Getting Ready for Spring

<< PREV

Image 1 of 4

NEXT >>

Ron, one of our growers is checking young plant growth and vigor.

Plants Abound in Our Greenhouses

Driving by on Sprinkle Road it may appear that there isn't much going on at the retail location, however our growing facilities are buzzing with activity to prepare for spring sales.

People are often surprised when I tell them that my busy season actually starts long before the retail store opens in April. It's busy because we grow from seed or cuttings the majority of the plants that we offer for sale at the retail location. In addition, we grow thousands of plants every year for our wholesale business and ship our plants all the way to Georgia. This enables us to offer you the widest selection and highest quality plants but it does require a lot of preparation. The average production time for the crops we produce is about 14 weeks.

We began preparing for our April 18, 2008 opening day last June when we reviewed the 2007 season.

In July and August, we attended garden performance trials in Michigan and the Midwest where we can actually see how a new plant variety looks and performed in weather similar to what we experience here in Kalamazoo. The trials are a good way for us to evaluate whether we'll try a new variety or not.

September and October are planning months. We do forecasts and purchase seed, cuttings, various containers and plant tags to be ready to start growing plants for the next growing season. By February we are in full swing growing plants for the spring season.

We enjoy showing our production greenhouses to our customers so if you'd like to bring a group in for a tour, we'd be happy to accommodate you. Contact me at Lisa@wenkegreenhouses.com to schedule a group tour.