Moose Jaw’s garden centres spring into action with full selections of growing things
Garden centres have opened for the spring, and although it may be some time before the annuals and perennials are ready for sale, it’s never too early to get seeds, soils, pavers, and tools for your garden.
Keon Garden Centre - 1645 Stadacona Street West
Keon Garden Centre has been open for about a month, said owner Marcy Duffey, and their plants are coming along to be ready for outdoor planting. The annuals can’t be planted outside until May long weekend. Trees and shrubs haven’t yet been delivered for the same reasons, but Duffey doesn’t think it will be long.
Strawberries are growing in the greenhouse and will be ready in about a month, along with hundreds of other perennials.
“We grow over 500 varieties of perennials right here on site,” Duffey said. “We always start our stuff from two- or three-year-old roots, so they’re a good blooming SODQW WKH ¿UVW \HDU \RX SXW WKHP LQ WKH JURXQG« 7KHUH¶V not a lot of independent greenhouses that do all their own perennials – we have for 35 years, so we’ve gotten quite good at it.”
By the end of May, Keon Garden Centre will have a full selection of every type of garden plant that will grow in Saskatchewan. They also carry tools, irrigation supplies, décor, bulk aggregate, pavers and stones, fountains, and more.
Keon carries several brands of vegetable seeds, both organic and GMO. Duffey explained that “genetically PRGL¿HG´ VLPSO\ PHDQV WKDW WKRVH YDULHWLHV KDYH EHHQ carefully bred for greater hardiness – they have thicker stems, resistance to common blights and viruses, and/or produce more produce. The trade-off is that GMOs someWLPHV ORVH ÀDYRXU RU FRORXU $ EDODQFH EHWZHHQ RULJLQDO and specially-bred plants is what most people should look for.
Staff at the garden centre have a great deal of experience they are happy to share. Duffey said that one of the things they’re noticing lately is an increase in vegetable seed sales. People are becoming increasingly interested in growing their own food – she plans to start offering gardening workshops soon that will answer the most frequently asked questions and hopefully increase the success rate for new gardeners.
Cornell Design & Landscaping – 11 km south of Moose Jaw on #2 Highway
Cornell Design & Landscaping also opened in midMarch and has been busy raising little annual and perennial sproutlings for adoption to a forever home. However, they were also growing through the winter, and those plants are ready to go now.
“We have hundreds of tropical houseplants that we grew over the winter, so they’re all ready to go,” said Leslie Cornell. She is particularly pleased with their dragon tails, which are interesting and don’t need a lot of care to grow well.
Cornell said they grow many of their plants to appeal to the “unique market.”
“We also have succulent plants, lots and lots of succulent plants that are ready to go home with people. Succulents are pretty cool,” she said. “The nice thing about succulents for the prairies is that quite often succulents FRPH IURP WKH GHVHUW« DQG RXU DUHD RI WKH SUDLULH RIten is like a desert where we get really hot days and cool nights.”
Growing annual plants such as petunias can be challenging here, Cornell said, because they aren’t hardy in these conditions: “You can go to work in the morning and come home at the end of the day and they’ll all be dead. The succulents? You could probably go on holidays for two weeks and they’d still look great.”
Cornell Design & Landscaping is a Barkman Concrete dealer. Cornell said they chose Barkman because it met the quality standards they wanted. They can also design, build, and maintain landscaping, as well as offer advice and solutions for every gardening need.
Landscaping and yard maintenance quotes are free within Moose Jaw, and Cornell said they offer maintenance discounts for seniors.
Windmill Greenhouses – 1640 Ominica Street East
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“We call it Gardening by Moonlight,” Couture said, “so people can see what the greenhouse looks like in the evening. It starts at seven and we just go until the last person leaves!”
They seed most of their own product and do a lot of work with planters and hanging baskets, Couture said. Once they’re open, they will have veggies, herbs, perennials, bedding-out plants, and some trees and shrubs.
Windmill Greenhouses is also looking forward to their Mother’s Day event, which they always try to make a special occasion.
Couture considers ambience an important part of her business, with music and specialty coffee and a great deal of care taken for their pot and gift shop displays.
“It’s just always exciting, because we’re seasonal and we’re only open for a couple of months,” she said. “So yeah, we’re just excited about being open for spring.”