Drummers Garden Center & Floral

Really, It’s Not Too Late

If you’ve been spoiled by early seasons in the recent past or if the weather pattern has you down, don’t despair, there’s still plenty of time to get a vegetable garden and flowers going for this year. Whether you want to start with plants or seeds, it’s not too late. We still have in the neighborhood of 100 days of great growing weather ahead of us.

We have a great selection of seeds, vegetables and flowers. Come on in and check out our stock.

You can get an entire vegetable garden planted or just try green beans in a deck railing planter. You can plant abundant beds of flowering annuals or take home a patio planter ready to flower all summer for you.

Search no more for excellent, large trees

Right now we have an excellent opportunity for you if you are looking for 7- to 12-foot spaded Black Hills Spruce. This is an excellent choice for a landscape evergreen tree to help provide shade and block north and west winds.

If you wish to purchase these trees here’s the scoop. The total price of each installed Black Hills Spruce is $450 per tree in the Mankato area. However, if you want 5 or more the price drops to $400 per tree and for 10 or more they will run you $350 per tree. The charge will be higher outside of the Mankato area due to transportation costs.

We use our 96-inch spade on these beautiful trees (shown above).

Either call us or stop by the store for more information on this special opportunity or to learn about our selection.

In addition to this special offer we have a nice inventory of other large trees, whether you’re looking for shade trees or evergreens, that we can move by spade for you. We can also move large trees for you with this large spade.

Of course we also have a great selection of potted trees at the store. Trees can be planted any time during the growing season as long as the soil can be dug.

Remember to mulch your tomatoes

If you’ve gotten your tomatoes into the garden or if you’re still planning on it, do all you can to prevent or reduce the amount of blight affecting your plants. Even with a little bit of blight, you will be rewarded with adequate yields from your tomatoes. So here are our tips.

Your plants need to be fertilized. There are a number of ways to get fertility to your tomatoes so come on in and explore them.

Mulch (straw is best) as soon as possible after planting to keep soil from splashing up onto the plants.

Water at the soil level and early in the day. If you must water in the evening, avoid wetting the foliage.

Finally, we recommend two applications, 7-10 days apart, of Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide if you have been having problems with blight. This product is compatible with natural and conventional gardening systems and really helps. Many customers have learned this from us and have sung copper’s praises.

Scout for & Control Tent Caterpillars

Have you seen these on your trees? Especially fruit trees? If so it’s time to get out and control them.

They are eastern tent caterpillars and can defoliate your trees.  The caterpillar won’t kill the tree in one growing season. Trees have a second set of leaf buds and they can leaf out again once in a season if they lose their leaves. However, when a plant if forced to do this it can sap it’s energy especially if it has to do so season after season. Also, there’s no second chance at blossom and fruiting. So, it’s a good idea to control these voracious eaters.

There’s no need to cut off any branches or burn them. There are a number of ways to go about destroying the caterpillars.

If your tree is in bloom avoid spraying it with Fruit Tree Spray or Captain Jack’s Deadbug (Spinosad). In this case you can spray with a product containing the natural bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) or insecticidal soap. If all of the petals are off of your flowers, go ahead and use your Fruit Tree Spray. You can also handpick (ick) and keep at it because they will renew the web daily if any are left after your picking session.

Do Step 2 for Broadleaf Weeds Now

Now’s the time you want to get out with your spreader and apply Step 2 of our lawn care program from MaxLawn. The way to go about using this step is to mow first and then apply the granules to a damp lawn that will then stay dry for two days. Tricky, right? Heck, it’s been tricky to find time just to mow!

This is the way, however, to get after those pesky broadleaf weeds like dandelion, plantain and clover.

While we’re talking lawn let’s go over a few strategic points. First of all, remember this takes patience; turf is one of the most difficult crops of all to grow perfectly.

Keep your mower set on the highest cut and remove no more than one third of the plant’s height at one time. This does mean more mowing but less weeding because that long grass will shade out weeds.

Also remember to keep your mower blade sharp. The blades of grass should look sliced off rather that chewed.

Peonies is the beauty in the perennial section

It’s hard to ignore these incredible blossoms on top of nearly 3-foot tall plants as I pass through the perennial section. This is Copper Kettle and it is one of the new Itoh Peonies from Monrovia. I’ve been thinking long and hard about including one in my perennial garden.

These are some of the intersectional peonies which are a cross between herbacious peonies (like many in our gardens) and tree peonies. These intersectionals may cost a bit more but they have outstanding colors, like Bartzella’s vibrant yellow, are large and have a long blooming cycle. Just stop by for a look… it’s worth it!

Harvest the Rain

Why not catch some rain to water your houseplants and garden down the road.

Check out our new line of handsome rain barrel/fountains: Madison Fountains by Algreen. These are available in great colors to match your residence. Stop by to see them today.

Fresh Flowers for Your Party

Our floral department is on hand every day to help you with the wonderful gift of fresh-cut flowers. Kari, Kris and Lisa are also great to tap for help executing decorations for graduation parties, anniversary parties, wedding and baby showers and for professional meetings.

Of course, we also have choice fresh-cut flowers for Memorial Day remembrances and all of the supplies you need to help make a nice statement at the cemetery.

Let us know if we can help you in any way this weekend or any day.