A Trip to Griffith’s Greenhouse
There’s a small local greenhouse that I like to go to each spring to get my annuals. I love it because it’s a small family owned greenhouse and Mr Griffith is always there to greet you and help you load your car. I also love that the greenhouse is right behind their house, so you drive past their gardens on your way in.
The main reason I love going is because they always have a great selection of plants that you can’t find at your big box greenhouse. They specialize in annuals with only a few perennials and they are only open spring and summer.
They also cater to people that grow food, so they have tons of edible plants as well as all those annual beneficial plants that you need for around the garden, like nasturtiums, alyssum and marigolds.
You have to get there not too long after they open because if you wait too long all the other locals will buy up all the plants. One year I made the mistake of going too late and the pickings were slim! This year I went right before our last frost (May 15) to make sure I got what I wanted.
I made it home with a whole bunch of plants, some tried and true things I buy each year and a few new and interesting plants to try.
Do you have a special place to buy your spring plants?
Filed under Going Local | Comments (11)
There is a nursery about a mile or so from my home that sells veg and flowering plants grown by all the local farmers here, so it is a great clearing house and I know that my seed starts are all locally grown and tended well too :-) I found it while I was house-hunting last year, and it made me all the more excited to live in this area.
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Here, in Virginia, I frequent a nursery called Thomas Gardens. It’s family run and I am thrilled this year because they have finally gotten on the heirloom bandwagon. However, I miss my favorite nursery back home in PA — Noggle’s, located outside Harrisburg (my hometown). Also family-run, it has successfully existed between two humongous chain nurseries because of the fun, quirky plants she raises!
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I noticed this year at Griffith’s they had more heirlooms than last year. I was happy about that! Not that this will stop me from starting most of my veggies from seed.
to Susy's comment
I did. They closed down last fall. The winter before was the year of high heating prices and they just couldn’t keep going with the high price of oil. No I grow my own. There are a myriad of large and small stores around that sell annuals. I didn’t buy any this year. In a way I’m happy to be growing from seed again, but I miss the ease of just picking up a flat and not having to worry about my babies when I’m not home.
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I was worried this would happen to Griffith’s, last year they had a fire right before they opened and lost a bunch of stuff and a greenhouse. I bought twice as much last year just to help them out. I was happy to see they were back up in full swing this spring.
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My sister Sarah has a place out near her cottage that everyone knows simply as “Mrs. Begley’s.” Even the local nursery sometimes buys plants from her. She has a large sunny field full of stuff and she just pots up volunteers and divisions, selling them in old cans or styrofoam coffee cups. We each have a lovely simple cream-turning-pink chrysanthemum we just call “Mrs. Begley’s mum.” Sometimes when you stop to look over her stuff, she’s also selling jams and pies. We all wish Mrs. Begley a continued long and healthy life.
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That’s great! We have a few small places that sound similar around here, people that sell their extra seedlings & plants in a small shed out by the road. These are the kinds of places I like to go!
to Susy's comment
I start all my own veggies but occassionally will pick up an interesting new item and always buy my annual plants for the decorative containers at Valley Nursery in Poulsbo. It’s a well run, organic, and community spirited place and I like giving them the business. I try to buy supplies from them too where possible (such as their great organic potting soil mix).
to KitsapFG's comment
Looks like a very reasonably price nursery by the posted prices. I started all my veggies and about 80% of my annuals from seed this year. It is just getting to costly in my area at least to purchase annual plants. Next year with a combination of over wintering and seed starting I want to be completely self sufficient. Now perennial on the other hand… It seems I can never buy enough of them :-)
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I find it hard to locate any perennials that I want (or don’t already have) at any local nursery. But, thanks to the internet, I shop at munchkinnursery.com for all of my native woodland plants. Gene Bush sells wonderful plants at reasonable prices and offers a wealth of gardening information to boot.
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