Here comes Spring!

For some of us the long winters we endure here in New England give us plenty of time to plan our gardens. We've spent days curled up in front of our fireplace with plant catalogs and our gardening books and we've drawn out our gardens over and over. Whether or not you have done this too, Hadley Garden Center has everything you need to make your garden dreams a reality.

Over the next several weeks our flowering annuals will begin to arrive and fill our nursery yard with color. Local growers provide us with a beautiful selection of traditional and unusual plants to add to your summer gardens. We've already brought in a huge selection of summer flowering bulbs. These bulbs are great as cut flowers, interesting as additions to your perennial or shrub borders, and can make an eye-catching statement on their own. Try some colorful dahlias the size of dinner plates, a few gladiolas for height, lilies for their beauty and fragrance; maybe even add the tropical touch of a giant elephant ear to your garden this year.

If it's the vegetable garden you've been planning we've got you covered as well. Local growers are already busy with this year's vegetable starts. We carry a wide variety of conventional and organically grown vegetables for your gardens. Of course you have all the traditional vegetables as well as some more unique vegetables and varieties. We may not have the longest growing season in New England but we can help you plan a vegetable garden that will produce from early summer right through our first few frosts. What we do not carry as vegetable starts we certainly have in our enormous seed selection.

Believe it or not our fruit trees are some of our earliest arrivals in the nursery yard. As soon as you can dig you can plant apples, pears, peaches, and other fruit trees, and soon after their arrival comes the small fruits like strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We'll help you to find the right tree or shrub for your garden and give you the instructions to succeed. Check out this year's 2008 Fruit Tree List (pdf) and come in early for the best selection.

The Garden Within

At the Hadley Garden Center, we're delighted when one of our longtime yard customers comes up to the counter with an arm around a potted tropical plant and says, "I didn't know you have a greenhouse!"

Did you know? Just a few steps off the side room, through the arbor, and you're at the entry to the greenhouse, the murmur of the water garden in the air and hundreds of plants before you, neatly arrayed on broad tables.

The stalwarts of indoor plant design -- Philodendron, Dracaena, Jade -- are mixed with the more sensational -- Rex begonia, Aralia, Bonsai, Anthurium. Whimsical dish gardens, the creation of greenhouse manager Jane, nestle birds and butterflies among blossom and leaf, and are bestsellers. We take care of orchid fanciers with the largest collection of any garden center in the Pioneer Valley, from the long-flowering and virtually carefree Phalenopsis to the uncommon Paphiopedilum. You'll also find a good selection of ferns, cacti and other succulents. And every season brings its abundance to the tabletop: Sweet Hyacinth, Aromatic Herbs, Cycalmen, Primrose, Poinsettias and more.

As you might expect from us, our plants are labeled extensively regarding their maintenance needs and questions are invited -- Jane loves to share her more than 30 years' experience with houseplants. She and the rest of our talented staff can help you choose plants that suit your passion for texture, color, frangrence, or shape and suit your maintenance habits and the type of space you have. Along the wall are sacks of potting soils, orchid bark, and bonsai soil as well as pots, pots, and more pots! Have a plant ready for a new home? Bring it in, and we'll repot it for a small fee.

Some customers are in the greenhouse every Sunday, and others include the greenhouse whenever they visit. Other customers, such as the proprietors of many restaurants, shops, and offices in the Valley, come regularly for consultation on plant selections. Still other customers visit us several times before they notice the arbored entry to ... the garden within the Hadley Garden Center.

Many of us at Hadley Garden Center enjoy bird watching ourselves and so we carry an extensive variety of feeders, houses, and food for all our feathered friends. We hope to help you find the right feeder for your situation and to help you with advice on keeping the squirrels away and your birds happy and healthy.

We carry bird feeders by Droll Yankee, Woodlink, Audubon, Duncraft, and Aspects, plus squirrel baffles, bird feeder poles and shepherds hooks, bird baths, and both bird and bat houses.

We also carry a complete line of bird seed and suet.

Hadley Garden Center has top quality mixes from Cole's, New England Wild Bird Food, and Wild Delight. These mixes are designed to attract the widest variety of birds to your feeder. We also carry C & S suet products for all your woodpecker's needs. No matter what type of bird you are hoping to attract, we have the food to keep them happy.

Organic lawn and garden fertilizers from Espoma, North Country Organics, Alaska, Neptune’s Harvest, and Electra.

Traditional Mineral Blends and Synthetic Fertilizers for lawn and garden from Jonathan Green, Lebanon, and Espoma.

Pest Controls (Insecticides), Weed Controls (Herbicides) and Fungicides in both organic and synthetic options.

Grass Seed for any growing condition.

Mulches, stone products, soil conditioners and amendments from Coast Of Maine, Fafard, Vermont Natural Ag, Premier, and Master Nursery Company.

Garden carts and wheelbarrows in different shapes and sizes.

Spreaders for fertilizer, weed and insect control, and grass seed.

Garden hoses, sprinklers, watering wands, hose repair items, watering cans, rain gauges, and rain barrels for all your watering needs.

Composters and composting supplies.

A full line of gardening tools from Felco, Gilmore, Sandvik, True Temper, and more.

Gardening gloves, hats, and boots for men, women, and children.

Soil testing kits and meters.

Seed starting supplies and grow lights.

Gardening books and magazines on all sorts of subjects!