Road Trip!!

today was GORGEOUS so i decided to take a road trip to stark brother's nursery in louisiana, mo...i had heard of them years ago, when i was researching a trip through WV...it turned out that the original golden delicious tree was found growing next to a fence in WV & that stark brothers (here in MO) bought the rights to it, insisting that a cage had to be erected around the original to prevent theft...today i learned that they have been in existence for 190 years & were instrumental in marketing/naming both the red & yellow delicious apples...across the road from the nursery is a little log cabin, which was built by the stark family & moved to that location at a different date...it's very picturesque...

it was so much fun walking around, looking at everything...they had all sorts of things that you don't see in a typical nursery...for instance, they had okra, peppermint, and spearmint plants...they had more blueberry/blackberry/raspberry varieties than i could count...they had loganberries, cranberries, lingonberries, and gooseberry bushes...they had pawpaws, hardy kiwis, hickory & hazelnut trees...they had roses & maples & evergreens...they even had honeycrisp apple trees (which are some of the best apples you will ever eat)...there were currants (red, pink, white, and black)...there were jostaberry plants...their inventory was mind-boggling...and it was so much fun walking around, contemplating what i wanted to buy & where it would go in my yard...


i even got to go into the cellar...it had concrete walls & smelled of damp earth...it was the hub of their catalog operation...they had all the dormant plants stored in crates of dirt...you'd go to the cashier & tell her what you wanted from the catalog...you'd pay, then she'd send you downstairs to pick it up...it was so wild...it was a basement full of dormant trees & bushes...row after row of them...it gave me a whole new perspective on getting stuff from a catalog...

ultimately, i had to come home...so after a lot of thought, i passed on the honeycrisp apple tree...it needs a pollinator and i don't have room for 2 addl trees on my land...i purchased 2 lingonberry bushes (which are going to be tiny little things, so think they'll probably fit in the front gardens somewhere)...i purchased a red gooseberry to go with the pixwell that had just arrived...and i couldn't resist 10 VERY PRETTY hot pink geraniums...

this is my wagon full of happiness... : )