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Their plants can be found in ubiquitous hanging baskets throughout Jacksonville garden centers, and they can also be purchased at the Riverside Arts Market. Succulents, aloe, haworthia, philodendrons and anything else you can think of can all be found growing in hanging baskets, with most of them costing only $5 a piece. Yes, they're practically giving away these rare tropical plants for a song!
Not only was the price music to my ears, a Dutch classic rock station blared from multiple speakers and provided an appropriately rockin' soundtrack for my shopping experience. Mr. Zevenboom took me from one plant to another, showing me the contorted 'devil's tongues' that formed on an unusual echeveria, and the stems of 'drunkard's dream' rhipsalis that form the spitting image of bottles! The plant pictured to the left is a carnivorous butterwort from a canyon in Mexico. Multitudes of gnats clung unwillingly to the sticky leaves, and I could almost hear their screams despite the blasting radio... almost.
I had always wondered why they grew pretty much everything in hanging baskets, but that became clear to me when I realized just how many plants could fit into one greenhouse! Walking up and down the aisles required that I was looking down, at eye level and above me at all times so I didn't miss a single unusual plant, like the sanseveria pictured below.
Leaf and stem cuttings were at various stages of development, and the ability to propagate a plant is a major selling point for me. If a plant is prolific, it not only means you get new plants but means the genes get a second life if the mother plant dies. Its like life insurance, for plants!
The Zevenboom's also had a large staghorn fern specimen, permanently hanging from a bar outdoors since its too heavy to move. During winter they simply lower the fern closer to the ground, and the fern makes it another year! I'm taking notes.
There were plenty of great deals, but I'll close by showing you a few of the bromeliads that you could take home for five bucks a piece.
Give them a call or send an email if you're dying to get your own 'drunkard's dream' rhipsalis! They don't have a website up yet, but the low prices and great selection make up for it.
Seven Trees Nursery
16224 Shellcracker Rd.
Black Hammock Island, FL 32226
904-757-4389
janazevenboom@hotmail.com
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Wait...did you say $5? OMG. So what did you buy?
ReplyDeleteVarious epiphytic cacti... rhipsalis, epiphyllum, lepismium, hatiora... I made out like a bandit! I also got some bromeliads like a big quesnelia... the one from the last pic!
ReplyDeleteJust look at all those gasterias!!! That's crazy! If it weren't for it being November, I'd be buying hundreds. lol! But maybe I'll tell the garden club about this place.
ReplyDeleteWow! That looks like a great nursery. Thanks for the tour and great photos showing those hanging baskets. Definitely a place for my list of gardening trips I'd like to make.
ReplyDeleteThat place looks fantastic! O why do I live in the Northeast...
ReplyDeleteHi Steve...Sounds like you found a gem of a nursery. How many plants did you buy? I think I could go crazy shopping there...especially with such good prices.
ReplyDeletenotsoangryredhead
ReplyDeleteThere was a HUGE gasteria the size of an agave with almost black 'leaves'. Anything that stiff and solid looking clearly deserves a better description than leaf.
NanaK:
Be sure to check it out sometime, and get directions from me... its easy to miss.
College Gardener:
I'm sure there has to be greenhouses up there! Anyways, you could always order stuff from them at a warmer time of year so the plants don't freeze during shipping!
Susan:
Ummm... I bought a lot. They had so many great rhipsalis varieties and other epiphytes that I couldn't resist! It was like one huge bargain bin full of great specimens.
Looks great
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