My kind of shopping...

Happy Sunday and welcome to my gardening weekend! The weather has been perfect, though the air is loaded with pine pollen. Keep the allergy pills coming!

Some women love pretty shoes, and others crave stocking their closets with designer purses. Many love fine clothes, fancy fingernails, and beautifully styled hair. Maybe that was me when I was part of my other life in the corporate world. No more. Instead, give me a comfortable pair of tennis shoes, one practical purse that is big enough to house my camera or iPad and doesn't need to be "changed out" every day, tee shirts and jeans, garden dirt under my fingernails, and hair tied back under a baseball cap. Which is not to say that I don't "clean up" pretty well when I need to. But there is nothing like dressing the part for communing with nature out in the garden, hearing the birds sing, and watching the butterflies landing on the purple verbena as I plant them.

You can have the department stores if that is your thing. What makes my heart sing at this time of the year is browsing around in a beautiful garden center, and we did just that yesterday. Below are some pictures of the place that we go to, sometimes more than once a week. It is the kind of place where everyone knows you, the employees are very knowledgeable, and you get mostly local stuff that is sure to grow. I think that just about everything is started from seedlings right there. You should see it during the Christmas season when they have rows and rows of Poinsettias in all different colors!

The owner, Chris, and his staff are fine landscapers, and have done much of the work at our house, including putting in the beautiful fescue lawn. Chris started this business with one little used greenhouse when he was a kid, and built it up to what it is today. (Note: Because we live within a small farming community, we try to support the small local businesses whenever possible.)

Come take a tour with me (unless you prefer to go to Macy's!).

Come on in...

Beautiful fountains and birdbaths...

The shade-lovers' area...

Beautiful statuary and pots tucked in everywhere...

Gorgeous hanging pots...

Beautiful geraniums, from light pink...

...to deep pink...

...and red.

Beautiful blooming flowers everywhere...

And while I took the photos,

Mr. Perch was patiently waiting outside...

Oops, let's not forget what we really went there for...

...ten more bales of pine straw.

The fifty bales we already put down in the beds

were not enough!

By the way, the "welcome" basket shown in the first picture of this post was made by John, one of Chris' staff. Wow! Thanks John. 

On my next post I'll share some photos of what I did when we got home yesterday. Thanks for stopping by!