Otten Bros. Garden Center & Landscaping
pinecones
Issue No. 31November 2010
Otten Bros. Garden Center & Landscaping Newsletter
In This Issue
Join Us for a Family Tradition
Free Bikes 4 Kidz
Bird of the Month
Places to GO...
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Greetings! 

I know we live in Minnesota, I know that it's November; somehow I wasn't ready for it to snow.  How about you?   Silly, isn't it, how the first snow of the season tends to catch us all off guard? (I am still hunting through closets for boots, hats and gloves for the kids!)  You still have time, the ground is not frozen yet, to start and finish your holiday outdoor decorating.   A little bit of snow won't stop you - you are a tough Minnesotan!

 

The best thing about snow is...it tends to get everyone in the holiday spirit! November is jam packed with holiday spirit and fun events for the entire family.  Be sure that you check out the 'Places to GO' section farther down in the newsletter so you can plan the rest of your holiday season.

 

Speaking of holiday spirit AND holiday decorating...you HAVE to walk through our greenhouse!  It smells and looks like an evergreen forest!    The smells, sights and sounds of the holidays are just wonderful.  Fresh cut Christmas trees, our own hand-made wreaths and roping made by the 'elves' in Delano, unique west coast evergreens, twigs and fun floral picks all add to the beauty. I hope you can come and enjoy it with us! 


Santa at Otten Bros.  Join Us for a Family Tradition 

 Otten Bros.

Holiday Open House

Saturday & Sunday

November 20th & 21st

 

FREE Photos with Santa!

Bring your own camera-capture a memory! 

Saturday & Sunday 12-3pm

 

 FREE Horse Drawn Carriage Rides

Saturday & Sunday 12-3pm

 

 FREE Kid's Crafts & Holiday Tattoos

Saturday & Sunday 12-3pm

 

Refreshments, In-Store Specials, Door Prizes and More!

 

 The Otten Bros. Great Cardinal Caller Sale

Take $10.00 off a 50lb bag of Otten Bros. Cardinal Caller

Its Otten Bros. own 20+ year old bird seed recipe for attracting the best birds to your feeders.

Quantities are not limited (how often do you hear that?) 

Offer good 11/3/10-11/21/10 

cardinal 2 

 FREE Seminar

Feeding the Birds...Family Style!

Saturday 11:00-11:45am

Join birding expert Kevin Manley as he presents great bird feeding & attracting wildlife tips for the novice AND seasoned pro.  Learn about feeders, seed mixes, suet and other useful information for attracting wildlife to your backyard this winter.  A seminar for kids, parents and even grandparents!

  

 

Otten Bros. Best Balsam Roping

We make it  - so you know it's the best in the Twin Cities!

50ft coils for ONLY $55.00!

Start your holiday outside decorating now, while the temperatures are still above freezing!

 

Cool Gifts for Everyone including Gardeners, Birders & Junkers!

 

 Otten Bros. is your Complete Holiday Gift & Decorating Center

Spruce Tips - Fresh Greens - Decorative Twigs & Berries - Fresh Cut Christmas Trees - Handmade Wreaths -  Roping & Garlands - Poinsettias - Gifts - Bird Feed & Feeders

 

Free Bikes 4 Kidz
Otten Bros. has been working with G-Force Cycling Club of Minneapolis for the past two years to provide free quality bikes to kids who don't have bikes. 

 

G-Force did all the bike work...Otten Bros. was the collection site.  In 2008, we helped collect 350 bikes - G-Force was able to rehab 250 of them.  Just think -250 kids, waking up to a shiny bike parked under the Christmas tree!  250 kids, from families who can't afford the luxury of what many deem a childhood necessity, got bikes!   That is just cool.   bikes

The next year, 2009, was even better for Free Bikes 4 Kidz (FB4K).  750 bikes collected, 450 were given away. 

 

It's now 2010 and the goal has grown! FB4K wants to collect 1500 bikes and give them ALL away. 

 

Go, now to your garages!   Have you or your child out grown your bikes?  Load them up!  Bring your good quality bikes to Otten Bros. Garden Center or one of the Bachman's Flower & Garden Centers throughout the cities.  FB4K will even take NEW bikes and much needed financial donations.

 

The bikes, along with a NEW HELMET will be given away through several youth organizations and a public give away December 11th & 12th.  See the Free Bikes 4 Kidz website for more details on where, when and how.  

 

Make a difference this Christmas.  Join the G-Force roadies, Otten Bros. Garden Center & Landscaping, Bachman's Flower & Garden Centers, Nice Ride MN, Free Wheel Bikes, and Allina in proclaiming 2010 to be the season of...

