Chalkboard Love

One of the latest home decor trends is the chalkboard. They are no longer just for schoolrooms, but they do evoke the nostalgia that many people associate with their days in class. Since they are associated with nostalgia, chalkboards add a vintage or retro touch to a space.

Chalkboards can be both functional and decorative so many people have adopted them. Their functional aspects are practically endless since you can so easily change the message. At the same time, chalkboards can be decorative because they come in so many different shapes, sizes, and designs.

Chalkboards are great for kitchens because you can write down groceries and to-do lists. They also look great in entry ways because you can write welcoming messages to your guests on them. Here are a couple of examples available here at Garden Supply Co.

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Some chalkboards are even magnetic, making them great for refrigerators. This can add interest to an otherwise uninspiring surface.

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With the rise in popularity of chalkboards, people have begun to take the idea to a more permanent level. Many people love the look of chalkboards, but want more elaborate designs than are possible with regular chalk. Chalk tends to smudge easily so “chalk-inspired” wall-art is a great alternative. You can still get the look of a chalkboard while achieving a more intricate design that is permanent. Here are some “chalk-inspired” options from Primitives by Kathy. These sweet and silly sayings add a decorative touch that one cannot achieve with a regular chalkboard.

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Chalkboards are a trend that is still on the rise. They will continue to permeate the market because they allow for creativity and add a personal touch to any space. Keep chalkboards in mind next time you are looking for home decor. There are a variety of possibilities available and the stock is always changing.

Foam Floral Arrangements

Oversized Floral Arrangement4- Garden Supply Co

Add instant impact and drama to any room in your house with over-sized foam floral arrangements, a hot new trend in interior design this season.Choose from stunning finished arrangements, or pick and choose individual pieces to create your own one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Christmas Boutique

Visit our Greenhouse Christmas Boutique as we celebrate our 15th year bringing you the latest and greatest in holiday decor.  Stroll through our retail gallery and sip on a cup of freshly brewed coffee or hot apple cider, as we delight you with over a dozen themed vignettes decked with trees, ornaments, garlands, wreaths and decor. We are excited to share this year's holiday collection our team of design experts have brought to you for 2013.

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The front of the greenhouse celebrates a GSCO staff  favorite pick,  Garden and Gun. This hunt club inspired tree is set in front of our cozy stone hearth and features sequined stuffed pheasants a midst large black lanterns, giant metal spheres, and faux stag horns. The tree is dripping in champagne and golden mercury glass ornaments. We've dressed the vignette in faux fur wreaths, rich houndstooth and tweed ribbons, and our best magnolia picks and sprays. The realistic looking cotton picks add instant southern charm to this feminine take on the gentleman's "Best in Show."  

Christmas Tree- Garden and Gun- Garden Supply Co

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Our designers often take nods from the fashion industry and this year black and white was a duo prominent through out fashion and interior design. We have complimented the black and white pair with shades of lime green and red for a fun, whimsical feel. Snowmen and penguins are perfect additions to this mix. This whimsical theme has been popular among customers in years past and the bold addition of black and white will continue to gain popularity for years to come.

Christmas Tree- Whimsical Christmas- Garden Supply Co

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 If you long for the nostalgia of Christmases past, our vintage vignette is the theme for you. Lit Houses literally take the spotlight in this heavily flocked tree, especially appealing to collectors of Cody Foster. Adorned with beaded garlands and crystal icicles, this snowy blanket it the perfect canvas for those brightly colored vintage and replica ornaments we so fondly remember from yester year.

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Take your tiny tots over to the kids corner where Santa is busy making toys in his workshop. Look overhead to find the Polar Express train suspended in a fully decked out garland. Peer high and low to find all of Santa's helpers swinging from garland to tree in preparation for December 25th. This 9 foot tree is covered from sock monkey to easy bake oven. 

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Don't be left with coal - our Letters to Santa tree has the wishlist thing covered! This Americana styled tree is filled with eclectic versions of elves and Santas dressed in cozy sweaters, all busy making lists and checking them twice. Find rustic mail boxes, sleighs, and burlap poinsettias nestled into icy picks, birch bundles, and jungle bell clusters.

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Enjoy the playful world of fairies and forest creatures nestled in this year's Enchanted themed tree. From The frosted fern picks to the over-sized foam flowers, this tree is truly something out of a fairy tale. Search for nature's furry and feathered friends tucked into the boughs of this upside down enchanted garden. The enormous moss covered mushrooms and birdcages take center stage in the elaborate garland that stretches over nearly half the length of the boutique.

