Take Splendor in Maples

What is better than sitting in the shade under a large maple tree on  a hot summer day drinking lemonade? 

Or taking splendor in the yellows, oranges, and reds of a maple tree in the fall? 

Maple trees have stood the test of time. And now there are new varieties available that will help you choose a maple best suited for your yard.

Here are some of our best selling maples:

Amur Maple: Small maple in single or multi stems, beautiful red fall color, grows 15’

Autumn Blaze – Stunning bright red color in fall – cross between a silver and a red maple, fast growing but not as sturdy as a sugar maple, upright grower 50-60’

Brandywine – beautiful deep red/burgundy color in fall, Seedless, oval shape, 30-45’

Burgundy Belle – beautiful deep red foliage in fall, 45’

Crimson King or Royal Red – deep burgundy color all year, slow growing but worth the wait, grow 35’

Deborah- Foliage has red cast in spring, turns deep green in summer, grows 40-50’

Emerald Luster – a Norway maple, fast growing but sturdy, bright green leaves in summer, resistant to leaf tater, yellow in fall, grows 45’

Matador: beautiful red fall color, grows 40-50’

Red Sunset- Early fall color of bright orange/red, fast growing, 40-50’

Silver Maple- if you had a lot of seeds this spring you may have a silver maple, fast growing but not as sturdy or long lived as sugar maples, good for windbreaks, grow 50-60’

Sugar Maples:  Sugar maples bring us some of the most beautiful colors of fall.  We carry

·      Fall Fiesta – this variety is very resistant to winter sun scald on the bark grow 50-75’

·      Green Mountain -  Beautiful orange/red fall color, grow 40-60’

·      Majesty – Beautiful orange/red color in fall, grow 60’

Sun Valley – a small maple if your space is limited, beautiful red fall color, grows 25’

 MORE: 10 Reason to Plant a Tree HERE

Ree's Top 5 Plants

What makes you LOVE a certain plant? Do you look for COLOR? Texture? The shape? Do certain plants have special meaning for you? Or maybe you have memories of plants that your grandparents had in their yard growing up?

All of us here at Natural Plus love helping you find the perfect plants for your yard that you will love for years to come. And, after being in business for 42 years, we have figured out what plants do well and are our favorites!

If you’re in the market for some new trees, shrubs, or perennials, you’re going to want to follow along with these blog posts, I’ll be sharing each of our top 5 favorite plants with all of you!

Next up is Ree, who has been employed at Natural Plus since we bought the nursery in 2014. Fun fact: she is my (Mary’s) aunt).

HERE ARE REE’S TOP 5 PLANT PICKS:

1 . Autumn Blaze Pear: It’s a medium sized tree and has a brilliant fall color (35 tall and 20 wide)

Photo from Baileys Nursery

2. Easy Elegance High Voltage Yellow Rose: I love the yellow color and it reminds me of the song my daughter Atty used to sing, “The Yellow Rose of Texas”

Photo from Baileys Nurseries

3. Bailey compact viburnum: I love it because of its compact size, and brilliant fall color

Photo by Mary Hopper

4. Siberian Iris: Because of the contrast in color, it’s purple and yellow for the Lake Mills Bulldogs, the Lakers and the Vikings. I also just love irises.

Photo from Walters Gardens

5. Marquee Moon Daylily: It has a soft creamy yellow color to it.

Photo from Walters Gardens

This was so hard to pick, Ree added, “and there are 8 million more!”

She also loves the purple sandcherry and the ivory halo dogwood because of the variegated leaf and red twigs in the winter.

And, in case you missed them, here are owner Dave’s Top 5 Plant Picks and employee Mike Watson’s

What's Blooming: 5/22/19

I know the weather hasn’t been feeling like spring, but the blooms at the nursery and around town are telling us otherwise!

Here’s a round up of some of the things that are blooming at the nursery, in my yard, and around town!

First up, creeping phlox. The top left picture was taken on Main Street in Clear Lake. They are putting on quite the show right now!

I’m sure we’ve all noticed the Crab trees around town in all their glory. I just wish they would last longer!

Lilacs are blooming! And they smell so good! Want to add some fragrance to your landscape? Here’s an article to get you started HERE

Daffodils and irises make a lovely combination.

And an old classic, the bleeding heart, pic taken from my yard.

So many beautiful blooms right now and we are just getting started!

What’s blooming in your yard?

THIS NURSERY GIG

🍂This nursery gig 🍂

I hear often, “You have my DREAM JOB! I would love to work outside with plants all day! 🍃

Yes, yes, I do love that part, but as a business owner, that part is a small piece of the bigger picture of owning and operating a retail nursery business.

Running a business is no joke. There is so much that goes in to it—the marketing, the finances and accounting, the billing and estimating, the ordering, the inventory, tracking, bill paying, payroll, decision making, customer service, employees, Human Resources, emails and phone calls—oh the emails and phone calls, and the list goes on and on.

I’m definitely not complaining because being busy is a good sign in business... but, man oh man have we learned so much in the last 5 years.

And having Holtan has shifted priorities for us. We want to work a little less, so we can enjoy him a little more. Sometimes phone calls don’t get made, or emails don’t get answered because we choose family over business. We are grateful to have customers who understand. 

So thank you to all of our customers who have stuck with us over the last 40 years, and especially the last 5... as we have transitioned the business out of Dave and Linda’s hands into ours...

The nursery will continue to change as our family changes. I’m not sure what that looks like, but i imagine time will tell and I trust it will be right. I suppose that’s the beauty of this thing they call a “small family business.”

How fortunate are we that we get to choose what we want for our lives?

Is it scary? Yes.

Is it worth it? ALWAYS YES.

We are looking forward to trying some new things in 2019 and continuing to serve our customers with quality plants and the knowledge to care for them.

Thanks for being here!