"Good wheel to all, and to all a good bike."


Red-Breasted NuthatchNovember Bird of the Month

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Yesterday, looking out my kitchen window was a small, very active, short necked bird with a cinnamon colored chest that behaved similar to its cousin the White-breasted Nuthatch. His blue back, pointed beak and black mask gave his identity away as the Red-breasted Nuthatch.

 

Common to our northern forests, the Red-breasted Nuthatch raises its brood in cavities hollowed out in trees by both adults. This behavior is common to woodpeckers, but not other cavity nesters.

 

You will typically see it moving downward on a tree, in a zigzag fashion.  They depend on the long claw of their backward pointing toe for grip as they search for insects and cached seeds.

 

Spring and summer their diet consists of insects; primarily spiders, ants, caterpillars, beetles and spruce budworms during outbreak years. Fall and winter they switch over to conifer nuts and our feeding stations.

 

The Red-breasted Nuthatch enjoys my tube and platform feeders: dining on its favorites of peanuts and sunflowers. Moving quickly to a nearby tree, they take the biggest peanut, jam it into a crevice and hammer it into bite size pieces. It also has a fondness, like many birds in the fall and winter, for suet feeders.

 

Keep a sharp eye out for this dapper looking bird as they, like our other avian friends, will provide you with hours of family enjoyment.

 

Happy Birding!

Kevin Manley


Our guest author and birding expert Kevin Manley will be giving a seminar on attracting birds at Otten Bros. Holiday Open house this Saturday at 11:00am.  His seminar is perfect for the novice or expert birder.  Bring the whole family!
 

Places to GO...Things to SEE

Mark Your Calendar

 

Home for the Holidays with JUNKMARKET Style

TONIGHT! Thursday, November 18th 6:00-8:00pm

$15.00 prepaid reservations - Email us! or call, 952-473-5425 with your RSVP.  Click here to learn more about it.

 

 

Midwest Home Show- Minneapolis Convention Center

Friday, November 19, 1-6 pm
Saturday, November 20, 10am-6pm
Sunday, November 21, 11am-5pm
The 20th annual Midwest Home Show is the largest and most comprehensive fall showcase of the hottest trends and the latest products for your home and garden. Find more than 200 of the Twin Cities best remodelers, landscapers, designers and home improvement specialists! Be sure to stop by the Otten Bros. landscape display to meet with our designers. For more information on the event, visit the Midwest Home Show Website.

 

Otten Bros. Holiday Open House & Flower Farm Holiday Open House

Saturday & Sunday, November 20th &21st

Tons of fun for the Family - Click to our website for more details.

 

Ski Swap to benefit Orono, Wayzata & Mound-Westonka Nordic Ski Teams

Sunday, November 21st - Otten Bros. Greenhouse

Contact Larry Myers or Mark Kobilka for more info. Click here for details. 

 

Christmas tree lighting in downtown Delano

Thursday, Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Night) 7:00pm at River's Edge Park

Santa Claus visit, carriage rides, donations accepted for Love INC and more.  Click for more details.

 

American Express announces the first ever Small Business Saturday!

Saturday, November 27th, 2010. 

Card members will receive a $25 statement credit when they register and spend $25 or more at a small business that accepts American Express Cards. 

 

Excelsior Christkindlsmarkt

Nov 26th-27th 10am-7pm

Nov 28th 10am-4pm

Christkindlsmarkt is an enchanting open air Christmas market of holiday gifts with holiday sounds and aromas that delight the senses of fresh grilled sausages, roasted nuts, sweets and other delicacies throughout the market.

 

Black Friday & Saturday shopping in Delano

November 26th & 27th

Check out two days of deals at local Delano businesses.

 

An Old Fashioned Christmas in Historic Downtown Delano

Saturday, December 4th, 9:00am-3:00pm

Art walk, caroling, craft boutique, and much much more.  Click here to see schedule of events

.
I know that there is a lot of talk about Christmas in this newsletter.  Trust me, we did not intentionally forget about Thanksgiving.  This is a month to be thankful for the many blessings we all enjoy. 

From our family at Otten Bros. & the Flower Farm, may you all be blessed with health and happiness.  We wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Cheers!
Otten Bros. & The Flower Farm Staff
2350 West Wayzata Boulevard
Long Lake, Minnesota 55356
952-473-5425
Grass

Holiday Open House Special

$10.00 off 50lb bag
Otten Bros. Cardinal Caller Mix

Reg. price $29.99.   Offer not good with any other discounts

Offer Expires: Sunday, November 21st.