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.

October 27, 2023

92 Fall Flowers 2023

f the seasons didn’t change, would you get bored with the look of your garden? Probably. We need change! I do my share of digging up and relocating, switching up container plants, hunting for new plants to freshen up a garden’s look. But no gardener comes close to the makeover that nature gives a garden every season.
October 6, 2023

91 Seaside Growers Nursery

Some nurseries have a grand entrance, others just a mediocre one, and some—like Seaside Growers—where you can’t even find an entrance! There was a dirt road we avoided taking because it appeared to belong to a private residence (which it does) but finally we did take it—because no nursery was turning up anywhere we'd already driven too many times.
September 22, 2023

90 Solana Succulents

If you love love love succulents and cacti and want to get poked, prodded and pricked by a thousand spiny things, then Good Lord Almighty, this nursery is for you! The amount of inventory here is overwhelming—AP was beside and beyond herself—though some of it I’m certain has been there since Solana Succulents opened way back in 1992.
September 8, 2023

89 Eleven Plant Stories from My Garden

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?!
August 25, 2023

88 Garden’s By The Sea

We found Garden’s By The Sea tucked behind some buildings off the main road and down a narrow side street. With no clear signs telling you exactly where to turn in, you’ve got to be a good navigator to find it which, in our experience, requires multiple U-turns. And I promise it was NOT my lead foot (in this case) that made us fly by too fast to turn in!
August 11, 2023

87 Succulent Gardens

Succulent Gardens was second on our list. We left our hotel at 7:30am headed for the first nursery on the day's list, Ortegas Nursery. As sometimes happens, we got there and did a drive-by for first impressions and quickly decided...well let’s just say Ortegas turned out to be a “YEAH, NO!” and I immediately made a quick U-turn on a very narrow gravel road to get out of there!
July 28, 2023

86 Pots for More Summer Beauty

Good gawd almighty it is freakin’ HOT!!! If you live in the Sacramento Valley or other sweaty location you know what I’m talking about! So here’s the hot question of the day: in these sizzling temps, how can anything in the garden be looking pretty right now?! As always (no apologies) I’m here for you with answers!
July 14, 2023

85 Yamagami’s Garden Center

You know the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Don’t judge a nursery by its exterior either because you can’t always tell quality—or lack of—from the parking lot. You don’t know what you’re gonna’ find until ya’ go inside. But OH the anticipation as you walk toward that entrance! If you’re a hoper and a dreamer like me and AP, you imagine every so-so nursery entrance hides a paradise of amazing plant discoveries. Well Yamagami’s Garden Center is ALL THAT! One step into their main plant area, and OMG—you know you’re in a BTS nursery (better than sex). What a gem of a place!
June 30, 2023

84 From My Garden, June 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!

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!