Photos by Lori Adler

While winter still holds its icy grip on the Northwoods, things are heating up at Hanson’s Garden Village in Rhinelander. It’s as if spring has arrived, at least inside the greenhouses.

Fresh plants in the form of plugs and cuttings are arriving daily at Hanson’s, and the crew is hard at work getting everything planted and growing in anticipation of warmer weather. Plants come from all over the world, mainly from warm places with much longer growing seasons than Northern Wisconsin. Though the transport might be a bit shocking for these plants, they soon find their new greenhouse home to be more than satisfactory. The sun is gaining in strength this time of year, and already Hanson’s greenhouses are heating up to a balmy 65 degrees.

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Plants arrive at the greenhouse in the form of plugs (small plants with little roots) or cuttings (slips with no roots at all). These are planted by greenhouse staff and are growing strong before too long. Hanson's also grows plants from seeds, mainly native varieties.

Plants in the greenhouses won’t be ready for the outdoors for several months with Hanson’s anticipating an opening day sometime in late April or early May. However, before that, Hanson’s has several hanging basket classes being scheduled. An early open house is also being planned for sometime in March and will provide visitors with a chance to see what’s new this year. For more information on these and other events at Hanson’s as well as watching for that opening date, visit www.hansonsgardenvillage.com.