Nursery visit: Redenta’s Garden in Dallas
Don’t you love it when you discover a new garden shop in a city you’ve visited many times before? Every time I’m in Dallas (about 4 hours north of Austin), I try to make time for the Dallas Arboretum. Last Saturday, after admiring the flowering cherries during the Arboretum’s Dallas Blooms festival, I popped over to Redenta’s Garden, just a couple miles away at Skillman and Oram, in a hip, Austinesque neighborhood of bungalows, shops, bars, and restaurants.
I knew as I drove up it was going to be good. Colorful, contemporary Fermob bistro tables and chairs brightened the sidewalk and perfectly matched the colors of the screening wall around the nursery. A Corten planter box and dish container at the street corner was filled with agaves and other succulents. Since the planter was a little winter-weary in the wake of the ice storm that Dallas endured recently, I didn’t get any good close-ups. But I bet it’s a show-stopper in summer.
For gardeners looking to freshen their own winter-weary succulent containers, Redenta’s offers a tempting selection.
Not to mention some fabulous containers. Check out this succulent-filled “console table.”
And this unusually shaped, rusty metal container planted up with a striped agave.
Inside they carry Shannon Lester’s excellent Steel Life collection! I love these contemporary, crazy colorful dishes, which beg for succulents and tillandsias to fill them up. Redenta’s also carries the Fermob double-top side table that I’ve been coveting but just can’t bring myself to splurge on (and which I’ve never seen offered in Austin).
Shelves display a nice selection of small to medium containers and pots, especially if you like modern or rustic-retro design.
Tillandsias, which are still riding a wave of popularity, are given a good deal of shelf space, as are modern vessels and hanging glass globes in which to display them. Catching the light from a nearby window, chunks of slag glass in various colors are available for accessorizing your succulent containers.
I seriously considered getting a couple of these crimped metal pots, which I’d admired recently in a post on The Outlaw Gardener. (Now that I look back at his pictures of these pots, I’m wondering why oh why I didn’t buy a couple.)
I did fall hard for the fluted Mike Cone pots along the front of this shelf. I brought home a red one that I’ll be potting up this spring.
These license plate cylinders would also make fun succulent planters, or even a pencil holder for your desk.
A metal-mesh flower for a big, blank wall?
If you’re into miniature or fairy gardening, Redenta’s carries a colorful assortment of wee accessories.
I have one of these! I call mine Audrey after the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors.
A covered, open-air seating area is where the nursery holds speaking events and potting demonstrations. With that bar, it would also make a great spot for a garden party, don’t you think?
This is an urban nursery on a small lot, with a limited amount of space. Even so, Redenta’s has managed to cram in quite a lot. Plant prices reflect the convenience of a neighborhood shopping experience, but the plants looked healthy and happy, even though it was still quite early in the season when I stopped by.
Redenta’s prides itself on maintaining its stock organically and on selling only organic products. They also focus on native and well-adapted plants from regional growers, insuring that their plants are Texas tough.
Of course they carry fun annuals too, like frilly ranunculus, and lots of tender succulents for all those fabulous pots they sell.
I admired this star-shaped purple dyckia underplanted with silver ponyfoot in a purple pot.
And I smiled over this pliers parrot on a metal stand. The pliers that make up his head are still functional, so you can open and close his beak.
Inside by the cash register, an old chicken feeder has been transformed into a whimsical succulent container.
And what local could resist a six-pack of succulents planted in Dallas’s own Deep Ellum IPA beer cans?
Redenta’s Garden reminds me of equally tiny but stylish Potted in Los Angeles. I wish we had a modern-design garden shop like this in Austin. Ah well, it gives me a reason to revisit Redenta’s the next time I’m in Dallas.
Redenta’s offers a modern landscape design service as well.
All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I can’t wait to go shopping in our neighborhoods, but I’ll have to wait for the snow to melt. All those containers are luscious.
They really were, Commonweeder. I hope you get some good nursery shopping time soon. —Pam
Thanks for taking me on walk through Memory Lane. I presently live in Raleigh, but spent 16 great years living near Dallas and Redentas. It was always a treat to stop by when in the area. I also liked their selection of organic products. Enjoy your posts.
Thanks for your comment, Ellen! Are you finding good nurseries in Raleigh? I lived there for 5 years in the early 90s, but that was before I was a gardener. —Pam
What a cool nursery and shop! I would have had a hard time deciding what to buy, cause I want all of it. I love that concrete table.
I wanted a lot more than I bought too, Alison. It’s hard to be good. —Pam
That is a cool place. We don’t have a similar garden shop in San Antonio either so I’ll have to check them out next time I’m in the Dallas area.
