First Nursery Visit of the Season

Last weekend Cottage Gardens in Petaluma, one of my favorite nurseries, had a sale on everything and of course Jo and I had to go. We love to visit for the eye candy, all the beautiful stuff they have besides plants. When I dream about my garden how one day I would like it to look, I envision fountains, sculptures, bird houses and pretty trellises. Cottage Gardens has all of that, and while I'm not buying any of these at the moment, I enjoy them.

I didn't bring my camera with me, but of course I had my phone and so I happily snapped away. The quality of these pictures is not great, I definitely prefer my DSLR, but they still give a good impression about this place.

They had a few fountains there, like the beautiful one in the top picture which would take up quite some space in a garden. The birds would love it, I'm sure.

This little cherub looks like he's cold. It was such a warm day, though!

Pretty birds for the fountain

 But a single Camellia blossom is just as beautiful!

This little guy stole my heart. Can you see how he is offering seeds to the birds? I would love to have him in my garden.

Or - what about a sleeping cat? If you look hard at the image below you can see some more cats in the background - a sitting cat, a grooming cat and another sleeping one. That day we saw a woman who bought all three of them. I can only imagine her beautiful garden.

Perhaps someone wants to turn their garden into a calm and peaceful sanctuary. Here's the perfect company for that. 

Or perhaps you prefer big old bottles, dusty with a few cobwebs? The nursery has them lined up for you!

Of course they have pots and containers as well. After all it's a nursery! 

Needles to say that Jo and I couldn't leave this wonderful place without buying a few plants. I got a Clematis "Abilene" which is pink with lighter stripes and a purple Hopseed bush. Since we've had sunny and warm weather for more than a week I have been busy in the garden. My poppies from last year re-seeded and there are way too many of them. So I'm pulling a good chunk of them and just leave "islands" of poppies. This allows the other plants in my garden to thrive as well (hopefully). Last year, too many of them were simply overgrown by the poppies. And while the poppies are absolutely stunning when they bloom, I don't want them all over the place. It will be interesting to see whether my plan will turn out successfully.