One of my favorite past times during this season is hanging out at specialty plant nurseries. I love strolling through the gardens and checking out the latest plants for my region.

Specialty nurseries are a bit more expensive than the big box stores but they cater to the serious gardener and their plants are unique, well maintained and mostly organic.

I don’t consider myself to be an aficionado on plants but I’ve gained enough knowledge from plant lovers to be dangerous. Most specialty nurseries employee horticulturist to help you create the garden of your dreams. It’s like getting a free education without having to test out of the course.

My previous home had a garden to die for. I had a small garden shed built in the middle of my garden which housed all my gardening supplies. I hired a professional landscape artist to design and prepare the garden for planting then I planted every single backbreaking plant all by my lonesome. I nurtured by babies to create a Better Homes and Garden worthy garden. I wish I had pictures to share but I didn’t have a digital camera back then so all my pictures are hard copy and the negatives are long lost from years of living. Here is an image I found on Pinterest that will give you an idea of what my previous garden looked like.

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I have flower beds around our current home and I recently added these planters for my Patio Herb Garden. I found these planters at my new favorite flea market for $20 bucks for all three. A score for wrought iron planters.

After browsing the nursery and admiring all the beautiful flowers, I remembered why I was there and headed to the herb section to pick out my favorite herbs for cooking, a bag of potting soil and liners for the planters.

I couldn’t leave without some flowers so I added a pot of oxalis and purslane for a pop of color. This painless project took less than 30 minutes and with water and sun, I’ll be pinching off fragrant herbs to add to my dishes without paying the ridiculous prices at the market.

Until next time,

Enjoy!