Out and About: C&M Nursery

Planty friends, this one's for you.

My birthday was on Friday, and it presented my mom and me with the perfect excuse to pop over to the Tri-Cities and do some plant shopping. We joined the Tri-Cities Houseplant Lover's Facebook page, and members were constantly posting photos of their loot from C&M Nursery in West Richland.

This was our first stop of the day, and we ended up falling in love with the little shop located at 2517 W Van Giesen Street. They have a huge outdoor plant spread which was being stocked with the first shipment of the season, but I was on a houseplant mission and didn't spend much time out there.

The nursery also had a large selection of soil, bark, and mulch, and they offer many lawn care services. It was clear that the employee working outside was happy to be there, hanging out with the plants and doing her thing; it set the tone for our visit.

The houseplant section is fairly new, according to Stacey, one of the new owners. While it only takes up a small fraction of the nursery's property, it feels as though it's been there from the start. There was a whale fin sansevieria on the front counter, which is one of my dream plants, a couple of small alocasia, and some hoyas. They were set aside for a drawing, much to my disappointment, but I was able to throw my name in the hat when I purchased my plants.

I've never seen an entire wall dedicated to sansevieria (commonly called snake plants or mother-in-law's tongues). They had a handful of varieties, including some 'dragon finger' sansevieria. If you're looking for a plant that thrives on neglect and can handle low light, sansevieria are your friend!

Another wall was loaded with tillandsia (air plants), air plant pots, fun hanging decor, and cacti. They even had terrarium kits from the Seattle Seed Company, which are fun projects to do with kiddos. Plenty of the tillandsia were getting ready to bloom, which only happens when they are content with their conditions. Personally, I don't care for air plants but still ended up coming home with a gorgeous xerographica in a rustic clay bowl.

The nursery's back half was full of peperomia, maranta, calathea, and other popular houseplant genera. They had a few grow light systems displayed; one was set up for various succulents, one for syngoniums (arrowhead plants), and one for vining plants like Algerian ivy and strawberry peperomia.

Even a section of alocasia was tempting, but I held off since I have two Polly Alocasia that I am trying to coax out of dormancy. If you want a plant that causes grey hair, alocasias are your thing; look at them wrong, and they try to die.

Though I had never been there before and didn't personally know the staff, walking into C&M reminded me a lot of walking into Nancy's Dream Garden Center in Waitsburg. Everyone was welcoming and seemed to genuinely enjoy being at work. One of the ladies who worked indoors, Cami, gave me a (joking) "NOOOO" every time I picked up a plant, knowing that there was a good chance I would put it in my basket and take it home.

While we were there, the nursery received a truckload of plants from Walla Walla Nursery, each one individually packaged in brown paper. The owner must have sensed my excitement and asked if I wanted to help unpackage plants. So, for my birthday, I got to unwrap an entire truck's worth of plants, and it made my day!

Our overall loot included monstera adansonii (swiss cheese plant), heart leaf philodendron, a 'shady lady Marlene' nematanthus (goldfish plant), and a variegated ficus benjamina (weeping fig). C&M also has had a fun selection of pots and planters that fit any budget, so all of my plants came home with new pots. Houseplant prices ranged between $6 and $50, with indoor pot prices aligning closely with the plants.

Next time you are over in the Tri-Cities, I highly recommend stopping at C&M Nursery. Whether you are after shrubs or spider plants, they likely have it. The friendly conversation alone, is worth it!