Mother's Day Weekend

Hello everyone and happy Sunday to you! All of us at Garden Supply want to wish you mothers out there a very wonderful Mother's Day.  How fortunate we are to have these special women in our lives! If you are lucky enough to have your mom in town with you, plan on a visit today and let her stroll through the gardens at leisure. And if you're a mom yourself, take a few minutes to unwind here.  It's so beautiful right now.  I hear so many times from you how nice it is just to "come and wander around".... I agree! I am one of the lucky ones to have my mother visiting, and for Mother's Day this year, we spent our time together at Garden Supply.  Of all the activities we could have planned for the weekend, we both chose to spend some quality time together strolling the gardens.  The excitement of all the beautiful plants in bloom is absolutely contagious.  Mom and I want to make a "Mother's Day Garden" in my backyard that we can watch flourish and grow in the years to come.  I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift.  Now I will have a constant reminder of Mom every time I look out my windows.

I would like to share with you our creative journey of  this garden to perhaps inspire you if you have a similar area at your home that could use a little special touch.  I am working with a border area up against the back foundation of my house.  The area receives a bit of morning sun, but for most of the day, this zone is in the shade.  So step one was to head to the shade plant area at Garden Supply, where there are so many gorgeous plants to choose from.  We decided on Hostas as our main focus. Hostas are extremely popular, hardy herbaceous perennials grown primarily for their beautiful foliage. They are easy to grow, shade-tolerant plants. Leaves come in a wide range of shapes, colors, sizes, and textures and may be solid in color or variegated in different combinations of blue, green, white, and gold. The plants are low maintenance and with the huge selection of choices at Garden Supply, your options are boundless.

After weighing all the choices, we decided to go with a variety of hostas in a chartreuse-green color palette.  Chartreuse foliage is highly visible, even from a distance, and brings light to low-light areas. Choosing a variety of cultivars brings some interest to the border, while sticking to a chartreuse color palette unites the border into a cohesive planting.

Our hosta selection included: Great Expectations, Stained Glass, Atlantis, Fragrant Bouquet, Guacamole, and Sum & Substance.  We then decided on a few companion plants for our border to add more depth and interest, sticking to the shade area plantings at the garden center. We paired the hostas with the dark purple foliage of the 'Plum Pudding' Heuchera (Coral Bells) which do well in sun or light shade, and the light and airy foliage of the 'Cinnamon' Fern.  The contrast of these 3 plants provides a ton of visual interest.

For my 20-foot border, we selected 9 hostas, 3 coral bells, and 4 cinnamon ferns. Allowing for adequate planting space, this was the perfect number of plants to fill the area.

I hope this has given you some ideas for those of you with similar planting opportunities in your yards.  Come back and visit soon to see our completed Mother's Day Garden.  And in the meantime, we'll see you down at Garden Supply.

Happy Mother's Day!

Health & Wellness

Hello everyone!  Happy Friday to you all!  Isn't it wonderful that another weekend has rolled around once more?  And what a special weekend this will be with Mother's Day celebrations on Sunday.  A huge thank-you to everyone who stopped by our Stress-Free Shopping event yesterday evening.  And for those of you who couldn't make it, we're still looking forward to helping you select that perfect Mother's Day gift for your One-of-a-Kind Mom! Here are a few gift ideas from the Greenhouse that Mom is sure to love.  These are some of my personal favorites!

The Tyler Candle Company offers you many great ideas for gift giving regardless of the occasion. The perfect gift for you or someone special, Tyler offers a wide variety of scents to suite every personality. The diverse fragrances and products offered by Tyler Candle Co. will help you to enhance your homes ambiance and aesthetic.  We are pleased to bring you a collection of Tyler candles, washes, and lotions that everyone on your gift list is going to love.

These adorable "hammock" chairs will pamper Mom in luxury while delighting her with the bold and bright textile patterns.  Perfect for both indoor and outdoor use.

Today, we at Garden Supply have the honor to participate in the Lifesync Health & Wellness Fair for the Town of Cary Employees. We are excited to share some of the health benefits associated with our favorite past-time, gardening.

We all know that gardening can be a pleasurable and rewarding activity.  There’s just something about spending time outdoors and getting in touch with nature that makes us feel good, while improving our surroundings and helping the environment at the same time. Gardening gives us a feeling of accomplishment , provides nourishment for our families, purifies the air of pollutants, and renews our natural areas, all while filling our lives with beauty.  So we know that gardening is good, but could it be possible that it is also good for our health, too?

Studies have shown that gardening provides a wonderful low-impact workout.  Weeding or cultivating can burn around 200 calories per hour.  More strenuous activity like leaf raking or rock moving can burn up to 600 calories per hour.

Gardening also provides the regular physical exercise listed in the prevention of heart disease, obesity, adult-onset diabetes and high blood pressure.

Gardening will help in the strength training important in the prevention of osteoporosis. Two 1-gallon watering cans equal 8-pound dumbbells.  Wheelbarrows provide a workout for your biceps.  Gardening also aids in increasing flexibility and building endurance.

Further studies have revealed that just viewing a garden has healthy psychological benefits.  Even the time spent planning a garden is a great brain workout and helps to reduce the amount of stress in our  daily lives.

Town of Cary employees, stop by and visit us today at the Senior Center.  We have lots of goodies to see and information to share, along with coupons and a fabulous raffle prize. I'll be there all day and am looking forward to meeting you!

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here soon for more snippets from the garden.

