.

Thus, a tag with the code of FFLT means that the plant is resistant to both common strains of fusarium wilt, septoria leaf spot, and tobacco mosaic virus.

There are two different types of tomato growth types, determinate and indeterminate. Which you go with will depend on where you plan to grow them (they love the sun!) and how much room you have. Determinates are compact and bushy, tend to be early growers, and are best suited for small gardens and container gardens. Indeterminates are vinier and will need support. They tend to fruit up later, so why not plant both for a constant supply?

Plant tomatoes approximately 2 to 3 feet apart from each other or in rows 3 feet apart with the plants spaced at a foot. You may plant when the temperature is a consistent 50 degrees F, but the plants won't begin to set fruit until the overnight low is regularly above 55 degrees F. Use soil amendment, and add water evenly for best results.

When your plants begin to need staking, consider twig or bamboo tripods, or trellising; your garden will not only prove delicious tasting, it will also look good!

Do ladybugs really help control bad insects?

Answer:

They sure do! In fact, ladybugs are one of the most effective predatory insects around--and love to make a meal out of bad ones. But give them time to do their thing. If you get too impatient with them, they just might "fly away home." Make sure your garden friends are happy by providing them with water and shelter. Remember that good bugs are living creatures and they have feelings too.

It is best to release them in the evening or early morning, just after you have watered the garden. This will help keep them in the garden. It is also better to release them in small batches all around your garden than in one big group; otherwise, they might get all huffy and start duking it out for the territory.

Ladybugs are more likely to remain in your garden if there is a ready food supply. It is important to provide them with an alternative food source when meals of pest insects are scarce. Flowers produce nectar and pollen, which ladybugs also need to survive. Plan your garden to feed beneficial insects by choosing a variety of plants that will bloom as many months of the year as possible.

Don't be surprised if they leave after they have removed all your bad insects, though. They will only stick around for as long as there is a good food source in your garden.

In the summertime, when the weather is hot, heat-loving annuals will dazzle your gardens with vibrant colors. They are the sun-bathing beauties of any garden. With so many different flower forms, colors, sizes and foliage shapes, every gardener will have a dozen or two favorite annuals blooming in the garden to brag about.

Versatility is their name; garden pizzazz is your gain. Annuals make themselves at home in your garden beds, intermingled with your trees and shrubs, patio containers, window boxes and/or hanging baskets Some annuals are groundcovers, some are perfect for the "middle and marvelous" group, and of course some will stand "tall and sassy" in the rear of the garden bed.

For a huge colorful impact, plant in swaths or waves. For example, many people planted their gardens in red, white and blue for July 4th. Perhaps they used 6 packs of blue lobelia in the front row, zinnias (red of course) in the next row, and in the back, lots and lots of white cosmos. The same concept applies to other color schemes.

Plant your annuals using a good planting mix. Most of these annuals need regular water. Fertilize with a good bud and bloom fertilizer to encourage continuous blooms. Also, to keep your annuals blooming all summer long, deadhead (which means pluck off the spent flowers). This will keep the plant from thinking that it is time to spend all of its energy developing seeds for the next season. Remember that annuals are plants that grow and bloom within one season.

Whatever your garden style or colors, we have annuals for you! Hurry in and pick your favorites. Get them in your gardens for a spectacular summer flower color show!

Click here to view sample pictures of annuals.

Outside of the easily-identified blueberries and strawberries, the world of berries can be very confusing. You have blackberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and yellow raspberries. And don't forget boysenberries, loganberries and marionberries, which are all closely related. How do you tell them apart? Berries whose core stays intact are blackberries. Berries that lose the core and resemble a thimble are raspberries. But then...a few berries are a cross between the two!

The similarities don't stop there. All bear fruit on two-year-old wood, except for the ever-bearing raspberries that also fruit on first year growth. These are also called two crop raspberries because they bear a late summer or fall crop on the first year growth and a second crop the following spring on the two-year-old wood.

Different types of wood? What's that all about? Ok, it may help clear up a lot of confusion about blackberry and raspberry culture if one remembers that after flowering and fruiting, any cane that bore fruit dies back to the crown. All the new growth will rise out from primary buds just below the soil line.

Now here's the good news, blackberries, raspberries and any other favorites will thrive in most locations and soil types, but good drainage is desirable with most varieties. Just give them some room to ramble because they do like to spread out. As far as cold-hardiness goes, raspberries tolerate very cold temperatures better than blackberries.

Most berries like being fed at blooming time, with a follow-up feeding in early fall after the plants have finished fruiting. Just use a well-balanced fruit food. They prefer staying moist, and should be watered regularly if rainfall is insufficient.

The new canes that grow out each spring will not bear fruit until the following summer when they are two years old. After harvest, the two-year-old fruiting canes will start to die back and should be removed as close to the ground as possible without injuring the new canes.

In mild climates berries can be trained to stakes or trellises in late summer or early fall, after the fruiting canes have been removed. In colder climates, the canes should be left on the ground over winter--making them less likely to be damaged by cold. The ideal time to "spring train" is after the danger of freezing weather and before the leaf buds begin expanding.

