The March Container Gardening Workshops from Bemis Farms Nursery are all about Inspiration! Spring is so very close to being here, and we are all just chomping at the bit to get outside and start growing. I know some of you have been venturing out into the snow to the patches of your garden that have melted, to see if the bulbs have started to poke their little heads up. Well, the daffodils are poking their heads up in our "cold" greenhouse, so we've come up with a few new ways for you to think about them. The most important thing to remember when designing with daffodils, or any other spring bulb, (whether you plant them in a container or in your garden,) is that you need to plant something else WITH them. This way, as they fade, more flowers are ready and waiting to take their place.
That's what inspired us when creating this early set of workshops. Many of the decorative pots we are using will have a "companion plant" ready to take the place of the original plant, once it is passed its prime. As usual, we are always trying to exceed your expectations by giving you everything you need to be successful.
This is a "Winter Teaser" list. The full set of workshops, from April through June, is almost complete, and will be ready shortly. In the meantime, join us for a class or two to get rid of your cabin fever. Better yet, sign up for 3, and you get to go on a scavenger hunt with Bart! Read on...
Sign up for 3, and earn a spot in this very special class at no additional cost.
Register yourself for any three March workshops and you will automatically be registered to attend a special class with our expert floral designer, Bart Krug. Bart will take you on a delightful spring walk around our farm where you will discover the richness of the earth as you gather, snip, and assemble the elements needed to create an Ikebana Floral Arrangement. This Japanese style of floral design is an advanced technique that combines myriad details into an intricate, 3 dimensional floral design. You will recreate a miniature garden that mimics a scene that might exist half way across the globe. Among the treasures you will collect, Bart will feature our Heirloom Apple Blossom Branches, gathered from trees planted by Ed's grandfather, Roger Bemis, nearly 100 years ago! This will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, April 16th.
Daffodils and Dahlias $29.99
Saturday, March 19th 10 am
Choose a vanilla or lemon colored, tall tin jardinière as the perfect complement to a burst of daffodils, both regular-sized, and miniature. You get one big pot of large daffs, and two small pot of mini daffs. Harmonize them with a clever assortment of pussy willow branches, colored dogwood twigs, and soft, fuzzy moss. You will also pot up a decorative dahlia "bulb" that you can begin growing indoors for the next 4 weeks. Replant it into your tall vase once the daffodils have finished blooming, and grow it all summer outside for months and months of irresistible flowers! Store the whole container indoors for the winter, and resurrect your Dahlias for 2012.
Register for the 10 am session here
Tufastone Trough Garden $29.99
Sunday, March 20th 1pm and 3pm
This is one of our messiest, yet most rewarding projects of the year. You will mold your own concrete trough garden out of a wet mixture of peat moss, perlite, and Portland Cement. (Wear old clothes, and bring a pair of plastic gloves.) Leave the pot here for two days (or more) to harden up, and return to pick it up. Let it cure for a month or so at your home, and return in April to pick up a jumbo 6 pack of succulents to plant in this dramatic focal point. We have two upgrade options for this class, if you'd like a little more something else...
Upgrade #1: For an additional $10, you will get a coupon for a Dwarf Evergreen Alpine Plant to include in your trough garden (Value: $14.99). This is a new department we are starting this year, to compliment our Fairy Garden Department. The planting of miniature gardens is the hottest trend in gardening right now, whether or not you invite fairies into your garden, and this bold addition to your trough garden will add a some drama to your creation.
Upgrade #2: As long as you have your old clothes and gloves on, why not plant a head? That is, for an additional $10, you can create a container shaped like a head by pouring concrete into a special head mold (choose from several styles) and setting a clay pot into the mold before it dries. The two form a bond, and you can pick up your finished head in two days when you pick up your trough garden. Includes a coupon for an ornamental grass plant (for hair!) that you can plant into it in April.
Register for the 1 pm session here
Register for the 3 pm session here
Register for Upgrade 1 (either session) here.
For anyone who had a problem on the above upgrade earlier, it should be fixed now.
