January 31, 2026
The Giving Season is behind us (whew!), and I have advice for how to give gardening gifts that gardeners might actually want! Because we have enough "I Wet My Plants" mugs already!
I 'm Sheri Burke, plant lover, and let me say that if there is a plant nursery on my daily path of errands, I stop. If there is a nursery on my path to my BFF’s house, I stop. If there is a nursery on my path to visit family, I stop.
This stop-for-every-nursery path of mine led me to the idea of making yearly trips with my Aunt Patti (just as crazy about all things plants as I am) with no objective except to visit nurseries and public gardens. We pick a general destination, let’s say Oregon. We make a list of all the nurseries on our path, depending upon which freeway we decide to travel. And we head out!
I drive, Aunt Patti navigates. And we have a rule: she has her side of the vehicle, I have mine, and the two cannot encroach on the other without paying rent or a free plant. We take food and drink with us because stopping somewhere to eat means less time at a nursery!
Only after we have been thrown out of the last nursery for the day do we start looking for a hotel. Luckily, we have not had to sleep in the car. We love living on the edge. So come along and enjoy with us our journey of plant nursery joy!
First Visit?
JUST A SUGGESTION! Begin with post 01 Dragonfly Farm. Find my archives here.
November 7, 2025
Don’t you just love Fall Days in the garden? I do. When visiting nurseries, no matter the season, I'm always thinking about Fall Color. I try to prioritize purchasing plants that, along with whatever beauty or interest they bring, will also make my fall garden as stunning as in spring and summer. "Fall" with me into a post about color and other fascinating developments in my garden!
September 26, 2025
AP and I visited The Secret Garden on our way home from visiting out-of-town nurseries. We got there late in the day—which explains why it was 105 degrees. (Who in the hell else goes nursery shopping in the late afternoon?!) Due to the heat we did not stay as long as we might have. But we still managed to put a dent in our wallets!
July 25, 2025
In Episode 2 of note-worthy nurseries, I bring you 3 nurseries that AP and I visited on our So Cal trip in 2021. The first nursery is surrounded by ocean breezes, the second feels like it's somebody's backyard, and the third had me expecting a celebrity sighting!
June 9, 2025
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.
April 25, 2025
Even after visiting over 100 nurseries in Oregon, I had never heard of Bauman’s until last year when a fellow master gardener sent me photos from the place. I immediately sent the photos to AP, wanting to know how in the hell we missed this fabulous nursery. Needless to say, we added it to our June 2024 Oregon trip as a “Must Visit!”
February 28, 2025
While I wait for the Spring to finally get here, I’ve been thinking about past landscape projects that, in one way or another, caused ripple effects I’ve had to deal with. Landscape projects involve Live Nature, and you’re responsible for that life. Thing is, life changes, grows, dies off, or evolves, and sometimes makes you crazy and exhausts you with extra work.
January 17, 2025
Between Christmas and New Years, when I’m bored and stuck in the house because it’s raining and I have a cold, what do I do? I count nurseries I’ve visited. Don’t you? Of the 300-plus nurseries I've been to, here's a couple of notable post-worthy ones—though maybe not full-post worthy. Nothing's wrong with sharing the spotlight!
August 30, 2024
My readers know how much I "dig" container gardening. Can't say it enough: I L.O.V.E. POTS! And, omigosh, did I get "pot-lucky" recently when a lovely couple who bought a 30-year-old house wanted me to give the backyard landscape a makeover, saying, "We want pots everywhere."
Sheri Lynn Burke
My journey began as a small child watching and helping my mom in the garden. Years later, I bought a home, had those kids, had an ugly landscape and thought, "I can do better." So for the next 10 years, thousands (and thousands) of dollars went to plants. But I became a serial killer as 80% of them died. "Screw this!" I said. I had an eye for design but didn't know how to keep the damn plants alive! I procrastinated for 5 years ('cuz I wanted more death) and then became a certified Master Gardener. Four years and three pieces of paper later, I got a Horticulture degree. No longer a serial killer, I'm now a landscape designer and contractor with my own business. I had to train this green thumb that I got from my mother. But, Mom, I owe it all to you!
September 17, 2021
I rate Half Moon Bay's Alena Jean's Nursery in my TOP 5 charming boutique-ish-style nurseries of all time. You never know what treasures you are gonna' find there!!! Owner, Alena Jean, stocks only 1 or 2 of each plant which 1) allows great variety in a small space and 2) keeps you meandering through, wanting to see everything as you pass the rustic barn (main shop) and into a beautiful and eclectic yard. The whole place is put together by Alena Jean and most likely her landscape designer dad whose taste for the unique and colorful is so...up...my...alley!
September 3, 2021
Green Thumb is a chain of SoCal nurseries which I give high ratings to for living up to their name—their plants are always very very healthy! If I were based in SoCal, I would absolutely purchase all my plants there, and for my customers as well. Green Thumb does line their plants up in rows which creates ZERO wow factor. But for a nursery on the scale of ("Super Garden Center!") Green Thumb, I let it pass.