There Should Be More Places Like This
We got back from the Garden Bloggers’ Fling last night, and found that our own garden has been progressing at breakneck speed: flowers blooming, buds swelling, vines twining, berries ripening, seeds sprouting. I’ll post about these developments shortly, as soon as Judy is able to get out with her camera and take some pictures.
In the meantime, I really have to mention that the organizers of the 2013 Fling did an outstanding job, particularly Kelly Kilpatrick and Andrea Fox. Remarkable that such a quality event was organized entirely by volunteer labor.
For now I’m going to post about another highlight of the Fling: a visit to Annie’s Annuals and Perennials. Annie’s is a grower and seller of herbaceous garden plants, and I have to say I wish there were more nurseries and garden centers like them.
For starters, the wide selection of plants. Wandering the aisles of Annie’s is like going on a plant-finding expedition in a new country. They have standard favorites, sure. But they also have many lots of unusual California natives, heirloom, and cottage garden plants.
Plus, Annie’s has a real focus on offering good quality plants without marketing gimmicks. For example, Annie’s founder Annie Hayes explained to us that she does not use growth regulators. Growth regulators can induce early blooming – they are the reason you see so many plants at the Home Depot in flower weeks or even months before the normal bloom period. The reason: flowering plants sell, especially to inexperienced gardeners.
But that early flowering can mean that the overall plant is actually weaker and will not perform as well once in the ground. Annie Hayes told us that if you find flowering plants for sale at Annie’s, it probably means they planted too many of them. They aim to sell plants that are healthy and ready to put down roots in customers’ flower beds.
This doesn’t mean, though, that there is a lack of color at Annie’s. There are all kinds of blooming flowers in displays throughout the center.
Annie’s is a no frills operation. Located where land was cheaper, in an economically struggling area, it has been referred to as “the garden in the hood”. The bathrooms are port-o-potties. No cappuccino is available. And while they do have some interesting garden art for sale, there is a general shortage of cutesy stuff.
Annie’s has a mail order operation as well as a retail center. If you live in California or a California-type climate, you might want to check out their website.
As for me, it is probably good that Annie’s does not have a branch in Chicago. I spend enough money on the garden as it is.
gardeninacity 
I can’t believe I’ve never paid them a visit considering I go to SF quite frequently. Shame on me he he he! Im reminding myself of an Egyptian friend of mine who went to Egypt every summer but had never gone to the pyramids.. or am I being too dramatic? Thanks for the report 🙂
Speaking for myself, Annie’s is a lot more fun than a pyramid! Regardless, you definitely have to make time to go there on your next trip to the Bay Area.
I love Annie’s so much! I’m so glad you got to visit.
Me too! It is a real west coast gardening institution, and I mean that in a good way.
It was a treat to visit Annie’s this past weekend, and a pleasure to meet you and Judy, Jason. And now that I’ve sussed out this Word Press thing, you may be hearing from me a little more regularly!
Great to meet you as well, Jane, and glad you were able to outfox the wily wordpress.
Seems like a really nice garden center. Looking forward to seeing the progression in your own garden.
It was a really fun visit. I’m really itching to get pictures of my new blooms up on the blog, maybe tomorrow!
This Annie’s looks a little zany with those bizarre mannequins at the entrance and those Disney-like signs, anyway the place is well known as far as this part of the World, which is rather amazing. Did you buy anything during your visit?
Just say the place has a lot of character – but more important, it has a lot of great plants! We couldn’t really buy anything because we were travelling back by plane.
Annies was inspirational and it is such a pity we dont have such forward thinking garden centres/nurseries here in the UK. Great to meet both of you and putting faces to the blog.
Great to meet you as well. We have some decent nurseries in our area but they do not compare to Annie’s. One reason I buy a lot of plants by mail order.
Growth regulators are common at even small nurseries. One, called B9, (benign) is used to keep mums from blooming too early. When you’re growing 15,000 mums it’s tough to pinch the emerging flower buds from each and every plant, so that’s one example of why these growth regulators were developed.
OK, I can see there are some beneficial uses for growth regulators. But don’t you hate it when you go to Home Depot and the Purple Coneflowers are blooming in April?
