Winter is the time for gardeners to sit back, relax and dream about next year’s garden. Look through pinterest, garden books, the internet and get ideas for improving or changing your garden. This is a fun time to dream. Visit our website as we have so many photos and descriptions of most of the plants we carry. Remember, when dreaming, that sunlight or shade and soil type play a very important part of garden design. Have fun dreaming and see you in spring!
The Perfect Gift: A Live Christmas Tree!
Are you looking for a new Christmas tradition? Maybe you have a difficult shopping list and don’t know where to turn. How about a gift that keeps on giving? How about the gift of a live Christmas Tree!
Live trees are a great option if you have limited space for the holiday season. Bring the tree in for the few days family is visiting and then return the tree outside to your patio or garage until spring. Once spring arrives, you can gather your family and friends and continue the tradition by adding a beautiful new tree to your landscape. The following holiday season you can even decorate the tree and have a festive yard with a lighted outdoor tree!
Stop at the garden center and ask our staff about the options for your new live Christmas tree today!
Unbelievable, Sunbelievable
Oh my, oh my! How are everyone’s Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girls from Monrovia doing? Ours at the garden center is still blooming and is loaded with buds! Check out the photos below!
Whether you are new to the Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girls or are a seasoned veteran look no further for an annual that will stand the test of the season spring through fall.
Ideal for containers or in the ground, this blooming workhorse is known for its 1,000+ blooms per year and will grow to be about 3’x3’. Fertilized weekly it will perform even more than you expect!
The greatest gift of course are the beautiful HUGE yellow blooms that can be seen from down the street or from across the garden center! These flowers incorporated into bouquets or on their own brighten every space they occupy!
Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girl in Container, October 2024.
Get Your Jack o’ Lanterns Here!
Halloween is nearly here! Do you have your pumpkins yet?
Quickly, stop in for our GIGANTIC Jack o’ Lantern pumpkins before they are gone!
Plants for Fall Color
Fall is a beautiful time of the year when the outdoors is changed into shades of reds, oranges and yellows. Some fall shrubs and trees with their attributes for fall and winter are:
SHRUBS:
Dogwoods: red stems in winter
Viburnums: leaf color
Chokeberry: red leaves
Fothergilla: various leaf color
Serviceberry: leaf color
St. John’s wort: berries
Sumac: colorful leaves
Winterberry: Red berries
TREES:
Aspen: yellow leaves
Beech: red leaves
Birch: yellow leaves
Gingko: yellow leaves
Maples: various leaf color, red to yellow
Oaks: leaf color
Serviceberry: leaf color
Below are some photos: For more photos, go to Trees Today Nursery home page and select Plants and Products, then select trees or shrubs and that will take you to the individual shrubs and trees which you can then click on to take you to that specific page.
Berry Poppins
Photo courtesy of www.provenwinners.com
Arctic Fire Dogwood
Photo compliments Bailey Nursery
Firedance Dogwood
Blue Beech
Photo compliments Bailey Nursery
Fall Fiesta Maple
Photo by Trees Today
Have You Planted Your Hydrangea(s) Yet?
Hydrangeas have become almost the number one selling plant. This is due to their easy maintenance and the many colors that have been developed. Rather then go into the various kinds of hydrangeas, this article is just going to talk about the woody kind (they are shrubs that lose their leaves in fall but do not die back to the ground) and the ones that have soft stems (not woody) and generally have lots of die back over winter. The shrub kind can grow in full sun and sun with some shade. They can get 2.5 ft tall to over 8 ft, depending on the variety. Generally this hydrangea has more subtle colors, like white with pink or a tinge of green. The soft stems ones have more brilliant colors and want morning sun but definitely afternoon shade. They come in shades from white to pink to dark pink to blue to purple and various other shades. Generally this type of hydrangea gets only about 2 ft to 4 ft high. The woody ones are super easy to grow and the only maintenance is shaping them or trimming them if you wish to keep them more uniform looking. The soft stems ones should be mulched for winter protection and cut back to about 12″ in fall and in spring cut back stems that do not turn green.
Take a look at all the landscaping ideas on the Internet. Just type in something like “Landscaping with Hydrangeas” or go to Pinterest and look for hydrangeas. You will get so many ideas of how to add interest and color to your yard or foundation. Presently we have the following hydrangeas in stock. Just click on the name and you will be taken to a page with further descriptions. Please ask our staff if you are new to planting hydrangeas and they will help you find the perfect one for your area. Also ask for a sheet on hydrangeas that will give you additional information.
Annabelle
Berry White
Bloomstruck
Bobo
Candy Apple
Early Evolution
Little Lime
Little Quickfire
Quickfire
Razzlberri
Strawberry Shake
Strawberry Sundae
Summer Crush
Twist n Shout
Are We Helping the Pollinators?
What is a pollinator? A pollinator is an insect or any agent that conveys pollen from one plant to another for fertilization. Without fertilization, plants would not have any fruits or seeds. Simply put, if we want apples, we need pollinators. If we want sweet corn, we need pollinators. What are some pollinators? Bees, birds, moths, butterflies, wind and any insects that transfer pollen from one plant to another. So what can we do? We can plant plants that attract pollinators. Clover, milkweed, coneflowers, Joe Pye Weed, bee balms, etc. are great pollinator plants. If you are unsure, please ask our staff to help you find some good pollinator plants. As more and more homes are being built, these pollinators are losing their undeveloped land with wildflowers and clover to pristine lawns. Every homeowner should plant at least a small garden with some pollinator plants to help keep these pollinators around for successful crops.
