I want to share with you some of the exceptional places that I come across from time to time. These places are gems and not to be missed if you are in the area, or they could even be a destination. Most have a “garden thread” to them. “Places To Know” can be retail, restaurants, nurseries, and other. Whatever the place, expect the unusual.

If you are a gardener, and you are in Vancouver, British Columbia, you must visit Thomas Hobbs' Southlands Nursery. On a warm Saturday in late August, I stopped by Southlands Nursery, the renown nursery that has that special touch and magic to it.

Southlands Nursery has had extraordinary press over the years. To my surprise I did find Thomas Hobbs on site, attending to happy customers. He is known to be quite a jovial character with a quick wit. He warmly greeted and chatted with me, as gardening is a universal bond. Without skipping a beat, he started asking about his many friends in San Diego.

I have heard Thomas Hobbs' speak about his books and his plant passion when passing through Southern California on previous speaker circuit swings. I teased him that he is long over due for another visit.

Southlands Nursery is well-stocked with colorful French garden furniture, tidy rows of healthy plants, and incredible garden antiques and decor to tantalize you. The backdrop behind one of his registers was this clay pot mural masterpiece. Every garden room I entered at the nursery, could be center-fold photo in a top garden magazine.

It is quite clear that Thomas Hobbs' gathers no moss. He is an author, speaker, plants-man, floral designer, entrepreneur, and now a farmer. Four years ago he traded his beautiful ochre-colored Vancouver home for a life in the country on a 20 acre farm. We must all take lessons from Thomas Hobbs', on following your passions.

It just might be summed up in a "larger than life" caligraphy quote across a thick ceiling beam in his retail shop, "I ask not for a larger garden, but for finer seeds. --Russell H. Conwell

Please share if you have been to Southlands Nursery. Please comment if you have read any of Thomas Hobbs' beautiful books.