Mother’s Day at Little York Plantation

Spring and especially Mother’s Day is my favorite time of year. Walking into the greenhouses has a special fresh smell about it. And each time you walk in on a brisk day, you are surrounded by a warmth that just envelopes you. Any chill in your bones is immediately gone!

And then to look around. Color everywhere! It’s almost magical!

Each year it’s a pleasure to work the weekend of Mother’s Day. I wouldn’t miss it for anything! People from all over the country come back home to honor their mothers and coming to Little York Plantation for that special basket for Mom has become a tradition. 

My favorite part of working that weekend is hearing the stories of our shoppers that came here as a child. In many cases it was their first remembered introduction to a plant store. When we started over 50 years ago, Garden centers certainly weren’t what they are today. K-mart was the only big box store and it carried some bedding plants and a very limited selection of hanging baskets.

Little York Plantation was a small roadside Market that specialized in produce. Flowering plants were at best an after-thought. Dick had built a small greenhouse for us to produce our vegetable plants for the garden and I had asked him to order just a few annuals for me to try. 

When the seed order came there must have been 30 or more seed packets of annuals plus all the vegetable plants he had ordered. Neither of us knew the first thing about planting or growing them.

But Dick was a science teacher at Homer. He researched how to plant and grow and with his knowledge we were very successful with the vegetable and the flowering plants that first year. Every single basket we grew for Mother’s Day sold!

It’s hard to believe that after all these years we get just as excited about selling our Hanging baskets and other Mother’s Day flowers as we did that first year.

If you haven’t been here before, come out and find a basket that will last you throughout the season. And if you have been coming here for years, we look forward to seeing you again this season and hearing your remembrances of visiting the garden through the years. 

Our selection has expanded since those early years. Besides the traditional hanging baskets and bedding plants, don’t forget to browse our huge selection of gardening enhancements and our Antique shop. There’s something for everyone! Looking forward to seeing you this weekend.