Oh My – Just Magnificent – Spectacular
These are just a few words to describe what our nursery looks like. It is now filled with plants, shrubs and trees and some blooming plants to feed the hummingbirds. We have lantana trees and lantana pots to give the hummingbirds some appreciated nectar when they arrive here after their long journey. Chances are good that if you put a lantana tree or pot on your deck or wherever you sit outside, hummingbirds will fly to it. We also have blooming roses that are quite spectacular. There are too many things to describe so we suggest you stop in and check us out.
Wagon full of rose plants
Wagon full of lantanas
Rose marvel salvias
Drift of Fragrance – Lilacs
Close your eyes and imagine the drift of fragrance from lilacs. Very soon they will be everywhere, blooming in shades of deep purple to light pink to white. Lilacs have come a long way since our grandma’s lilacs, most often the common purple. Short lilacs to tall lilacs to tree lilacs to reblooming ones have been developed. At our nursery we carry many varieties of lilacs. Below is a list of some of the lilacs we have. Keep in mind, though, that we may be out of stock for some lilacs and new ones may be added. Click on the lilac name below and you will be taken to a page describing that lilac.
Albert Holden
Beauty of Moscow
Bloomerang, Dark Purple
Charles Joly
Common Purple
Common White
Donald Wyman
Dwarf Korean
Ludwig Spaeth
Miss Kim
Mount Baker
Pocahontas
Scent & Sensibility
Sensation
Honeyberry: The Second Bloom of Spring
A well-versed plant enthusiast will tell you that forsythia is the first blooming shrub of the season. But, do you know of a flowering shrub that soon follows? Its the honeyberry! As we begin our pre-season set up at the garden center, we were amazed to find that our Berry Blue, Borealis, and Cinderella honeyberries in full bloom. Click on the links to view each variety and their need to know information.
In normal Wisconsin spring weather, one can expect to see the honeyberry bloom mid to end of April and fully ripen by early summer. The honeyberry fruit, as was once noted, looks like a grape in shape but tastes sweet like a blueberry. Honeyberries are great for fresh eating and are also great for making jams, jellies, and baking. Honeyberries do require a pollinator so make sure you have the space to bring at least two plants home.
Let 2024 be the year to try something new! Stop at the garden center and give it a try, or just come and say ‘hi’!
A Helpful Tool
April is nearly here! If the weather doesn’t have you itching for spring maybe our easy to use website and tools will. With so many new varieties of plants being introduced every year it can seem overwhelming on what is what and what works and what doesn’t. We want to break through all the confusion and give you the best resources we have to assist you in choosing materials for your landscape.
Our exceptional staff have dedicated hundreds of hours in creating and updating our website to reflect the plant varieties and other materials that we provide to the Coulee Region. The Plants & Products tab is the place to go when looking for specific plants or plant varieties. Here you can browse the plant categories based upon your landscape needs; albeit a tree, perennial or anything in between. Our staff diligently update these lists over winter to reflect our incoming spring plants. Although, these lists are updated regularly, they do not reflect out inventory at any given time. We recommend that you come and visit the garden center or give us a call to see if we have the items you are seeking.
In addition to our plant lists, you will also find a wide array of resources in the Plants & Products tab. Not sure how to care for your new plants? Our watering guide is available to you along with future care insights such as pruning, overwintering in a container and insects and pests. Here, too, you can find additional links to visit our grower’s websites, maybe order a plant or two directly from Monrovia, or dig deeper in researching that perfect plant for your yard.
Try something new. Take some time to explore our website and see what hidden gems can be found among the many plant options that Trees Today can provide for you. Finally, our staff is only one call, email or visit away to answer any of your questions.
See you at the garden center!
Are We or Are We Not a Zone 5?
There are 13 planting zones in the U.S., each are divided into two segments, a and b, with 5 degrees separating the two segments. We are now Zone 5a but not Zone 5B. Zone 5a’s average annual extreme low temperature, between years 1991 and 2020, is -20 to -15 with Zone 5b average low temperatures of -15 to -10. The very northern part of La Crosse County is Zone 4b, with -25 to -20 temperatures. These temperatures are based on 30 year averages.
So what does this mean? You now have an opportunity to plant some of those Zone 5 plants you have been drooling over the past years. However, be careful. Do not overdo it. Winters are unpredictable and we still may experience some really cold winters. Some plants have information tags on them. Read them and if the tag lists the minimum temperature for the plant, choose the plants that are in Zone 5a, not Zone 5b. In the past we have carried some Zone 5 plants that have proven to survive in this area. This year more Zone 5 plants will be added so PLEASE ask staff if you are uncertain about what zone that plant is in. Occasionally we do carry Zone 5B or higher Zone plants as customers ask for them.
Most trees and shrubs are warranted for one year. Staff should inform you if that particular plant is not warranted. We do not warrantee any perennials.
Happy planting and please ask staff for Assistance if you are unsure about any plant.