 | A colorful welcome
A bright and colorful mixed border always greets visitors to the 86-year-old Wickman's Garden Village nursery at 1345 S. Fort Ave. in Springfield, Missouri. Gardeners can also shop a Wickman's at 1089 E. Highway 60 in Monett, Missouri.
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 | Hands-on
Nursery manager Nikki Petitt can often be caught smiling, and the smile grew even broader when she found herself creating scarecrows for a Wickman's Fall Festival event.
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 | The Giant Watering Can
Genial Bob Griffin, who lives in Battlefield, Missouri, is a 17-year Wickman's employee who does "a lot of different things" around the nursery. He also happens to be a real artist, with a real sense of humor, as this amazing creation attests. |
 | The Greenhouse
Wickman's greenhouse manager Shirley Anderson had good reason to smile after raising 12,000 mums and an ocean of pansies for fall customers. Shirley's daughter Ashton may also have the horticulture bug--she sometimes works with Fassnight Creek Farm at the Greater Springfield Farmer's Market.
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 | 'Cleopatra' Canna Lily
For many, the 'Cleopatra' Canna Lily is simply breathtaking. The plant grows to 4 1/2 feet tall and bears unusually large flowers of red and yellow in varying patterns. The foliage is green with occasional purple streaks. In full sun it does spectacularly well in the Ozarks, blooming from July into September. |
 | 'Sundown' Coneflower
One of the most exciting recent developments in plant culture has been the "Big Sky" series of coneflowers--crosses between the Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea paradoxa species. The results are coneflowers in new colors from yellows to oranges to reds. The curious color tone of this 'Sundown' coneflower is transitional, as the blooms turn from pink to bright orange to soft purple-pink. This plant can reach 30 inches tall and 24 inches wide and thrives in full sun and average to dry soil. If you find one, snap it up, because they tend to sell out early.
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 | Ornamental Millet
Ornamental Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a nice surprise for gardeners out for the unusual. This variety is probably 'Purple Majesty,' named an All-America selection in 2003. It grows to 5 feet tall and flower heads add another 8-12 inches. Its long, slender leaves turn purple with maturity and exposure to the sun. It's easy to grow, heat-and-drought tolerant, and grows in sun or part shade, producing the deepest color in full sun. By the way, birds love the seed.
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 | Good Luck Plant
Good Luck Plant (Oxalis quadrangularis) is an engaging South American plant that features 4-leaf-cloverlike leaves with a dark purple center and bears delicate, pale pink flowers. Like all Oxalis, it can be grown indoors as a houseplant or outside in the garden when the weather warms. It does best in full sun but will also grow in light shade and likes to be fed occasionally.
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 | 'Angel's Blush' Hydrangea
'Angel's Blush' (Hydrangea paniculata 'Ruby') is an especially showy Hydrangea that bears beautiful 10-inch-long clusters of white flowers that gradually turn rosy red in late summer and fall. The clusters are long-lasting. The plant grows to 8-12 feet tall and 6-10 feet wide. |
 | The biggest job
Keeping so many plants healthy and attractive is a huge job, but Wickman's does it on a daily basis, thanks to Justin Sanders and the rest of the nursery crew. |
 | Remarkable roses
Wickman's treats for the gardener include some excellent roses. This 'Rio Samba' hybrid tea, an All-America Selection in 1993, features yellow blossoms with rose-orange edges and a light, fresh fragrance. As a New Generation rose, it isn't grafted but actually grows on its own rootstock. It can reach 4 feet tall. |
 | Jane Magnolia
The Jane Magnolia (Magnolia x 'Jane') is among the earliest-blooming, loveliest trees to grow in the Ozarks. Here already blooming in 6-inch pots, once planted it will grow vigorously in full sun or part shade into an upright, multi-trunked deciduous tree as tall as 25-30 feet and 20 feet wide. It bears its fragrant flowers first on bare stems, then after leafing out reblooms sporadically into fall.
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 | 'Aristocrat' Pear
Another beautiful tree for spring is the 'Aristocrat' Pear (Pyrus calleryana 'Aristocrat'), which bears an abundance of lovely snow-white blossoms in early May. Ideal for restricted spaces, the tree grows in a somewhat pyramidal shape to a height of 40-50 feet with a simiilar spread. Its glossy ight green foliage turns purplish-red in fall. A more dominant trunk and open form make it less vulnerable to wind damage than Bradford pear. Its fruits are brownish tan and inconspicuous. Common names include Flowering Pear and Callery Pear.
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 | Flowering trees and more...
