Hoover Gardens is our new favorite garden center.  During September and October, Tom and I worked on outdoor projects as much as possible.  September and October aren’t really the months for planting in Ohio so the garden center was never busy when we visited.  Even better, Hoover Gardens is mostly outdoors, making it safer to visit.

We tried a couple of other garden centers in the area.  Oakland Nurseries is a big one in the Columbus area, but it is always so busy.  Other places had very limited offerings at this time of year.  I was looking for a place that was similar to the Canton Road Garden Center in Akron.  Big enough to have a good selection, but not so big that it was crowded with folks.

Finally we landed on Hoover Gardens in Westerville.  The place is bigger than it first appears.  Close to the gift shop are plants and seasonal items.  But then, behind the gift shop, there are a half dozen greenhouses filled with plants.  There is also a large area with trees and shrubs.  I did manage to plant some perennial flowers that will.  We ended up going there three different times to get some flowers and daffodil bulbs.

I believe every house needs some color from flowers and I wanted that color, even if it was late in the season to plant.  So we bought some daylilies, coreopsis, black-eyed Susans, asters, blanket flowers, and joe-pye weed.  We also picked up some beautiful lilies for John and Jackie’s house.  On our second visit we bought some chrysanthemums.  Because we bought them in the fall, they won’t survive over the winter, but they have added beautiful color to the front and back decks.  The third visit was a quick trip for daffodil bulbs which need to be planted between the first frost and the first snowfall.

Seeing flowers bloom around the house makes me happy.  I love the pops of color and the satisfaction of growing things.  I am glad that Hoover Gardens is close by, ready to supply me with the plants I need.