BR Hoffman and Barb Elyea

Visitor info

Visit Us

Open Saturdays Mornings until noon
May 7 - October 30, 2011
at Horn in the West
Wednesdays 9 - 1 AM
June 1 - September 29, 2011 at Kmart
Rain or Shine

Watauga County Farmers' Market
Boone, North Carolina

Nursery Items

Alicia Breton

Alicia Breton is the owner of My Favorite Plants Nursery. Her love of plants has led her to almost ten years of growing annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs. She now has a greenhouse and 4 coldframes; she uses these to protect plants in winter and spring.
In addition to the Farmers' Market, Alicia can be found at her greenhouse from 10 AM to 2 PM on Monday through Thursday, and on Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM. Call her at (336) 877-1155 or send an e-mail.
My Favorite Plants Nursery is located in Todd, North Carolina. From Boone, take Highway 194 North at New Market Center. Turn left at Three Top Road and continue for eight/tenths of a mile. The drive is on the left, there is a fencepost with the number 9570C.
sunflower
hibiscus
Japanese iris

zinnia

Susan Wright and Brent Cochran

Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery was started in 1986 to supply quality perennials for our landscaping needs. Through the years Susan developed the nursery using sustainable methods, before that was a buzzword. Plants are grown outside or in our un-heated greenhouse; organic, hands-on growing methods are used throughout the farm and nursery. Our selection includes new and hard to find varieties along with a few tough favorites. We are especially proud to say do not use any systemic pesticides or fungicides. "To us sustainable means protecting birds and bees too." See our website for more details about our organic and sustainable methods. We have great healthy perennials, bigger than mail order, better than chain stores.

daylily Satin Glass

red daylily

Echinacea

We offer the highest quality, large, blooming size plants, all organically grown (non-certified). We've paid special attention to varieties that are well suited to the conditions of the High Country. Our selections reflect our passion for native plants and cut flowers. The nursery is located 10 miles west of Boone, NC. Summer hours are Fridays 9-6. Our phone number is (828) 297-4098, send mail about your gardening concerns, or visit our website at
Shady-Grove-Gardens.com
Shady-Grove-Gardens.blogspot.com

yarrow and larkspur
cutting garden

Cut Flowers are our speciality. We can supply flowers for weddings, churches and special occasions. Just contact us for special orders or lists of seasonal availability. Our selection changes daily, so visit our display at the market each week for something different.

Join our Fresh Flower CSA (Subscription).
This is the 2nd summer Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery will be offering a subscription to their best fresh flower bouquets. Bouquets are delivered in our buckets to be transported home. The Wednesday afternoon Watauga County Farmers’ Market in Boone is our drop-off site.

This is everyones chance to get fresh locally grown flowers without pesticides and without getting up early on Saturday morning. Members will get $25’s worth of flowers for 10, 15 or 20 weeks. The late season bouquets will include orange and red winterberry holly for the holidays. 

These seasonal flowers will be different each week as they are all grown outdoors in Ashe and Watauga counties. Since 1986 Shady Grove Gardens has produced perennials and cut flowers without using any inorganic pesticides or herbicides. 
Subscription members will be invited to join Susan Wright and Brent Cochran for a fun farm tour, to see where their flowers are grown and learn a little more about flower farming.

To get more information or sign up for the weekly bouquets contact Susan at 828-297-4098 or sggarden@skybest.com.

Vegetable and Flower transplants

  • Tomatoes: Chianti Rose, Juliet, Crimson Carmello, Cour di Beu, Japanese Black Trifele, Sungold, Sweet Million, Red and Yellow Pear, Sweet Gold, Black Cherry, Ferline, Pompeii Italian paste tomato
  • Peppers: Purple Beauty, Carmen, Sheepnose Pimento, Ashe County Pimento, Vidi, Admiral Golden, Corno di Toro
  • Flowers and Herbs: Sweet Pea, Large Leaf Basil, Italian Basil, Flat and Curly Leaf Parsley, Cosmos White Seashells, Cosmos Versailles Mix, Cosmos Sonata Mix, Nasturtium
  • WINTER VEGATABLE CSA-FOR OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER PICKUP Want fresh local vegetables after the summer season? Shares will weigh approximately 60 lbs., and include apples, large yellow storage onions, yellow and red potatoes, 4-5 types of winter squash, red cabbage and garlic. In addition pumpkins will be in the October package. Favorite recipes for soups, delicious casseroles and pies will be included. The cost is $90 a share.

    The vegetables and fruit offer will store for at least 2 months most will store even longer.
    Boxes of winter storage vegetables shares will available for pickup at the last Watauga County Farmers Market October 31st and just in time for Thanksgiving November, 21, 2009. Signup for this CSA will end June 1, 2009.

    Planning a wedding? Why not have it on our Farm? Contact us about our facilities at The Peak.

    Susan Graham

    petunias

    Susan Graham enjoys going to the market even after more than 12 years of working long hours in her greenhouses. Her enthusiasm is made obvious by a trip to her greenhouse in Todd, NC. She takes meticulous care of her plants and is rewarded with outstanding blooms and foliage.

    pansys

    Susan grows perennials, amazing hanging baskets, and starts bedding plants from seed. You will find flats of petunias, French marigolds that grow to eight inches, and red, white and blue pansies. Susan also grows annual and perennial herbs, including bright and fragrant Pineapple Sage.

    hat

    Susan Graham has won even more fans with her hand knitted and felted wool hats. Susan hand knits the hats from wool and wool/mohair blend yarn in a rainbow of colors and currently has three styles for you to choose from. One style features a rolled brim with fun fur trim, another has a narrow brim in solids and stripes with a braided hatband. A fashionable beret completes the collection. All of Susan's hats will fit an average adult's size head.

    hathat

    The hats can be hand washed in cool water with a mild detergent, then blocked over a form or bowl for drying to retain their shape.

