Petal Place Greenhouses

Running of the Ladybugs 2012

petalplace — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:37:01 +0000

The Running of the Ladybugs is an annual tradition at Petal Place. Every year at the end of April, we release thousands of these hungry little guys and they stampede through the greenhouse, hunting out any aphids that might be lurking. An adult ladybug can eat over 100 aphids per day; baby ladybugs eat even more!

Ladybugs are part of our integrated pest management approach in the greenhouse – this includes careful monitoring, preventative practices to ensure healthy plants, and biological controls.

Look out Aphids...

Pickin’ up good migrations

petalplace — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:11:57 +0000

What’s better than beautiful flowers in your yard? Beautiful flowers and the happy tweeting of birds! New at Petal Place this year – a big selection of feeders and bird houses to turn the backyard into a mecca for our fine feathered friends.

A highlight is a great selection of high-quality seed from Mill Creek Seed. The Mill Creek blends available this year:

Wild Finch Blend – Wild finch blend is designed specifically for finches. You will notice that we have deliberately avoided including proso millets. These are generally more attractive to ground feeders like mourning doves and house sparrows. Our blend has ingredients that attract finches. Additionally, the size of our ingredients allows free flow through the small portholes in all finch feeders.

Triple Delight – The three most attractive ingredients to eastern birds are black oil sunflower, striped sunflower and fresh roasted and unsalted peanuts. This formula will attract over 60 different birds to eastern Canadian feeders. Our sunflower is selected for its freshness, cleanliness and high kernel content. Our peanuts are non-rancid and it is all lovingly blended for your birds.

Old Mill Mix – Old Mill Mix is one of our founding formulations. It was originally intended to be used as a winter offering. It is high in carbohydrates to help birds maintain and generate body heat in the winter. It can be used all year and works well in all feeder types. We have blended the four most popular ingredients to attract the widest variety of birds to your backyard. It flows very well in feeders.

Black oil sunflower and Nyjer seed also available!

Mill Creek Seed Co. produces the finest wild bird food in the world. Each blend is carefully formulated by Paul Bennett, Canada’s leading ornithological nutritionist. With each formulation, Paul prepares his blend to account for the Canadian climate, the immediate surrounding environment and the seasonal variations that effect birds needs. Priority is given to quality of ingredients and the nutritional requirements of birds.

New Hostas for 2012

petalplace — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:39:51 +0000

Late last fall we made the trip down to Waseca, Minnesota and came back with a couple boxes full of new Hosta varieties, bringing our hosta collection up to 46 different named varieties. These are some great new additions to any collection, including a number of minis.

The American Hosta Society states that in order to be classified as a mini, the leaf size of the hosta must be less than 6 square inches. Mini hostas come in as wide a vairety of styles and colours as their larger cousins, and have the same tolerance for cold winters that make hostas such a popular perennial choice. You can show off your mini hostas in pots (but remember to plant them in the ground to over winter), or create a special mini hosta bed – you can fit many more varieties of mini hostas into the space than a comparable area planted with larger hostas.

New on our list for this year:

Baby Bunting
Cherry Tart (featuring lipstick-red leaf stems!)
Coal Miner (the leaves turn blackish-blue midseason, as if they are covered in coal dust)
Cracker Crumbs – mini
Dark Shadows
Dragon Tails
Fluted Fountain
Fruit Punch (purple-red flower stalks)
Hush Puppy
Island Charm
Liberty (the hosta of the year for 2012)
Masquerade – mini
May
Orange Marmalade
Pandora’s Box – mini
Slim and Trim – mini
Tears of Joy – mini
Teenie Weenie Bikini – mini