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AUGUST THRU NOVEMBER HAPPENINGS AT MILL CREEK NURSERY
GARDEN CENTER AT MILL CREEK NURSERY
As I walk through the pathways at Mill Creek Garden Center, my visual senses become keenly heightened. The
Tri-Color Beech and
Cooperi Beech trees show me a dark pink variegated foliage and purple leaves in their respective canopies. The horizontal branching on the Cooperi Beech shows great strength as each branch bends upward, before relaxing back into a downward habit as the ends of the branches reach ever-outward. The early purple spring color of the leaves is transforming to copper-toned hues as summer is progressing.
My eyes are then attracted to a clump-form
Katsuratree with its grayish-green foliage. Some of the juvenile leaves are still a dark red to purple color. Across from the
Katsura, I am next drawn to a Spruce tree that is as blue as the sky, or a Caribbean sea. The plant label reads “Fat Albert Spruce.’ Upon looking closer, I see that the new tender candle-growths are a soft, brighter blue and really seem to light up this plant.
Next, a ‘Heart Throb’ variety
Chinese Kousa Dogwood attracts me to its large pinkish-white bract flowers that are abundantly floriferous throughout the plant. I particularly enjoy placing this plant in my client’s “outdoor rooms” since it blooms later than flowering crabs here in the Midwest, with a duration of up to six weeks. Truly, this is a nice accent plant in anyone’s garden.
The pathway then leads me around a bend to some
Weeping Norway Spruce trees, offset by a group of graceful
Hinoki Cypress. The
Hinoki is stunning with its dark green foliage and artistic shape. While I am contemplating this beauty, I merely turn to my left and realize I am standing next to a 20’ tall clump of Redmond Linden. I am awed by the visual form and substance of this strong, stately tree.
I then spot some dark red to purple berries hanging from a clump-form Serviceberry. I reach up, pick a clump of these berries, and proceed to eat them all. They are so delicious and juicy this year that I end up picking another handful, and relish their sweetness. I include this plant in many of my designs, locating them near one’s patio, or close to a door that leads to the outdoor gardens.
Turning away from the trees and shrubs, I now walk towards the gazebo and greenhouse where a shade lath structure is filled with
perennials. The wooden benches under the structure are filled with several varieties of
Coral Bells, Rodgersia, Masterwort, Siberian Bugloss, Sweet Woodruff, Japanese Anemones, Leadwort, Foamflowers, Willow Blue Star, Meadow Rue, Turtlehead, Dwarf Lady’s Mantle, and on and on amongst all the unique shade-loving perennials, seeking refuge from the hot summer sun while hiding under the shade lath. Glancing out in the sun, alongside the greenhouse, I see all the sun-loving perennials putting on their varying flower displays, vying for my eye’s attention.
I am proud of Brenda and
Kelly, our Garden Center managers, as they are always working hard and thinking through the process of keeping the
Garden Center a beautiful and unique place for all to shop. This year they have decided to be a part of the Gurnee Farmer’s Market, which happens on Fridays’ from 8 A.M. to 1 P.M., showing and selling the Garden Center’s shade and sun-loving perennials to many appreciative customers.
NURSERY FIELDS AT MILL CREEK NURSERY…
Walking thru the nursery is one of my favorite times spent each day. I quickly get off the gravel-trodden road and walk past our irrigation pond to begin viewing plants growing in the various fields. Our nursery staff is very talented, spending considerable amounts of time pruning and shaping the plants to offer their very best potential to our customers.
I begin to tag some trees and Boxwoods from our fields and always get a smile from
Angelo,
Jose, or
Vicente, as they know how choosy I am about plants to be chosen for the landscapes that our planting crews will install. I am a big Boxwood fan, and I am thrilled to see some larger ‘Green Gem’ and ‘Green Velvet’, as well as ‘Green Mountain’ Boxwoods ready for harvest, and their soon-to-be new homes.
