Saturday, March 21, 2009

A Visit to the Antique Rose Emporium


Although I sometimes wish I could spend every day in the garden, if I am honest with myself, I have to admit that there are many things about my double country/city life that I enjoy. Two of these are Fanick's Nursery and the Antique Rose Emporium, both in San Antonio. I can drive from San Antonio to Lockhart via IH-10 which takes me east to Luling, where I exit and drive north to Lockhart; or via IH-35, which takes me north to San Marcos, where I exit and drive east to Lockhart. Both routes are about the same distance and take about the same amount of time. The IH-10 route passes within a mile or so of Fanick's Nursery, and the IH-35 route within a few miles of the Antique Rose Emporium. I took IH-35 today.

It's worth going to the Antique Rose Emporium just to stroll through the gardens, but of course I can never resist buying a plant or two. They have an overwhelming selection of roses and also sell a wide assortment of ornamentals, herbs, shrubs, and vegetable starts. I had to hurry past the tomato seedlings without looking too closely, to avoid being tempted, since I had excellent germination of all the seeds I planted and already have more tomato plants than I need.

I bought a Duchess de Brabant shrub rose for a hedge-in-process, an ox-eye daisy, a John Fanick phlox (I planted two last year, and they performed so beautifully, I wanted to add another), and a couple of white blooming pentas. And some marigolds in flower, because I just can't wait until the ones I started from seed are old enough to bloom.

The pic is of sweet peas planted in a container. What a great idea! The sweet peas in my Lockhart garden are only about 6 inches high right now. Lockhart is about 45 miles north of San Antonio and lags about 3 weeks behind in the spring, but the ARE's sweet peas must be at least a month ahead of mine. Need to plant them earlier next year.


2 comments:

  1. You are right, it is a good idea! I should try it.

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  2. Barb,

    Clyda will be so pleased you love her sweet peas! Yes, she did plant them very early this year. Trouble is to get some of these pretty things you must be out in the cold to plant while others are inside reading the seed catalogs. Cindy from The Antique Rose Emporium - SA (http://weareroses.blogspot.com)

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