FAQ

With having a multitude of suppliers and being open to the wind at our location, pests happen.  One aphid (yes you do not need a male) can produce up to 30,000 offspring in just a few days with the right temperature.  Keeping with the theory that we want to keep healthy to all, bees and people, we rarely spray pests with anything stronger than insecticidal soap.  We control different types of pests with biological controls, beneficial insect – bugs eating bugs.

          Aphids – aphidius

          Spider Mites – Amblyseius

          Mealy bugs – Cryptolaemus

          Fungus gnat  -  Hypoaspis

There are more, but these are a few that we release regularly.  Using this type of system, you do not wait until you see a lot of any one pest, but release consistently to keep the populations up for good control.  There never is a place that there are absolutely no pests, we keep them in checks and balanced in the most natural way possible.  If we do need to use something stronger than insecticidal soap we follow all regulations and never spray Neonicotinoids.

Along with being able to grow a majority of our own products at our  sister greenhouse, Wilsonville Greenhouses, we source 95% of our plants from local growers; the last 5% come mostly from Florida where many tropical plants are grown.  Most of our growers are small to mid-sized family owned companies that pride themselves in their plant production.   Annuals come mostly from the Niagara and Norfolk county area, and our shrubs and trees come mostly from south west Ontario and the Niagara region. 

To help support small growers, and get some of the more unique items, we also buy from the Toronto Food Terminal flower market.  Here we can source many items that larger growers just don’t produce and can usually find different items not always available. 

We do custom planting of pots, terrariums, mixed planters and tropical plants here at the greenhouse.  Each project is cost specific, so please stop in and we can give you an estimate for any project. 

Planting of shrubs, trees, annuals and perennials is available through a contract service we provide.  The costs depend on the size of plant, quantity of plants and delivery area.  We can give you a price and details in store upon request. 

How old are Walter’s Greenhouses cats, Smokey and Thunder?  And do they live there year round?

Smokey came to us the spring of 2007 and was approximately 1 yr old at the time.  Thunder arrived through one of our employees in  2010, he was a stray found on their property. 

Both Smokey and Thunder live here year round and love lots of attention, but also relish their downtime in January and February to recharge their hunting skills and just relax. 

Each plant needs a different amount of water due to the circumstances that they have in their surroundings.  A plant that is in full sun might require twice as much water as one in part-shade, and windy location can cause the plant to need more water as well.  Best way to know how often and how much water to give to a plant is to observe it for a couple of weeks in the location that you put it in.  If you see it wilt, that is a good sign that it needs more water, but be careful, wilting can also signal over watering and cell collapse.  If you are uncertain, a moisture meter will help tell you if it is too dry or too wet.