I stumbled upon a mail order nursery from a posting on one of the pictures from the photo contest. Far Reaches Farm in Washington State. I will most likely order from them next year. Being in the midwest I try not to order plants from so far away because I hate the time/price of shipping and I try to order plants grown more "locally". But sometimes there are things that I want to try that just are not available in that range.

When I went to Far Reaches Farm's web site I kinda fell in love. They sound like the coolest people, they have values that I respect, and their place sounds like a most amazing haven! I WANT TO BUY THERE IN PERSON! But Washington is very far away

So it got me thinking. I need to take a BIG road trip! I have not traveled for several years. I used to travel all the time. My mom and I love to drive to visit nurseries so I know she is game to go on this adventure with me. While it is not likely I can do it next year if I plan right and save I can make it happen for 2016.

So who has suggestions for nurseries that they would consider worthy of a cross country trip? Or perhaps even an area that has a cluster of nurseries?

I'm partial to OH because I lived there for almost 40 years. Not sure from your post what kind of plants you'd want to drive around looking for? Since that's probably the closest other state, probably do-able for you. Assuming things in these places are still as good as decades-old memories...

A couple of really famous places are in OH, Glasshouse Works in Stewart, famous for stocking arcane plants, especially tropicals. Primarily a mail-order source, but they seem to welcome visitors as well. I'd call first, and have read very recent anecdotes about people visiting there.
http://www.glasshouseworks.com...

Baker's Acres in Alexandria is a major breeder of new Coleus, and their store is a huge, landscaped complex, a family business. The kind of place it takes hours to visit. (Don't miss the bathroom!)
http://bakersacresgreenhouse.c...
(Click on 'download our famous catalog' for a fun read! They shut down for winter.)

Baker's Village Garden Center in Powell was always a thrill to visit, beautifully decorated upscale place, plants you've never seen before probably, large, vigorous specimens of tropicals, annuals, perennials, but very pricey.
http://www.bakersvillagegarden...

DeMonye's is near the Columbus airport. They are known for having flats of starter-size perennials, a huge annual sale on annuals, much wider selection than any BBS.
http://demonyes.net/

I always had high hopes for finding something new when visiting Oakland Nursery:
http://www.oaklandnursery.com/
Wow, apparently there's several stores now.

Dill's in Groveport, I never left there without something new:
http://www.dillsgreenhouse.net...

The *only* mom'n'pop garden store (that has unusual tropicals and landscape plants, not just trees & shrubs) within 2 hours of where I live now is Dothan Nursery in Dothan, AL. They also have a huge section dedicated to mini/fairy gardening. Never seen anything like that before, but haven't been in another real garden store in a decade, except one in New Orleans last year.
http://www.dothannurseries.com...

If I ever get to take a plant-road-trip, it would be to Apopka, FL!!

Thanks Tiffany! My mom and I always drive over to Bluestone Perennials once a year. Maybe next year we can circle the state for a few days and hit some of the places you listed!

Hidden Lake Gardens has an annual Mother's day sale.

Visiting nurseries is one of our favorite things to do while we are out of our area. We also like going to grocery stores and picking up goodies that we don't have in Texas.

DH's family live in Seattle Area. They truly have some wonderful nurseries out there! They are the kind that present their pants in such a way they make you want all of them! We have purchased many thing from Seattle area in the past and learned the hard way that even though their things say "Full Sun" most can't take the heat we have here in the South, let alone our full sun. But I have some treasured gifts from my MIL, amaryllis bulbs and clivia that thrive.

I think your road trips plans sound like a fun one!! I would find it hard not to over buy to the point where there would be no where for me to sit!

We are planning a big trip in 2016 to Seattle and Portland. Check out the thread in the PNW forum.

If anyone goes to Oakland Nursery, the Oakland Park location, it's about 6 blocks from my house!

ShadyGreenThumb said: We have purchased many thing from Seattle area in the past and learned the hard way that even though their things say "Full Sun" most can't take the heat we have here in the South, let alone our full sun.

I think that the Seattle-area's "full sun" is a lot like Texas' "shady spot". Except for a few months in the summer, the cloud cover provides heavy shade and the short days and low sun angle also reduce the light.

Seattle summers might provide many hours of Northern sunlight, but it never gets very hot.

That's what I thought, too, Rick. But in the summer, we get to 90º in the shade. And being that I am mostly in a shady garden, it means my yard is almost always at a constant 90º all summer long. To me, that's cool for us. Not so much for Seattle's plants. btw, hang in there in the early snow cover you got up there.

Hmm, we usually get UP to 90 F a few days each summer. Last summer I think we had a few weeks that got above 90 most days. We called it a heat wave!

That "white stuff on the ground" still shocks me each morning, after such a long warm spell. And usually snow melts within a week or two. For us, this has been "extreme weather".

We are SO spoiled!