Gardens!

Man, I love Spring. It just reminds me how much I love gardens, trees, and flowers. And that leads to my love of gardening itself! There is nothing like heading to a greenhouse on a bright April morning and taking in everything there is to offer our little backyard. Our yard, thankfully, was a blank slate when we moved in, but we only had time to drop 50 day lilies in the ground before the fall/winter craziness hit. And our lust for everything green and flowering surpasses a few day lilies... :)

But this Spring, watch out! We're planting trees, vines, herbs, vegetables, petunia, impatients, viburnum, lavender, etc...anything I can get my hands on! I've been spending some time at my favorite greenhouses in town, as well, which is the BEST way to spend a beautiful April morning. Here are my favorites:

Above is Oakland Nursery, one of Columbus's largest inner-loop nurseries with the most impressive collection of any type of growing thing imaginable. Prices are a bit higher than what you'd find on the outskirts of town, but they have great end-of-season sales (forsythia is on sale now!).
This one is deMonye's Greenhouse, also a great choice for sheer volume of stuff. DeMonye's has a great collection of potted tropicals and indoor plants, but is known for their seasonal sales, such as their The Wave Petunia sale last weekend. This is the type of petunia that grows like it's on steroids in gardens and baskets everywhere. They had thousands of flats of them in every color imaginable stacked on about a hundred huge carts. I bought 6 or 7 flats and that was MODEST compared to what some people bought.

I have also found that our neighborhood Lowe's has great sales as well, though their selection is more directed to those won over by racks of brightly colored pansies and pre-made baskets (not that there is anything wrong with that!). I have purchased some great lilacs and flowering trees (all on sale RIGHT NOW) to enjoy next year! I have found, even though I am an impatient person in general, I love planting things now in hopes of a beautiful next year! And, though we're enjoying our yard right now, I can't wait to see how it looks in years to come!