Moving off toward another field my eyes are then attracted to a row of multi-stemmed ‘Red Sunset’
Red Maples at 14’ in height. This is a great tree for wet areas and provides beautiful fall colors of red, orange, and yellow. We also have single-stem, tree-form ‘Red Sunset’ Red Maples. However, I really enjoy the habit of the low-branched clump form of this plant. The design aspect of my mind comes into play thinking of various landscape applications, when I view plants like this.
I wander up the hill into field no. 3 to find some larger
specimen Norway Maples. The ‘Superform’,
‘Emerald Lustre’, and ‘Deborah’
Norway Maples have all been recently
pruned and the canopies on these trees are now stunning. These
trees could provide instant shade in one’s garden, or patio
areas.
As I continue to walk, I stop by another block of trees that are totally in a league unto themselves. This particular plant is the
Paperbark Maple. They are mostly single-stem tree formed and have trunks that measure 3” in caliper. The stems are a rich brown to reddish-brown color with an exquisite bark that exfoliates to reveal a cinnamon to reddish-brown colored bark beneath. If one needs an accent tree, this plant is just magnificent and it grows very slowly, so it can be planted as close as ten to twelve feet away from one’s immediate view.
Changing nursery fields again, I then walk over towards some large
Kentucky Coffeetrees and
Autumn Blaze Freeman Maples. Extremely different trees in their own rights, yet each have their own individual character that seems to only get better as they age. Isn’t that just like us?
This walk has lasted for well over an hour, and as I was busy viewing and tagging trees for our digging and planting crews, I knew where I would end up because this last genus (of trees) is my personal favorite. The
Oaks offered out here in the fields at
Mill Creek Nursery are one of my favorite shade trees to design and install in garden designs everywhere from Racine, Wisconsin to Evanston, Illinois, and even as far west as Schaumburg. I then begin to walk closer to inspect the
Swamp White, Bur, Chinkapin, Fastigiate English, Schuetti and
Black Oaks, and finally our State tree: the
White Oak.
All of them are exhibiting very aggressive growth this year. Some of the new lateral branching growth has already extended over 10” in length, this year alone. Once again, my design mind comes into focus and I begin to think about an
Oak forest with understory plants like
Redbuds, Witch-Hazels, and
Magnolias in mass plantings, all in flower, under the canopy of these magnificent Oaks.
CONTRACTING DIVISION OF MILL CREEK NURSERY
This year we have been consistently busy, starting back in early April, and would like to pause here to
“Thank” our customers for the wonderful support they have given my plantsmen and me. We have been working as far north as Racine, Wisconsin, as well as down in Lake Forest, Glencoe, and Evanston, and out west into Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. I must admit it’s a pleasure to work in all these different areas since each location provides a slightly different effect to the “rooms” created that are compatible with your homes and lifestyles.
This year I have designed such a wide variety of different rooms on your properties, varying from Japanese gardens to perennial gardens, from deep shade to full sun. The waterfall gardens, woodland gardens, as well as formal gardens, have presented wonderful challenges and kept my design mind focused, customizing them for each of your individual needs and wishes. Also, my plantsmen, who have been with me for over twenty years, are excited about the process of creating such different gardens for our customers. We all
Thank You for welcoming us into your yards and homes !
Thank You,
Michael Greco
R.L.A. #157-000394
Owner of Mill Creek Nursery/Garden Center, Inc. / Mike Greco Landscaping, Inc.
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PERENNIAL COUPON SAVINGS
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$3.50 Off each perennial, in
purchases of $50 or more!
Valid until November 28th, 2009,
or while supplies last!
(Coupon must be presented at
time of purchase)
MILLCREEK NURSERY AND GARDEN CENTER
40960 Mill Creek Road
847-838-0501
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SHRUB COUPON SAVINGS
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$10.OO Off all deciduous shrubs,
regularly priced at $30 or more ! Valid until November
28th, 2009, or while supplies last!
(Coupon must be presented at
time of purchase)
(Above-ground, pre-dug shrubs in
the Sales-Yard only.)
Valid until November 28th, 2009,
or while supplies last!
(Coupon must be presented at
time of purchase)
MILLCREEK NURSERY AND GARDEN CENTER
40960 Mill Creek Road
847-838-0501
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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.
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