Pleasant Acres in Westerly

I had to work late on Valentine's Day this year so yesterday Nate took me on a date to our friend Mitch's nursery in Westerly, Pleasant Acres. It's still pretty early in the season to be hanging out a garden center - Mitch says to come back after Easter - but he gave us a tour of all the greenhouses and that place is massive! The first greenhouse was full of tropical plants, orchids, succulents, bromelaids, spider plants, and some rather large trees - the "pets" of the nursery - banana, palm, lemon, and some others I couldn't identify. Another greenhouse was full of flats that will be pansies, one with pots that will be geraniums, one with hydrangea and other slightly larger potted plants, one with what Mitch called the "Christmas leftovers" - paper whites, amaryllis and cyclamen. Then we came to one that looked more like my area - lettuce, sage, chives, oregano... this greenhouse was more of a grab bag. I can't wait to go back and see everything as the season progresses! Mitch also gave me some useful tips: keep my echinacea, hens and chicks and lavender pretty dry (they don't like overwatering), and add the pellet-style lyme to the soil of the tomato plant to keep the bottoms of the tomatos from turning black. I came away with 2 cyclamen (Mom has had luck with these - she says the trick is to water them from the bottom) and a little pot of purple tinted hens and chicks. My kitchen windowsill is benefiting from the color!