06 Emerisa Gardens Nursery
July 21, 2020
08 Garden Art
August 7, 2020
H eading out from Emerisa Gardens and on to our next adventure, Aunt Patti and I were chit-chatting and, since I'm always driving (whizzing by at top speed), the corner of our eyes barely caught something interesting on the left as we passed. "Was that garden art!?" We whipped around and, sure enough, we came upon awesome Absolute Home & Garden—a garden-art store on-steroids....with plants too!
As you know, we research and prepare an itinerary before these trips, but sometimes our internet searches do not bring up every nursery along our planned route. So it's always a treat to come upon a nursery or garden-art store by surprise. (Or to really put a cherry on the top of a trip—a cupcake store!)
Absolute Home & Garden has my style written all over it—except for the display of gnomes. (You will NEVER see a gnome or a gargoyle in my garden. EVER. Not because I hide them well but because if I don't like them, how can they be good for my garden? Sorry, just not my cup of tea.)
Be a little whimsical in selecting art for your garden. (This is not a gnome.)
Aunt Patti and I wandered through the whole place oohing and aahing over everything and wishing we had brought a U-haul trailer with us! (I’m actually thinking of an RV for our next trip...)
See why I need a U-haul?!
(Notice, of course, the arbor from my friend Noah's company, Artisan Trellis.)
At a nursery, Aunt Patti might sometimes buy 16 plants to my 1, or vice versa. She is a Flower Gal and it makes her happy to cram as much color into her backyard as possible. She has less than an acre and goes for small. Me...I'm a Foliage Gal on 5 acres. I go for U-haul big!
Here's a photo of Patti's backyard...
Plants include:
Alcea rosea ‘Halo Cerise’; Agrostemma githago ‘Milas’;
Clarkia concinna ‘Pink Ribbons’; Pelargonium ‘Cherries Jubilee’;
Dianthus plumarius ‘Rose de Mai’
(FYI, she keeps a spreadsheet of every single plant ever put in her yard!)
Check out this fantastic Mermaid Fountain located right in the middle of the grounds at Absolute Home & Garden.
It should have come home with me, don't you agree? To this day I still think about it. Of course I asked myself "Do I really need it?” and my answer was yes, I did need it. Still need it! But no U-haul. And the price tag...
Still grieving.
If I had this fountain I would install 17 Carex oshimensis Feather Falls around it to soften the concrete basin. It's an evergreen plant with variegated weeping blades and grows 2' wide by 1.5' - 2' tall. Feather Falls is fabulous in a container and will take full sun—unusual for a Carex. And since it is evergreen, literally NO maintenance. It likes moist soil so is perfect around a fountain or bird bath.
Carex oshimensis Feather Falls
In this project, I installed a ledge-stone retaining wall
and placed Carex oshimensis Feather Falls to soften it up.
Verbena ‘Superbena’ gives a pop of color in the bed above it.
In spite of all our oohing and aahing, Aunt Patti and I walked away from Absolute Home & Garden having purchased absolutely nothing! You hear me??? NOTHING! At least we know the place exists and how to get back there without relying on the corners of our eyes. And anyway, buying stuff isn't the main reason I love these nursery trips.
One plant on display there, Trachelospermum asiaticum ‘Summer Sunset,’ I had never seen before. But then it kept popping up at nurseries along our route that year (Santa Rosa to San Francisco, 2014). I didn’t buy it because I prefer solid colors in my clothes and in my plants and 'Summer Sunset' seemed too busy for me. However, I've noticed it has become a regular staple in most nurseries now. I bet it would look beautiful in a container or hanging basket with a Begonia x tuberhybrida ‘Non-Stop Yellow’—or to go really crazy—‘Non-Stop Red’ and perhaps an Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ Black Mondo Grass.
Trachelospermum asiaticum ‘Summer Sunset’
And this, my friends, is why I love nursery trips—to see the up-and-coming, what the best nurseries currently have in stock. Most importantly, I love to discover what's out there that is not usual, not common, not just "more of the same." In fact, the less usual, the more uncommon, the better!
Because I have become a plant snob and am damn proud of it.
Photos courtesy Sheri Lynn Burke. All rights reserved.