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 Celebrate the Holiday Season with Garden Supply Company!

Primitives by Kathy Fall Designs

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Primitives by Kathy box signs long adored for their whimsical, sentimental, witty, and romantic sentiments in traditional black and white , are now available in fun fall designs. Choose from a variety of autumn and Thanksgiving themes in a new cream and brown color palette. The perfect addition to your harvest home decor this season.

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Halloween Sweet Treats

If you love the fall and Halloween as much as I do, then you probably already know that Garden Supply has some of the best decor and gift items out there, perfect for decorating your homes and gardens this holiday season. Whether you're on the hunt for cute and sweet spooks, or eerie and creepy Halloween haunts, you will find just what you were looking for in the garden center.

We are truly excited about all the beautiful seasonal items Deb was able to find at market this year. And starting today, we are even more excited to announce some SPOOKTACULAR special offers for you.

Aren't these wooden jack-o-lantern plaques the cutest thing? Just purchase $45 or more on Halloween decor items, and choose from one of these decorative signs as our gift to you . That's a $16 value, yours free while supplies last.

Spend $50 or more on anything throughout the garden center and you can purchase a plaque for only $5. An incredible savings.

Ask our friendly designers for tips and tricks on decorating your home for the season. They have some fabulous ideas. Just look what they did with one of these cuties.

Attach the sign with some holiday ribbon to a grapevine wreath form and add a few decorative floral picks, and you have a fantastic Halloween wreath for your mantle or front door.

At these SPOOKTACULAR deals, these Halloween goodies won't last for long, so hurry in. We always love to have a visit from you.

Bloomers for Early June

Hi everyone and happy Friday to you all!  Another weekend has rolled around again and the grounds at Garden Supply are looking as beautiful as ever.  Late spring, early summer is blessing us with tons of beautiful blossoms at the garden center, and I am so excited to share with you some of my favorites of the week.

As you can see, the perennial and annual tables are absolutely bursting with color.  The roses are magnificent right now and the hydrangeas are out of this world.  Scroll down a post or two to see more details on those.  I also mentioned previously the early blooming crape myrtle, Zuni, which continues to wow down at the garden center.  Now joining the Zuni in full bloom are the Natchez and Tonto varieties of crape.

Natchez Crape Myrtle

The Natchez Crape Myrtle is a best seller, made popular by being a fast growing tree that blooms all summer long. It grows very rapidly at 3-5 feet a year and is tolerant of many climates. The pure white blooms explode in brilliance against the tree’s deep green leafy canopy from June through September.  A Natchez Crape Myrtle also gives you the unusual bark coloring of cinnamon on the trunk and stems, along with its smooth, sleek distinctive texture.

Tonto Crape Myrtle

The new Tonto Crape Myrtle gives you huge, dark pink blooms throughout the summer. This is the perfect tree if you want to add vibrant color to your lawn, but have limited yard space. This crape myrtle matures to 8-15 ft., making it the perfect tree to tuck away in tight areas. However, it will soon attract attention with its abundance of dark pink flowers that last from late spring to early fall.

Zuni Crape Myrtle

The Zuni tops out at about 12', making it the ideal choice for small yards and screening hedges. Blooming early summer through fall, Zuni features larger, dark lavender flower trusses, improved hardiness, and handsome peeling bark. Excellent fall foliage color from orange-red to maroon.

Another blooming tree that caught my eye this week is the stunning Southern Magnolia. Native to the southeastern United States, the magnolia is a large striking evergreen tree with large dark green leaves and large white fragrant flowers. Widely cultivated around the world, over a hundred cultivars have been bred and marketed commercially.  We are excited to offer several varieties at Garden Supply, including this 'Little Gem' magnolia.

Little Gem Magnolia

This cultivar of Southern Magnolia has a compact, upright growth habit more typical of a multi-stemmed shrub than a single-trunked tree. It grows at a slow rate to a height of perhaps 30 to 35 feet with an 8 to 12-foot spread. ‘Little Gem’ Southern Magnolia forms a dense, dark green oval or pyramidal shape, making it suited for screen or hedge planting.

The Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora is a medium to large evergreen tree which may grow 27.5 m (90 ft) tall. It typically has a single stem and a pyramidal shape. The leaves are dark green, stiff and leathery, and the large, showy, citronella-scented flowers are white, up to 30 cm (12 in) across and fragrant, with 6–12 petals with a waxy texture, emerging from the tips of twigs on mature trees in late spring. Flowering is followed by a rose-colored fruit.