As Mother's Day Approaches

Hello everyone!  Mother's Day is on May 9th this year.  If you're looking for that perfect gift for Mom, we are here to help.  We're staying open late today, until 8 pm to offer you a Stress-Free Shopping Evening.  Our personal shoppers will be on hand to help you select a gift Mom will love from our huge selection of gorgeous flowering plants to unique and special decor pieces.  And don't forget we also have gift certificates available and free gift wrapping as well. And as Mother's Day approaches, I would like to share with you a personal message from Garden Supply owner, Deborah Ramsey, that is near and dear to our hearts. Having lost her mother to breast cancer a few years ago, Deborah is dedicated to helping raise funds to find a cure for this devastating disease. To that end, she has spearheaded a special "Gardeners for the Cure" team to participate in this year's NC Triangle Race for the Cure.  I hope you will all join along with us, as together, we can truly make a difference.

And now a message from Deborah:

Many of you remember and participated in "Gardens for the Cure", a peek into some of our customers great gardens and an annual fundraiser for Komen for the Cure. This was a grass roots event Keith dreamed up to honor my Mom, co-workers, and customers who were battling breast cancer, to raise money, and more importantly awareness, about this disease. This event usually occurred around Mother's Day and as that weekend approaches, I'm reminded of her and everything the Garden Tour represented to us.

I lost a most valuable person, my Mom, to breast cancer a few years ago and while I didn't lose sight of the fight to continue working with our local affiliate of Komen for the Cure, I could no longer muster up the energy to host another Garden Tour. Quite honestly, it was too painful because she was so closely tied to the spirit driving this event.

For some, when you lose the person you are fighting for, it knocks the "fight" out of you. For others, it spurs them on. I have been treading water for awhile now but again, as Mother's Day approaches, I am reminded...because I still have a sister, a Dad who misses his wife, a brother longing for his Mom, a mother-in-law, a sister-in-law, a daughter, niece, friend, co-workers, and customers who are not yet immune to this disease.

My Mom would tell me when she would come in to wake up her morose teenager, "Debbie, you have a choice about your day, it can be a happy one or a sad one, but it's your choice." Needless to say, those words still ring in my ears each morning as I get up. I can choose to fight or flee, and I am choosing the fight in earnest once again.

I had the opportunity last week at a luncheon to raise money for our local NC Triangle Komen for the Cure affiliate, to hear Nancy Brinker speak again. A woman who 30 years ago made a promise to her dying sister to do everything she could to fight this disease, raise awareness among women, and end breast cancer. Talk about a grassroots movement... her, a few friends in her Dallas living room, and now one of the top-rated charitable organizations in the country. Komen for the Cure has funded over a billion and a half dollars to cutting-edge research.

She hasn't quit, I thought and neither should I. By now many of you may be thinking I am going to do the "Gardens for the Cure" again...not yet...baby steps. I want to be part of a well-oiled machine - The Race for the Cure - the largest foot race in NC and the single largest fundraising event Komen puts on each year. I want all of you to join our team "Gardener's for the Cure" because gardener's are passionate people.

I promise you a great team t-shirt, a fun after-the-race party and as an extra incentive, a 12% discount card you can use on the rest of your purchases this calendar year. It's my way of saying "thanks" for helping me get back into the fight to end breast cancer. Follow the link to our team page  http://nctriangle.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/DUR_NCTriangleAffiliate?team_id=133021&pg=team&fr_id=1702 if you can't be there on race day, you can "Sleep in for the Cure" and still get all the bennies.

My Mom who lived in Florida at the time, came to our race here once and I had the privilege to walk with her. Since I carry her each day in my heart, she has been in races since, and we still "walk together".

I hope you will join "us" this year and walk to honor your mom, grandmother, aunt, wife, sister, daughter, friend and co-worker.

I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift!

-Deborah

Thank you everyone!  Hope to see you soon at the garden center, and join me back here soon for more snippets from the garden.

Stress-Free Shopping Evening

Mother's Day is May 9th this year, only 5 short days from now.  If you're looking for that perfect gift for Mom, we are here to help.  We're going to extend our hours this Thursday, May 6th to offer you a stress-free shopping event.  Our personal shoppers will be on hand until 8 pm to help you find that perfect gift item.  With our huge selection of unique and beautiful decor pieces and flowering plants, you are sure to find just the perfect gift for Mom.  And don't forget that we offer gift certificates, too. Special free gift wrapping will be available. Here is a stunning flowering classic that is sure to capture Mom's heart.

From Monrovia gardens, this glorious Itoh Peony is reminiscent of grandma's cutting bed but without the fussiness sometimes associated with the plant.  Itoh Peonies are a cross of an herbaceous peony with a tree peony.  The cross combines the best traits of both parents: great vigor, large distinctive flowers, strong stems and long-lasting blooms. The sturdy flower stems of the Itoh Peony require no staking.  This variety, the 'Sequestered Sunshine' Itoh boasts large, bright canary-yellow blossoms with showy stamens.

Also available is this 'Cora Louise' Itoh which offers large, semi-double blossoms that are white with striking dark lavender central flares.  The flowers have a soft, pleasing scent.

Our third beautiful Itoh Peony is the 'Kopper Kettle' variety with copper-orange flowers that have a darker center and occasional yellow streaks.

I'm sure Mom would be pleased with one of these beauties!  And we have many more lovely options including a bounty of blooming annuals and perennials, fabulous container plantings all ready to go, beauty products from Tyler Company, and fabulous boutique items from the Greenhouse.  Stop by and let us help you make this Mother's Day one to remember!