Spring Has Sprung with home.grown. Floral
We’re proud to partner with local greenhouses to bring you quality, fresh floral. This spring, decorate your home with the best our region has to offer!
Casertano's Greenhouse and Farm - Cheshire, CT
If you ever find yourself in the state of Connecticut, you may stumble upon the multi-generational Casertano’s Greenhouse and Farm. Originally founded by Presco (Louie) Casertano, this family owned business has been passed down through the decades creating a successful and well-loved name for itself. Deeply rooted in family values and wonderful products, Casertano’s feels immense pride for their wide selection of plants and greenery. What started as a humble farm market, has grown tenfold in the last few decades as the Casertano team has, collectively, over 400 years of nursery and greenhouse experience.
The Casertano family has dedicated their lives’ work to creating a workplace that will allow their greenery to flourish, while gaining experience from across the globe. This thriving New England farm has undergone several transformations, while actively diversifying its offerings. What started as a veggies and flowers market has now encompassed various gardening realms such as ground covers, perennials, grasses, annuals, wreaths, roping, and an extensive selection of embellished Christmas products.
Kurt Weiss Greenhouses Inc. - Moriches, NY
Nestled in the beautiful state of New York the multi-generational Kurt Weiss Greenhouses have grown highly successful for their tightly knit family values and beautiful greenery and flowers. Originally created by German immigrant, Otto Muller, Kurt Weiss Greenhouses have trickled through the care of various generations in his family. The entire operation is now run by third, fourth and fifth generation family members and continues to power on strong!
What started out as a humble florist shop, has now developed into a multi-faceted greenhouse that offers “foliage, flowering potted plants, bedding plants, perennials, annuals, mixed combination planters and much more.” Through the decades, the Kurt Weiss Greenhouses have seen different phases of optimization, and now ranges over one million square feet and has beautiful, updated facilities to aid each location’s differing geographical diversities.
How To Make An Easy, Yet Impressive, Gingerbread House
Houses come in many shapes and sizes, but only one features frosting, cookies and candy – the gingerbread house! While spending more time at home this holiday season, making gingerbread houses provides priceless memories. For hands-on holiday fun, gather the family to draw up blueprints, then construct the best gingerbread houses on the block!
Use the tips below to create eye-catching holiday masterpieces and enter them into our gingerbread house contest!
The Flavorful Foundation
Homemade gingerbread fills the kitchen with fragrant aromas and is a snap to bake! To make the dough:
- Gather the ingredients and amounts needed based on the recipe you’re following. Typical ingredients include brown sugar, all-purpose flour, eggs, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, ground nutmeg and molasses.
- Roll the dough into discs, then refrigerate overnight.
- Use house-shaped cutters or look online for foolproof patterns of proportional house pieces.
- Cut out the structure, bake and cool completely.
Building and decorating work best if you bake the dough one day, then assemble the next. If you don’t have time to bake homemade gingerbread, your family can still enjoy this timeless tradition using gingerbread kits or graham crackers. Constructing gingerbread houses, whether scratch-made or store-bought, is guaranteed family fun!
Endless Possibilities for Décor
When building your house, you don’t want it to crumble or tumble. Royal icing is strong, reliable and will hold everything together. Use white royal icing to assemble your house and give it a stunning snow-covered look, or mix it with food coloring for a pop of color!
Next, let your imagination run wild! Decorate your house with sweets such as licorice, jellybeans, gumdrops, colored chocolates, bite-size cookies, miniature marshmallows, candy canes and peppermint candies. Add windows with icing, make wreaths out of chocolates or create a gumdrop path! Browse examples of designs to inspire your own unique creation.
Building gingerbread houses fosters creativity, with everyone on the construction crew contributing fun ideas for creating your holiday masterpiece. Find more holiday recipes and activity ideas at pricechopperready.com!
Shop Gingerbread House Essentials
Check out last year’s winners!