pax Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I am resigned to the fact that I am the Black Thumb of Death, and it is no shame to support a gardener. I'd love a place to buy potted herbs; normal stuff like basil, rosemary, cilantro. Generally I pick up the weak kneed specimens at Trader Joe's and kill them within months. My husband is officially retired and I've put him in charge of rescuing our plants. Yay! Where can I go to buy good fresh potted plants, organic ones if possible. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyG Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I am resigned to the fact that I am the Black Thumb of Death, and it is no shame to support a gardener. I'd love a place to buy potted herbs; normal stuff like basil, rosemary, cilantro. Generally I pick up the weak kneed specimens at Trader Joe's and kill them within months.My husband is officially retired and I've put him in charge of rescuing our plants. Yay! Where can I go to buy good fresh potted plants, organic ones if possible. Any suggestions? DeBaggio's isn't organic, but they can probably tell you exactly what they do use. They have a huge selection of varieties. Your problem with rosemary is almost certainly that you are overwatering it; treat it almost like a cactus. In our region, cilantro bolts pretty early outdoors and basil needs to come inside at night until mid-May. DeBaggios sells several varieties of winter-hardy rosemary that will survive our local weather; my Arp Rosemary bush is 7 years old now and gets a little brown during ice storms but recovers each year in my Herndon front yard with southern exposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I am resigned to the fact that I am the Black Thumb of Death, and it is no shame to support a gardener. I'd love a place to buy potted herbs; normal stuff like basil, rosemary, cilantro. Generally I pick up the weak kneed specimens at Trader Joe's and kill them within months.My husband is officially retired and I've put him in charge of rescuing our plants. Yay! Where can I go to buy good fresh potted plants, organic ones if possible. Any suggestions? Most garden stores will start carrying them in season. DeBaggio usually opens in late March. If you don't want to wait, start the annuals from seed in a tray on a windowsill. The perennials are difficult to grow from seed. There's some more discussion of container gardening in the Home Gardens thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Territorial Seed Co (available on-line) has a great selection of organic seeds. They also sell herb plants, but I'm not sure if the plants are organic. Great website, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandynva Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 I think the best place to get potted herbs (or most plants, really) is at the garden day sale at green spring --this year it's on may 17th. they bring in tons of vendors and the plants are of much better quality than those usually found around here. www.greenspring.org. another good place is at the spring friends of the national arboretum plant sale, the herb society usually has a tent where they sell herbs. both of these sources offer a large variety of culinary herbs, at quite reasonable prices. i've never been impressed by debaggios plants (except their rosemary, which is quite nice) and the plants are overpriced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 i've never been impressed by debaggios plants (except their rosemary, which is quite nice) and the plants are overpriced. Really? I've never heard anyone say that before. I'm curious: what fails to impress you, besides price? Selection, quality, hardiness...? (Not trying to start a flame war, just genuinely curious.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandynva Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 what i meant was that i just wasn't impressed with the herbs, not that there was anything wrong with them. they were disease free and healthy, and definitely better than those you'd find at say home depot. its just that the plants are expensive and from a place that sells only herbs, so i thought they'd be better than the ones from, say, merrifield, and they weren't. specifically, i grow a number of scented geraniums and the ones i have at home (mostly from logees, the arboretum and green spring) are intensely fragrant--for some of them, like skeleton rose, a single lightly bruised leaf scents a whole room. the ones at de baggios were comparatively weak-scented. to be clear though--this isn't a cultural or health problem, it just means that whatever plant they're using as their cutting stock isn't as strongly scented as the ones i have. also, i was looking for a number of less popular spearmint varieties, and they didn't have them. and finally, the couple plants i did buy from them weren't as vigorous as the green spring ones, they never grew as rapidly, or got as big. so, my experience with debaggios wasn't bad at all, i just think the other herb sources are better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legant Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Slightly off topic... Has anyone tried Daregal herbs? (According to the website: available at Giant.) I don't get enough sunlight to grow my own; it might be a more economical way to "brighten up" a dish with a sprig of parsley. If the flavors hold up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Blume Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Where can I go to buy good fresh potted plants, organic ones if possible. Any suggestions?I'm not familiar with farmers markets in your area, but there were numbers on sale at Dupont Circle in D.C. yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Yesterday Whole Foods/Rockville had the usual suspects in ~3" pots; $5/2. Didn't see if they're organic or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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