We have berry plants that grow well in our local area. The bottom line is that all berries are easy to grow and they taste great. So don't stress about all your different choices. Just plant some berries and enjoy!

This phrase could be the Summer Vegetable Theme Song. And it is time to plant your summer vegetables!

Most of our favorite vegetables are grown this time of year. What vegetables do we grow in summertime? Try planting beans, corn, cucumber, eggplant, leeks, onions, peppers, squash, tomatoes and zucchini, just to name a few. Beets (red and golden), potatoes, carrots and radishes are root vegetables, and they are simple to grow.

Perhaps you look at our list of vegetables and think to yourself "Right, I could grow all of that, if I lived on a farm!" Of course you can grow all of them, but the real issue might be a question of space. So pick your favorites and go from there. Root vegetables can grow underneath just about any of the other vegetables listed. That means the onions, beets, potatoes, carrots, and radishes can be planted very near to the beans, tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.

Cucumbers, squash and zucchini (also a squash) all grow as a vine and have large leaves. They will need much more growing space and need to spread out. Plant these on a small mound of your amended soil in clusters of three plants. You could even make that 3-5 plants, one of each that you love the most.

If you have not been a vegetable gardener in the past, here are a few tips for you to follow.

1. Pick a sunny location, free of grass (or "free it" from the grass!).
2. Soil preparation. Determine whether or not your soil is predominantly sand or clay. Supplement your native soil with a composting product, such as Master Nursery Bumper Crop. Roto-till or use a good old-fashioned shovel to mix in the amendment and level out the soil.
3. Fertilize. You have choices here, a chemical fertilizer or an organic one. Remember when choosing fertilizers, you are ultimately planning to eat these vegetables.

We also have all the necessary products that you will need to become a great vegetable gardener: Tomato cages, trellises for the tomatoes or beans, bird netting, stakes for the peppers and eggplant. And don't forget our soil amendments, fertilizers, and of course, our excellent advice and encouragement.

We are here for you, the future vegetable grower. Maybe you'll even share your vegetable wealth with us at harvest time!

We all have been thrilled by the Queen of the Garden this Spring. Don't you agree? The first rose bloom has been absolutely fabulous. If you haven't been by the garden center and wandered through the rows of hybrid teas, floribundas, English, Romantica, tree roses and climbers, we invite you to do so. The color palette and fragrant bouquet is out of this world.

Roses perform best in bright sunny areas. Choose a location where access for pruning and maintenance is easy and where the plant is not likely to be exposed too much overhead watering, (such as lawn sprinklers) which could result in continual mildew problems. Although bare root planting was in early spring, you can plant roses now before it gets into our summer hot weather.

Almost everyone loves roses but many people don't grow them because they think roses are difficult to care for. Not so. They do require some care, but new resistant varieties are much easier to care for than the roses our grandparents grew. Here are the basic care tips for growing this Queen of the Garden.

Planting: Once you have chosen a location, plant your rose carefully to ensure a healthy start. Use a quality soil mix to blend 50/50 with your existing soil. Dig a hole 1.5 times as big as the container size you are planting. Use your soil blend in the bottom and handle the root ball carefully, using two hands to place it inside the hole. Next, using your soil blend, fill in around the sides of the root ball. Water the root ball thoroughly and let the soil settle naturally. Remember to water daily, as the rose gets established. You can begin fertilizing in 2-3 weeks.

Once the first blooms fade, what is your next step? Deadhead, water, fertilize and mulch. Pretty darn simple.

Deadhead: This encourages your rose to grow more secondary canes that will give you the next bloom cycle. So, unless you like to grow rose hips, then cut off these blooms. Make your cuts just above (1/4") an outward facing 5-leaflet. How far down the cane? That is your choice. During the bud/bloom time, some cut long stems to take into the house. Others cut back to shape and maintain a certain size to the rose bush throughout the season. Cut off cross canes and any canes coming up from below the graft union (those are suckers from the root stock).

Water: Roses love water. Keep the soil moist but not with standing water.

Fertilize: Roses love to eat - wouldn't you after all the work of these blooms! Just a quick product note - If you use a systemic food with pesticides, it is will not kill just rose pests, but beneficial insects as well.

Mulch: Cover the soil with 2-3 inches of mulch (cocoa mulch, small or shredded bark) surrounding the rose bush. Keep mulch away from the main stem/graft area. Mulch will keep weeds down, moisture in the soil, and increase the health of your soil.

We look forward to strolling with you through the rose section of our garden center and helping you with the best selection of roses for your garden.

Father Dom's Duck's Doo is an award winning soil conditioner that can be used in vegetable and flower gardens, tree and shrub plantings, and lawn seeding and sod projects. It is also useful for indoor gardening. It can also be used in potting soils for houseplants, or in soil mixes for starting flower and vegetable seeds.

Duck Doo is completely weed seed free and made entirely of recycled duck poop, cranberries, rice hulls, wood shavings, pickles and vanilla beans. Duck's Doo Compost is surprisingly sweet smelling...and your plants will love it too!