Talk of the town

Photos courtesy of Hafner’s Greenhouse

The season may be short in northern Minnesota, but growers make up for it by going all out with gorgeous plantings that transform small towns into vibrant summer tourist destinations. For years, we’ve been hearing about the amazing petunia plantings by Hafner’s Greenhouse in Park Rapids. The grower-retailer provides beautification services and even decorates the local competition, Ace Hardware. People who purchase plants at Ace learn there’s even more at Hafner’s.

The beautification initiative began 13 years ago with hanging baskets on Highway 34. “It got bigger from there, with local businesses buying planters for their storefronts and us continuing to do the plantings down Main Street,” Darin Hafner says. Large displays include the Ace Hardware corner fence, Headwaters Country Club and tall tubes at the Park Rapids Fire Department. Local businesses and individuals donate funds for the hanging baskets because they appreciate the beauty and benefits.

“We consider it a very effective form of advertising. It’s been a great promotion in the way that it just creates talk,” Hafner says. People ask where the petunias came from, and it creates a ripple effect. “Over the last 13 summers, it has made us the talk of the town in the spring, for sure. Plus, everyone from the locals to the tourists love to admit they are from the town with all the flowers.”

Key components

Surfinia petunias have been a mainstay, along with other seed and vegetative petunias. These include classic trailing Surfinia varieties Giant Purple, Giant Blue, Magenta, Wild Plum, Pink Vein and Blue Vein, along with newer varieties to change things up.

The impressive petunia towers at the fire department are created with 4-inch PVC tubing with ¾-inch holes drilled in them. The tubes are stacked, with the bottom ones 4 feet tall and the upper ones 8 and 10 feet tall. This creates flower towers of 12 and 14 feet, all on a pressurized, fertilized line.

For the hanging baskets on Main Street, Hafner uses the 16-inch Weekender from H2O Labor Saver. The larger 23-inch Labor Saver basket is used on Highway 34. “These are definitely a huge secret of success, watering every other day,” Hafner says. “Other than that, it is just keeping a routine, rain or shine. The hanging baskets are all watered every other day. The larger plantings are on automatic drip irrigation.”

Go all in

For a program like this to be successful, it’s best if the grower also maintains the plants. “If you value your name and want the flowers to look great all summer long, just take it on yourself,” Hafner says. “If you rely on others and they forget a day or two, you might end up with your name all over a lot of dead flowers. If something happens to die or start to look not that good, it’s on you and no one else.”

Is the extra work too much for growers to take on? “It doesn’t take anything more than what we do every day inside the greenhouse,” he says. “The difference is that we have literally made our entire town of Park Rapids our very own flower garden.”