Gardening Tidbits

We are blessed to have not one, but two gorgeous plant nurseries in our town. There is nothing more exciting to a gardener than a stroll through the meandering paths of the quaint flower gardens and green houses bursting with color.

Honestly, the plant nursery is one of my weaknesses.  I could spend an outrageous amount of money there.  But, alas, I don't have a large sum of cash lying around, so I go there to dream, to be inspired, to discover new varieties of plants, and to get educated on all vegetative things.

Sometimes I go there to ask a fertilizer question and leave with two flats of flowers.  Sometimes I go there to buy a gift for my mother-in-law and come out with hanging baskets cascading with flowers for both of us. 

They have a secret sales tactic that draws in the children to.  It's really quite ingenious of them. Their secret weapon that attracts kids from miles around: Tortoises.

Yep, they are in greenhouse #2.  I know this because my kids visit them often. 

On the upside, my children never  whine when I tell them we are headed to the plant nursery.  On the downside, every time we go to see the tortoises we end up buying at least $20.00 worth of plants.  It's a brilliant/sinister plan to boost sales.  It's along the same marketing strategy as children begging to go to Mc Donald's for the toy in the Happy Meal.  Marketing is everything.

If you have tortoises, you rule the nursery market.  Oh, and don't get me started about the Koi fish ponds.  Those are the second stop the kids make after seeing the tortoises.  Then they scratch the bellies of the two old yellow labs that you step over to get to the cash register.

Yep, it's a regular petting zoo at the plant nursery. 

Once we make our purchases, we go home and find places to plant them. 

This weekend, I converted one of my flower beds into a mint garden.  5 years ago I planted 1 small bag of daffodils and tulips in that bed.  When I dug them out to transfer them to another location I was pleased to find that over the years they have multiplied to the point that they filled a 5 gallon bucket. I'm excited to see them bloom next spring in a more prominent location. I added a 6th variety of mint to my new  mint garden. It's a variety that my local nursery calls, "The Best Mint".  I just love the stuff.  You can read my "Mad about Mint" post if you'd like to know more about my passion for mint.

Along with my mint purchase, I bought a few varieties of cascading flowers, and can't wait for them to spill over my old whiskey barrel planters when the summer rains start.


Gardening is so much fun!