Garden Shopping at the Riverside Arts Market

Every Saturday the city of Jacksonville puts on a big market with lots of vendors, mostly artists and crafters.  Of course my favorite booths are the ones dealing in plants and produce!  No one week has the same lineup of vendors, but you're likely to stumble across anything from orchids, to hanging baskets, to herbs, to pitcher plants, and even hypertufa pots!
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Its held under the towering canopy of the Fuller Warren Bridge in the historic Riverside area, and is just down the street from the Cummer Museum and Gardens.  Make it a day trip if you're a fellow Floridian, and enjoy the live musicians and street performers while you chow down on some of the yummy food. Then its off to the vendors, and you'll definitely want to check out the produce, plants, and garden accessories like rain barrels, sculpture and hypertufa pots!

A customer checks out the deals at Maggie's Herb Farm's booth.

Some of the more common herbs offered.

A Cattley Guava tree for only five dollars!  I can't believe I forgot to pick up some cash on the way.

Maggie's Herb Farm is one of my favorite booths to peruse, and she's sure to have an herb or edible you haven't found before, such as Thai basil, bay tree or Vietnamese coriander.  She even has ornamentals like false cardamom ginger (alpinia nutans) and native maypop passionflower!  You can find more at the farm in St. Augustine and even take some cool classes on things like making lotions, creating a dish garden, and herbal vinegars!  You better believe that I'll pay Maggie a visit next time I'm in the area, and I'll be sure to tell you all about it as a post.  Here's a link to their website.

A large assortment of unusual offerings from Seven Trees Nursery.

This shot affords a view of the bridge sheltering the market... hey, is that a tarantula cactus in the foreground?

A Nepenthes Pitcher plant for only ten dollars. What a steal!

I've been buying plants from Seven Trees Nursery for the last couple of years, mostly in the form of rhipsalis cacti in hanging baskets.  When it comes to succulents, I would have to say that they are the absolute best in the area.  Some of the (very affordable) plants for sale were epiphyllums, rhipsalis, echeverias, rat tail cactus, and hoyas, all conveniently planted in hanging baskets and ready for the balcony.  Of course, hanging baskets are perfect for providing the ambience of a rainforest, maximizing space and recreating the feel of looking up into the branches in the jungle.  They are based just north of Jacksonville at Black Hammock Island, 16224 Shellcracker rd, 32226 and can be emailed at janazevenboom@hotmail.com.

Starfruit and plums for sale.

You can also find some tantalizing produce for sale at several booths, and one of them even had some Indian River citrus for sale like Pomelos, Red Navels, and Fall-Glo tangerines.  We opted for a bag of the Fall-Glo's and a bag of delicious Roma tomatoes for a grand total of five dollars.  By the way. the tangerines were seedy, but so sweet and juicy that I didn't even care.  Keep an eye out next time you're at the grocery store!

Of course it wouldn't be an Arts market without plenty of arts and crafts, and Eco-Purposed had a really nice lineup of repurposed clothes and accessories made from organic cotton.  I'm totally digging the sign pictured above, maybe just because one of the fonts is similar the The Rainforest Garden's.  Anyways, check them out.

Hypertufa containers by Almost Ancient Pots. (Picture from Kanapaha Fall Festival)

The assortment of vendors varies each week, and on other weeks you're even likely to find orchids, bonsai or native plants.  A vendor that's really worth looking out for is Almost Ancient Pots.  I last met Melanie Palmrose at Kanapaha at the beginning of the month, and she unfortunately wasn't at this week's market.  Still, I'll be sure to do a post one of these days on hypertufa since its such an excellent way to grow succulents and epiphytes... and they just look really cool.