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All Star Award

 A Gold Medal

Goes To...
 A gold medal goes to...

Suzanne Budrow. Suzanne was the first to submit the correct answer to our December trivia question: "What was the first wrapped penny candy in America?" The correct answer is "Tootsie Roll."   

Suzanne won a $15.00 Wedel's gift certificate and you could too! Just be the first to respond with the correct answer to our monthly trivia question.
 
Congratulations, Suzanne!! 
A Thought
 from the Garden  
November Mosiac  The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.
~Terri Guillemets~

Just for Grins... 
The philosopher who said that work well done never needs doing over
never weeded a garden.
-  Ray D. Everson
 
Fun Shopping
January Shopping List
 
Heated bird bath
Ice scraper
Snow brush
Roof rake
Gloves
Suet
Ice melter
Bird seed
Snow shovel
Gift card
Bird feeder
Birdbath heater
Gardening book
Gardening magazine 
Did You Know?

1. A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

     

2. A coffee tree yields about one pound of coffee in a year.      

 

3. The most dangerous job in the United States is that of an Alaskan Crab Fisherman.

4. Research indicates that babies who suck on pacifiers are more prone to ear aches.

 
 
Store Hours  
Monday - Friday
9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday
9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.  

 

To Do In January      

Set out roosting pockets in trees or shrubs.
Have mower blades sharpened.
Have mower tuned up.
Begin planning this year's garden.
Use houseplants to keep your winter months green.      

Mom's Home Cooking
Mom Tested And Approved

Here's a sweet memory of Saturday evenings of yesteryear. There is nothing like home-made and that is certainly true for delicious chocolate fudge!

Chocolate Fudge 

2 Cups Sugar
2 Squares Unsweetened        Chocolate or
6 Tablespoons Cocoa
2 Tablespoons Butter or
Butter Substitute
2/3 Cups Milk
Few Grains Salt
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Flavoring

Combine sugar, milk, butter or butter substitute, salt, and grated chocolate or cocoa. Cover until boiling point is reached. Boil to soft ball stage (234 - 238 degrees F.). Add flavoring and cool, without stirring, to room temperature. Beat until mixture is creamy, thick and will hold its shape when dropped from a teaspoon. Drop by teaspoons full onto waxed paper, or pour into well-buttered shallow pan. Cut in squares.

The Household Searchlight
   
Enjoy!

Wedel's News

Volume 4, Number 10                                                                  January, 2012     

Happy New

Gardening Year

 

by George Wedel

 
George Wedel  
Goodbye 2011 and welcome 2012! Just when it looked as though "Old Man Winter" forgot about us, we awoke on Monday, January 2 to a good "old time" winter day. Negative - slippery driving. Positive - the blanket of snow is a great insulation for our valuable plants, sledding and tobogganing are great and the fresh white covering is just beautiful!

Thinking back to the 2011 gardening season we remember the beauty and bounty God blessed us with. A very wet, cool spring gave us a long tulip and daffodil season but challenged us with a late planting season for most annual flower and vegetable seed and transplants. We were favored with above normal rainfall in July and August and a beautiful fall harvest season. Ice storms in February, straight line winds, tornadoes and thunderstorms in May and June took a great deal of "garden time" to clean up after each storm. Each weather event was challenging but also a privilege to work with and be a part of God's creation.

Sharing with friends, soil, green growth, blooms, fruit, vegetables, wind, rain, weeds, seeds, sprouts, birds, animals and insects...WOW! How exciting and rewarding is our world of gardening!


What will 2012 bring? Probably much of the same. No doubt a slight change in the order but God never fails; "No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11b) As long as the earth remains there will be springtime and a harvest. Isn't it great that we can count on a good garden season in 2012!


Now that we have put up our 2012 calendar, spring seems somewhat closer. Beginning December 22, each day we begin to enjoy more daylight. So, after a short hiatus from our garden, let's turn our thoughts towards green leaves, flowers and the fruits from our gardens. Stop by Wedel's Garden Center, pick up the January/February issues of these great garden magazines; Chicagoland Gardening, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Country Gardens and Birds and Blooms.


