The Greater Cleveland Nursery Tour

When Mom and I attended the Cleveland Botanical Garden Flower Show in 2005, we were impressed with the quality of the plants that the vendors presented for purchase there, and wanted to visit those garden centers to see what else they had to offer. But we hadn't allowed enough time for that, and returned home knowing we'd missed out on some great plants.

This year, we made plans to stay overnight and spend the second day in Cleveland, nursery hopping. Ohhhhhhhh...what a great idea that was! Prior to our trip, we knew we wanted to go to Lowe's Greenhouse since we'd gotten such nice things from them two years earlier, then I consulted with Cleveland resident Kim (blackswamp_girl) as to any other nurseries that we shouldn't miss. She suggested Eagle Creek and Petitti's.

I use Google Earth for planning such trips and if you've never used it, you're in for a treat. You can actually see a satellite photo of the area you're searching. Not only that, you can do a search for any type business and it will bring up all those businesses in or near the location you submit, and it will show the location on the photo and give a link to their website. I found that both Eagle Creek and Lowe's were on Chillicothe Road and there was a garden center called Breezewood in between the two. All three were within four miles of each other!

So after a breakfast at Hampton Inn in Solon (which had one of the cleanest hotel rooms I've ever been in - it even smelled clean), Mom and I began our nursery tour with Eagle Creek Growers.



Eagle Creek Growers - 18548 Chillicothe Rd., Bainbridge, OH



Just driving up to their location told us this was no ordinary garden center. It looked like a resort.





They had a huge assortment of all things gardening.

We'd never been in any kind of garden center such as this and we were duly impressed. We spent about two hours there, perusing the plant offerings as well as the decorator items they had in abundance.








'Rooms' were set up and there were items for both inside the home and outside in the garden.













I have a weakness for bright blue pots and Eagle Creek had LOTS of them. I bought a small one. Yes, only one.





They had a lovely assortment of Jackson & Perkins roses, including nearly every one I'd ever had on my want list. I got to see 'Disneyland' in full bloom, which will soon be in bloom for the first time at my house as well.







Mom especially loved this one. I think it was 'Double Delight' but I'm not sure.










They also have a farm market inside, with wonderful edible offerings of all kinds.


We both purchased some nice things here, but we knew we had to pace ourselves or we'd be making another stop - at the bank - before the day was out. (Oh, who are we kidding. *cough*MasterCard*cough*)

Next stop: Breezewood Garden Center...