Mother’s Day is the time of year that you will find most local nurseries fully stocked with plant material.  I always dreaded Mother’s Day weekend when I worked in the nurseries.  It was our busiest weekend, we were often sold out of the most popular items (Pink Dogwoods) and people were cranky.  Despite the 300 hanging baskets we had to select from none of them were good enough for people’s moms.  It is like working in a flower shop on Valentine’s Day.  Since I no longer work in a nursery and I am a mother I like the day a little more.  I also take a little more pride in finding gifts for my mom and mother-in-law.  However, in recent years I’ve joined the masses and started buying hanging baskets for them.  This year my MIL did not get a hanging basket as her son was in charge of finding her gift.  I had grand plans for my mother.  I was going to take her to a nursery that has some of the most beautiful hanging baskets in the area, let her pick one out and call it good.  We like to visit nurseries together so it seemed like a great opportunity.

The nursery I selected was Windmill Gardens in Sumner, WA.  I’ve visited this nursery a few times, but always in the off season.  That is no way to experience a nursery for the first time.  The best way to see what a nursery is like the first time is to visit them during the height of the season, between Mother’s Day weekend and Memorial Day weekend.  We hit the nail on the head by visiting yesterday afternoon.

We arrived at lunchtime and since we were toting a 4 year old along with us, as we often are, we needed to feed him, and me.  It just so happens that Windmill Gardens is also home to Windmill Bistro.  Handy.  I looked up their menu online before deciding to eat there.  I wanted to make sure we weren’t getting ourselves into something that would turn out badly (poor food, nothing for the 4 year old or very expensive).  Much to my delight everything was reasonable.  It was the lunch rush when we got to the nursery and the restaurant was full with a 20-30 minute wait.  It just so happened that it was full of retirees and those that were waiting were complaining about the wait.  My response was, “well there’s a whole nursery to look at while you wait.”  They didn’t like that very much.

We put our name on the list and took the opportunity to look around the garden and a small part of the nursery.  We returned to have our lunch and I was quite impressed.  They had a children’s menu for my son and a nice selection of dishes to choose from.  I found a nice salad, mom had a sandwich.  My son’s fish and chips was just the right amount for a child.  Well done Windmill Bistro.

After lunch we returned to the nursery and stopped at The Tea Madame tea shop where I could have spent a small fortune.  I would have browsed a little longer had it not been for that pesky 4 year old.

The rumors were correct about Windmill boasting some of the most beautiful hanging baskets in the area.  They grown their own and that is often a sure sign of good quality.  Along with the high quality baskets came a high price.  The least expensive basket was $44.99.  That actually isn’t a bad price considering the size.  The most expensive I found was a $149 moss basket.  It was so large it would have ripped the hook right out of the soffits of my house.

Their selection of perennials was outstanding.  Several varieties of each item and some unusual ones to boot.  Shrubs were plentiful and the rain kept me away from inspecting their tree stock.  Always a favorite past-time of mine.

Prices were very reasonable (given the exception of the hanging baskets).  However, I did find a 1 gallon Oriental Poppy marked at $29.99.  My belief is that it was either mis-marked or it was a rare variety.  I was unfamiliar with that particular poppy, but I do have a very old and rare Korean Poppy in my garden that would warrant such a price if it were still sold in stores.

I was also impressed at their selection of heirloom tomatoes.  The weekend of the 23-24th they are having a salsa fest where they will put out more varieties of rare and heirloom tomatoes, but I was able to pick up 3 plants on my list.  My little treasures cost me a total of $9.

The nursery was spotless, the staff was friendly and overall we had a great experience.  The nursery is located out in Sumner so it is a little too far for me to drive out there on a regular basis, but it makes for a fun afternoon outing.  Despite the fact that my mom did not walk away with her Mother’s Day gift we had a lovely visit.