What are you thinking of doing? Vegetable gardening? Vegetables are best and cheapest grown from seed. You can find many seeds at your local Home Depot or Lowes.

I would definitely recommend plant sales for some good prices. The USF plant sale is easter weekend (google USF botanical gardens for details) and the St Pete garden festival is the 25th-26th. Besides that, there's Kerby's nursery in Seffner which I've never been to but heard is a great place with a ton of variety.

watermelon7 - this is a small front yard that will be mostly decorative. Right now it is completely empty. I want to make it look colorful and interesting and attract birds and insects. I would like a lemon tree, possibly in a large container I have, and I may tuck in a few edible plants and herbs if space permits.

leah29 thank you for the suggestions. I will definitely mark my calendar for the USF plant sale and the St Pete garden festival. I have heard of Kerby's on this forum before so that definitely looks like one for the list. Thank you.

Any more ideas out there?

I second that recommendation. Kerby's is a fine nursery and they should be able to offer some good advice too if you tell them what kind of yard you want to have.

If you are looking for inexpensive edging plants - maybe some annuals like salvia or impatiens if it's a shady area - it's worth it to drive one or two exits east on I4 to a roadside market located right off the highway. Great fruits and veggies, but also lots of cheap annuals. Check it out!

In Orlando area I can recommend Lukas nursery (http://lukasnursery.com/) and I've heard a lot of Biosphere nursery as well but never been there...

Hope it helps.

Thank you solstice and fagopher. The yard faces east but is completely open from the south with no shade so it gets quite a few hours of sun each day even in winter, in fact it is the sunniest part of the lot.

I always like to recommend local business over the big box stores. The staff has better knowledge and the plants are generally healthier.

I like Kirby's, on the corner of Wheeler & Parson in Seffner. Also Maintain A Plant on Hwy 92, near McIntosh, in Dover.

I'm not as familiar with growers over in Pinellas though.

For price, advice, selection, native and non-native plants you can't beat Biosphere in Winter Garden in my opinion. They are especially good at plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, but they have many other plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Biosphere

Sarasota-east of the interstate (fruitville road) there is a native plant nursery and farther down the same road is Crowley's. Great places to visit even if you don't buy and thing...but I bet you will.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crowley's

I can recommend Jene's (pronounced Juh-nay's) in St. Pete. She carries citrus and many other edible plants along with lots of other fun plants. Nice plant selection.

I got some bluberry plants there, not expensive. They also do mail order.

Denise

Here is a link that might be useful: Jene's Nursery in St. Pete

Thank you so much everyone! I have been reading all the info on those very interesting websites that you linked so now at least I know which direction to turn, which is a start! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I also recommend Lukas Nursery in Oviedo- They have a really big selection and everyone was super nice and very helpful as well. And their Butterfly house is so cool. I buy many things online but I prefer buying plants in person so I can actually see and touch them. And If you make Al's mix they sell those ENORMOUS bags of perlite for $29.

I'm in Pasco, so I hope I can help. Country Club Nursery in Largo is good. They have a website of the same name. Also, defintely, the St. Pete Green Thumb Festival April 25th & 26th. USF is good, but I think the St. Pete is better and it has free admission and free parking. Get there by 9am and you get a free butterfly plant.

Kerby's is good, but you are probably closer to Country Club.

Over at the Oldsmar Flea Market, there's a good garden center. They have a nice selection and good prices and are right there to ask questions. If you enter from Tampa Rd., they are at the far right end.

I've been to Crowley's and the Florida Native nursery and they are both good, but nothing I couldn't get anywhere else. Also Crowley's should be at both USF & St. Pete.

Julie