March 8, 2024
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!
We rent a small SUV. 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.
January 19, 2024
I used to think that once I put all my plants in the ground, my garden would be done. Nope. I've come to realize it ain’t done and won't be done until I myself am in the ground—like, six feet under. My garden evolves and won't stop evolving because plant offerings in nurseries won't stop evolving. I'm hooked because of my passion (obsession, some would call it) for All Things Plants. AKA, "I've got to have that plant!"
September 8, 2023
Plants are my life. I’m always maintaining, refurbishing, shopping, ripping out, making over, shopping, designing, redesigning, shopping, and installing. When I’m not actively doing any of that, I am thinking about all of that! None of it would matter much though if it weren’t for plants. I mean if life isn’t all about plants and grandkids what’s the point?!
June 30, 2023
Readers, can you believe Driving Miss Viola began 3 years ago this month? That was June 2020 and I'm still here in 2023. (Apparently I have a lot to say!) In this post, I share updates from my garden on a few things I've blogged about over the years. By the way, saying "from my garden" is the same as "from my life." You fellow plant nerds out there know what I mean!
June 2, 2023
Recently AP came to the El Dorado County Master Gardener’s annual plant sale. As Master Gardeners—many of them my Readers—walked past us, I introduced her. You should have seen how they reacted...like AP was some big celebrity. Freakin’ hilarious! One of them (you know who you are) gushed all over her, "You are exactly what I envisioned! All color and sparkles!" I'm telling you, it was as if The Queen had arrived!
January 6, 2023
I call that picture “The Tunnel of Love.” You’ve heard me say “I love all things plants.” Well give me a garden full of plants plus a life full of books, and I am in heaven! It is now January and while many plants are sleeping, let’s grab a gardening book or magazine, do some drooling…and make plans for the New Year.
November 4, 2022
In blog post #49 I was excited to tell you about my new She Shed and about a fabulous lamp post that was to be installed at one of the front corners of the shed. But I could only show you a photo of an upside down nursery pot covering the lamp's installation bolts cemented in place. The lamp post was to be my 2020 birthday present from Mike and, well, it's now 2022 and the lamp post is finally in place. So here's the rest of that story!
July 22, 2022
You’ve all been waiting for the blog post where you would finally get to meet my Nursery Trip Companion and Fellow Plant Adventurer, Aunt Patti—aka AP. Well THIS is that blog post!! But first…some Readers have asked if they could join me on nursery trips. Here’s how I answer them...
April 29, 2022
Aunt Patti and I needed to get away for a weekend nursery shopping trip. But instead of driving the usual rental car or taking her car—which is brand new, except that in choosing it she compromised on trunk space (eyeroll), call her crazy—for this weekend trip we decided to take a different brand new vehicle…
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!
March 8, 2024
January 19, 2024
I used to think that once I put all my plants in the ground, my garden would be done. Nope. I've come to realize it ain’t done and won't be done until I myself am in the ground—like, six feet under. My garden evolves and won't stop evolving because plant offerings in nurseries won't stop evolving. I'm hooked because of my passion (obsession, some would call it) for All Things Plants. AKA, "I've got to have that plant!"
September 8, 2023
Plants are my life. I’m always maintaining, refurbishing, shopping, ripping out, making over, shopping, designing, redesigning, shopping, and installing. When I’m not actively doing any of that, I am thinking about all of that! None of it would matter much though if it weren’t for plants. I mean if life isn’t all about plants and grandkids what’s the point?!
June 30, 2023
Readers, can you believe Driving Miss Viola began 3 years ago this month? That was June 2020 and I'm still here in 2023. (Apparently I have a lot to say!) In this post, I share updates from my garden on a few things I've blogged about over the years. By the way, saying "from my garden" is the same as "from my life." You fellow plant nerds out there know what I mean!
June 2, 2023
Recently AP came to the El Dorado County Master Gardener’s annual plant sale. As Master Gardeners—many of them my Readers—walked past us, I introduced her. You should have seen how they reacted...like AP was some big celebrity. Freakin’ hilarious! One of them (you know who you are) gushed all over her, "You are exactly what I envisioned! All color and sparkles!" I'm telling you, it was as if The Queen had arrived!
January 6, 2023
I call that picture “The Tunnel of Love.” You’ve heard me say “I love all things plants.” Well give me a garden full of plants plus a life full of books, and I am in heaven! It is now January and while many plants are sleeping, let’s grab a gardening book or magazine, do some drooling…and make plans for the New Year.
November 4, 2022
In blog post #49 I was excited to tell you about my new She Shed and about a fabulous lamp post that was to be installed at one of the front corners of the shed. But I could only show you a photo of an upside down nursery pot covering the lamp's installation bolts cemented in place. The lamp post was to be my 2020 birthday present from Mike and, well, it's now 2022 and the lamp post is finally in place. So here's the rest of that story!
July 22, 2022
You’ve all been waiting for the blog post where you would finally get to meet my Nursery Trip Companion and Fellow Plant Adventurer, Aunt Patti—aka AP. Well THIS is that blog post!! But first…some Readers have asked if they could join me on nursery trips. Here’s how I answer them...
April 29, 2022
Aunt Patti and I needed to get away for a weekend nursery shopping trip. But instead of driving the usual rental car or taking her car—which is brand new, except that in choosing it she compromised on trunk space (eyeroll), call her crazy—for this weekend trip we decided to take a different brand new vehicle…