Plant Delights - Delightful Indeed

Rarely does one have the opportunity to see a truly magnificent botanic garden, and at the same shop at an amazing nursery with spectacular plants. At Plant Delights, such is the case.

The Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Surrounding the greenhouses and shipping facilities of Plant Delights Nursery is the Juniper Level Botanic Garden, which was started in 1988 by Tony and Michelle Avent. The feature areas of the garden include a woodland garden, a bog garden, several rock gardens, a southwest garden, a hardy tropical garden, a sunken garden, and several perennial and mixed borders. Covering over 6 acres, the plantings are truly magnificent, combining colors and leaf textures like perfect wine pairings at a 5 star restaurant.

One of my favorite areas is the terrace adjoining Michelle and Tony's residence, which has pots of rare and unusual agaves, yuccas and succulents. Ever experimenting with new varieties, Tony says some of plants found in garden are being tested, with a few eventually making their way to the production greenhouses at Plants Delight.

The Nursery

Several greenhouses offer the plant-obsessed plenty of material to get lost in! The plant stock is excellent, and the varieties and cultivars are certainly not common place. Like an interior designer browsing the flea markets of Paris for unusual finds, I gazed longingly at unusual gingers and spectacular colocasias, imagining them in my courtyard garden. Always a risk taker, I bought several plants rated as working down to zone 7b (my zone). With not nearly enough time, we had to depart... It's probably best that this nursery is not within a 100 mile radius of my house :-).

For more information, click the link for Juniper Level Botanic Garden and Plant Delights Nursery.

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mail order gardening, plants, plants delight, nursery, botanic garden