The vague inclination I had to put strawberries in the back garden suddenly took fruit after a visit to a local garden center. My husband and I were on our way to visit family and had some extra time. What better way to spend it then visiting a garden center? We went to Cook’s Farm & Greenhouse in Orem, UT. This is the very first nursery I remember visiting as kid to pick out starts to plant in our family vegetable garden. I enjoyed it then, and I still enjoy it now.
They price everything (at least the herbaceous smaller stuff) based on the size of container it is in. Very convenient from a consumer standpoint. (Too often I go to garden centers and can never find the price, hoping that when I check out it won’t be too outrageous.) Otherwise, the greenhouse has a good layout, and they also sale produce. (I was thinking that selling produce would be an excellent way to extend the season at a garden center. I’m glad somebody actually does it). I was browsing through all the plants, mostly uninterested, and happened upon a very large six pack of Albion strawberries.
I purchased the reasonably prices strawberries. Then I had to go home and figure out where to put them. That resulted in digging up my coral bells, moving them over to the newly dug out bed, and replacing the space with my strawberries. That is never what I had planned, but I like it. And I’m super excited to have fresh strawberries.
(Side note: I did an undergraduate project on strawberries and grew a 300 ft row. That year I had all the strawberries I desired. And evie-2 was my favorite variety, but not easy to come by.)
Liz Braithwaite 
So true! And while your strawberries are beautiful, impulse shopping has been known to destroy garden design. I try VERY HARD to keep all my impulsive purchases confined to the back and side gardens, and leave the front alone. It doesn’t always work!
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I became a designer to STOP myself making impulse purchases but now find myself in the happy zone of self persuasion to buy anything new I like on the grounds of trialing new plants. Wheel come full circle indeed!
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Cook’s is one of my favorite impulse shopping sites. Hope you enjoy those strawberries next summer.
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I like Cook’s too! And I totally agree with you about visiting garden centers – it’s like going to a buffet when you are starving – everything looks so good you just have to take something and make romm for it. I’m still an eclectic gardener and welcome new plants all the time.
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So, so true, This kind of thing happens to me all the time. A recent sale on natives ended up with me coming home with a giant Ribes that I have no clue where to stick!!
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