105 The Greenery

The Greenery

742 E Olive Ave, Turlock, CA 95380 • (209) 632-4214

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T he name of the nursery is befitting. It is lined with boxwood and when you arrive, all you see is greenery.

AP and I had been visiting nurseries all along the route to The Greenery, and by now we were starving. So after parking, we sat in the van, ogling what we could see inside the nursery and ate our lunch. The place looked gorgeous and made us so giddy with anticipation, we choked down our food without tasting it.

Lunch gulped, we jumped out and headed through the entrance gate.

As usual, AP went her way—probably to the petunias—and I, the other, which was to the first row of plants in front of me: maples.

They drew my eye because some of them were rare. And unusually—especially for maples—The Greenery offered them in 1-gallon pots.

To save money on plants, my mantra is “buy them small and watch them grow tall!”

I immediately thought, “I need these….” even though I didn’t know where they would go in my landscape. But rare maples in 1-gallons? This was my kind of nursery find!

Then I looked at the prices. One tag after another read $85. Holy crap! Nope!

I read the prices of other plants nearby. OMG they were all expensive! I spent the next hour wandering the aisles, flipping over tags, saying to myself, “Holy crap, these are expensive.” But I found many stunning species of plants I had never seen elsewhere…

Heuchera Snow Angel (Coral Bell)

Dicentra spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’ (Bleeding Heart)

Hosta ‘Lemon Snap’ (Plantain Lily)

But again, holy crap, they’re expensive! I walked away, refusing to buy them.

Then I met up with AP and described them to her, and she wanted to see them. So I took her to see them.

Big, BIG mistake.

Showing them to AP got me thinking (spoiler alert…). The more I thought, the more I knew if I didn’t buy them I’d be tortured by regret.

But I also knew I would regret paying those prices. It had happened to me before where I paid big money for a plant, thinking it was rare and I might never see it anywhere else. Then a few days later, voilà! There it sits in my local nursery at a price far cheaper and I wanted to kick myself in the pants!

Oh well….I decided right then that I’d rather live with money regrets than with plant regrets.

So I bought them. All 3!

Want to know a real kick in the ass? I have paid a lot for a rare plant only to discover I already have it growing in my yard!!! LOL!!!

Which might apply to the “Lemon Snap” Hosta—though I don’t know for sure because I do NOT label plants in my yard. (Who does that?!)

Here’s a pic of the 3 sitting in my growing area, waiting to meet their new neighbors in the yard…

Readers, have you all seen the new petunia that glows in the dark and costs a ridiculous amount of money?

I have, and I must say that, after a little heat from the sun, they look a bit scrappy.

That photo comes from the growers so of course they look beautiful. They ain’t.

One local nursery offers Firefly in a 4-inch pot for $25. But The Greenery offers it at $51. Fifty-one!!!!!!!!!!! “Holy crap, these are expensive.”

Petunia Queen, AP, shockingly did not buy one. Maybe not for the price, but…, “Sheri, do they look a little scrappy to you?” That’s my AP. You can’t spend time around me and not have a little “plant critic” rub off on you!

In spite of the prices, we both really enjoyed our visit to The Greenery. The place is beautifully well done. And the container displays! OMG, take a look…

Give me a begonia any time and I’ll be feeling plantastic for weeks! Especially if it comes in these foliage colors….

Over the years, I have ignored my begonias growing in pots—even forgotten about them until they appear in late spring. It is so damn hot here, it’s a miracle any of them have survived.

Readers, if you’re like me and need some absolutely stunning begonias to be happy in life, go to Half Moon Bay Nursery (Blog 78). Just sayin.

I came across this assortment of pots years ago at a nursery…