Anyone living in Kamloops getting ready for starting seeds. I live in Raleigh, NC my mother lives in Kamloops, BC strange combination, but I loved the sandy soil when I was there!
Kamloops gardening?
Hi bkmah! The only seeds I started this year were gourds, I've been agonizing over a planning a shrub bed in my front yard so didn't start anything else.
When I saw your post I first thought you were meaning Raleigh, just north of Kamloops :)
Hi guys.
I was just down in Kamloops, (albeit for a rather grim reason - my dad is in the ICU at Royal Inland), BUT I did see that the leaves are coming out, the forsythia & flowering almond are in full bloom & some brave souls already have their annual planters out.
I am heading down there again this week and I am rather hi-jacking this thread to ask:
Are there any good nurseries in the area that you can recommend? My main interest is in perennials but I like to visit small mom-and-pop type nurseries who grow ANYTHING just because often I find real treasures there that the "big guys" don't offer.
Oh yes, and speaking of "big guy" nurseries, where in the world did Art Knapp's move to??? It's gone! It was my main landmark coming down the hill & I always stopped there on the way out of town becuse it had such easy access from the highway (I'm usually driving a one-ton farm truck so easy access is a good thing, LOL).
Any pointers much appreciated.
Kamloops has such lovely gardens I'm sure you guys must have some great nurseries hidden away here & there!
Depending on how Dad progresses (or not ) I may be spending a goodly portion of my spring in that city. So to keep my mind occupied I was thinking maybe a bit of nursery visiting might be nice to look forward to.
Hi Hillfarm, from the West Chilcotin
Art Knapp has moved to Hwy 5, sort of kitty-korner from the Husky at the corner of the road up to Pinantan Lake. It's actually on Halston, I think. I haven't been to the new one, but that's what my niece tells me. She also says that the best "mom and pop" nursery has closed down, and she hasn't found anything else interesting. Said there is one up next to Sears. But I always found a good perennial selection at Art Knapp's.
I'm surprised you're looking--don't you have a terrific nursery (Richbar?) right by you? And there stuff would be more for your climate; Kamloops is so much hotter. I've been trying to get up there for years. Maybe I don't need to bother?
Sorry about your dad; ICU is always frightening! Hope things go well.
Hi Chilko.
Thanks a bunch! I'm heading down tomorrow so will be trying to hit the nurseries a bit this time around.
My dad isn't doing particularily well (long saga) and the doctor called me yesterday to give me a 2-month or so timeframe at the end of which we might be looking at a removal of life support situation. So I'm feeling pretty emotionally dragged down.
However, life goes on (which has always been my dad's mentality - he would be furious if he realized how much time I've been "wasting" driving back & forth to Kamloops, LOL!) & digging in the garden is good therapy .
Richbar is a good nursery but of late years their perennial selection has not been all that large after I walk past all the stuff I already grow.
You definitely should plan a "nursery crawl" to Quesnel area if you get a chance - there ARE some good nurseries. Richbar is the "biggie" but there are some other family-run operations worth checking out - 10 Mile Nursery north of Quesnel, and two smaller nurseries up the Barkerville Highway - Linda's Perennials (lovely stuff & beautiful garden, she'll give you a tour if you catch her home), and Blue Ridge Nursey which is newish but promising. Lenore Yorston at Australian Ranch also sells plants & has an amazing garden. There are others but those are the ones that stand out in my experience.
Oh yes - and Northern Flowers on the Highway just south of Quesnel - lots of annuals & an incredible conglomeration of inter-connected greenhouses which you can spend hours wandering through peering into all the corners. A decent selection of perennials(mostly the "standards") & they always have some interesting houseplants too.
If you can make it check out the Farmers' Market in Quesnel n Saturday mornings - I've been selling there for a few years & last spring at one point I counted 9 people selling plants. Everything you can imagine.
I actually operate a small perennial nursery myself and my customer base is those who are looking for Zone 3/4 perennials that are a little bit out of the ordinary. (And I teasingly am referred to as "competition" by the people at Richbar - who have been EXTREMLY supportive & complimentary over the years, giving me deals on bulk purchases & selling me boxes of wholesale flowerpots when I run short.)
This year was supposed to be a "sabbatical" for me & I was planning on expanding the greenhouses & streamlining my own operation a bit in order to plan for the long term. Last year was my 10th selling plants & it definitely was time to re-assess & either quit completely or go at it from a different angle. My dad's illness has thrown a curve ball into that plan but on the other hand I'm glad I'm not trying to run the nursery at the same time. It feels odd to walk past empty greenhouses - usually by now there are literally thousands of plants in & on every available bit of space. Very surreal spring, all in all!
I have managed to work in my own garden a bit now & then & definitely feel an urge to buy myself a few special plants to perk things up a bit & also for trialing for hardiness.
I'm down on the Fraser River so am in a real Cariboo-Chilcotin microclimate. Our recent no-snowcover winters have been hard on many otherwise tough perennials, while the most unexpected things make it through. Still going through my gardening learning curve, even after 15 years in this spot & gardens before that in Williams Lake, 150 Mile House & 70 Mile House (which last was probably comparable to the Chilcotin plateau - very short frost-free season & definitely a challenging gardening climate.)
Well, I appear to be writing a tell-all novel here, LOL! Better sign off.
Thanks again for the pointers. I have in the past found Art Knapp's to be an interesting nursery to visit - there was always enough hardy stuff to make it feasible to buy from as well as enough exotics to look longingly at - rhododendrons & heathers & such - which won't grow for me, for some strange reason! (Hmmm, maybe that Zone 4 might be a clue?)