Register for Upgrade 2 (either session) here
Coffee Club $49.99
Tuesday, March 22nd 10am or 7pm
Wake up and smell the...daffodils??? This whimsical, "giant-sized" coffee cup will look and smell great inside for the next few weeks planted with daffodils. They're just waiting to burst into bloom when warmed up inside your home. We've done the hard work, planting them in November then cold-treating them for 4 months, so they think they have been planted outside all winter. This essential step is the only way daffodils will bloom inside. But that's not all! This class includes TWO coupons: one for April, so you can come back for twelve adorable pansies to replant into your cup before you transfer it outside, and yet another coupon to use in June for 3 tasty herbs - basil, parsley, and thyme-to plant when the pansies have passed their peak. Enjoy your own zesty, fresh herbs all summer long!
Register for the 10 am session here
Register for the 7 pm session here
Pussy Willow Door Cone $29.99
Saturday, March 26th 10 am
If you are like me, you are always looking for unique ways to decorate your front door to welcome your guests to your home. This is an elegant alternative to a "run-of-the mill" silk flower wreath. Arrange real pussy willow branches, as well as dormant red and yellow twig dogwood branches into a decorative wire cone stuffed with Spanish moss. They will last for months and months! We will also create a small pocket in the top so you can plant a few pansies and mini daffodils for April. You will get a coupon to replace these plants in June, July, August and September, and a handful of evergreens in November.
Topiary Turtle $29.99
Sunday, March 27th 3pm
We are bringing back this class by a customer's request, except we are going to make it even bigger and better! In the past, we have made this cute little turtle, which was about 10 inches across, and created on a purchased wire frame. The picture shown is from Fine Gardening magazine, and it is of this little turtle. I think we can do better by making an even bigger frame ourselves. (About ten years ago I tried to do this with a bunny, but I chickened out at the last minute, and bought in the frames. But a turtle is so simple!) We'll plant this up with a few creeping plants that should perform well for you as houseplants. Then use a coupon in June to get an assortment of drought-tolerant succulents that can take abuse, even if you forget to water it.
The 3 pm session has filled but there is a new 1 pm session.
Register for the 1 pm session here
Retro Terrarium $39.99
Tuesday, March 29th 10 am or 7pm
Everything old is new again, and if you've been reading the latest gardening magazines, you will see terrariums and Wardian Cases are all the rage right now. Some of the fancy designs that are out there can be quite costly, but Bart and Tina roamed 20 floors of the gift show in Atlanta this winter until we found a terrarium container that was both classy yet affordable. Plant a selection of houseplants in this glass and blue metal lantern, and you'll have a hip container garden that should last for years with proper care.
Register for the 10 am session here
Register for the 7 pm session here
Spring from Winter $29.99
Saturday, April 2nd, 10 am
When winter's grasp finally releases spring, he does so gradually. Thus, the first pansy and perennial blooms bravely appear amidst the dormant, yet colorful branches of red and yellow twig dogwoods, as well as pussy willow branches that dare to challenge cute, baby bunnies for their softness and "Awwww" factor! Plant this two-tiered planter that mimics an old maple sap bucket, now that the maple sugar harvest is complete. But that's not all! When these blooms fade, Act Two of our drama unfolds, as perennial lilies emerge, ready to scent the air with their heady fragrance.
Register for the 10 am session here
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Last Updated on Sunday, 20 March 2011 13:27 |
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The March Container Gardening Workshops from Bemis Farms Nursery are all about Inspiration! Spring is so very close to being here, and we are all just chomping at the bit to get outside and start growing. I know some of you have been venturing out into the snow to the patches of your garden that have melted, to see if the bulbs have started to poke their little heads up. Well, the daffodils are poking their heads up in our "cold" greenhouse, so we've come up with a few new ways for you to think about them. The most important thing to remember when designing with daffodils, or any other spring bulb, (whether you plant them in a container or in your garden,) is that you need to plant something else WITH them. This way, as they fade, more flowers are ready and waiting to take their place.
