Will this be the year you finally get around to doing something with your Home’s landscape? We’re hoping it is! Spring is definitely here and Mill Creek’s Garden Center is stocked to capacity, and ready for your review. We have many different varieties of shade and ornamental trees, ornamental shrubs and evergreens of all sizes.

All the trees were hand-selected from our fields and we chose only the best specimen pieces for the Garden Center Sales Yard. Many of the shade and ornamental trees are larger callipered to provide our customer’s with the ability to achieve that “instant landscape” effect in their own yard.

Some of the Shade Trees being offered this year include:

Quercus macrocarpa - Bur Oak: An impressive, inspiring tree with a great profile and branching habit. Maturing at 60’ to 80’ high with an equal or slightly broader spread. This Oak tends to be more tolerant of city conditions than most Oaks. We have them in stock ranging from 2.5” up to 4” diameter.

Quercus bicolor - Swamp White Oak: Another nice Oak for residential settings. This variety has very attractive exfoliating, or peeling bark. It is natively found growing in low-lying land and swampy, wet areas. Maturing at 50’+ in height with equal spread. We have them in stock starting at 2.5” in diameter.

Acer saccharum ‘Green Mountain’ - Green Mountain Sugar Maple: If you’re like me, you love trees with excellent fall foliage displays. With bright neon-orange fall color, this tree is a must in the color-loving landscape! Maturing at 60’+ high by 45’ wide, it’s fantastic! In stock at 2.5” to 4” diameter.

Acer x freemanii ‘Autumn Blaze’ - Autumn Blaze Freeman Maple: This is another one for fantastic fall color, with fall foliage in the red and orange range-brighter than many of the other Maples. Fast growing, it can put on over 2’ of growth in one year alone! These are available from 2” to 3” diameters.

Fraxinus americana ‘Autumn Purple’-Autumn Purple White Ash: A great tree with pyramidal to rounded outline, with dark green leaves and handsome reddish-purple fall color. Medium growth rate, eventually maturing at 45’-55’ tall by 50’-60’ wide. In stock starting at 2”, up thru 4” diameter trunks.

Some of the Ornamental Trees being offered this year include:

Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’-Chanticleer Ornamental Pear: Gorgeous white flowers cover this tree in the spring; people often mistake it for a flowering crab. With its tight, upright habit it can provide quite a formal presence. Superb is the best way to describe its fall color! In stock from 2.5” up thru 4”.

Malus x ‘Prairiefire’ - Prairiefire Crab: This is one traffic-stopping Crabapple! In bloom, it displays bright fuchsia-magenta flowers, which light up a yard! And, when not in flower, it has very attractive purple-bronze foliage. Come see for yourself! They’re available in clump-form, in 6’, 7’, and 8’ heights.

Malus x ‘Profusion’ - Profusion Crab: This is another colorful Crabapple with flowers in the dark pink to light purple color range. Again, another Crabapple with bronze foliage, similar to the Prairiefire Crab. Available as multi-stem clumps, they currently range in height from 7’ to 9’ tall.

Malus x ‘Tina’ - Tina Sargeant Crab: This tree has a very horizontal growth habit. Grafted onto either 36” or 42” standards, the head of the tree itself matures at 7’ - 8’ wide by 5’ - 6’ tall. Pink in bud, opening to bright white in flower, this is one very attractive tree! Available in 2” and 2.5” sizes.

Our Shrub selection has also been expanded this year, to include some new introductions and offerings to our customers. These will include:

Our greenhouses are virtually bursting at the seams with Perennials and annuals that we potted up back in January and February. These new offerings will include:

2004 P.P.A. PERENNIAL OF THE YEAR: Japanese Painted Fern

Mill Creek also has a number of very nice and somewhat hard to find Annuals for this year, including:

MILL CREEK NURSERY & MIKE GRECO LANDSCAPING ACTIVITIES

Mike Greco Landscaping, Inc., as the contracting and installation division of Mill Creek Nursery, is currently involved with several projects in the area that involve natural stone patios and pond design and installation. In our designs, our Landscape Architect is interested and sensitive to the surrounding landscape and each Homeowner’s lifestyle and needs.

We feel that a good landscape design performs as an outdoor extension of one’s home and is meant to be enjoyed by all that visit it or are a part of it on a daily basis. To this end, Consulting and on-site analysis is available for our customers’. Please feel free to call or stop in and talk to either Mike or David regarding your landscape design needs.

MOTHER’S DAY IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER . . .

Mother’s Day specials at Mill Creek will be advertised in the Chicago Tribune "Home & Gardens" section on Sundays’. We will also have several sale specials at the Garden Center posted on signage throughout our sales yard. Feel free to come out and stroll down our meandering pathways which exhibit plants ready for sale, alongside the paths.

PARADISE IN YOUR BACKYARD !

Secrets to turn your backyard into Paradise will be revealed to you when you come to visit us.

SO, COME VISIT US !

We’re only a 20-minute ride from the near-north suburbs, and it’s well worth the ride as we currently have over 50 acres of plants to choose from! Extended yard displays and a new pond with waterfall, as well as aquatic plants being offered, have helped us become your one-stop green-goods Garden Center!

If you should have any questions regarding any of these topics, please feel free to stop in at Mill Creek Nursery and ask any of the Sales staff - they’ll be more than happy to help you. Also, please take a moment and stop by our Growing Tips page for more helpful information on plants & gardening.