Chapman's Greenhouse in Vancouver, WA

Yesterday I went to Chapman's Greenhouse in Vancouver, WA on 117th. This little gem used to be on the route of my daily commute, but at the time I had no backyard and had never been to a nursery. My mom and I were plant shopping together for Mother's Day, and passed by the greenhouse on the way to another store. After both admitting that we had never been there, we decided to swing by on our way home.

My mom was looking for Petunias to fill a hanging basket she had picked up on sale at Wilco. She found them there, 2 for $1.00. I have never been a fan of hanging baskets, but I have to say that the ones they had put together at Chapman's literally made my gasp. My favorite one was filled with pink and purple supertunias: "If unicorns had hanging baskets, this would be what they looked like!"

After browsing through one green house, we went into the cashier area which was attached to two more. I found some nice looking bell peppers, but they were priced a dollar more than what I paid for mine at Bi-Zi farms earlier in the weekend. I did, however; find some banana peppers for 99 cents, and I was glad that I hadn't gotten them at Bi-Zi when I picked up the red beauty bell pepper. I got two sweet banana peppers at Chapman's and saved 50%.

Caleb was happy to pull the wagon around for us, as usual. He was dressed in his gardening clothes, and had dirty little finger nails from transplanting my patio tomato earlier in the day. He had pulled it out of the pot and put it into a Tupperware and presented it to me for Mother's Day... twice. The tomato is in recovery and expected to be fine.

Chapman's was well organized and the plant species were all clearly marked. The prices were all posted clearly and most were reasonable while some were a real steal. One thing that I have learned quickly about plant shopping is that you can't get all of your starts in one place. One location will have their peppers for dirt cheap, and another will have tomatoes for next to nothing. I'm worried about getting burned since this is my first time planting a garden and I don't really know what the prices should be for plants.

It seems as though flowers are a lot more expensive than vegetables. I have a hard time understanding the reason why. Maybe they are harder to grow? Perhaps it is because they are more popular? Prettier? I don't really know why they cost more. To me they seem less beneficial. After all, you don't usually eat most flowers, but my banana peppers are going to be delicious!

Chapman's Greenhouse

14002 NE 117th
Vancouver, WA 98662
360-604-2186