Spring Open House This Weekend

Our first selection of trees and shrubs has arrived

You've been waiting all winter, and now it's time to officially welcome back spring with our annual Spring Open House this weekend at Estabrook's. We're throwing our doors wide open and inviting you to jump start your gardening season as we roll out the first trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals of the season.

Our friendly garden professionals will be on hand to help get you off on the right foot this spring and make it a beautiful year in and around your home. You can also look forward to the following special events all weekend long:

Personal Contact with Vendors

Representatives from major plant lines like Proven Winners, Jeepers Creepers, American Beauties and more will be on-hand to answer all your questions and introduce new varieties for 2007.

You'll also have the chance to learn more about organic gardening with the folks at Coast of Maine and Bradfield Organics, two of the leading suppliers of organic soils and fertilizers.

Planting Services

When you purchase a plant and a container this weekend, we'll pot them up for you FREE of charge. It's an instant way to add color to your home right away.

Plus, your houseplants will benefit from the occasional repotting to give them more room to grow - come find out the right way to perform this technique from our professional experts.

Fun Kids Activities

Your kids will have the opportunity to learn about gardening by planting their very own seed that they can bring home and perhaps start a new hobby!

Prizes and Refreshments

Enter our drawing and you could be the lucky winner of one of (5) $100 Estabrook's gift cards and start your spring off right.

As always, we will also be offering home-made treats, candy, coffee and other beverages all weekend long for your enjoyment.

Pansies and Violas - Harbingers of Spring

Chip Watson
Pansy Grower

It has been a long standing tradition here at Estabrook's to have the pansy crop fully hardened off and out on display by the end of March or first week in April. Customers and passersby on East Main Street have always marveled at the ability of these plants to hold their colors defiantly despite the occasional white blanket of spring snow and remain unscathed by the experience.

Pansies and violas can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked and do best in mass planting using a 6 to 8 inch center. As the weather gets warmer, this spacing gives the plants mutual support against wind and rain, while providing a burst of noticeable color when perennials are just breaking dormancy.

Pansies are a sign of spring at Estabrook's

Fertilizing

Pansies are an environmental dream since they prefer fertilizer with a low amount of phosphorus (the middle number on formulations). Look for a feed such as 10-5-10 or 15-0-15. Keeping the phosphorus low will go a long way in reducing stretch and also win you kudos in your neighborhood for minimizing runoff.

Maintenance

Conscientious dead heading is essential to keeping pansies going into the warmer months. Spent flowers should be pinched back to encourage new blooms. I have been able to keep plants flowering in warmer areas of Maine by attending to them weekly.

Noted Varieties

These exciting variations on the traditional pansy will provide your garden or window boxes with brilliant blooms immediately:

	Pansy 'Frizzle Sizzle Mix' An exciting new Pansy with bright, bold colors and frivolous frills that brings life to borders and containers during late winter and spring.
	Pansy 'Ultima Morpho' The distinctive bicolor blooms of 'Ultima Morpho' show mid-blue upper petals with bright yellow lower petals and "whiskers". It will remain very floriferous throughout a long blooming season.