Local and Specialist Nurseries: My Favorite Places to Shop

When it comes to buying plants, I really value the specialists. They truly love the plants they work with. They strive to give them an excellent growing environment. They love to educate their customers so that the plants they sell continue to thrive in their new gardens.

I am blessed to have several tropical nurseries in the area, and one, my favorite, grows and sells only native plants. I'm happy to drive for an hour to stock up at such a nursery. The prices are usually a very good value for the high quality you get.  And if you have any follow-up questions or concerns, you can just call the nursery; they are nearly always extremely helpful.

Access seems to be the only downside to buying plants from the specialists. Not everyone has several special nurseries in their area. I know of some gardeners who make annual treks to far-flung nurseries to stock up on their favorite plants. However, online sales sites are becoming more common, and that will get a separate post. What I particularly love is that I can often find unusual plants from the specialists, such as this Rue, and Patchouli:

Rue

Patchouli

No Big Box Store is ever going to sell these guys! For those of us who like to learn everything we can about a particular group of plants (say, medicinals, or mesembs), specialists are our gurus. They don't have an easy time these days, as small businesses are under pressure just about everywhere, but they have their customers' eternal gratitude.

My Weird Little Patchouli Plant (Pogostemon heyneanus)

I had been looking around to buy some patchouli plants for a couple of years, but they are exceptionally hard to come by. Imagine my delight when I found 3 at a local botany festival!

Me, happy at the Botany Fest!

But two were rather moldy, and the last was clearly a sprig that had been stuck into the pot only a day or two before the festival. It also had a large frog nesting next to it in the pot. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

All the other nursery seller's herbs were in great shape, and they were selling out quickly, so I had a feeling that patch may not be the easiest plant to grow...I was right!  (The frog hopped out of the pot while I was lunching at the festival and made itself comfortable in a kumquat tree.)

My Delicate Little Patchouli Plant, Minus Frog....

Patchouli has an amazing history in India. The intensely green, muskily aromatic leaves are used to repel insects, and scent thousands of perfumes and varieties of incense. The Brits brought it to Europe in a big way during the Raj, and it had a renaissance of popularity during the 1960s and 70s. Some now think of its distinct scent as the quintessential whiff of headshop.

Patchouli grows in Zones 9-11 outdoors, and is perennial in zone 11 (aka: Miami, not here). Lots of people grow it indoors or bring it inside for the winter, though. It's supposed to bloom in the fall but mine is blooming now. It's easiest to grow from stem cuttings, like mine was. But I have to say it's a twitchy little thing. All my other herbs are growing like kudzu, even my dahlias are growing bouquets worth of blooms; but my patch plant has only grown several centimeters in diameter in 2 months, and it's still very delicate and prone to all sorts of leaf problems. Not really much of an insect repeller....

Also the leaves are not very strongly scented. Maybe it just came from weak stock? Maybe it just doesn't like me? I'm a little disappointed, but I'll keep trying.

PostNote: I've been researching this little guy, and I think I may actually have Java Patchouli (Pogostemon heyneanus), not Pogostemon cablin. Both can be grown here, but the P. cablin is much more aromatic and rarely flowers. Mine is flowering like crazy!