Tacoma Boys is one of those little fruit stands that kept growing. They started selling produce out of a tent on the side of the road in the late 80's and I got my first Tacoma Christmas tree from that tent! Now they have three locations with actual buildings, amazing produce, enough different kinds of fresh salsa to keep you eating a different one every day for a month, with their chips of course, one of the largest selections of wine around, a meat and seafood counter, cheese section and a great selection of specialty foods. Best of all, they encourage you to taste things before you buy them. There are always lots of great sale signs (pineapple 2 for 5.00, avocados 4 for 1.00 etc.)
Oh right, this is a garden blog. Hey, they also have tons of frost proof pots which are always "on sale" at two for one but if you just want one, they'll sell it to you at half price. Mkay, so why not just mark them at half the price to begin with? Anyway, this sign out front caught my eye!
Lots of pots!
There were a few interesting pots and even some that I didn't notice until I looked at my pictures that would work for me but for some reason, I was just not in the mood to schlep three big pots home in my car. I must admit to not understanding the pot pricing at this place. Some pots that one would think would be fairly expensive are not and vice versa. It doesn't seem to have much to do with glaze color or size. I also wonder if they perhaps marked some inventory up in preparation for the sale.
And because we never want to forget that we live in the soggy PNW, these boot planters can be a daily reminder during our dry season.
Tacoma Boys also carries plants with pricing as unpredictable as the pots! This beautiful Acer palmatum with no identification tag (guessing 'Peaches and Cream') in a five gallon pot and taller than I was priced at $100.00.
Four inch pots of aeoniums and echiverias were only $3.50.
Didn't price these but it was nice to see them.
Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi' ready to perfume the evening air in some lucky person's garden!
Alison from Bonney Lassie says that she loves shopping at Fred Meyer, our regional one-stop shop (groceries, hardware, housewares, garden, you name it) because she can disguise her plant spending as part of grocery expenses. I imagine that she likes Tacoma Boys for much the same reason! Well, that and T.B. also has great stuff!
What did you buy, you may be wondering to yourself. Well, I got four echiverias (It's NOT an addiction!) and quite a bit of nice produce. There are a few pots in the garage from last fall's sales that I'm not using so why drag more home? On the other hand, there were some unglazed pots that might work really well for additions to the danger gardenette...Perhaps I should go back.
Hello there Outlaw !
ReplyDeleteWow .. those pots are pricey, I have never spent that much on a pot(s) .. the plants are interesting and I do love echivera!! I think they are so beautiful .. haven't seen any around this year for some reason. That maple is gorgeous too .. so much to look at .. BIG sigh !
Maybe you should go back and have a second look?LOL
Joy : )
And I neglected to pick up a bunch of garlic scapes (the edible stems and buds of garlic) and we could use more bananas, too. It's nice to have this place close by!
DeleteWe could do with some of those glazed pots ourselves :)
ReplyDeleteWell, just come on over and get some:)
DeleteHah! You would guess right! I have some pink Lupines blooming in the garden right now that came from Tacoma Boys, and a few others that I can't recall specifically. Great place, I love their produce and it's one of the few places around where I can buy Fran's salted caramel chocolates. I have been tempted in the past to buy pots there, but you're right, I often can't find anything I really like well enough to lug home (and pay that steep price, even though it's two or three for the price of one).
ReplyDeleteI like the T.B. in Puyallup but the Tacoma Location is more spacious so things aren't piled quite so high and there's room for shopping carts. I have bought pots here but only ones whose prices seemed reasonable. You know, those nice young people who work there are more than happy to load heavy things in your car for you.
DeleteI've stopped there exactly once (took a wrong turn on my way to Jungle Fever) and thought the pot prices (!) where a little steep...and the selection just slightly off. They must be selling them to someone though right? (and I love Alison's Fred Meyer rational, I must admit to having done the same thing usually a couple of sempervivium)
ReplyDeleteI don't quite know how they choose their pots. These all seemed familliar from last year so I'm wondering if they are trying to clear these out to make space for a new shipment or maybe they're thinking of discontinuing carrying pots.
