THe locks is on the shed door and the temperature is falling quickly, but does that mean gardeners are forced to think of other things when the garden is knee-deep in snow?
As most gardeners know, particularly those of us living in Winnipeg and the surrounding communities, planning next year's garden begins well before the first snowflake floats to the ground. Magazine racks at the local grocery store are filled with gardening books to help us get through the long winter months.
However, much of the gardening information available doesn't necessarily apply to the harsh growing conditions found in Manitoba. In comparison to warmer parts of the country, our region receives such scant attention by national magazines that the prairie gardener is often left feeling, well, out in the cold.
If you aren't familiar with Northscaping.com, a free resource and community website designed specifically for northern gardeners, now is the time to check it out. Based out of Oakbank and incorporated in 2004, it's the brainchild of a native Manitoban, James Kohut, and has grown to become one of the most popular Internet resources for northern gardeners. Now run by a team of five business partners and with more than 300 articles of interest written by Northscaping staff and guest experts, gardeners have access to one of the best plant search tools available.
A unique feature found under the heading of The Tool Shed is the Interactive Climatic Map, which provides information on hardiness zones, growing season, average last spring frost and first fall frost, as well as annual precipitation. Gardeners can also access all the information they need on the how-tos of residential landscaping with an online landscaping guide.
This phenomenally successful tool also includes a discussion forum. Just click on Garden Cafe and pose your yard and garden questions, or share helpful information. The Info Zone includes valuable tips and information on diverse topics ranging from enjoying a night garden, first-year tree and shrub care, creating a personal sanctuary, the science behind the change of colour in leaves in the fall, and much more.
In addition to providing valuable information to northern gardeners, Northscaping.com has another rapidly growing resource -- the NetPS plant search tool that allows retail nurseries and garden centres to list their inventories. Customers can search for what they are looking for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from the comfort of their own homes. Some garden centres are getting over 100,000 searches a month, making this their most important marketing tool.
Customers are able to search at their leisure, view detailed plant information and build their own detailed, personal list of plants from the inventory of their favourite garden centre, even in the off-season. After just two years, NetPS dominates the North American market with its software-based online marketing solutions for the horticultural industry and has virtually no competition.
Currently, 50 garden centres across North America utilize NetPS. Notables include Gertens Greenhouses in St. Paul, Minn. (which claims to be the largest garden centre in the U.S.), plus garden centres in Chicago, Denver, Toronto, Columbus, Milwaukee, and Edmonton, as well as six of the eight major garden centres in the Twin Cities.
Five garden centres in Winnipeg and one in Brandon are now using NetPS on their websites. Chicago represents the biggest growth area -- five garden centres in metro Chicago alone utilize NetPS on their websites. This past August in Chicago, Northscaping participated in the Independent Garden Center Show, which is billed as the world's largest garden-centre show.
As this local success story expands geographically, its focus is growing to encompass zones 7 and 8, which covers most of the United States.
In the coming months, Northscaping.com will see the addition of many more features, making it an indispensable resource for gardeners. Plan to visit, check out the Info Zone, explore hot topics, and take advantage of our long prairie winter to find everything you need to plan next year's garden.
Colleen Zacharias is president of the Friends of the Assiniboine Park Conservatory and co-chair of The Prairie Garden, Western Canada's only gardening annual since 1937.
