Summer means I'm spending more time at home outside...and that I need to work on sprucing up patio, deck, and backyard with floral color bursts. Eddie, my neighbor who always has to-die-for potted plants and hanging baskets, finally shared his secret source with me: Olivito Greenhouse, where annuals are king, and container gardening's their thing.
Lovingly tended by Ben and Jill Oliveto, the selection, quality, and price is impressive. When you arrive, you're immediately taken by the beautiful setting - surrounded by forest, a bit of Eden at your fingertips. The huge display of technicolor flowers are so hardy you'd think they're on steroids. Walking through the flats of herbs, annuals, potted patio trees, Jill's bloom-filled urns and window boxes, I zeroed in on the enormous hanging flower baskets, nurtured by hand, plucked and pinched since January to grow into the perfect shape...And at $22-$24 each, a real steal - half the price you'd pay anywhere else.
Situated along the old canal towpath, the hospitable Olivitos have welcomed visitors to their homestead - April through July - for at least a couple of decades. Pay them a visit, pick up some dazzling plants to brighten up your home...you'll be glad you did. 813 Union Blvd. Totowa/Little Falls, NJ. 973-785-2386.
Comments (4)
I've gone there for years...bought a Christmas tree there with a rootball and planted it during January thaw. Healthy stuff.
Is Olivito Greenhouse a Baristanet advertiser? Because all the other greenhouses and florists in the area must be hatin' on you right about now.......
The plants in the pictures look nice, but I see petunias, marigolds, dusty miller, gerbera daisies... nothing out of the ordinary. Does anyone know if they carry anything unusual in terms of annuals?
I tend to go all the way down to Ambleside Gardens in central NJ to get annuals because they have interesting things, but I'm certain there must be something closer to home. I just haven't found it.
Godlewsky's, Alphano Road, Independence Township (Allamuchy), right behind the Panther Valley development, is by far the cheapest and largest place to buy plants in all of northern Jersey. It's a hike but it's worth it. Something like 50+ greenhouses, too.
And for unusual stuff, Digging Dog Nurseries of Sonoma, CA, which is where I bought my Primula Denticulatas from the Himalayas via the Scottish Highlands, which after four tries have finally come up successfully for two years in a row.