DeleteYeah, I never quite get the pricing at these places either and in our case, we only get to garden for about 4-5 months of the year, so I'm really careful about how much I spend. I like your comment about using the hostas to hide holes in the garden. It seems something always happens somewhere and there's always a hole to cover up...
ReplyDeleteI now have a holding area for new plant acquisitions that haven't found a spot in the garden yet. Often these just keep getting potted up instead of put in the ground and I'm able to toss those plants in blank spots that need a little something. Our "frost proof" pots can stay outside year round without being damaged and the glazed ones add a nice dose of color on gray winter days. I usually wait until I find a really amazing sale to by them.
DeleteWe have those pots here too at a much more affordable price - less than a quarter of its price, before the offer. The Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi' is a lovely plant. I'm trying to get one of those plants one day.
ReplyDeleteAny of the brugmansias would love living in your climate and they are so beautifully fragrant at night! The fragrance has a mild euphoric effect on humans!
DeleteNo pictures of the Echeverias you got?!? No fair!
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea of hiding plant expenditures in the grocery shopping.
Two of the Echiverias were like the ones in the picture & the other was 'Topsy Tuvy.'
DeleteYes, hiding plant expenditures and when someone notices a new plant in a bed the old, "Oh, that's been there for months" line usually works. You know those non gardeners who kind of think that all plants look alike are easy to fool! We do NOT have a plant addiction problem! (We enjoy every minute of it.)
I've always been shocked at just how spendy pots are most of the time...it's crazy...I finally gave up and have been doing the galvanized metal thing...WAY cheaper!
ReplyDeleteI love the look of galvanized metal but just assumed that, since it was sort of the in thing, it would be more expensive. You've just given me a wonderful idea about some large pots to use in the space that will be left when and if I ever get rid of my compost bin! Thanks Scott!
DeleteI used to do graphics and writing for a guy whose roadside stand grew into a full fledged garden store. Post-recession the retail outlet is back to a roadside stand, but backed up by state-of-the-art greenhouses. I love the bootstrapping stories.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the bootstrapping is fun to watch!
DeleteThat store looks like a funly weird place. I have a pot addiction and love schlepping home giant pots. :o) I created an entire garden out of plants I bought at a grocery store called Prince Chopper when I lived in upstate NY. I called it my Price Chopper Garden. I know, I know. So uber classy you're ready to drive to NY right now!
ReplyDeleteYou said it! Funly weird indeed. I share your addiction but try to wait for a great sale because I prefer to spend money on plants. Funny, spending a hundred bucks on a bunch of plants is much easier for me than spending that amount on a pot.
DeleteYour Price Chopper Garden is a way cool Idea & should be imitated widely! I can hear the garden tour blurbs now: Casa Mariposa, a garden created by one powerhouse of a gardener, consists of a series of outdoor rooms including the Price Chopper Garden, Piggly Wiggly Paradise, Food Lion's Den, IGA knot garden, and Trader Joe's tropicalismo/zonal denial garden which are all connected by an winding path known as the Safe way.
LOL!!! I burst out laughing, literally!! I once went to the Winn Dixie by our house in SC for milk and came home with a weeping willow. I also bought a cypress tree at the Piggly Wiggly. You've found my weakness!
DeleteCheck out my Garden Love column!!
DeleteAw, golly gosh, Tammy, I'm blushing! Thanks for the kind words!
DeleteThe 'Peaches and Cream' is just what I was looking for color-wise in a Japanese Maple, but I got 'Sister Ghost' which I think is coloring up a little on the pinkish side. Here's hoping!
ReplyDeleteI've heard great things about 'Sister Ghost' an the whole Ghost series of Acer palmatums. Hope it works out for you!
DeleteWe finally got a Trader Joe's and now I have to wait for Tacoma Boys.
ReplyDeleteI agree that pots are silly priced. Casting your own out of 'tufa' is nice messy fun, and the pots look very rustic etc. I like to stick pots into planted beds, to add a little elevation or to fill in where the ground squirrel ate the rhododendron roots and killed it or etc. (Might need one of those potted hostas you mentioned.)
I use pots in my beds a lot too because there are so many seasonal weeds(native spring ephemerals) whose foliage smothers out everything in its way in the spring leaving sadly struggling perennials in the beds. Some day I'll have to be a real gardener, dig everything out and start again!
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