I'm looking for a couple plants for my balcony. I know virtually nothing about plants or what I need or how to keep them alive. Does anybody have any recommended nurseries in town with knowledgeable staff?

Circle D has, by far, the best variety. Unfortunately, they are only open to retail Saturday mornings. I often make it a part of my Saturday morning routine to go out there.

America's Country Store is good too, just way more limited. Their prices are better, too.

Seconding America's Country Store if you need advice. They always have someone on staff to answer detailed questions.

Ask for Bernadette if she's there. She knows the most.

Producers Co-op!

Circle D worth the wait until Saturday. Best plants in town.

It is perplexing that the community with an agricultural school does not have a nursery! Or a few.

They do have a huge plant sale twice a year.

It would be neat if they had a plant center similar to the old dairy products center, and the current Rosenthal meat science center.

I've always enjoyed going to Martha's Bloomers.

I second Martha's Bloomers, the recent kerfuffle notwithstanding.

Eh, I'm not a huge fan on Calloway's. They have a good selection, but their plants are too expensive because of their guarantee, which doesn't matter for a seasoned gardener like me.

Martha's Bloomers is great too, but no one ever seems to be around. I got a really cool bird's nest fern a few weeks ago, and they have nice tropicals.

Thanks all. Will check out a couple this weekend.

I too was perplexed how a city with a Horticulture school could have so few nurseries. After talking with a friend who teaches at A&M I came to the conclusion that Horticulture graduates view nurseries as retail - and they want to do research for Monsanto type cos.

any of these places still have Satsumas?

looking to plant one or something similar in a tropical spot of the garden (shielded from north wind, good drainage).

Honestly I'd wait til spring. Young plants don't generally do well under that much stress (being moved, then the extreme heat).

Producers was a fantastic nursery until they moved and became a horse and cow store.

When I was at the Country Store last week, I saw some Artic Frost satsumas in the nursery.

Thought about getting some, but need to finish building my new chicken coop. One project at a time!

While we're on this thread, has anyone seen any tomato seedlings for sale for fall planting yet? The big box stores are out...

Excellent, thanks!

and rhoswen - I agree with you, but I plan on babying it until the heat is over...and the spot its going in will have shade from about 2:00 on. I just want to get one before places sell out for the summer.

I have an orange tree in a large pot - finally have oranges! We've had it for about 4 years.

I haven't seen any, but personally, I think it's a little early for transplants.

I usually start my tomato seeds indoors beginning of August, and put them in the ground in September.

Not sure its too early. A typical tomato seedling takes about 60-80 days to produce. By the time most stores get them in around here, its too late as the fruiting time overlaps with the cold fronts coming down. The few times I've been successful with fall tomatoes, I've had the seedlings in the ground around July 4 and watered the hell out of them.

There were tomato plants available at the Scott & White Farmer's Market yesterday (Friday) afternoon.