My absolute favorite mail order plant place in the world is Plant Delights Nursery. I love that they offer unusual plants. I love that they help me push the limits of what kinds of tropicals I can grow in my yard. I even love their catalog. The descriptions of the plants are full of humor.
The nursery is located in North Carolina, just south of Raleigh. Ever since I found out they have open house weekends, I have always wanted to visit. But the open houses are only on a few select weekends, and I would either forget to check when, or I wouldn’t be available. This year was the magical year when I remembered to see when it was AND I was available for a visit. I’ve been planning my visit for weeks. And it has now come to pass. I went down Friday night and came back yesterday.
I got Denis to come with me, so I had an extra driver. We stayed in Raleigh at a nice Holiday Inn (thank you, Priceline). In the morning we ate at Perkins. Since there is no Perkins in Baltimore, I was really excited to order biscuits and gravy, because in college I got Perkins biscuits and gravy all the time. Unfortunately, the biscuits and gravy were a big disappointment. And to add insult to injury, I had to leave my gun in the car!
Plant Delights Nursery was only about thirty minutes away from the Holiday Inn. The gardens on the property are called Juniper Level Botanic Gardens. They were AMAZING! The gardens are divided into zones and contain all the plants available in the PDN catalog. Little white tags in the ground identify each plant.
The Bog Garden
The Southwest Garden
Who is that over my shoulder in the picture above? It’s Tony Avent, the owner! He’s a rockstar in the gardening world. I went over to talk to him. I was totally starstruck, so I was grinning and stammering the whole time. He asked me about my garden. I told him I was trying to grow tropicals, including palm trees. He seemed a little surprised they grew in Baltimore. I walked away quickly, before I passed out from not exhaling.
But not before I got a picture with him:
Talking with Tony was the absolute highlight of my trip. But of course I got some plants while I was there. I got another “Miss Huff” lantana – gorgeous flowers, and the promise of winter hardiness. I also got some venus flytraps for my bog garden, a flowering maple, some purple oxalis (clover shamrock) for my shade, and a hardy viburnum (something new for me). I also got a new palm tree to replace one that didn’t make it through this past winter. I’ll protect this one a little better.
This trip was AWESOME! It totally made up for the fact that I didn’t go anywhere for Spring Break. I definitely want to do more nursery visits in the future.
On the way home, we crossed over the Ni River. We did not, however see any knights.
I agree – the path to and from North Carolina is gorgeous. Thurman and I took that pilgrimage annually for many years when we had our XS business, as the annual trade show was always (at that time) in Charlotte. We looked forward to the scattered Aunt Sarah’s Pancake Houses along the route (not for the biscuits and gravy necessarily, though the Thurmanator did occasionally order and seem to enjoy them). The wooded areas alongside the Interstate were always so serene…’cept for that one tornado that followed the Interstate while we were on it and due to all the trees along the side of the road we were never sure how close it was to us (“Dear, should be be pulling over and heading for a ditch now?”). Glad you got to go to your nursery, Brad, despite the need to leave any WMD in your truck while your shopped.
I love oxalis, only we call them shamrocks. My mom has one from her mom, who got it from her dad, so it’s really old! I had part of it too, until I put it on the front porch for summer and squirrels dug out the bulbs. Stupid squirrels.
Hooray for Brad’s Day of Fun! I cracked up that you got a picture with him – you rock! Keep cultivating that relationship so you can work there someday, and we can get our picture taken with you.
Great gardening humor there, Lauren…………..”cultivating”………….good one, gal!
So…are you going to look for a “Slave of the Goddess Flora” t-shirt, too?
Yay for an exciting trip — & beautiful pictures!! And congratulations on your brush with greatness!
But why no picture of the plants you bought? Can we see them?
Ni ni ni ni ….
Perkins is really only at it’s finest around 1:30am, perhaps you were just too early, um er, late?
We had a disappointment at a Perkins recently, too. Maybe it’s that the Perkins out here have gone downhill.