One of the things that people do when as we head for summer is to plant trees, shrubs, flowers, and gardens. One of the places to shop for things to plant is at Brown's Garden and Floral on the west edge of Rensselaer.
I do not normally go past Brown's, but when the new Kirby Risk building was still interesting, I was there several times a week and I stopped in more than once. During the winter they are a floral shop, much like Brookside Florist.
You can buy flowers and all the things that people buy in florist shops and which I do not understand.
But as spring approaches, they expand. They may have the largest selection of seed for both vegetables and flowers in Rensselaer. The farm store has quite a bit, and I have not checked Walmart. Woods Brothers no longer sells garden seed. I remember buying seed from them many years ago when they were located downtown where Stunt Dog is now. Back then I had a large garden near the old SJC farm. Thirty five years ago there were two acres of garden plots, but three or four years ago there was only one gardener left (me) and now there is none.
They also carry a variety of sprays to control plant disease and pests.
And now they have a large selection of plants ready to pop into the garden for those who want to garden the easy way. I must admit, though, that all there plants looks much, much better (and bigger) than my seedlings.
In the back they have trees. I think everyone should have a few fruit trees, but that seems to be a minority opinion. If you need instructions showing how to plant them, try here. Everyone should also have some rhubarb, and there is some up in the front of the picture below, next to the strawberries.
They also have shrubberies. You never know when you might need a shrubbery.
You can see the change of seasons by watching Browns. Below is what they looked like on April 4.
By April 15 a few things were starting to be put out.
And two weeks later, on April 29, all the shelves are full.
Aren't you tempted to get out in the yard and start planting?
3 comments:
We are busy working on our yard and garden. We're trying to plant as many native things as we can because they don't require as much water. And as you can see at http://aplantaday.blogspot.com, many of the flowers are beautiful.
We planted some chokecherries a few weeks ago and they are looking good. Our fruit trees are looking good, too, although some cold nights might have frozen some of the blossoms.
It is good to see Brown's is still in business. I think the small family garden is great thing that has by and large been abandoned by society at large. Think how much more "green" our country would be if people actually grew their own gardens again!
We are getting ready to transplant our remaining plants from the planters to our garden plots. We already have a nice crop of strawberries growing and so far the tomato plants are looking good. Those fruit trees are also doing well, I think if they can survive the first couple years they should be set.
p.s. how appropriate, my verification word was 'weedi'
Brown's doesn't carry pawpaw trees, do they? We need a second one in order to make sure we get fruit. Peter planted seeds last year, but...
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