Plant Delights Nursery is a

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

plant nursery A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

based in

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

, specializing in

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s, and owned by

Tony Avent Tony Avent is an American horticulturist and plantsman. He and wife and business partner, Anita Avent, own Plant Delights Nursery and Juniper Level Botanic Garden in Raleigh, North Carolina. In addition, he is a plant explorer, author and publ ...

and partner Anita Avent. Plant Delights Nursery was established in 1988Plant Delights History Web Page
/ref> by

plantsman A plantsman is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable gardener (amateur or professional), nurseryman or nurserywoman. "Plantsman" can refer to a male or female person, though the terms plantswoman, or even plantsperson, are sometimes used. The word is ...

Tony Avent and currently operates on the 28-acre campus of Juniper Level Botanic Gardens. Proceeds (15% of revenues) from Plant Delights Nursery's for-profit perennial plant nursery fund the research, ex-situ conservation, educational programs, and ongoing maintenance of the not-for-profit Juniper Level Botanic Gardens, established in 1988, to bridge the gap between horticulture and botany. Juniper Level Botanic Gardens is also home to the Center for Mindfulness and Nonduality. The nursery operates as a mail order plant nursery through an extensive

online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the ...

presence. It also hosts national and international plant societies and events as well as having 8 public open weekends per year where it sells

perennial plants A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

directly to the public on site. The garden and nursery also host educational classes to raise awareness of the mis-information prevalent in the gardening world, along with

mindfulness Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from Sati (Buddhism), ''sati'', a significant ...

and

nonduality Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffer ...

classes and retreats with Anita Avent at the Center for Mindfulness and Nonduality. Plant Delights Nursery has a specialty catalogPhoto Gallery of Plant Delights Catalog Covers
/ref> with humorous, topical covers drawn by the acclaimed cartoonist

Jack Pittman Jack Pittman is a freelance American cartoonist and illustrator whose work has appeared in advertisements for American Express, Coca-Cola, General Motors, and other prominent campaigns. He received the National Cartoonist Society The National ...

. Plant Delights Nursery has been featured in many newspapers,Gardener's fantasy and a reality check
The Chicago Tribune
The Houston Chronicle
The New York Times magazines,The Plant Hunter
arden and Gun Magazine and on television.
/ref>

History

Owner

with a lifelong love of plants, dreamed of owning a plant nursery. His parents built him a

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These ...

when he was 8 years old and as a child he grew and sold plants as a hobby. Avent studied

Horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universi ...

under the late renowned

horticulturist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

JC Raulston. He married his childhood sweetheart, Michelle Morgan (1957-2012), and after college, he worked for the North Carolina State Fairgrounds as its Landscape Director.Tony Avent's Biography
/ref> While there, he purchased a home and property at 9241 Sauls Road in Raleigh. This parcel would eventually become Juniper Level Botanic Gardens and Plant Delights Nursery. When Plant Delights Nursery was established in 1988, it was operated as a part-time operation in Avent's back yard to fund the research and educational programs of the

botanic garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

. The business grew quickly and in 1994 Avent resigned his day job to focus on the nursery and garden full-time. Avent and his wife, Anita Avent, direct the daily operations of both Plant Delights Nursery and Juniper Level Botanic Gardens.

Controversy

Owner Tony Avent has a history of publishing satirical catalog covers. These covers, often political satire, are created by Jack Pittman have historically provoked controversy, evidenced by letters contained in a hate mail section on the Plant Delights website.Hate Mail
/ref> In 2012, Plant Delights' Spring catalog cover ignited a strong reprisal from Penn State alumni, when the cover featured a caricature of former coach

Jerry Sandusky Gerald Arthur Sandusky (born January 26, 1944) is an American retired college football coach and convicted serial child molester. Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe ...

dressed as a lion with a Penn State logo attached chasing children down a road. Numerous Facebook comments directed to the business were deleted. Avent publicly commented on News 5 WRAL in Raleigh that he stands by his artwork.WRAL Story on Backlash
/ref> In 2021, Plant Delights' spring catalog featured President Joe Biden, Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

, and a number of children reading sexually suggestive pages from a book held by Biden entitled "Kama Seedtra". These drawing are an apparent nod to the widely debunked QAnon conspiracy purporting high level government officials, including many democrats, to be involved in sex trafficking of minors, ultimately leading to the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

References

External links

http://www.plantdelights.com
{{coord, 35.6262, -78.6396, type:landmark_region:US-NC, display=title Agriculture companies of the United States Companies based in Raleigh, North Carolina Retail companies established in 1988 Garden centres Horticultural companies of the United States Mail-order retailers Plant nurseries Online retailers of the United States Privately held companies based in North Carolina