Charley's Greenhouse

So a bit over a month ago Wren was born, and my mother came to visit and help out for several weeks (thank goodness!). While she was here she and I went to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show and the convention center downtown. I hadn't been to the show before and while I wasn't totally blown away it was worthwhile. I'd recommend doing the half-day discount ticket. You have to hurry a bit to see everything, but it's quite doable.

At the show they have "show gardens"--displays set up by local landscaping firms and garden supply centers. Some pretty clever presentations. They also have two big rooms of
retailer booths. I bought several books at the University Bookstore booth as the prices were discounted. There's also a section devoted to plant sales and I finally found the type of blueberry plants I'd been looking for: Vaccinium 'Sunshine Blue'. It's a compact semi-evergreen with bluish-foliage that changes to red in the fall. It's also got a long fruiting season. I found it on the Great Plant Picks list, the topic of a later post (for those who don't follow the link to learn more). I bought the plants from the Raintree Nursery booth. These folks are in SW Washington and specialize in fruits. While I was delighted to find the plants I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed to find larger plants a few weeks later at Sky Nursery when I went there for the first time. Admittedly they did cost a bit more there.

One of the benefits of going to the garden show is that any local establishment in the gardening business is likely to have a booth (as well as many that aren't local). It's a good opportunity to pick up literature and learn what's available in the area. I happened to pick up a catalog for Charley's Greenhouse, a place about an hour or so north of Seattle. I had been researching seed starting and the supplies I would need and it turned out they had the best prices on most of the things I was looking for. In addition they had a number of items on sale and a free shipping special for those who got their catalog at the garden show and had the little sticker with the discount code.

So a few days later I called Charley's up and asked a bunch of questions (since I'm a rank newbie who had been reading just enough to be dangerous). The lady on the line was tremendously helpful. A few items were on backorder but they were sent later without additional shipping cost. It was only 2 days, I believe until the bulk of my order arrived--via FedEx! In my book when free shipping equals FedEx that's generous. So here's a good word for Charley's. I got great customer service on the phone, the best prices I could find and fast, free shipping. Couldn't ask for more...