MILL CREEK NURSERY & GARDEN CENTER
SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

It’s taken a little while to get here, but once again autumn is upon us. As summers go, this one was rather nice, at least from a growing perspective. The days were warm, but not exceptionally hot. We had a good amount of rain, at least during early summer, and the trees and shrubs put on a good amount of growth and generally look great.

In recent weeks the temperatures have begun to drop somewhat, and the current season’s growth on most woody plants has begun to harden off in expectation of the even cooler weather yet to come.

FABULOUS FALL COLORS !

NOW FEATURING…MILL CREEK’S NEW
ALL NATURAL PATIO AREA !

If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by and see our NEW addition. We have added a new all Natural Patio Area to our already existing Pond. The exciting FEATURES are:

A welcoming Wooden Arbor, Natural Stone Walkway and Patio Area, Unique Artistic Lighting, Olde Stone Planters, Planted Garden Areas, and of course the Tranquil Pond and Waterfall. Come and Enjoy!

Mill Creek Field Notes

Just a few notes regarding what you, our Customers, are actually purchasing when you come to Mill Creek Nursery.

We pride ourselves on the fact that the trees and shrubs we offer you are grown here at the Nursery, in northern Illinois. This is a significant factor when you’re making an investment in plants for your yard. Our plants have been grown in our local climate, so they’re already used to our temperature extremes, both hot and cold.

Our plants have also been grown in our fields where the clay content in the soil is rather high, just like the soil found in most of your yards. When stores “import” plants grown elsewhere, there is often a problem with what is known as a “soil interface.” Basically, a plant may be used to growing in a much sandier, looser growing medium. Once they get planted into our high-clay content soil they have difficulty establishing themselves.

This “interface” occurs because the two different growing mediums have radically different properties or composition. In most situations the plant’s roots can’t penetrate the surrounding soil (clay), but rather grow around in circles within the soil medium root ball that the plant was originally grown in. These plants typically don’t become sufficiently established and will generally die within 2 to 3 years after planting, after the original warranty has run out.

Suffice it to say that “you get what you pay for.” Acquainting yourself with some of the variables involved in purchasing healthy nursery stock is very important. The plants grown in our “back yard” will have very little, if any problems, growing in your back yard, for years to come. We here at Mill Creek Nursery and Garden Center will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have regarding selecting healthy plants for your yard.
 

WATER, WATER, AND WATER AGAIN !

Earlier this summer we received some very much-needed rains. However, in the last 8 weeks or so, while we have received some moisture, it has not been sufficient. The water tables are low for this time of year and plants do not have enough moisture in the root zone to adequately get them through the winter.

SO – This means that it’s time once again to get out there with the hoses and keep up with the watering. Not only new trees or shrubs that you have installed this year, but things that may have been installed over the last 5 years or more, as well. Trees have been somewhat stressed for moisture as of late. Here at the Nursery we have been running our irrigation system for trees and shrubs for approximately the last six weeks, in between sporadic rains.

Root growth on a plant will continue as long as the soil is 38 degrees fahrenheit, or above. The rule of thumb is to water your trees and shrubs, especially the evergreens (Pines, Spruces, Yews, Boxwoods, Rhododendrons, etc.) right up until the time the ground freezes. This can happen anywhere between mid-December and mid-January.

Don’t drown the plants, but do keep the soil moist. Now that the temperatures are somewhat cooler, trees and shrubs aren’t actively growing as they were during the hot summer months. Calculate that these woody plants should be receiving approximately ½” of rain / moisture per week and set your watering schedule accordingly.

Feature Plants of the Month

This tree offers a nice, filtered form of shade, not nearly as intense or dark as an Oak or a Maple; a great tree for under planting with perennials or annuals. At maturity it reaches 40’ to 45’ in height and has an overall spread of 30’ to 35’. It is fruitless, as well as thornless, which makes it a very clean tree. The fall color is a bright golden yellow. Averaging approximately 1½’ of growth per year it fills in quickly and is pleasant in appearance in the landscape.

Mill Creek currently has them growing in the fields with available sizes ranging from 2” to 4” in caliper. We also have some very striking, showy multi-stem specimens at 14’ in height. These are on sale at $75.00 off the regular price, while they last!
 

