Feb. 1 & 2nd Weekend Happenings !

Morning all, and hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine that came out this morning after a few dreary days.  Well, happy to say that Mother Nature is keeping us protected once more as we watch an unusual cold front come into north Florida with rain, sleet and snow. Lucky for us, the full force will not reach all the way down our way, but tomorrow (Wed. Jan. 29th) is suppose to be pretty cold, rainy and windy for us, but at least we won't have to break out the snow boots !

Because of the forecast for tomorrow, Wed. Jan. 29th, that calls for 70% rain, wind and gloom, we will NOT be participating at Phillippi Mansion Park Market in Sarasota.   The market IS going on, although it maybe short of a few vendors, but we hope everyone in the area still heads out in their rain parkas to get their fresh produce!

Luckily for us, the coming weekend is suppose to be another glorious few days in paradise with temps up the high 70's and plenty of sunshine, and we have a full schedule.

This is what is happening !

Saturday, Feb.1st, Saturday Morning Market, downtown, St. Pete
Sunday, Feb. 2nd, Sunday Market at Hyde Park, Tampa

Also this weekend, we will be set up down at the beautiful Gamble Mansion Plantation property in Ellenton. This park is actually a Florida State park, and this beautiful piece of land is the only surviving plantation house in South Florida. The antebellum mansion and mansion were home to an extensive sugar plantation and has a long history of historic tenants.

On the property this weekend, there is also a large Arts & Craft Show happening, and, we will be there with our Unusual  & Exotic plants for sale too.   They are giving free tours of the mansion during the weekend which are very popular with locals and snowbirds.  If you are in the area, stop on by for a unique experience.

Another interesting fact about the Gamble Mansion property...the property originally had many Palm Trees planted all over, and about 40 years ago, they decided to pull out all non-natives and replace them with Oak Trees and a very young Mitch was part of the Installation crew that put those Oaks in place, so it's pretty amazing to see the towering Oaks now and know that Mitch was part of making that happen ! 

For more info about the mansion and the event, directions etc, check it out at:

www.floridastateparks.org/gambleplantation


Talking plants, I was going through some picture archives and found some great pics of Vines that customers had installed on their property and thought I would share them. For the most part, our customers buy Vines to cover fences and arbors and once they get going, they make more a gorgeous display..check it out:

Speaking more of plants, we continue to have a great supply of cold hardy perennials right now, along with all of our Passion Vines, Bougainvillea, Papyrus, Lavender, Milkweed, Phlox, Heliotrope, Coreopsis, Digitalis and more !  Also, I teased you a few weeks ago, but yes, Perennial Hollyhocks are coming !  The Hocks haven't started to bud/bloom yet, but will do so soon, and we are going to bring out some plants to market so you can see these beauties as they progress.

One last note, for those of you who peruse Facebook, one of my favorite blogger/writers is the "The Grumpy Gardener", check him out for good advice and great laughs every week.

Hope you can get out this weekend, and see Local, Buy Local and enjoy Local !