You'll find also a host of garden and landscape books including the Lone Pine series which contains great information for the Midwest and Michigan specifically. We have about 200 titles with more arriving all of the time. Any one will spark your interest and turn your thoughts back to the garden. Contemplating and making plans for the upcoming growing season is so very exciting! This is a great time to tap into the experiences of other gardeners. Talk to some green thumb old timers or read some of the great garden books in Wedel's book department.


Garden seeds begin to arrive in January. What a pleasure it is to see all of those seed packets showing pictures of colorful flower blossoms, ripe fruit and vegetables. Wedel's super selection includes seeds from Olds, Rene', Burpee, Ferry Morse, Botanical Interest, Livingston, Hart and Weeks. Watch for your February copy of Wedel's News where we will tell you much more about our seed selections which will include all of the old standards plus many new, unusual and exotic choices.


Take a stroll through gardens and landscape areas each week this winter to observe rodent and deer activity. Even if repellents were applied this autumn, deer and rabbits will develop a tolerance to most any repellent, bait or live trap. I recommend alternating products for more success in repelling pesky deer, mice, rabbits, shrews etc. Wedel's sells:  Repellex spray and powder shake-on repellents, live traps and other assorted products to deter a whole assortment of four-legged pests. Take the necessary steps now to protect your landscape before these critters destroy your valuable plants!


Whenever you get tired of winter, feeling the winter blahs or coming down with a touch of cabin fever, stop into Wedel's and get an infusion of the gardening bug. The sights, sounds and smells of your favorite outdoor endeavors are all here! Spring is on its way and it arrives here first, at Wedel's!!

Garden Natives  

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

  

9 to 9 bannerIf you enjoy wildflowers and butterflies this month's Garden Native is for you. Asclepias tuberosa is commonly called butterfly weed for a reason. Often several different species of butterflies are feeding on Butterfly Weed's nectar at once and it is a favorite host plant for the Monarch butterfly caterpillar. This is a wonderful horticultural plant for landscaping to attract butterflies (particularly monarchs), whose numbers are declining and migratory routes changing due to lack of appropriate habitat. 

 

9 to 9 bannerAsclepias tuberosa also draws hummingbirds, hummingbird clearwing moths and bees to the garden for nectar. Butterfly weed flowers looks great in flower beds, rock gardens, or as container plants; they are good as cut flowers also. The tuberosa type is sometimes used to make yellow dye.

 

For information on Butterfly Weed's ornamental and landscape attributes and plant characteristics, click here. 

 

It's never too early to begin planning your 2012 gardening season and this versatile and beautiful native is one you should consider.


 

Why Choose Botanical Interests Seeds?

 

by Karen Anderson

 

New from Botanical Interests for 2012 are; easy to read font, extensive growing and harvesting tips, new vibrant and attractive illustrations. Select seed packets will show seed count and smaller seeds will be in internal sachets.

 

Botanical Interests' goal "is to inspire and educate the gardener in you so that you can create beautiful and prolific gardens. Not only is the seed inside our packets the highest quality available, our packets are designed to give you the information you need to be a more successful gardener!"

 

Over 500 high-quality varieties

Many heirloom seed varieties

A large selection of USDA Certified Organic seed varieties (learn more about organic seed)

Guaranteed - the germination rate of every variety is tested before we package it.

All our seed is untreated

No GMOs - we enthusiastically signed the SAFE SEED PLEDGE: We do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants

 

Leader of the Packet

Practical Information, Inside and Out

 

9 to 9 banner

 

Outside:

 

  •    Beautiful illustration of the variety
  •    Common name, variety and botanical name
  •    Critical information on the front of the packet
  •    Plant tag
  •    Description of variety
  •    Detailed instructions on when and how to start seeds

 

Inside:

 

  •    Recipes
  •    Growing and harvesting tips
  •    How to avoid diseases and pests
  •    History
  •    Botanical facts
  •    Drawing of seedling on plant tag

 

Botanical Interests seed displays will be arriving soon at Wedel's. Plan to stop by and take a little time to peruse the possibilities for your 2012 garden!

