After attending the Manchaca swap Patty and I eagerly headed out to visit some plant nurseries. Our first stop was the nearby "It's About Thyme". It is a large, beautiful and well stocked nursery. I don't know why I didn't break out the camera, but I found something I've been wanting a long time; red buckeye for $7.50. This is the one with the deeply pleated leaves.

Next we headed over to a new nursery in Kyle that Patty found by searching the internet for nurseries in the area of the swap ...
{{gwi:1348055}}

{{gwi:1348056}}

What's not to love about a nursery with rocking chairs ...
{{gwi:1348057}}

This red passion vine was an eye catcher ...
{{gwi:1348062}}

The mini horse and donkey in residence is not only of interest to children, but to ME too ...
{{gwi:1348064}}

I wanted a shot without the fence in between, but couldn't get any distance away without them following me ... :-)
{{gwi:1348066}}

The nursery is very kid friendly. The picnic table, special hay bales and play house will keep the kiddies busy while Mom and Dad shop ...
{{gwi:1348069}}

{{gwi:1348070}}

They sell grass fed beef and organic produce as well as a good selection of herbs, plants and potting soils, etc.
...
{{gwi:1348073}}

{{gwi:1348078}}

How's this for a 'strawberry pot'. It will hold 40 plants. Planted with herbs you wouldn't have to travel far to get what you needed ...
{{gwi:1348081}}

{{gwi:1348082}}

I fell in love with this gorgeous agave ..
{{gwi:1348083}}

But ended up buying two large blooming dyckias, 'Nickle Silver' for me and this red one for a friend, both only $20.95 each. For anyone not into dyckias this is a bargain because they are slow to grow, but almost impossible to kill ...
{{gwi:1348084}}

It was fun to talk to the enthusiastic young owners Jennifer and Nathan. The nursery is located at 711 North State Highway 81, Kyle, Texas. 512 673-7424. WWW.crossplantsandproduce.com

~ ~ ~

We hadn't been to Andrea's Hill Country Gardens for awhile so swung by there on the way home. Patty took out running with purse on her arm to beat me in ... ;-)
{{gwi:1348085}}

Andrea always has the neatest yard art. Forget the knight in shining armour. I want this life size rusty one ...
{{gwi:1348086}}

Nice fountain ...
{{gwi:1348092}}

How about this bottle brush tree? Wonder if mine will ever get this big ...
{{gwi:1348094}}

I was almost persuaded to buy another rose bush when I saw this one; 'Rosa Pink Drift'. The Drift line of roses come in many colors, are easy to grow and very healthy; challenging Knockout roses in those respects ...
{{gwi:1348100}}

{{gwi:1348101}}

Looks like the improvements are going ahead as planned. That's Andrea off in the distance engrossed in more ideas to keep this a showplace ...
{{gwi:1348102}}

Andrea has loads of Texas natives, and large speciments of many plants, as well as just about anything else anybody would ever need to garden. Sure there are weeds, but after all this is a 'COUNTRY garden'. There were several things I wanted, but was tired and ended up with only some herbs.

Hill Country Gardens, 588 FM 1863, New Braunfels, TX 78132 (830) 620-5149

~ ~ ~

Several days after this jaunt a really REAL country garden was visited when I met Lesli at her Aunt Minnie's nursery on Hwy. 87 3.5 miles S. of La Vernia.
Aunt Minnie is planning to close her garden by October this year after being in operation for 51 years.

I didn't take many photos as things looked pretty much the same as the last time I was there ...
{{gwi:1348104}}

However, I was impressed with the blooming Agave lophantha. It overlooks the ponds with water lilies ...
{{gwi:1348107}}

{{gwi:1348111}}

It was wonderful to visit with Aunt Minnie and Lesli and I left with a Macho fern for $3.00 and a 3 ft. tall, 3 branched yellow plumeria for $10.95 and various other goodies including a cute hanging pot made out of a boat bumper (I think) for $2.00. There were lots more Macho ferns.

Then Bob, Lesli and I headed over to Texas Pride BBQ for lunch and good conversation.

Sorry, I meant to post this in the gallery, but since it's here I hope you enjoy seeing these nurseries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous post about Minnie Albert's nursery ...

This post was edited by roselee on Sat, May 3, 14 at 0:14