Wickman's is known for providing gardeners distinctive plants of all kinds, including unique flowering trees such as this Malus species 'Weeping Candied Apple' Crabapple. With its soft-pink blossoms and red fruit, this tree develops a beautiful weeping habit. It can grow to 15 feet tall and is highly disease resistant. |
 | 'Sugar Tyme' flowering crabapple
'Sugar Tyme', a cultivar of Malus 'Sutyzam', is one of the top ten recommended flowering crabapples for its exceptional beauty in all four seasons of the year. It features dense masses of sugar-white blossoms in spring, crisp green foliage in summer, and glossy red fruit in autumn. The fruit lasts through winter and into spring, providing food for the spring songbirds. Awwww.... |
 | 'Sargent' flowering crabapple
'Sargent Flowering Crabapple' (Malus 'Sargentii') is a smaller flowering crabapple with unusually attractive small, single, white, fragrant flowers and small, bright red fruit. It grows 6-8-feet tall and 15 feet wide. As this specimen shows, it's also beautiful when espaliered |
 | 'Zuni' Crape Myrtle
The 'Zuni' Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica 'Zuni') brings clouds of unusually lovely lavender blossoms to the landscape from July to September. A vigorous plant, if left unpruned it can reach 11 feet in height and spread. If cut back to 8 inches in winter, it will grow to about 4 feet tall the next year. 'Zuni' is also known for excellent mildew resistance. |
 | 'Royal Star' magnolia
'Royal Star' Magnolia (Magnolia stellata 'Royal Star') has large white, fragrant star-like blooms in early spring. It grows as a multibranched shrub if left alone, but also with judicious pruning can be trained as a tree. It grows 15-20 feet tall and 12 feet wide and is especially reliable in areas with late frosts. |
 | Ready Redbuds
The Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is familiar to virtually all Missourians for its early spring presence. A superb understory tree, it brightens yards and gardens throughout the Ozarks. These superbly healthy specimens are nicely wrapped and ready to go to their new homes.
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 | Northern Sea Oats
One of the most beautiful of ornamental grasses, Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) can thrive in full sun, part shade, or total shade. It grows 2-3 feet tall and 2 feet wide in fertile, well-drained soil. Gardeners love its slender, arching habit, bamboo-like foliage, and, especially, its showy flowers, which make it absolutely superb in dried arrangements. To see the flowers, click here. |
 | Golden Japanese Forest Grass
With its brilliant yellow leaves with thin green stripes, Golden Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola') is a gorgeous groundcover perfect for shady areas. It grows slowly to 18 inches tall and as wide and does best with partial sun. It's an excellent focal point in the garden and thrives in containers as well.
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 | 'Fanfare' Gallardia
The 'Fanfare' Gaillardia (Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Fanfare') is an extremely happy accident. Originating as a chance seedling, this perennial from spring to fall bears an enormous number of gorgeous flowers with fluted yellow-and-red petals and dark red centers. Given full sun, it forms a compact mound 14 inches high and 18 inches wide--perfect for beds, borders, and containers. Each plant can have as many as 100 flowers. Oh, and like all Gaillardias, it's also known as Indian Blanket Flower.
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 | A sea of fall color
Autumn at the nursery marks the appearance of an extraordinary collection of colorful mums. |
 | 'Hannah' Mums
'Hannah' is one of the most engaging orange mums for the garden, and one of the first varieties to flower in the fall. 'Hannah' and the next three mums are varieties produced by the Yoder company headquartered in Iowa, said to be the largest mum grower in the world. |
 | 'Hot Salsa' Mums
'Hot Salsa' mums bear a profusion of large, 2-inch-diameter daisy-like flowers on neat, compact plants. An eyecatcher. |
 | 'Bravo' Mums
It's intensely red blossoms with raised centers have made 'Bravo' a favorite garden mum throughout the world. |
 | 'Cupido Pink' Mums
'Cupido' pink mums are an early flowering variety that bears exquisite shell-pink flowers with a hint of lavender. |
 | 'Celeste' Aster
The 'Celeste' aster (Aster novi-belgii 'Celeste') features blue-violet rays and yellow center disks. It needs full sun and grows to 2 1/2 feet tall and as wide, blooming profusely in August and September. |
 | 'Puff' Aster
The 'Puff' aster (Aster novi-belgii 'Puff') is a real charmer, bearing a profusion of small, extra-neat white blossoms with yellow centers. Like all asters, it needs full sun and must have soil with good drainage. A standout in the garden. |
 | 'Purple Viking' Aster
The 'Purple Viking' Aster (Aster novi-belgii 'Purple Viking') is a darker purple than 'Celeste' and also an early bloomer. Very striking in the garden.
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 | Nymphaea Pink Waterlily
Wickman's also carries some beautiful water plants. This is one of several pink waterlily varieties that go by the name "Nymphaea Pink Waterlily," Nymphaea being the genus name. We don't know the varietal name of this one, but we do know that it most likely favors neutral-to-alkaline pH water and andshould be planted in May to late June in the Ozarks..
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 | Nymphaea 'Marliacea Chromatella'
Nymphaea 'Marliacea Chromatella' is a hardy waterlily that does beautifully in full sun to part shade. Easy to grow, it has notched light olive-green leaves and from June to September bears showy pale-yellow flowers with deeper yellow centers. Each flower lasts about five days, and one plant can grow to cover an area 6 feet.in diameter.
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