Special Announcement

Update:  Beginning in March only those who have subscribed to Wedel's News Special Offer e-mail will receive information about special, money-saving offers directly to their mail boxes. Some of the offers will be for Special Offer subscribers only so if you are interested in saving, now is the time to subscribe! It's easy to do. Read on for all of the details.


We have developed a third newsletter to be a companion to our Wedel's News and Wedel's News Extra Edition. The new newsletter is Wedel's News Special Offer. As a subscriber to Wedel's News you will continue getting that newsletter along with the Extra Edition free of charge. We have used the Extra Edition to alert you to special offers and information e.g. special prices, events, offers for newsletter subscribers only, weather warnings and such things as the first sightings of hummingbirds in our area. You need to do nothing to continue receiving Wedel's News and Wedel's News Extra Edition. In the future all special prices, promotions, offers will be sent to Wedel's News Special Offer subscribers only and will also be free of charge. This change will take place sometime after the first of the year so you have some time to subscribe to the Special Offer newsletter before you will no longer receive that information. The simplest way to subscribe is to go to our website, scroll to the bottom of the left hand column and, under the "Extra Extra," enter your e-mail address, click the "GO" button and check the "Special Offer" box on the page you are taken to. Click the "Join" button and you're all set! We appreciate every subscriber/member of the Wedel's Community and we don't want to appear in your in-box with sale information, offers etc. if you aren't interested in receiving them but if you do want money-saving information it is easy to subscribe.
wkzo
Saturday Mornings

Birdwatch 8:07 a.m.
with host Roger Taylor answering all of your birding questions
Call in at 382-4280 or 877-382-4280.
  
Over the Garden Fence 9:07 a.m.
with host Andy Wedel answering all of your landscape and gardening questions
Call in at 382-4280 or 877-382-4280.

Visit our web site at www.wedels.com for archives of previous Birdwatch and
Over the Garden Fence programs!
 

  Note from the Editor    

 

Happy New Year to each and every one of our Wedel's News subscribers! Are you ready for the 2012 gardening season? (I'm not either but that's ok. There is plenty to do and this is the time of year there is plenty of time to do it.)


You would think things would be pretty slow at the garden center but things are jumpin'! Now is when we begin to get everything ready for spring. Some have mentioned they think we are rushing the season when we begin in late fall to stock and decorate for Christmas but we do that for the same reason we begin now making preparations for spring. There is a great deal to do and, honestly, spring isn't THAT far away!


I hope you take some time to come by and see what's going on. Garden seed displays will arrive any day and, as soon as they do, we will get them in place. But that's just the beginning. There will be lots and lots of new items in every department that the Wedel buyers are bringing in just for you. New gardening products, new containers, furniture, decorative items, nursery plants, annuals and perennials and on and on. Of course, the tried and true will be here too. From the traditional to the brand new, Wedel's will have everything you want and need to ensure you have a successful growing season!


As busy as we are, we always have time for you and this is the perfect time to come by and chat about your plans for 2012 and your experiences of 2011. Let us know what worked for you and what didn't; offering advice and helping is the part of the job we enjoy the most. We do enjoy stocking the shelves with new products and seeing our old favorites return but products on the shelves aren't the reason we're here; you are. Old friends, come by. New friends, come by and become old friends. Spring 2012 is just around the corner. Let's get ready for it together!    

 

Ready for another trivia question? From what did the city of Novi get its name? The first reader to respond with the correct answer will win a $15.00 Wedel's gift certificate. The gift certificate must be picked up here at the garden center and remember, you are eligible to win once every 90 days. Good luck and have fun!

 

'Til next time,

Jim 

 

 

 [email protected]

God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning