A field trip out to the North Fork of Long Island, NY
Last Tuesday, I took a little field trip out to the North Fork of Long Island, New York along with my television garden editor, Andrea Mason. The purpose of the journey was to visit some of the wonderful plant growers located out there. Andrea needs to fill the TV greenhouse with gorgeous specimens, but we also wanted to gather ideas for interesting segments for the show. Our first stop was actually in-island at Angel Plants, headquartered in Dix Hills.
Angel Plants is a family owned and operated wholesale supplier of tropical and flowering plant material. Their facility encompasses 28,000 sq. ft. of glass greenhouses, 22,000 sq. ft. of gutter connected poly houses, and 7500 sq. ft. of warehouse space. They work closely with many of the country's top growers to stock only the healthiest plants and along with a fleet of trucks, Angel Plants supplies their customers with beautiful plant material on a frequent and timely basis. Andrea and I were quite impressed with what we found there.
1 The entrance to Angel Plants, Inc.
2 As you can see, Angel Plants is quite vast and has a well-stocked inventory.
3 A very lush stephanotis - the clusters of white flowers are very fragrant and are popular for bridal bouquets.
4 Andrea and I were having a field day on our field trip!
5 Phoenix Roebelenii, or Pigmy Date Palm, is one of the more graceful and delicate looking of all palm varieties.
6 Cycads, an ancient group of plants which date back millions of years are often confused with palm trees and tree ferns.
7 A very colorful bromeliad - in their native habitat, many bromeliads grow on trees as epiphytes, catching moisture and organic nutrients in their central cups.
8 The shiny, firm, green fronds a kangaroo fern, native to Australia and New Zealand
9 The very colorful foliage of crotons
10 This fern is called macho fern because of its large size. It's like an overgrown Boston fern.
11 Here I am with Russell Weiss, owner of Kurt Weiss Greenhouses, a family business which began in 1850 - he is one of the owners of Angel Plants.
12 I showed the September issue of my magazine, Living, to Mr. Weiss - it has a fabulous story about how to decorate your home with houseplants.
13 Ficus Lyrata is a decorative tree having broad, bold, giant leaves resembling a fiddle… hence the name 'Fiddle leaf Fig.' Lyrata can be trained to grow in a variety of shapes like lyrata braids, standards or bush form.
14 Aglaonema Silver Queen - a very hardy, slow growing foliage plant, with striking dark green leaves, heavily variegated with silver.
15 Here I am taking a photo of delicate and beautiful maidenhair ferns.
16 Angel Plants has a large inventory of cacti and succulents. Andrea and I are taking notes for a future TV segment.
17 #2 - The gateway into the rather large nursery
18 Outdoors at Angel Plants stacks of urns and hardier specimens.
19 There are many kinds of ivy and standard topiaries.
20 Anther view of the macho ferns - I love these plants.
21 A row of very colorful dracaena plants
22 Aglaonema is a genus of about 40 species of foliage plants.
23 Philodendron Gordo - philodendron is a very popular houseplant - a family consisting of hundreds of species.
24 Bird's Nest fern - the apple-green, tongue-shaped fronds of the bird's nest fern are whole rather than cut. They emerge from a central, funnel-shaped rosette, where the still curled fronds resemble bird's eggs.
25 Another look at Adiantum, maidenhair ferns
26 I love the shiny redish leaves of Cordyline.
27 More maidenhair
28 Racks and racks of cacti
29 So many unusual varieties
30 This is a rhipsalis - a trailing type of cactus.
31 Posing with some of the staff of Angel Plants - Ravindra, Bill, Tracy, me, Andrea, Bob, Russell, and Chuck
Wow! What a selection they have. I didn't see any hosta.? Although the Silver Queen variety looked a bit like hosta. Thanks for the wonderful photos!
Posted by: Rebecca | August 13th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Hi,
Beautiful place, so many plants, great pictures!!! I bet You enyojed the trip
Posted by: Agnieszka | August 13th, 2009 at 4:04 am
Thank you Martha! I'm so impressed by your blog and the glimpse you give into your everyday (yet extraordinary) experiences.
I'm intrigued by the stephanotis since I trying to select my bridal bouquet for my wedding and haven't decided yet. What flowers do you recommend?
Warmly,
Drue
Posted by: Drue Kataoka | August 13th, 2009 at 4:48 am
What a fabulous selection! An idea for your magazine or tv show: a visit to Mill Grove, John James Audubon's former home. I love to hike the grounds with my digital camera. The views from the porch of the house over the river, and the flora and fauna are outstanding, right out of an Audubon print. I know you would love the barn, the gardens and the ruins of the old mill as well.
Posted by: Lisa Goldschmidt | August 13th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Hi Martha,
I can't wait to see which plants you picked out for the studio. Angel Plants nursery definitely looks like any Florida nursery with all the tropical plants but I don’t see fern that often here although Home Depot has some. I like the macho fern too and philodendron is nice; I have a different kind in the front yard that gets huge so I’m constantly cutting it down. I have not had luck at all with cycads and I find croton to be a slow grower but once they get their roots dug in they are a nice specimen. I need to get more but I hate waiting for them to get up to around 3 ft. I probably should give them more fertilizer! Nice aerial shot, hope you weren’t hanging out the door of a helicopter! Thanks again for your informative and colorful blogs! Trish
Posted by: Trish | August 13th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I just love your blog Martha! Here in Florida I can pick out some great plants for you. There are some beautiful colors to choose from..lol I'm sure that you will do well. You seem to have that magic touch.
Respectfully,
Truby
Posted by: Truby Johnson | August 13th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Hi Martha, I am glad you visited Angel Plants, Inc. They look like a wonderful operation. If we can ever offer you a tour of Terra Nova Nurseries outside Portland, Oregon, or Overdevest Nurseries / Garden Splendor in NJ, feel free to let me know. You'd possibly enjoy visiting Terra Nova Nurseries and seeing how the breeders there actually develop new varieties of breath-taking heuchera, tiarella, coreopsis, and others. The folks at Overdevest Nurseries cultivate salvia, phlox, sedum, and others. The breeders and growers are fascinating to meet. Thanks for blogging about the ones you recently met.
Posted by: Don Eberly | August 13th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Hi Martha, I love this trip you took us on to the North Shore of Long Island. The Angel Plants greenhouses were absolutely wonderful. What a fascinating place to visit and see such a fabulous variety of beautiful plants from cacti to all kinds of ferns. I have some of them, but saw so many I have never seen before. Thanks so much for this fantastic field trip. It was so very worthwhile and very inspiring, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | August 13th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I hope you got a chance to get to the lavender farm out there! My mom lives in Greenport, and we love to stop at the lavender stand whenever we visit.
Posted by: Linda Blowney | August 14th, 2009 at 9:55 am
So sorry I didn't have the opportunity to meet you........glad you had a successful visit...your pictures are terrific....hope I have the chance to meet on your next visit
Posted by: JOANNE | August 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Didn't you want to take home one of everything there? Especially the cactus & succulents, with some much variety. I enjoyed the trip through you, thank you. I can't wait for the new season of shows to start.
Posted by: jayne coleman | August 15th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Wow. The scale of operations is almost breathtaking!
Posted by: Nicodemus Green | August 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I have a question I have to hydrengas that are huge 4 feet tall they have beautiful folage but they never flower any more how do I get them to flower. Do I need to wack them off to the ground or just leave them alone and just enjoy the plant minus the flowers???????????????/
Posted by: deb vance | August 29th, 2009 at 12:20 am