We asked Tom Hill, Sales and Marketing Manager for Johnson’s Nursery, for some reasons to buy local. Here is what he wanted to remind us about why we should choose to support our local growers:

• An assurance that the plant material is fully acclimated—not just to our winters but also to the regional soils (composition and ph) our local climactic precipitation and humidity, and even the various pests in the area.  Only the strongest and best make it out of our fields.

• Hardiness.  This catchall term is usually only used to describe the USDA zone in which the species will survive.  But plant material that is trucked in from warmer fields frequently go backwards during their first months in SE Wisconsin because the new growth has not been hardened off.  A spruce, for example, flush with new growth at the box store in early April should be treated with skepticism by every landscape professional.  Stressed new plantings invite disease and pests.

• More goes into growing great nursery stock than…well…just growing great nursery stock.  Harvest times and methods, harvest materials used (open weave untreated burlap, half baskets and organic twine), and follow-up care prior to installation are essential to healthy, thriving landscapes.  At Johnson’s Nursery, with 53 years of local experience to draw upon, our clients know that they are getting plant material that was harvested at the correct time, in the correct way, and was well cared for until it left our sales yard.  At a box store, plants are a commodity—subject to unknown and uneven harvest techniques and continuing care.

• Local nurseries can offer unusual, individual specimens that a designer is just not able to find in a box store’s selection.  In much the same way that great chefs can only do so much with macaroni and powdered cheese, so too are great landscape designers limited by plant palettes that are too narrow.  When the fields are local, a designer can walk among acres of a particular species and choose EXACTLY the one to highlight the space and the flow of their design.

• Buying local is green.  Without the long distance shipping, fossil fuel consumption and pollution are minimized.  At Johnson’s Nursery all of our irrigation runoff is captured in retention ponds and reused ensuring a responsible stewardship of the land.

• Revenues stay in the community, employees live and pay taxes in the community, their children attend schools in the community.  Local businesses, in general, create the fabric of a dynamic healthy region.  Johnson’s Nursery donated money and/or materials to 99 local events and causes in 2010—schools, churches, elks, no kill animal shelters, etc.

Have you been to any of the big box stores lately?  Their garden centers are brimming with plants that are supposed to be hardy in our area- but are they really?

Well yes, they are selling plant varieties for the Upper Midwest, but did you know that they were grown in places like Tennessee and even further south?  Adaptation is an issue to consider when buying these plants. Plants adapt to where they are grown primarily.  So if a plant is grown in Tennessee, it does not necessarily mean it will grow well once it has been moved to Wisconsin.

In fact a few years back, I planted a potager surrounded by Boxwood ‘Green Velvet’ and Boxwood ‘Green Mountain’-, all hardy plants for this area.  The first spring after I planted them, they came back browned out and nasty-looking, in contrast to the boxwood I planted from Minnesota.  So was that really such a good deal?  Not when I planted 35 plants it wasn’t. I dug them all out and replanted them at our nursery. Unfortunately, four years later they still look dreadful.

As an avid tomato lover and grower of up to 50 tomato plants every year.  I have been so disappointed in the spread of both early and late tomato blight.  Last year I dusted them with Copper sulfite and reeked of the stuff for weeks after applying it.  Some of my August tomatoes still contained the stench. A year or two ago, the New York Times reported we could thank the box stores for the spread of the tomato blight across the US. Indeed a diseased plant grown in the volumes that the box stores sell at, will surely spread the disease not only state wide but interstate wide too.

And what about supporting local businesses?  Do we really want to put our local, dedicated nursery growers out of business in favor of inferior stock from distant lands? Our growers will refuse to sell us a plant that is infected.  Their stock is inspected annually.

At Avant we are taking a stand, we will not plant plants purchased from the big box stores in your gardens.   We believe in supporting our local farmers and keeping our business right here in the Upper Midwest.   We hope you will join us!

Front yards are great for chatting with passersby.  A little patio spot or comfortable stairs to sit on are great for greeting your neighbors.   The backyard, on the other hand, seems more intimate and private.

Foreground screening is the fastest, most effective, and least intrusive way to get a little privacy.   This is one of the most common design problems we face and it really does not have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact it might cost considerably less than background screening.  It can change your experience of your landscape dramatically!

So how do we achieve a quick screen? Plant close to the area you want to be in.  Some plantings will give you screening within 3 to 4 years as opposed to background screening along the property line which can take 8 -15 years.  Foreground screening can be accomplished with large shrubs, grasses and small

Scale trees.  Some of my favorites are Red and Yellow Twig Dogwoods, Smaller Arbor Vitae such as Emeralds, and Holmstrups.   Witchazels also work well as they keep their leaves through the winter.  I love to use multi-clump Serviceberries, smaller Crabapples, Pagoda Dogwoods and Magnolias, and woody Hydrangeas work well for late summer through winter interest.  The trick is to select plants that do not get too big at maturity, otherwise you could have a situation where the plants become too overpowering for the space.
Foreground screening is cost effective in multiple ways as well.  Plants closer to you seem much bigger, and therefore you can get away with fewer plants.  Furthermore if your budget is tight; you can purchase smaller plants and wait for them to grow.  If you select the right plants, for the location and the soil is well matched to the plants, then the plants will grow quite quickly. So a little patience will be well rewarded!

Three homes will be highlighted on the tour—all of the homeowners maintain community garden plots in addition to their home landscapes.

Learn more about the Olbrich Home Garden Tour!

Perennials: Asparagus, Chives, Lavandar, Rhubarb, Chervil, Rue, Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Lovage

Ground Covers: Strawberries,Thyme

Bulbs: Onions, Garlic, Garlic Chives, Leeks

Vines: Grapes, Hardy Kiwi, Hops, Hyacinth Bean

Decorative Annuals: Lacianato Kale, Purple Curley Kale  – Redbor, Artichokes, Calendula, Nasturtium, Borage, Decorative Peppers