Petals from the Past

Most of the time when I read through a magazine, there will be several things that catch my eye - a recipe, a new place to vacation, decorating tips, or a neat place to shop. I have this beat-up, red folder that holds all those things I tear out and promise to do/visit/taste sometime soon.

Not long ago, I put a page in that red folder for a little nursery up the road from home - Petals from the Past. The magazine pages made it look like such an inviting place, but I was a bit skeptical. You see, there's really not much in Jemison. Well, except for this...

Look. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but tractors cross the road here. And you must stop. You really must. The sign says so right there, smack dab on the side of the road. I wonder how often tractors stop traffic here. Probably not often, really I say, because Jemison isn't overly populated.

But Jemison does have a super duper nursery. Look.

Doesn't the sign just invite you in with its creeping, crawling vines? Once you round the bend, there are vines bearing muscasines or scuppernongs (the makings of a good homemade wine if you ask me). But I was on a mission to find something to fill a hole in the planting bed next to the side entrance at my house and some herbs to grow in containers. I found both.

(The herbs are of the legal sort, thank you very much.)

These asparagus ferns reminded me of my late grandmother so I bought two. She'd be so proud. I'll probably kill them.

Mist them daily, she'd always say, and they'll make it.

Not. For me at least.

My little helper -- who was here because I told her we were going on a field trip to watch the bees pollinate the flowers...and she bought it, bless her heart -- tugged the fluggy (flower + buggy, don't you see) through the rows and to the cashier. We bought our stuff -- plants cost alot in case you were wondering -- and made our way back home via some really winding, rural roads, with not a tractor in sight.