Yes. That’s why I don’t buy my plants in lumber yards.
Sounds like you had a wonderful gardening adventure – kind of like a kid going to a candy store. 🙂
Yes, but we couldn’t take any of the candy home (we weren’t going to carry plants on the plane).
I love Annie’s! My annual garden get together was based in Napa in 2010 and we visited many of the fling stops including Annie’s. Three years later and It’s still the only place I’ve ever seen Angelica gigas purpurea for sale. If only we had more nurseries like that around here.
That’s exactly what I thought. We have some decent nurseries, but they don’t really compare.
I love going to nurseries like this!
This one was definitely a lot of fun.
I want that garden in NJ. What a wonderful retreat place it will become then. By the way where do you get information about Garden Bloggers Fling?
http://www.gardenbloggersfling.blogspot.com. Next year will be in Portland OR, but dates have not been set.
Jason, Anny has a reason, the plants have to grow and flower in their time. I sometimes use the growth regulators, when the weather is bad and the plants are weak. It support them and they have less diseases.
Have a nice week!
Thanks for sharing that info, I did not know that.
I loved visiting Annie’s! I order from them often, they do a great job packing and shipping. You managed to get some excellent photos, good post. I enjoyed meeting you and Judy too, and I’m glad you guys had a good time.
Hey, don’t forget to post a link about your trip to Annie’s on the Fling blog, so others can find it.
I did leave a link but it doesn’t seem to be working.
I only recently discovered Annie’s but alas, not in person. It’s on my list! It sounds like the fling was fun. But then, how bad can being in SF really be?
True, it’s hard to have a bad time in SF, but the Fling organizers still did an excellent job.
Thank you for showcasing Annie’s, I love the way you’ve described her philosophy. Always nice to meet a non-gimmicky, honest plant vendor.
What’s more, a plant vendor who really loves plants!
Hi Jason, that sounds like a place I could spent a lot of time and a lot money in, repeatedly. I prefer no-frills nurseries like this to garden centres as the plants tend to be cheaper and there’s more choice.
There were people I met in San Francisco from England who complained that garden centers there tended to be more like genteel cafes.
I agree. I like her gardening philosophy, it is mine also. I buy wholesale from growers so prices seem a bit high to me, but I am rarely in retail nurseries for plants, so I am out of the loop on retail pricing. We do have one here very similar called Lockwood’s Nursery and Greenhouses, but it is a drive for me. They have a local garden writer and expert on staff too. http://www.weknowplants.com/in-the-garden/sally-says/
I have a giveaway coming up on GWGT with items from Lockwood’s. They have so many unique items. http://www.weknowplants.com/
Thanks, I will check them out.
Gardening in the Pacific NW near Puget Sound encourages my tendency toward “zonal denial,” So Annie’s catalog — naturally — is a favorite of mine.
My last order even included some zonal appropriate Auriculas, like ‘Purple Rain,’ propagated by Claire Woods, which is pictured in my post about Primula marginata.
They had a dwarf Verbena bonariensis I really liked, grew to only about 3′ tall.
Verbena bonariensis is a plant I’ve always liked and repeatedly (just a few days ago in fact) forget its name whenever I see it in a garden with it’s tall open habit rising above the other plants. A dwarf cultivar sounds intriguing.
Also in the can’t remember a genus name department: Just today I was weeding the upper, drier parts of my rain garden and admiring the profusion of yellow blooms on three Coreopsis verticillata “Zagreb’ plants. Zagreb is a little shorter and more mounding then other Coreopsis. Of course, it wasn’t until your comment about Verbena bonariensis that “Coreopsis” finally jumped back into my aging brain. 😦
I love Annies and would be glad that it is not any nearer than 3000 miles away. I do find some great plants and seeds there for shipping…
Sure wish we had a place like this in our area. So many of Annie’s plants are not hardy to the SE — and our humidity. I did come home with one goodie. 😉
Hi Jason! I’ve really enjoyed your posts from the fling and just love the fact you’ve visited a garden centre too! I always find time to visit garden centres wherever I am in the world and it makes me happy to think that so many people also get enjoyment from their gardens as much as I do 🙂
Visiting a garden center always gives me more cheerful.