Plant Delights

[johnb]

All,

There is a nursery south of Raleigh and sorta east of Garner called Plant Delights. The guy that runs it is something of a cult figure among the horticulturally inclined. I exaggerate a bit there but not by much.

The nursery is online at www.plantdelights.com.

He travels internationally gathering seeds and people send him stuff. If you ever go on an open weekend you'll be stunned. When last I was there there were buses pulling in from Virginia. It was like a pilgrimage.

Check out the Sabal (etonia, minor, and Riverside) and Trachycarpus (Fortunei, et al) offerings at the least. It does grown here, just go to JC Park or Pullen Park to see it.

[johnb]

Tony Avent has some of the most unique catalog covers you'll find on his nursery catalogs. One of the plant delights items is described as this:


Yucca thompsoniana (Thompson's Yucca)
Yucca thompsoniana (Thompson's Yucca)
SunZone: 5-10 72" tall Origin: USA

Web-Only! (syn: Y. rostrata var. thompsoniana) This is one of my favorite tree yuccas. As the plant ages, the spectacular single trunk will be attractively adorned with dried foliage flattened to the trunk, and topped with a toupee of narrow, blue-grey foliage...most closely resembling a spray painted '60s afro hairdo on a tall Al Gore-shaped fence post. In late spring, the plants are topped with 4' spikes of white flowers...COOL! Our plants are one-year-old seedlings that are ready to explode in growth.

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I've never met the guy personally but his motto "I consider every plant hardy until I've killed it myself, three times." Is both hilarious and horticulturally dangerous, in a good way. A lot of the stuff at Plant Delights is stuff that your neighbors will say "that can't grow here!" (( Yuccas, Agaves, etc....)