Plant Delights Nursery a Memorable Morning

Plant Delights Nursery which usually does its business by mail order was open on May 10, 2008 for one of its open weekends. This year they have eight such days when the public is invited to get a glimpse into the wonder of this thriving nursery.

The next open weekends are in July and September of 2008.

The nursery portion of the gardens is primarily large, well organized greenhouses organized by plant type; at least the greenhouses that are part of the nursery open house.

While the open house was going on many more greenhouses were cordoned off to permit the nursery staff the freedom to continue the business cycle.

This nursery provides primarily garden plants that would be used in landscape and ornamentation. I saw neither vegetables nor trees on display as part of Plant Delights display.

As a first time visitor to the nursery I just headed into the green houses without starting at the intended starting place. I am sure the attendants would have guided me to the place where the nursery staff was greeting visitors but the flow of traffic was constant and I tend to wander when not constantly watched. My grandson and I have a lot in common.

I went directly into a green house full of hosta. Imagine my surprise when I found out that they have at more than sixty different types of hosta; possibly twice that number. The greenhouse was a riot of color, filled with purples, reds, blues, greens, whites, yellows, and a multitude of variegated plants. Though the hostas were not at a flowering stage, I understand that the variety in flowers would have added to the display of color.

A dedicated gardener could easily have spent hours in this greenhouse alone. But there is so much more. The greenhouses open to the public are just a small subset of the facilities at the nursery.

Each greenhouse was lined with flowers and plantings from end to end. Most of the displays were only one or a few plants wide. This made room for a bewildering number of plants in each row and each greenhouse.

Each plant was well marked with a sign that provided basic information on hardiness; zone; height and sun/shade preference.

Most of the plants were in an earlier stage of development than one sees in the standard garden outlet. The plants appeared to be in exceptionally good condition.

Just strolling through the nursery portion of the open house could easily take several hours. The variety and uniqueness of many plant species would take the dedicated gardener that much time to digest the information about the plants.

Had I entered through the staff's start point I would have received a nice map that shows the greenhouses and the surrounding botanical gardening. Like most things those of us that wander do, this was the last thing I did. I was quite pleased how easily I had found everything in the nursery without the map.

The staff had done a first class job of organizing to handle the crowd. The plant rows were neat, clean and complete. Box tops and wagons were well positioned making life easy for those who chose to shop. The staff was ready and attentive to people with questions or concerns.

The check out process was a little more complex than a regular garden store. The plants have individual numbers that the nursery needs to track to know how much inventory is in place. Once the coding was done the customers took the sheets to the cashier to check out. This practice is pretty common in larger garden centers so most customers were familiar with it.

In addition to the nursery the owners had a few invited vendors. One, Erin Weston is the founder of Weston Farms. She had a number of unusual trees on display that she had brought from the farm. She spoke proudly of her father, Noel Weston, during our brief meeting. Noel is the founder of the National Hemerocalis Display Garden at Jaycee Park that I wrote about in 2007. It should be in full bloom just about now.

They also had artists who offered cutting boards made with fine photographs and large metal garden flowers. The clear cutting boards when placed in a frame with no backing made stunning garden art in the morning sun.

This was one of the most delightful and well organized nurseries I have visited. Whether you wish to purchase first quality plants or just take in the selection this is the perfect place for any serious gardener to visit.