Greenscape Gardens, part 2

Yesterday I started showing you my current favorite nursery: Greenscape Gardens. I left off at the extensive native plant area at the back of the greenhouses.

Today I start where I left off, entering the greenhouse from the back with the native plants behind me.

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This is where lots of tropical and annuals are housed, as you can probably tell:

I do poke around in here once in a while, but since I'm more of a cold-hardy plant person and already have "too many" tropicals to overwinter indoors, I don't like to tempt myself.

Hanging baskets sure are popular in St. Louis -- every nursery carries so many!

Moving into the front greenhouse -- the "store" where I first entered -- you see a bit of everything...

...houseplants, seeds, bulbs...

...tender succulents...

...Tillandsia (air plants)...

...some decor, and more...

As I think I've said before, I don't spend too much time in here during the growing season, but everybody has to pass through it because this is where you pay for your plants.

The variegated gingers give me a hint of what's outside this door...

...more tropicals and annuals!

Some interesting planters, but not in my budget -- much of this sort of thing is priced for those with more disposable income than I have I think.

Remember this tree fern that spent the winter in the greenhouse? I don't think it's going to fit in there again this year!

Colorful containers mixed around in this area:

In another few weeks there will probably be loads of Colocasia (elephant ears) out here, but right now it's a mix of plants that you'd need to treat as expensive annuals unless you have a nice sunroom or conservatory for overwintering. Why are there so many lemon trees?

I was more interested in the cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) that's in the ditch behind those lemons:

They are what inspired me to grow this native plant -- so impressive!

Turning back the other direction...

...more bedding annuals. I almost always walk past these, as they don't excite me.

There's sometimes interesting stuff mixed in so I take a brief look...

...but I'm usually headed for what's behind these...

...the edibles and more importantly the herbs!

I love growing herbs...

...especially when they're grown locally (pretty much), about 50 miles away.

Locally-grown edibles are back here too...

...including fruit trees...

...and fruiting shrubs:

I don't remember the selection being this large last year, but perhaps I just wasn't paying attention.

One thing that is new though...

...is this demonstration area. Several raised planting beds showing some permaculture techniques I believe, as well as some other ideas like an herb spiral:

There were birds in at least some of these houses...


One thing that's nice about Greenscape: once you load up your cart and pay, you're given the opportunity to take home a free plant!

Last year it was milkweed species for the monarchs (I got few of those), and this year it's pollinator plants. I earlier got a Penstemon, and on this visit it's slender mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium).

So even if you don't purchase a native plant, Greenscape is almost guaranteeing that you'll leave with one. Nice!


Since I did purchase some natives, I wanted to point out something: the "plug" natives don't have any tags or stickers on the individual cells, so unless you're buying a whole flat you need to take some notes. Luckily I noticed this and took some photos of what I chose:

Despite the fact that deer love Liatris species, I keep planting more and more of it each year. I guess I'm hoping that some of them will eventually escape the browsers' notice.


So that concludes my look at Greenscape Gardens. Great selection of perennials, very impressive native plant area including shrubs and trees, very large herb section, more annuals and tropicals than you'll ever need (well, more than I'll ever need at least), all very well organized. Prices are a bit higher than other places I feel, but perhaps that's a general trend in the industry at least in the St. Louis area? I'll check nurseries in other parts of the region to see if that's consistent.

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