IT’S A SPRING THING!

Come enjoy “Passions” with Rice Road Greenhouses and Garden Center at the 14th annual “Canada Blooms” on Thursday, March 18th, 2010.

Canada Blooms: The Flower & Garden Festival invites you to visit a paradise bursting with six acres of glorious gardens in full bloom, more than 100,000 square feet of green thumb shopping and much, much more at Canada’s largest and most prestigious flower and garden festival.

Need a little inspiration or looking for ideas? Over twenty dazzling and unique display gardens are designed and built by the best of the best!

To learn more about Canada Blooms 2010 or to see the speaker schedule for the day, visit www.CanadaBlooms.com.

We will be traveling from door to door in complete comfort by luxury coach. A fabulous boxed lunch is included for you to eat on the trip there.

For your convenience we are planning two pick ups again this year, one at Rice Road Greenhouse in Fonthill and one in St. Catharines at 327 Ontario St – The Parkway Lanes – back parking lot (beside the hydro fence)

We will be leaving Rice Road Greenhouse at 11:30am with the pick up in St. Catharines at 12:00pm. We will stay at Canada Blooms until 7:00pm arriving home around 8:30-9:00pm.

If you need more information, please contact Rice Road Greenhouses and Garden Center at 905-892-5832 or email corinna@millionplants.com -  you can also stop by the greenhouse and sign up if that is more convenient.

You do not want to miss out on this opportunity, we have had positive feedback every year with a full bus and enthusiastic customers looking for an ‘afternoon away’. It has been a long winter and this is a great way to get yourself into that “spring mode,” which is coming quickly.

Also, take a look at how Rice Road is expanding. We’ve finished putting up close to 35, 000 sq. ft. of new greenhouses to better serve you. Don’t hesitate to ask and see them.

Going Green! Through the winter we’ve decided to help out and do our part for the earth. We’re in a program that uses bio-controls, which are natural microscopic bugs that eat those pesky bugs that we try to kill all year long on our plants. These bio-control predators are not harmful to the plants and are very undetectable. This helps us use less pesticides, which creates a safer environment and also less residue on the plants.

1. Buy your preferred seeds, along with our soil and containers that help keep the moisture in.
2. Determine when to seed, some can be seeded now while other varieties need to be seeded later. Ask us if you’re not sure.
3. Place seeds on the soil or just under the surface.
4. Water lightly with a fine nozzle or mist bottle (you don’t want to wash out the seeds).
5. Most important is lighting. If using grow lights, they must be 8″ from plants, that’s why I prefer a window. It’s natural and leaves you enough room to work with plants (seedlings will stretch if not enough light!).
6. Seedlings must remain moist at all times until they have emerged from soil. Using our trays with their plastic lids will act like a terrarium for better growing conditions.
7. Once the seedling has grown its true leaves (usually the second set of leaves) you may start to fertilize with a water soluble fertilizer very lightly.
8. Transplant seedlings before they stretch or crowd each other. We carry many different inexpensive grower pots or transplant in some of your own pots at home (Don’t plant in any oversized or dirty pots).
9. Make sure they are spaced enough and when ready to put outside, make sure it is not too cold and don’t place young plants in hot direct sun until a day or 2 of cloudy weather. They need to be slowly introduced to the sun to prevent burning.

All of our seeds have come in waiting on the racks for you. It’s a very easy process to plant your seeds and grow your own plants. Whether its flowers or vegetables. It’s also cost effective for you. Here’s an easy step by step process from Jerry Moes:

1. Buy your preferred seeds, along with our soil and containers that help keep the moisture in.
2. Determine when to seed, some can be seeded now while other varieties need to be seeded later. Ask us if you’re not sure.
3. Place seeds on the soil or just under the surface.
4. Water lightly with a fine nozzle or mist bottle (you don’t want to wash out the seeds).
5. Most important is lighting. If using grow lights, they must be 8″ from plants, that’s why I prefer a window. It’s natural and leaves you enough room to work with plants (seedlings will stretch if not enough light!).
6. Seedlings must remain moist at all times until they have emerged from soil. Using our trays with their plastic lids will act like a terrarium for better growing conditions.
7. Once the seedling has grown its true leaves (usually the second set of leaves) you may start to fertilize with a water soluble fertilizer very lightly.
8. Transplant seedlings before they stretch or crowd each other. We carry many different inexpensive grower pots or transplant in some of your own pots at home (Don’t plant in any oversized or dirty pots).
9. Make sure they are spaced enough and when ready to put outside, make sure it is not too cold and don’t place young plants in hot direct sun until a day or 2 of cloudy weather. They need to be slowly introduced to the sun to prevent burning.

We will be open again the Easter weekend. Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Monday, closed Sunday. Be sure to bring the kids along to play our traditional Easter egg hunt/scramble game with prizes included.

We will keep you posted on the next garden mail for the up and coming seminars such as ponds, seeding, cut flowers, and birds.

Our Open House this year is April 23-24. Free Give aways and more. More info to come.

Largest Selection in Stone, Mulch and Soil.

Now is a good time to top up or apply mulch to your beds to prevent moisture loss this summer.  This will also prevent the weeds from growing in your garden this summer.

Thirty one different varieties available

Available by the  bag or in bulk. 

 If you already know what you want, you can call in your order to be delivered usually with in 24 hours of your call.

For a more exotic look combine Carex ‘Island Brocade’, Persicarta ‘Red Dragon’ and Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’). Long planters are perfect for an alpine trough garden. Cover the bottom with gravel for drainage, fill with soil and plant with dwarf Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium alpinum), Edelweiss (Leontopodium), Sedumspath. ‘Purpureum’ and Campanula ‘Dickson’s Gold’, or choose your own combination.

Finish the planter with a thin layer of pea-gravel. Come in and select your own plants and containers and pot them at our potting bench. Zone five or hardier perennials will survive in planters with minimal winter care. Make sure they are moist going into the winter and don’t be embarrassed to water in January if needed.