Grass Pad Flower Market and Garden Center

This is Uncle Nature’s favorite time of year!  Taxes are done, robins are singing and it’s time to paint up the landscape.  A flat of annual flowers costs less than a gallon of paint and will give you bright colors all summer long.

Seasonal flowers arrive daily during the peak spring season. Grass Pad Flower and Garden Centers continually re-stock the freshest and highest quality flowering annuals, hanging basket, combination planters, garden vegetables and perennials. We take pride in maintaining our plants, keeping them healthy to ensure you go home with the best plants. We care about our customers and the quality of our fresh flowers. If you are a beginning gardener and need suggestions, we have plenty of helpful staff available in our nurseries. At the Grass Pad, we have the reputation for having the most knowledgeable staff with the best customer service in the Midwest. If you are the experienced gardener or landscaper, bring us your wish list or give us a call for availability.

Note: Grass Pad Flower and Garden Center inventory will change day to day based on the season, weather and market conditions. Each spring season, Grass Pad Flower and Garden Centers fill our tables and racks with thousands of flats of annual and perennial flowers available for retail and wholesale purchases.

When picking out flowers for your garden or your containers, all the selection can be a little overwhelming! Below is a quick guide of the best way to create planters, and what types of flowers you can find at all Grass Pad locations.

Planting in Pots and Planters

Pots and planters are a great way to decorate the porch and patio in spring. They provide design solutions to problem areas and enhance a garden setting. Containers can emphasize entrances to homes, the garden and can be used to screen unsightly views or soften the edge of a bordering lawn.

Uncle says to use three easy steps will create a basic framework for any pot, basket, or container – the Thriller, the Filler, and the Spiller.

The Thriller: Use plants that make a big impact with height and structure to your container. Dracaena spikes, Zonal Geraniums, tropical cordyline, or Blue Arrow Juncus add thrill. Purple fountain grass or Angelonia work well. Perennials such as liatris or coneflower can be used.

The Filler: Use flowering or foliage plants to fill out the body of your container. Choose complimentary colors of pastels or bold colors. Select plants that will grow at similar rates so one plant does not overrun another. Try Sun Patiens, Sun Coleus, or New Guinea Impatiens, to name just a few.

The Spiller: Trailing varieties that spill and cascade over the side of your container soften the edges of your planter and add the finishing touch. For foliage try ivies, licorice plant or vinca vine. Add color with bacopa, trailing verbena, trailing calilbrachoa, scaevola or torenia.

Plants for the Sun and Plants for the Shade

One of the first questions we’ll ask you when you come shopping for flowers at the Grass Pad is, “Sun or shade?”  Most plants prefer one or the other, and choosing the plants based on the sun exposure is a sure way to get the best-looking garden on the block. Here are a few examples of flowers that work well in each location:

Uncle’s Tip: The closer together, the better they look! Annuals planted too far apart take all season to grow together in the bed.  Plants 4” to 6” apart fill in quickly and will make you a hero.

Uncle’s Favorite Sun Annuals:

Bronze Leaf Begonia, Celosia, Dianthus, Dusty Miller, Salvia, Marigold, Petunia, Torenia, and Vinca.