Fritz Creek Gardens, Home of Alaska Hardy® Garden Plants

Fritz Creek Gardens of Homer, Alaska, is the home of over 500 varieties of Alaska Hardy® perennials, trees, shrubs vines and roses. Our goal is to provide the largest variety of Alaska Hardy® plants suitable for the great north. We gladly provide the expertise to assist our customers in achieving success in growing healthy, beautiful plants with the least amount of negative impact on our environment.

2011 was our busiest year in our total 15 years. That's a very important occurrence. Thank you gardeners. Part of that increase might be attributed to the rabbit (hare) invasion. So many of us (me included) suffered losses of our wonderful trees and shrubs to these destructive varmints. I'd like to think it was just last year but just yesterday (October 3, 2011) I saw the beginning of the cycle again with some of our potted evergreens nipped and of course the calling cards they leave. I hope everyone has cages or at least something around the trunks of your trees.

There are many things to do to protect your trees. The soft black foam used to insulate pipes can be used, covered with chicken wire, just plain chicken wire, there are actually tree trunk plastic protectors, and I was told Nomar has the huge cardboard tubes their canvas etc. comes in that they will donate to your cause. You can split these and snap them around the trunk. The Plantskyd product for rabbits is a quick fix but will not last the winter so a more permanent solution is in order. Good luck.

2012 may seem a ways in the future for you but for me, all orders for next year must be in by October 1st. In order to assure the suppliers the time to grow what we need or to make arrangements to dig them from their fields and store in coolers until spring deliveries; for us to continue their growth in the greenhouse; and finally, to produce mature plants for your gardens

I'm always excited to peruse the new catalogues, go on line with Proven Winners to see all the new offerings for hanging baskets and to start putting imaginary gardens and baskets into plans. We review last year's most popular and try to find new cultivars within those most admired varieties. It will be a few weeks before all our orders are confirmed and we can update the web site to reflect their availability and start taking orders for the 2012 season. I'll be sending out e-mails to our over 2,400 e-mail customers as quickly as we get confirmations.

Opening for the season
This year we will open May 1st along with most other greenhouses here in Homer. Our hours for 2012 are:

Sunday	12:00 to 5:00 PM
Monday	10:00 AM to 6:00PM
Tuesday	Closed
Wednesday	Closed
Thursday	10:00 AM to 6:00PM
Friday	10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Saturday	10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

After our annual Big 4, Fourth of July sale our hours will be reduced to allow me to keep my sanity as Alaska Hardy Peony production will begin. The hours after July 4th will be;

Sunday	12:00 to 5:00 PM
Monday	Closed
Tuesday	Closed
Wednesday	Closed
Thursday	10:00 AM to 6:00PM
Friday	10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Saturday	10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

And as always, if for some reason you can't make the regular open hours, give me a call and we'll see how we can solve that problem.

While not all the 2012 offerings are posted yet, you can still enjoy our web site with over 400 pictures and descriptions. Today, October 18th, 2011, I have the Roses, ornamental grasses, Top 20 Bestsellers, Proven Winner Hanging baskets and the 2012 line-up for lilies posted. I anticipate having the rest of the new beauties posted around the first of November. Stay tuned. I promise, it will be worth it.

Top 20 Sellers. Check it out!! I love this part of my fall chores. Reviewing what you gardeners, and you are the boss remember, liked the best for 2011. Usually the top 5 or 6 are the same but after that it's always totally a free for all. Check out the 20 Top Best Sellers for 2011 and see if you agree. For new gardeners, I think this information is invaluable. Just for fun, I've listed how each one of the winners showed up in 2010 too. More proof of their popularity

Directions for a personal visit. We are located 8.5 miles from downtown Homer on East End Road. There is another greenhouse at mile 7; Reid’s which specialize in annuals. The drive is beautiful and well worth the time. Be sure to bring your camera.

Ordering by mail or Stage Line Within the state of Alaska, we have a 'special' rate that allows us to mail out perennials at a very reasonable rate. Our gardeners not able to visit the greenhouse in person have been ordering by mail now for 15 years. Sometimes several gardeners get together and do a joint order that reduces the postage cost even more. The quote of $1.75 per perennial on our order blank is pretty accurate. However, costs for larger items such as roses or shrubs most likely will be more. We do not charge a packing or handling fee. We want you to have the opportunity to enjoy these beauties and try to make it as easy as possible.

We do not mail outside Alaska. We stop mail order around June 30th due to so many varieties sold out.

Shrubs & Trees. Wow! For whatever reason, our total sales for trees were almost 3 times more than any other year. Maybe because Kenai River Nursery closed, maybe because of the hare (rabbit) problem or maybe because there are so many new high tunnels for fruit tree growing. Whatever, we were hopping all season. As a result, we found several new sources for large trees, came up with a set fee for delivering and generally beefed up this department.

Most of our trees, shrubs, and roses all come from Canada and will arrive around May 15. We have a one-liner for the trees and shrubs on this web site, and the roses are all pictured in the Roses section. We recommend Michael Dirr's "Hardy Trees and Shrubs" book for a commercial reference. Or, for strictly Alaska information, the Cooperative Extension Service puts out a terrific publication with excellent zone information divided up into districts. Of course, we're here for you, too, to answer questions and give suggestions.

Hanging baskets We're totally excited about some of the newer annuals offered by Proven Winners. The Supertunia require no pinching and bloom right up to hard freezes. As last year, we will take orders on these superb baskets and hold them for you through May 15th. If you need us to keep them longer, we offer a service for $5 a basket to hold them to no later than June 10th. Our baskets are very popular and our repeat customers are quick. We were completely sold out just after Memorial Day weekend in 2011. Take a look at our Proven Winner hanging baskets. It's never too early to reserve your favorites.

Our Gardens. We have 13 theme gardens: Tori Meadow is designed to attract beneficial insects, Woodland Whimsy features shade plants and unusual garden art, three rock gardens (there are so many great rock garden plants), a lily garden, Nipon Niwa (an Oriental garden), a new cut flower garden with more than 8,000 peonies (this should be a WOW scene in a couple of years) -- and many more gardens! See our Gardens Page for a sneak preview. Admission fee to the gardens is $2. Seniors, large groups or season passes are available at a discount. Use your $2 admission receipt as a credit to purchase plants.

Alaska Hardy Peony. For the Fritz Creek Gardens customer, there is a direct benefit to you from our new enterprise, growing peony for the cut flower market. As a result of this new interest, we are ramping up our offering to the home gardener. I'm totally in love with these exquisite flowers whether in a vase or in a garden or in a Bridal bouquet and I think you'll see how much when you review our line-up for 2012.

Rita Jo, Leroy, Shannon, and staff.