Hi all,
I might be traveling to Lexington, KY this week. Are there any nurseries or farms that I should check out?
Hi all,
I might be traveling to Lexington, KY this week. Are there any nurseries or farms that I should check out?
I went to a conference there years ago. I’m not sure on nurseries but we had an event at the horse park which was nice. West Sixth Brewing was amazing and the downtown strip near there is very nice to walk around. Buffalo Trace was a fun tour. I think @treefrogtim might be familiar with the area?
I don’t go to Lexington very often, but I have heard good things about the arboretum there.
Email Cliff England and ask for a tour! England’s is about 40 minutes from Lexington. He always has plants available for sale that aren’t on his website, as well as interesting seeds from his orchard (heartnut, almond, Wang Bo goumi, etc.).
Blake’s nursery, Peaceful Heritage, is about an hour from Lexington. I’ve never been there, but I’m sure it’s well worth a visit, too!
Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort is flooded, so I doubt they would be doing tours now. I’ve taken one there, it’s very interesting to see how they make their bourbon. Smells great when you get out your car in the parking lot. There’s other distilleries in the area tho, if you’re into that.
There’s a couple large orchards within 50 miles, there’s Stepping Stone (formerly Reed Valley) just outside of Paris, and Evans in Georgetown. But I don’t know if they’re open yet.
We’ve been to Reed Valley several times, they have hundreds of apple and pear trees, along with peaches, cherries and plums, along with all kinds of berries and veggies. It’s a very cool place to visit, but again I don’t think they’re open yet.
Thanks everyone! The event that I was planning on going to got postponed, so I ended up not going. I imagine that they will reschedule, so I might still be able to consider all of the wonderful sounding places that everyone suggested.
Bernheim Forest Arboretum is at Clermont, south of Louisville, maybe 75 mi. from Lexington
How about a Nursery (small) and a farm?..
The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill (Shakertown) -3000 acres
is a very nice visit with salt houses, and several old apple trees amongst other things. Excellent dining experience as Ive been there several times. The Shaker Lemon Pie is to die for… along with their seeded crackers.
From their FB page-
The apple trees have hit full bloom, which means we’re well into spring. We currently have 33 trees and 13 different varieties of heirloom apples. Many of our trees were common during the 19th century and are considered rare today, so each spring season we graft our own apple trees from these varieties so that they can be sold on-site to you
On the property was grown 1000s of apple trees, Pears, Peaches and Plumbs…
'Summer apples: Striped June, Early Harvest, Carolina June, Summer Rose, Royal Pearmain, American Summer Pearmain, and Gravenstein.
Autumn varieties: Rambo, Queen, Fall Pippin, Golden Russet, Spitzenberg, and the Belle-fleur.
Winter varieties: Jenneting, Pryor’s Red, and the Limber Twig.’
In May 1863, the Shakers describe the state of Pleasant Hill as a site of splendor: “The apple trees are in full bloom. The forests are closing up very fast. All creation animate and inanimate is fast coming into new life and vigor, fruit of all description both wild and tame is very beautiful.”
I visit every 5-10 years…and every year i do a flea market trip or two or three from Morehead into Winchester then onward into Lexington and beyond…often ending up in Richmond or Berea.
Very easy and fun trip via I-64 into I-75
The drive from Lexington into Pleasant Hill is rife with towering limestone walls and lots of whiskey barns.
The arboretum and Shakertown sound like great attractions to check out too. Thank you!