Beginning April 1st
Mon - Sat - 9:00am-5:00pm
Sun - 10:00am -5:00pm
" Welcome to Ballantyne Gardens. We are a boutique garden center and landscape design and build firm. Our organic approach to home, lawn, and garden has been the hallmark of our business since we established in 1997. In 2012 our company is 15 years old, something we are very proud of. Our philosophy is that gardening, landscaping and horticulture is an important part of life. We strive to create and help our clients create and maintain beautiful spaces that enhance your life and the world around you. From sweeping landscapes, to raised bed veggie garden, to table top terrarium gardens we help all our clients attain, create, and grow nature. All with a guiding hand from Ballantyne Gardens. Our nursery's natural park-like setting provides a peaceful and calming shopping experience. Our on-staff animal companions (Lily-the terrier mix, Douglas Fir-our loveable fat cat, and our laying hens-some with names, some not) provide the entertainment, and are lots of fun for kids of all ages to see, pet, and feed.
Part of our mission is to educate people on how to best care for the fabulous plants we provide. We make sure all your questions are answered before you leave us. We help you build good, healthy soil and plant in the right place, at the right time, in the right way. You'll be well on a path to horticultural success before you even begin to dig. No matter what the project- making a hanging basket garden, a summer perennial border, a coffee table dish garden, a party planter or any one a hundred other growing projects, you can do it with confidence when you shop with us."
In The Nursery 
Our nursery is a kaliedoscope of choices and colors. In Spring and Summer our plants are bursting with beauty and ready to be planted in the landscape. Unlike many garden centers that start-up in Spring, we maintain our nursery from April until the end of Fall- planting in November. We care for our plants like no other garden center. Our plants are handled carefully and placed in appropriate light and water conditions. Our display areas are not covered with hot tarvia that can burn the roots on hot Summer days. Our plants are cushioned on a soft, moist bed of wood mulch. We water our plants every day as needed and fertilize them regularly. When cleaning and pruning are necessary we bust out the tools and get to work. Our horticultural experts know what our plants need to stay healthy and happy until they find their permanent home in our clients' yards.
Bring a little bit of nature indoors with a cool terrarium.
They are low-maintenance and beautiful. They are great for offices, homes and class-rooms. See our "events" page for listing of future classes to build your own, or stop-in to pick up a ready-made terrarium today. Groups are welcome to schedule a terrarium building workshop
The latest and most exciting trend we are seeing in the garden center today is terrariums and miniature gardening. With a decline in children and adults spending quality time outside in nature, people are bringing nature indoors. Terrariums take very little care by design. They practically water themselves! Terrariums take up very little indoor space. In a terrarium you can create a little world or scene with simple props. Each terrarium is a small piece of art and nature together, that reflects it's creator's hobbies and dreams.
Unlike terrariums, miniature gardening happens outside, but still in a small, easy to manage space. Many of our clients make fairy and gnome gardens with miniature plants that are smaller versions of the bigger plants. They add stone pathways, tiny arbors, figurines, you name it. With a little imagination you can make a beautiful tiny world. Out railroad gardening friends were some of the first people we had buying dwarf plants like creeping thyme and Irish moss, along with dwarf evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. Their small scale worlds transport us to another time and place.
Our Delaware hens are just a hoot.
We love having the "girls" around the garden center. They keep the bugs to a minimum. We haven't seen many slugs since the girls came to town. It is said they will wipe-out the local tick population which seems to be true. Our Terrier mix, Lily, didn't have one tick last year (thank goodness, those things are gross!). Our girls lay eggs all year except late fall and winter. We have one hen that is not a Delaware. Her name is Rosey and she is a Polish hen. Her feathers are black and white specled and she wears a "hat" of feathers on her head. You must come and see her! People ask what will we do when they get old and stop laying. Well, we will enjoy them just as they are and let them live out their days. They have become part of the family. Their favorite treat is mealworms. We buy them dried, not alive (too squiggly). When we shake the mealworm bucket the girls comes running, so does Lily, who loves them too and will sit quietly for a treat of mealworms.
Going Organic is a way of life.
A new set of catch phrases has emerged with the recent movement toward “green” living. It is now hip to be “Going Green”. Environmental sustainability, recycling, reusing, and reducing are the words of the day. With luck, this time it will stick. These ideas are not new. I am sure some of us remember that American Indian shedding tears on the banks of a polluted waterway? That old public service commercial, urging us not to pollute, rings truer today than ever.
In the gardening world the big deal is going organic. In this modern day filled with fungicides, herbicides and insecticides organics seem like a complicated and new fangled idea. On the contrary, prior to the dawning of DDT, organics were the only way to garden. It is still possible to find a person today who could speak firsthand about an ancient way of life, where recycling meant using the horse manure in the vegetable garden. It was a time when good crop management practices kept garden pests at a minimum. Chickens in the garden fed on tomato hornworms and cabbage loopers. Nothing was wasted. Even egg shells and coffee grounds were reused as compost.
Organic principles are a way of life. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Start a compost pile. There are many different ways to compost, there is one to suit every kind of gardener. Even if you don’t garden, your compost might be a valuable gift to a neighbor or family member. Compost is a valuable and important source of fertilizer and soil amendment.
Walk your yard and garden every day. Take a few minutes each day to do an inspection. Many pest and disease problems can be nipped in the bud without pesticides if they are identified early. Get down at plant level and pay attention. It’s good for both you and your plants.
Learn the difference between good bugs and bad bugs. It is never a good idea to just kill every bug you see. You could be wiping out a predatory insect that is working on your side. Know your enemy; you will be a more effective general.
Choose your plants and their placement wisely. Perhaps the simplest idea yet is to put the right plant in the right place. Gardening and landscaping with plants suitable for your conditions will prevent a great deal of problems. Try working with Mother Nature, not against her.
Think about children and pets. Don’t apply anything to your yard, lawn, or garden that you wouldn’t want your kids or pets to come in contact with. Carefully weigh your priorities and look for less toxic solutions to your yard and garden needs. There is almost always a cleaner, greener, healthier way.
Lisa Ballantyne
Owner-Ballantyne Gardens
Horticulturist
Member-Garden Writers Association
Past President-CNY Nursery and Landscape Association
Master Gardener