    E-mail Susan Allen Graham.

    Iva Lee Hayes

    Iva Lee Hayes has been with the Watauga County Farmers' Market since it's beginning. She helped organize the market in 1973 and saw it open the following year. At that time the market was located at Boondocks Plaza near Hampton's Body shop. Ten or twelve other vendors participated, but of them, only Iva Lee and her daughter Sissy Moore are still members of the Farmers' Market.

    Iva Lee Hayes

    Iva Lee sells all kinds of jams, jellies, as well as local honey, but is most well known for her homemade kraut. She also specializes in freshly baked pumpkin cake.The first week of the market, she brought three pumpkin cakes which were immediately purchased by one of the other vendors. She started baking more, and many Saturdays would sell 40 or 50 individual cakes, some customers buying enough to freeze some for the long winter months ahead. In the last ten years, she has decreased her supply somewhat. Loyal customers know to come early to avoid disappointment.

    Raggedy Ann doll
    plants and hanging baskets

    Also at Iva Lee's booth are many handmade crafts, such as dolls, baby quilts and wall hangings. She also brings plants from her garden, especially hens and chicks.

    Hens and Chicks

    Sandi Henry

    handmade basket

    Sandi Henry has been making baskets for 22 years. Her sister taught her how to make her first basket and she later studied books to learn additional techniques. She has been selling baskets at Watauga County Farmers' Market for twelve years, and is an art teacher at Appalachian Christian School.

    Sandi makes her baskets from hand dyed reed and often uses grapevine to make free form handles. One of her most popular baskets is a biscuit basket that is used for serving bread at the table.

    handmade basketreed wall hanging
    mosiac table

    Sandi added decorative mosaic items to her inventory about five years ago. She applies hand made tiles or broken pottery to chairs, tables, vases and planters.

    Sandy also offers perennial plants and bouquets from her garden.

    Sandi welcomes special orders, call her at (828) 264-5549 or send an e-mail.

    mosaic planters
    handmade basketmosaic chair

    Lindy Johnson, J.Jackson, Allen Snyder

    J., Lindy, and Allen

    Lindy Johnson, J.Jackson and Allen Snyder all live in Trade, Tennessee and share a booth at Watauga County Farmers' Market. J. and Lindy have been vendors at the market for seven years, and Allen has been coming here for six years. Lindy and J. own Tennessee Rose Nursery and Allen owns Shady Acres Nursery. Both nurseries grow shrubs suitable for the Blue Ridge Mountain area.

    Lindy and J. specialize in native azaleas, hardy Hydrangeas grown from seed, and blueberry bushes. They also supply Shiitake mushroom logs.

    Azalea

    Azalea

    Azaleas are members of the Rhododenderon family; they are grouped together because of their flower structure. There are around four hundred decidious native azaleas and derivatives growing at Tennessee Rose Nursery. Some are becomming rare in the wild due to the pressures of development. The lovely and fragrant R. arborescens is already on the endangered plants list. Lindy and J. select the best wild forms as seed sources, then raise the best plants from the seedlings. These shrubs and trees are not bothered by disease, have a long bloom period, and are often fragrant. They range in color from white, pink, orange and red. All are very hardy in full sun to part shade. Some will not perform as well in the deep South, but some will do well as far north as zone 3.

    A favorite evergreen Rhododendron is the Littleleaf Rhodendron. The foliage has a pleasant woodsy scent and there are clear pink blooms in early May. Later in the month look for Kalmia which is also known as mountain laurel, and oak leaf Hydrangea which grows naturally from North Carolina to Alabama.

    E-mail Tennessee Rose.

    wigelea

    wigelea

    Allen Snyder grows many popular types of flowering shrubs. Early in the season he has dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties of Wigelia blooming in shades of pink and red. These are Canadian selections and very hardy. Later he has ninebark with attractive dark leaves, butterfly bushes, and varieties of Clethra including 'Hummingbird" and '16 Candles". He also grows evergreen shrubs such as boxwoods and false cypress ranging in size from low growing varieties to ten foot specimans.

    Sissy Moore

    Sissy Moore has been with Watauga County Farmers' Market since it opened in 1974. Still in high school at the time, she sold mostly house plants and cactus. She used her earnings to buy a 22x24 greenhouse, which enabled her to grow and sell enough plants to buy her first car. She now grows mainly hardy perennials, and specializes in unusual varieties. This often means plants too new to be readily available, but check for once popular heirlooms that have now become uncommon.

    Sissy Moore and Brandy Moore

    Sissy now has her own property and three smaller greenhouses. Her daughter Brandy uses the greenhouse at her grandmother's to start the hanging baskets that she brings to the Farmer's Market.

    After the rush of the planting season calms, Sissy turns her attention to canning. She produces a large selection of jams and jellies. Raspberry, peach, strawberry and blackberry are most popular, but Sissy chooses pumpkin butter as her personal favorite.

    preservesjelly

    email Sissy

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    Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center

    Meetings and functions of the Watauga County Farmers' Market are often held at the Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center. The map to the Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center may be of help. This indicates the actual entrance to the Conference Center off Poplar Grove Road, not the main entrance to the Cooperative Extension Office on King Street.

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    Trees