WOLVERINE — “These are looking great, just beautiful,” Jeff Jakeway said recently on a cool day as he stood surrounded by a profusion of plants in a warm greenhouse.
Jakeway, who with wife Brook owns North Star Gardens, is excited about the hanging baskets, flats and containers that will soon fill the business’ stores in Gaylord, Landscape Center, 1354 E. M-32; Indian River, Garden Center Gifts & Café, 4104 S. Straits Highway; and Wolverine, 7150 Wolverine Road, with colorful blossoms, appealing textures and heady scents.
Jakeway said several greenhouses were erected last fall near the family’s 75-plus-year-old Christmas tree farm in Wolverine to supply North Star’s three retail outlets with fresh, locally grown annuals and perennials.
“We have 17,000 square feet — almost half an acre — under cover,” he said. “We are now growing locally a lot of what is going to Gaylord.
“Our biggest thing is that we have more quality control in-house. When…
