Raring to grow this spring

A tropical paradise greets visitors at the entrance to the greenhouse at Schriemers Market Centre. A top trend for indoor and outdoor living, lush tropical plants and houseplants now fill four times the amount of space compared to last year.

Ferns are bestsellers, says Victoria Hoogerdijk, marketing and social media co-ordinator for Schriemers. Ideal for low light areas in the landscape, Boston ferns look elegant in hanging baskets or planters. Underplant with a trailing begonia such as San Francisco Begonia boliviensis which has soft salmon blooms and arrow-shaped foliage. You will love the effect the whole summer long. As temperatures start to cool in fall, lift your Boston fern and bring it indoors for the winter.

Macho fern is a whole other beast with drama aplenty. Plant macho fern in a hanging basket or give it plenty of room in a tall urn or planter. One macho fern is enough to transform any shaded porch or patio with its dramatic size. This mighty fern can grow 1.2 metres tall with a width that extends up to 1.8 metres.

Asparagus fern (which isn’t really a fern) has feathery, needle-like leaves that trail softly. Asparagus fern prefers dappled light and moist soil conditions.

Eager customers have already been snapping up bougainvillea in 10-gallon containers, says Hoogerdijk, but there is still an abundance of bougainvillea in one-gallon containers. Brilliantly coloured and sun loving, bougainvillea will add a tropical feel to your patio or pool area when hot weather arrives. The petal-like bracts have a unique papery texture. Varieties include vera deep purple with pink-purple bloom colour, rijnstar lila with lilac blooms and rijnstar white. In the fall, prior to the first frost, bougainvillea can be brought indoors for the winter.

France Barrette, one of the growers at Schriemers, has already planted 1,500 hanging baskets and 400 mixed containers. "All have been fed with seaweed, a completely natural kelp-derived fertilizer rich in micronutrients for optimum growth," says Barrette. There is an excellent selection of dipladenia in both hanging baskets and 10 cm containers.

Dipladenia is a gorgeous flowering annual that is related to mandevilla vine but only grows 30 to 60 cm in height. A top performer for patio containers and window boxes, dipladenia has exotic trumpet-shaped blooms and glossy, deeply green foliage. Better yet, dipladenia can be overwintered indoors in a sunny window.

For the best dressed containers, choose from over 200 Kanmara hydrangeas, the holy grail of potted hydrangeas. Bushy and floriferous, the Kanmara hydrangea offers sumptuous long-lasting blooms and showy foliage. These will disappear quickly as few customers purchase just one.

Schriemers Market Centre is owned by Scott Schriemer. Schriemer, 50, also owns Vic’s Market, 1038 Pembina Hwy., which is where he started working at age 12 when Vic’s was owned by his father. All the tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and herbs sold at Vic’s are grown at Schriemers Market Centre.

The integration of biological control of greenhouse pests versus spraying chemicals says a great deal about Schriemers’ philosophy and commitment to best management practices for environmental stewardship. "It’s something that you have to be really committed to," says Schriemer. "Bio-controls are a long-term strategy."

Nico Vonderbank is the principal grower at Schriemers. He manages the bio-control program which utilizes a variety of beneficial insects to control greenhouse pests such as whiteflies and aphids. If you happen to see a tiny parasitic wasp (they don’t sting), just let it do its work. The flowers and edibles that you shop for at Schriemers are healthier and stronger thanks to these tiny creatures.

Vonderbank has seeded more than 4,000 tomatoes for the coming season. His emphasis is always on tried-and-true performers. One of his favourite varieties is Early Girl tomato, a classic early-maturing tomato with globe-shaped fruits on disease-resistant vines. He will also have 40 to 50 different kinds of hot peppers ready to grow in your garden as well as popular six-packs of celeriac, chard, kohlrabi, and more.

Choose from a vast quantity of aromatic basil varieties that are perfect for patio pots or intersperse unique basil varieties with flowering annuals at the front of your border. Aristotle is a new compact basil that forms a dense mound. The intensely fragrant Mrs. Burns Lemon basil with edible flowers is so lovely that it is also a popular addition to summer bouquets. So popular are herbs that Schriemers offers a year-round selection for growing indoors or on your patio.

This summer, Schriemer plans to build a seasonal "mini-Vic’s" at the front of the property where Schriemers Market Centre is located. Schriemer also plans to expand the greenhouse this summer and to increase the retail space so that customers have a more enjoyable shopping experience. "Food and flowers play a big part in people’s lives, especially during this pandemic," says Schriemer. "I think we provide a sense of calm and peace. We want Schriemers to be a year-round inviting place."

Schriemers carries a wide variety of trees and shrubs. Lee Galindo, nursery manager, says there are a lot of young people who are gardening for the first time and are planting trees and shrubs for the first time. "We always want to give them the information they need for their trees and shrubs to succeed," says Galindo. "We get excited for people who are new to gardening and who come back and show us photos of how their landscape has come along. That’s what makes our job so rewarding."

Flowering shrubs are in high demand. Hydrangea shrubs are a top seller, says Galindo. Ninebark shrubs are also popular. Two new ninebark varieties include Little Joker and Petite Plum. Both have striking burgundy foliage. Most people are looking for compact varieties, says Galindo, but many are also choosing to buy shrubs that are already at full maturity. These are available in 10-gallon containers.

Agnes Szeredi, general manager at Schriemers, is also focused on helping beginning gardeners. "Our byword is success in gardening," says Szeredi. There were more new gardeners than ever last year and many invested in perennials. "People are rediscovering value in the small things," says Szeredi. "One of our most frequent questions was about the best flowers to plant for pollinators."

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias) was a top seller last year. Schriemers will carry several varieties of milkweed this spring including white-flowered Ice Ballet, Hello Yellow which offers three months of golden yellow blooms, and vanilla-scented Cinderella milkweed which has incredible rose-pink flowers in large clusters. You will find all these varieties and much more at Schriemers.

How awesome would it be to win $100 to buy plants or garden accessories? Enter the new Schriemers Market Centre contest for your chance to win one of three $100 gift cards. Fill out the attached entry form and drop it in the contest entry box at Schriemers Market Centre, 2857 McGregor Farm Rd. The contest starts today, April 10 and ends Friday, April 24 at store closing. Three winning entries will be randomly selected and announced in-store on Saturday, April 24. Winners will be notified immediately by phone or email.

What will you buy if you win?

colleenizacharias@gmail.com

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