Smith's Gardentown

It’s Fall! My favorite time of year! — cooler temps, outdoor activities, football — what could be better?  Well, the good, slow soaking rains our area received this week makes it even better. Most places are reporting about 4 inches. Fall means that your landscape plants are going to be transitioning to dormancy soon. Shorter days and cooler nights tell … Read More

So often, we don’t realize the sacrifices our parents made for us until it is too late to thank them. When my brothers and I were growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, we were POOR! Mother and Dad were working very hard to build their struggling business and there was no money to spare. I remember one Christmas when … Read More

At Smith’s Gardentown, our cashiers are trained to ask a couple of questions as you are checking out (in addition to the usual polite conversation):  “Do you have compost to plant these with?  Do you have enough potting soil?  How about your mulch?” We ask these questions not just because we want to sell you more things (of course, we … Read More

The Age-Old Question If you know what this photograph represents, then you also know the question I’m talking about. This is a twig from a mesquite tree, plucked this morning, March 12, 2017. The oldsters said that when the mesquite trees leaf out, that means we are done with killing frosts for this season. (I know of at least one … Read More

When we were small children, back in the 1950’s, our father had an old poster in the back of the nursery (when it was located at 1525 Beverly Drive) depicting four backwoodsmen in dirty overalls with raggedy beards and no teeth. The caption read:  Six Munces Ago I Couldn’t Even Spell ‘Nurseryman’. . . and Now I Are One! I … Read More