AM Buffalo was live from Lavocat's Family Greenhouse where you can find the perfect gift for mom. Chris Lavocat says he’s been around the greenhouse his whole life and now this is the new location that we built in 2015 and it’s been a dream come true for us.
During the pandemic, Chris says, we had this big open space, and come wintertime we weren’t using it; we called local artisans, crafts and other businesses to sell their products. He says we started off, basically at no charge, just let them come in and it helped us cross market between other businesses, so, we won, they won, and a lot of farmer’s markets were closed down, a lot of events were closed down, so it gave them an outlet to really boost their business as well.
It’s the time of year a lot of people are ready and excited to get into the garden but yet are stilled concerned with the weather. Emily asked Chris what they have set up here that people can take advantage of right now. Chris says hanging baskets are our first rush because you can bring them in easily. You can put them out on nice days and bring them in when the nights are a little cooler. Chris shares that they also have a lot of 4 ½ inch potted annuals and those are great for putting in your container garden and you can bring these in as well. They have some container pots already made up for those who don’t want to make up their own.
Meredith Preve, retail manager, Lavocat’s Family Greenhouse has the step-by-step guide to making a beautiful planter for your mom or yourself. Meredith says the principles are pretty much the same if you are putting a pot together for sun or shade. She like s to start with the pot choice. When picking out a pot you can think about whether or not it has holes in the bottom for drainage.
Meredith says the formula for putting together a pot is to is to go for a thriller for the middle, and that’s usually your tallest plant. After that she like s to pick her fillers and she says this is the category where you’ll pick the most plants that go int your pot and you want to pick ones that don’t get especially tall and this is usually where your flowering friends can come in. The last category is the spiller, and she says that’s the one that is going to trail out of your pot and says there are a lot of choices for that. Meredith says it is a really pretty element as the season goes on; the thriller will get taller, and your spiller will get longer, and it really adds dimension.
When it comes to filling your pot with potting soil, Meredith says I like to think about the size of the pot when I decide how to fill it. Sometimes she says, you’ll see pots, sometimes that are hip high and I wouldn’t fill them entirely with soil or really, rocks because that would make them heavy to move. With the very large pots you can put empty plastic bottles with the cap on, into the pot. It will help with drainage, and it makes it much lighter. For the size of the pot in the demonstration she says you can fill it with soil.
Lavocat’s Family Greenhouse is located at 8441 County Road in East Amherst.
716-741-3976
For more information go to lavocatsnursery.com
