Support Your Independent Nursery Month: The Natural Gardener

During the month of October I'm joining Pam at Digging for Support Your Independent Nursery Month.  Independent nurseries are especially valuable local resources for plants that grow best in our climates.  This week I'm featuring The Natural Gardener in Austin.

Another Austin nursery?  When I visited The Natural Gardener back in February I knew I would enjoy returning to see how it looked later in the year.  I got my chance when gardening friends invited me along on a plant shopping trip to Austin.  In a previous post I wrote about our visit to Barton Springs Nursery and this time it's our stop at The Natural Gardener the same day.  Since I covered much of the nursery grounds back in February I'll focus on some of the areas I missed and those that look best this time of year.

Of course I always take time to visit the spiky plants and The Natural Gardener has plenty of them.

Medina Garden Nursery for Texas Native Plant Week

During the month of October I'm joining Pam at Digging for Support Your Independent Nursery Month. Independent nurseries are the best resource for plants which work well in our climate.  It's also Texas Native Plant Week and I'm featuring my favorite native plant nursery.  I recently re-visited Medina Garden Nursery just over an hour west of San Antonio with a group of gardening friends.  Besides being a beautiful drive, it's well worth the trip just to spend time with native and butterfly plant expert Ernesto Carino.  Ismael Espinoza, who usually works with him, was at his other job on this day so we missed him.  We spent over two hours touring the nursery and gardens surrounding Ernesto's home.

As I wrote in my previous post on Medina Garden Nursery, it's all about the plants.  Texas natives and plants adapted to our tough Texas climate--they know what grows best where we live.  They collect cuttings in the wild and trade with native plant enthusiasts from all over.  Ernesto says he often receives seeds or cutting in the mail from those who just want to preserve native plants for future generations.

Support Your Independent Nursery Month: Barton Springs Nursery

During the month of October I'm joining Pam at Digging for Support Your Independent Nursery Month.  Independent nurseries are especially valuable as a resource for locally grown and climate-tested plants.  That's certainly the case with today's visit to Barton Springs Nursery.

My Austin blogger friends might be just a bit surprised to see the title of this one.  Barton Springs Nursery is still in Austin and I haven't moved but when local gardening friends asked me to join them on a plant shopping trip to Austin I quickly agreed and, based on recommendations from several Austin bloggers, added Barton Springs Nursery to the list.  The short drive of just over an hour allows me to consider it "far north San Antonio but really southwest Austin" for blogging purposes.

Support Your Independent Nursery Month: Fanick's Garden Center

Each week in October I'm joining Support Your Independent Nursery Month sponsored by Pam Penick at her blog Digging to highlight an independent nursery in the San Antonio area.  Locally owned nurseries provide an important resource to learn about and buy plants which grow best in our area and you can't get more local than Fanick's Garden Center on the southeast side of San Antonio.

Fanick's is a throwback to the way shopping at garden centers used to be, and still is, because Fanick's Garden Center has been here since 1939 and is currently operated by Mark Fanick representing the third generation of his family to run the nursery. 

Support Your Independent Nursery Month: Milberger's Nursery Revisited

October is Support Your Independent Nursery Month sponsored by Pam Penick at her Austin blog Digging. Each week during October I'll join in by posting a tour of an independent nursery in the South Central Texas area.  Who better to supply us with the plants which grow best in our climate than nurseries owned and staffed by local gardeners?  Local nurseries are an especially good resource for those of us who are turning more and more to native plants in the landscape.

For my first independent nursery tour I'm revisiting Milberger's Nursery in San Antonio.  Last October I posted their Spook-tacular Halloween display with a creepy maze and plenty of great decorations.  On a recent visit I took additional photos to show you how pretty the nursery is on a typical day.