Web Original: Green Dreams

Meadowbrook Farm offers plants and know-how to emerging gardeners.

I don’t have one square inch of earth to plant, water or harvest. Not that atypical for a city-dweller, but, for two years, I have wussed out on getting a little plot in my popular neighborhood garden. Just when I’m contemplating getting on the waiting list for next spring (held up by thoughts alternating between “what if the rabbits eat all my veggies?” and “what if the other gardeners can tell I don’t know what the hell I’m doing?”), I found Meadowbrook Farm.

Tucked into the woods not far from downtown Jenkintown, this mighty estate-adjoined horticultural center is a major behind-the-scenes plant supplier for the Philadelphia Flower Show … and definitely worth a visit for buyers and scaredy-cat dreamers like me. You’ll find a knowledgeable staff, pretty birdbaths and fountains, and benches and benches of thriving flora. Even though it’s still summer, don’t miss the greenhouse or the cactus and succulent collection.