This plant is very useful as a specimen or accent, good in hedges and commonly used as a foundation plant. It is one of the few Arborvitaes that keep a nice, dark green color throughout the entire winter. While it grows quite nicely in full sun, it is surprisingly shade tolerant, growing in spaces with almost 50% shade. Maturing at a potential 20’ to 30’ in height, with a spread approximately 6’ to 10’ in diameter, this is a very versatile, multi-purpose shrub.

Mill Creek currently has these available in the 7’ to 8’ tall range, as well as specimens in the 8’ to 9’ height. This is not a plant to be overlooked in your landscape designing! Remember, during October, November, and into December, weather permitting, they’re 20% off! For all above ground shrubs in Sales Yard ONLY.

This is not just your average ornamental crabapple. This is a Sargent form which encompasses many of the dwarf type crabapple trees. It has a very horizontal, layered, stratified branching habit. Great profile tree in winter too!

It stays small in overall size maturing at approximately 5’ in height with a spread of only 8’ to 10’. Red flower buds open to ¾” single white flowers in the spring, followed by a small ¼” red ornamental fruit, as summer progresses into fall. Tina is highly resistant to many of the ailments that affect other crabapples. This tree has a wonderful, predictable and very easily contained growth habit. It’s great for under planting with annuals and perennials too!

Mill Creek has them growing in the fields at 1¾” to 2” caliper, single-stem form, with hundreds to choose from!

TREE PRUNING SERVICES - SIGN UP NOW!

Late fall and winter is the perfect time for pruning many trees and shrubs. We do the majority of our pruning here at the Nursery during the winter. We also offer pruning services to our customers.

Trees and shrubs can develop bad structural branching and growth habits if they’re not periodically pruned or trained to grow correctly. Occasionally shrubs can get away from you, growing MUCH LARGER than you ever expected or desired them to, at the time you initially planted them. Let’s face it - even plants need a “haircut” from time to time!

We are developing a schedule for winter pruning for a number of our customers. Please feel free to call us and we can discuss scheduling a time to come out to attend to your landscape’s pruning needs!

THE MONTHS AHEAD...

This will be our last issue of the Mill Creek Nursery & Garden Center Newsletter for this year. We appreciate the input from our customers’ regarding newsletter content and questions they wanted addressed. We hope we’ve answered most of the questions and concerns. If not, please keep “talking” to us!

During the winter months ahead please keep an eye on our Website. We have plans to embellish and grow the site, and provide new information for our readers. During January we plan to post a list of the many new shrubs and perennials we will be growing during 2007, on the Website. We hope this will give many of you a jump-start to planning your plantings for next year. We anticipate our first issue of the 2007 Newsletter to be coming out in late March, to early April.

Although the physical Nursery and Garden Center itself will be closed during the winter months of December thru February, the actual dates may vary. We will be available to meet with customer’s wishing to discuss landscape designs and plans for next spring. We may be reached at the Nursery’s telephone no. of 847 – 838 – 0501, or at Mike Greco Landscaping, Inc. at 847 – 855 – 0590. Completing landscape designs and plans during the winter months insures that these customers will be some of the very first people to have their landscapes attended to, once we open in the early spring.

THANKS FOR 2006!

We would like to take the opportunity, in this final newsletter for this year, to thank all the customers who have given us a chance to be of service to them during 2006. Thanks to all of you we continue to grow, and continue making changes in our product, plant and service offerings to you, our customers.

In 2007 we anticipate another year of growth as we get more input and feedback from you. Changes in the Sales Yard layout, its pathways and plant displays, as well as space allocated for growing more unique and unusual perennials and shrubs are all to be up and coming during this next year.

We want to make Mill Creek a more enjoyable place for you to come and experience while you browse through all sorts of interesting and unusual plants, perhaps even getting new ideas on how to improve your own back yard!

Thanks also to our customers who allowed us to come into their yards and install Ponds and Water features for them! It’s always an exciting design process working with Homeowners on a Water feature addition to the Landscape – it offers a totally new dimension and perspective to any landscape design, and is enjoyable for all involved! We look forward to providing these Water Feature Design Services for more of you during 2007!