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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

The Greenery Garden Center Part 1

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

 While garden centers and nurseries 
always inspire me to plant beautiful 
flowers, trees, shrubs, and vegetables, 
there is an exceptionally inspirational 
garden center in north Alabama. 

At first glance, 
The Greenery 
in 
Brownsboro, Alabama,
just east of Huntsville on Highway 431,  
looks like an elegant Southern home 
set in Southern Living styled gardens. 

In reality, 
The Greenery 
is an elegant gift shop and nursery  
whose grounds illustrate how homeowners 
can create that gracious Southern style 
with plants, flowers, statues, and urns 
in their own gardens. 


  
The gift shop housed in the brick building offers home décor. 
Beautiful candles, faux floral stems, gardening books, birdhouses,
gifts, garden furniture, lamps, art objects, 
Guy Wolff pottery, and much more 
fill the first floor of the building. 

I love to shop here at Christmas 
when the store is filled with 
Christmas plants, seasonal decorations, and 
gifts creating the magic of the season. 



Step through its side French doors 
onto the covered walkway that leads to the 
greenhouse filled with plants. 



The stroll always takes me a long time 
because potted plants, garden furniture, 
and the walkway's architecture entice me 
to stop to examine them closer. 

Inside the greenhouse 
are scores of nursery tables 
filled with bedding plants, 
many begun by seed on site. 



A stunning arbor created 
from old windows is at the main entrance 
of the greenhouse. 


Outside, the grounds are planted 
with traditional Southern shrubs and trees, 
but not always in the expected way. 


Two magnolia trees, 
hallmarks of Southern gardens, 
are espaliered against the house 
in an unexpected planting for magnolias. 



Oakleaf hydrangeas that grow wild 
in Southeastern woods 
are another staple of Southern gardens. 
  


Their creamy white blossoms 
pair perfectly with magnolia trees. 



Several are planted in The Greenery’s landscape, 
and mimic how they grow in the wild... 
beneath shady trees, with filtered sunlight. 



Customers pick up plant purchases at 
the rear of the greenhouse. 


No surprise at what the latest 
customer is picking up... 
oakleaf hydrangeas. 



Russian sage fills a raised bed 
between the gift shop and greenhouse. 


Its delicate blue blooms and greenery 
offer gardeners a plant similar to 
lavender. 


While drought tolerant, the plant also 
does well in north Alabama 
with its abundant rainfall throughout the summer.
A soft summer shower fell just
as I was wandering through the outdoor gardens. 

Do you love garden statues, planters, arbors, and
stone walls? 

The Greenery offers all of these, but 
has more variety than what is available 
at your ordinary garden centers. 
No, you won't find their inventory at the 
local Home Depot or Lowes. 

 See my next post, 
The Greenery Garden Center Part 2, 
for examples of what The Greenery offers. 
❦  
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