Sunday 6 May 2012

A visit to Humber Nurseries


Spring is returning to Ontario, and with it my urge to garden, grow and generally think about all things plant-y.

Last weekend we made our annual trip down to Brampton for family visiting, a trip that has gotten even better since I realized that one of the largest nurseries in the province is only 15 minutes from our hotel! I had great success during last year's visit and was exited to see what I would find this year.


I was positively vibrating at this point!


The Tropical House - by far my favorite place! Also pretty much the only place I've seen at Humber, since we always seem to be really pressed for time when we visit. 30 minutes just isn't enough time to take in even a fraction of the nursery grounds!


Inside the tropical house! It's huge! Many times the size of the tropical greenhouse at the one nursery in our area that actually bothers to carry tropicals. And the plants at Humber are much healthier and cheaper.


A whole shelf of air plants. The grey ones in front are huge!


Bonsai section. I didn't linger too long here - my New Year's resolution was to not take up any new hobbies this year!


I'm not sure these guys would really qualify as "rare and unusual" since you can buy them at Home Depot and Wal-Mart pretty easily.


Tucked at the back of the tropical house - rows and rows of herb seedlings, waiting for warmer weather.



Love the maroon patterning on this guy!


An agave! I'm not usually an agave fan, but this one appealed to me and I really wanted to take it home....

until.....


$25?! Yikes no!

Now, I'm a bit of a hypocrite here, since I did end up buying a plant that cost $33, but it's all about spending your money on what you really want. Right?

5 comments:

  1. Sooo...what came home with you?! :D

    Oh! I saw a little lithop at my local Safeway the other day. I nearly took the little guy home, except that 1) I'm moving soon, and 2) they still creep me out a bit. Heh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. amg! so many plants! you must have had a wonderful time! seems like heaven to me :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Heather/Fuss! Great post! Great photos and very funny too. I can so relate to the exciting feeling of visiting a new nursery or garden center, or any garden center for that matter, especially one that is really well kept with happy healthy plants at excellent prices, and Humber looks like a plant lover's dream! :-) Thirty mins is definitely not long enough, I can easily spend an hour perusing the plants and prices repeatedly. And if there's a cafe area, add another 30 minutes. Lol. That large grey air plant looks really cool with its curly leaves, and the stripey purple one is another great find. I can certainly do with that Tropical House in my backyard...Lol...Maybe one day. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hu! Thanks for visiting my blog. Sorry there isn't more new content for you - I'll be updating more regularly starting in a few days.

      Humber is indeed a wonderful place - I only wish the nurseries near me were as good. Are you into lithops?

      Delete
  4. Hi Heather! No worries. Yes, I love Lithops (and Sansevierias too may I add - these two are my favourite genus of plants atm). My passion for L. & S. (or plants in general) is quite new, so I'm all fired up, and am really enjoying finding and reading info./stories/advice/photos about them, and sourcing a few new plants and seeds online for my collection too. Hehe. We have a few nice (well stocked and well kept) garden centers/nurseries in Sydney too, although most of them are now franchises (in a good way, for the better because they can get more stock [eg: from overseas] easier, and tend to have cheaper prices etc.), but there are only a few of the boutique type nurseries left. I just visited one recently that was having a closing down sale because their block was being sold for apartment development, however, the owner has diversfied into other areas of business, including enviro./plant based soap/body products, I think. Nice to meet you Fuss! :-)

    ReplyDelete