A Pilgrimage to Annie's Annuals

One of our "field trips" on the recent Garden Bloggers Fling (SF, 2013), was to Annie's Annuals in Richmond. The first time I heard about Annie's it was described as a "Gardener's Mecca".  Visiting there is like the antithesis of the big box store nurseries ... they have everything! Everything pretty, everything old-fashioned, everything native, just plain everything. Check out the website if you don't believe me!

We get there ... I pose with the Annie's mannequin (girlyquin).

We listen to a presentation about Dramm products (while I take snaps of the Annie's wall mural with its prison wire topping!). We have drawings, prizes, a great lunch and a talk by Annie, herself!

We wander thru the demonstration gardens with our shopping carts. These are the same Clarkias in the bouquet below. I'm not too familiar with Clarkias, but I wonder why ... many are native plants and they make great, long-lasting cut flowers, seem to love my climate. 

Clarkias, scabiosa, nicotiana, and other flowers from the gardens. Here's a link to the clarkia above. Here's one  (more) thing to love about Annie's ... this gardener's candy store does mail order!!!

I close with this video where Annie demonstrates a totally different approach to container gardening. For me this is an eye-opener. I haven't been great with containers, but think I could be with Annie's advic!

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.