Visiting McMinnville Nurseries and Burgess Falls

Aren't those pansies just joyful? They sing spring! And what does spring sing? Why gardening of course. And gardening is just what folks everywhere are working on this spring. But to tell the truth, our recent visit to McMinnville to see its conglomeration of nurseries and buy plants was planned waaaaay back in the fall.

I was truly honored and pleased Phil and Judie asked me last October to come with them to a favorite nursery of theirs in McMinnville. You see, Phil and Judie are AVID gardeners and spend every minute they can either in the garden or on other craft projects such as knitting. We all enjoy getting together and exploring each other's gardens and of course trading plants. Phil and Judie's garden has a lot of full sun and is a welcomed refuge for all wildlife. Especially welcomed are the birds and butterflies and bees, not so much the deer. I enjoy their garden because it has way more sun than mine, and that means all the plants that kind of languish in my garden, explode in their gardens. Their arbors, herbs, and wildflowers are a treat for all of their neighbors. And! They live in my little town of Woodlawn and are both Master Gardeners and involved in their community gardening programs. A delightful couple all the way around so of course I am in on a trip to McMinnville!

Even though it is technically spring and rain and sunshine are usually abundant in the spring here in Tennessee, today's order of the day was rain! We all came prepared with umbrellas. I personally love rain so no problem for plant shopping at all. McMinnville touts itself as the 'Nursery Capital of the World' due to its perfect weather for growing all sorts of plants. As you can imagine there are tons of nurseries in McMinnville. Not all of these nurseries are open to the public as most are wholesale only, but Mary's Greenhouse (the one we visited) is open to the public in general as well as wholesale.

Mary's Greenhouse has several greenhouses as you can see from the photos above. All plants were organized and healthy. Most all were labeled individually and if not individually, there was usually a sign close by annotating the price and type of the plant. It was really quite fun to see all of the plants and let me tell you-spring was in the air regardless of the rain outside.

Many of the greenhouses sported these types of heaters and smart birds had chosen them as the perfect location to make their nests. We did not find any eggs as yet though but I am sure the owner of this nest was close by chirping "Spring-Tweet-Spring!".

Here is one of the greenhouses with Judie diligently looking at plants holding a flat in her hands. Phil and Judie came for business. They bought many plants. Their garden is fairly new and a bit young so they had lots to buy. I found a bunch of plants too. I was especially happy to get some wildflowers, ferns and a bridal wreath spirea. Mary's Greenhouse is mainly perennials and annuals, trees and shrubs were the exception to the rule but they do have a few.

Here is our cart with some of our goodies. The carts were quite easy to push and the greenhouses easy to traverse. There is a catalog with a map available for patrons. This catalog lists all of the plants and prices. A very convenient feature for serious shoppers. I did not have a specific list (read not organized), but Phil and Judie knew exactly what they wanted and did an excellent job of checking off their list.

After our shopping trip to Mary's Gardens we headed down the road toward Cookeville and Burgess Falls. If you live in Tennessee or close by, do check the link for Burgess Falls. It is has some neat native American history and is a nice state park-that is free for all.

Here we are on the lookout over the Big Falls at Burgess Falls. Judie and Phil said when they last visited Burgess Falls this past October, the falls were a mere a trickle. That was NOT the case today with all the rain the falls were just a raging!

Trilliums and wildflowers were in full bloom and quite happy in the woods.

To reach the falls you must hike a bit. There is a road with access for those not able to hike. I enjoyed the hike but you must watch your footing as this path is on the edge of cliffs.

Here is another view of the Upper Falls from the opposite direction of the picture taken above. There is also a Middle Falls, Lower Falls, and cascades. Some of the cascades passed directly under the trail. It was quite beautiful. The Upper Falls were the biggest and most spectacular but all along the trail there are areas of falls crossing under the path. There was even the ghost of a bridge past that crossed this river. All that remained were the cables and ties all the way across the river-no walking planks. Too eerie! And to think this is all right here in Tennessee!

On the way out of the Burgess Falls State Park I spied some bat houses. I thought they were really cool. There were two and they were mounted about 25 feet up in the air on poles. I did not see evidence of bats roosting in the boxes, but I am sure there are bats nearby so perhaps they will take up residence soon. I personally love the bats in my garden. They come out at dusk each evening and spend a lot of time doing aerial acrobatics over our parking area due to the fluorescent light we have there. This light attracts all sorts of bugs, hence the bats and frogs and toads and birds. It is fun watching them and I bet visitors to Burgess Falls can see bats there as well in the evening.

Thank you so much my dear friends for taking me along on this wonderful day! I had a great time and am truly honored you included me in your well planned and organized trip. P.S. I've finally got all my purchases planted....

in the garden....

I think I am back from spring break. I got a lot of planting done and will get back on track with blogging too. It was a nice time as the weather was fairly good and I got a lot accomplished. Here's to happy gardening this spring to all my gardening friends!

I will be visiting with some special blogging commenters today at lunch. These friends include: Lola, Nina, Anonymous and a special mystery guest. Isn't blogging wonderful?

Update! Anonymous will not be able to attend our get together today. She and her family just welcomed into the world another little 'Sidekick' last night. We all wish her and the family a hearty Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!