We also offer the Dwarf Southern Magnolia, a heavy bloomer with white, 6-inch flowers appearing  in spring and again in summer. Its narrow, evergreen form is 20 to 25 feet high by 10 to 15 feet wide. Green leaves are rusty bronze underneath.

I wanted to share with you a fun new line of Americana home decor items just in to the Greenhouse. These adorable pieces are full of spirit and are just waiting to brighten your homes this summer season.

And don't forget our Gardener's for the Cure team, part of the 2010 NC Triangle Race for the Cure, being held June 12th.  If you have not joined the team yet, it is not too late.  We are getting close to our goal of raising $10,000, but we still have a little way to go.  Every penny goes to research for finding a cure for breast cancer, and we appreciate each and every pledge.  So much so, in fact, that we are offering a special 12% discount card for all your Garden Supply purchases for the rest of this year.  Register with us at the nursery, or online here. Help us in this fight against breast cancer.

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  See you all down at Garden Supply.

Fresh Herbs

Good afternoon everyone!  For those of you interested in herb gardening, we have received several wonderful shipments of plants this last week.  Just about any herb you may be familiar with, and perhaps a few varieties you  haven't heard of, have made their way to Garden Supply. 

And although our last frost of the season is scheduled for April 15th, you can get started on your gardens now with just a bit of tender care.  Come talk to our friendly experts.  They are always on hand to answer all your questions.

You are going to love our herb variety.  We've got 4 types of thyme: Silveredged, Archer's Gold, Golden Lemon, and English. 4 types of sage: Common, Tricolor, Berggarten, and Pineapple.  Hidecote and Goodwin Creek lavender.  Parsley, catnip, mint, orange mint, spearmint, chives, and cilantro.

And don't forget the rosemary, or the Italian and Greek oregano. So many choices to be found here!

Another newcomer to the garden center this past week which I find absolutely charming are these fun strawberry baskets.

These adorable baskets can sit on your patio or deck table as is.  The plants will bloom and berry right in the basket, giving you an instant, edible centerpiece.  When the plant is done for the season, you can transplant them to your yard where they will happily return next year.

Those are just a few of the arrivals this past week.  As always at this time of year, new plants are showing up daily.  Hope you'll stop by the garden center and check us out.

And for news from the Greenhouse, we still have a few Easter decor items in stock, although hurry in....these little beauties are hopping out of here.

Be sure to stop by our Facebook page.  Upload your favorite Garden Supply photos and enter a random drawing to win two free tickets to the upcoming Chapel Hill Garden Tour on April 17-18th.  Show us your favorite plants you've planted from our garden center, your kids potting up their new tomato plants, or a shopping trip using our totes.  We'd love to see!  All photos uploaded between now and April 15th are eligible for the prize drawing.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'll see you back here soon!

Feed the Lawn & Kill the Weeds

Hello everyone!  Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the burst of wonderful weather we've had to officially welcome in spring.  We've had a great time this weekend at Garden Supply as we wrapped up our big week-long Spring Garden Party yesterday.  Thank you to everyone who participated and to everyone who stopped by and helped make our annual party a huge success!  We couldn't have done it without you! Now that spring is truly here, it's time to turn your thoughts to a bit of yard prep and lawn care.  If you haven't yet done so, now is the time for fertilizing fescue grass.  Some lawn fertilizers contain pre-emergent crabgrass killers, which should go down within the next 10 days.  We recommend  you use Fertilome Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Food.  Use Fertilome Classic Lawn Food if you have already applied crabgrass preventer.  We've got everything you need down at the garden center.

While over-seeding should wait until mid-September, you could work on seeding small, bare spots now.  This will require careful attention to watering in dry weeks, especially as we get into summer.

Cool weather weeds, especially chickweed, which blooms with a small white daisy, are gaining maturity now.  It's easy to get them by pulling the clumps by hand or by hoe.  It is blooming already, so it's a good time to get out as much as you can before the seeds go flying.  Come talk to our gardening experts for solutions.

With Easter being two weeks from today, now is the time to stop by the Greenhouse and check out our adorable holiday decor.  We have a huge selection of beautiful and unique items to spruce up your homes and decorate your tables for the season.

And look what else I discovered while strolling the Greenhouse yesterday afternoon.  A sale!  Always love a sale!

This lovely selection of pottery is now 30% off!  Just think of all the plant arrangements you could make for your decks and front porches with these.  Or thinking ahead, what wonderful Mother's Day presents these would make filled with flowering blossoms.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'll see you back here soon for more snippets from the garden!