Have fun shopping, Shirley! —Pam
Ooh, thanks for letting me know about this place. Every so often we hop over to Dallas to satisfy my Mexican food craving (a 4-hour drive is better than the 7-hour drive to Austin!). I will certainly look this place up.
I hadn’t thought about Dallas being closer to your LA home than Austin, Jean. Where do you go to satisfy the Mexican food craving? David grew up loving El Fenix, so we always go when we’re in Dallas. —Pam
Way cool stuff & plants. How fun!
It was, Marian. —Pam
I used to shop at Rendenta’s in Arlington…and, for a while they had a store in Cedar Hill.
They always had healthy plants, and they were one of the few places for natives.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane, for all us EX-DFWers.
Yes, it’s always great to find a nursery selling a nice selection of natives, especially in times of drought. —Pam
Redenta’s is one of my favorite nurseries in Dallas. It looks like they are promoting more décor than they did on my last visit. Like Linda said, it is a great nursery for natives and they have another location in Arlington. If you have not found North Haven Gardens yet, you should look them up on a future visit to Dallas.
Well, maybe I just focused on the decor more than the plants, Michael. I did love all their pots so much! Thanks for the recommendation re: North Haven Gardens. —Pam
I needed that! While we can shop most of our nurseries year round they definitely dial things back for the winter and are just now starting to bring in new plants and things for spring. All those healthy succulents, bright colors and sunshine are just what my tired eyes needed!
I’m glad you enjoyed the nursery visit, Loree. —Pam
CONTAINER HEAVEN!!!!! Those Steel life ones are to die for 🙂 Thx for sharing!
I’ve seen the Steel Life Matchstick planter offered somewhere in Austin, Heather — a home decor store, I think. I’d love to see nurseries carrying these. —Pam
Pam, It is so great to see the Dallas Redenta’s, which I have never visited. I do really love going to the Arlington Redenta’s, though! They have some wonderful containers and wind chimes, but most of all I love their outdoor area, which is shaded by one (or more?) very old live oak tree. It is a fabulous place to shop for Texas natives, perennials, special shrubs, succulents, old and hardy roses, hydrangeas, herbs, and much more. They had their own line of organic amendments and such when last I was there. Each early spring if you go into their greenhouse (in the middle of the outdoor area), you will smell the beautiful fragrance of citrus trees. All in all, it is a lovely and refreshing experience that any gardener would enjoy. Living in Fort Worth, I don’t get there often enough!
It sounds like the Arlington location is bigger, with outdoor gardens? I hope I have a chance to visit that one next time. —Pam
I have spent about a thousand dollars in my mind here. ha… looks like a fun place.
Ha, Lisa! Thank goodness mental dollars are easy come, easy go. —Pam
Great colors! I liked the bright metal can planters. I bet they would be fairly easy to make on your own.
Yes, but would you? Ha — that’s the question I always ask myself when I look at something and say, “I could make that.” —Pam
Lots of drool-worthy things in this post. It’s getting me amped up for our Yard Garden and Patio Show, the kickoff event for the gardening season here.
Oh, you’ll be having so much garden-shopping fun soon, Ricki. —Pam
What a great post! Redenta’s of Arlington is my all time favorite nursery! The first in the metroplex to be totally organic, their plants and products continue to be the best. The owner, Ruth Kinler, is one of the most knowledgeable gardeners I have ever met and continues to inspire with great designs and gardening ideas. I miss shopping there since moving to the Hill Country but make Redenta’s a must stop on any trip back to DFW.
I wish I’d known about this place sooner. Thanks for sharing your experience, Gaynell. —Pam
Oh, I can’t wait to visit! Thanks for the scrumptious article…
Have fun shopping, Elizabeth! —Pam
Who’s game to start a petition to get a Redenta’s going in Austin? They belong here if ever a garden store ever did! I was right there with Lisa spending mental dollars…lots and lots of them.
You start it, and I’ll be your first signer, TexasDeb! —Pam
It reminds me of Flora Grubb in San Francisco … a very good thing! I might be in Dallas later this spring and this is a must see!
That’s a high compliment indeed, Cindy. Have fun visiting Redenta’s. —Pam
Redenta’s is one of my four go to nurseries in Dallas. I’m fortunate to live close enough to pop over on a whim. They must have just gotten some new accessories in, because you showed some I haven’t seen so far. I would love to see it through your eyes sometime. Thanks for the excellent photo tour of one of my favorites!
You just did see it through my eyes, Peter. 🙂 You are lucky to live near such a nice nursery. I didn’t see a lot of palms though. Where do you go to get your palm fix? —Pam
Mostly Texas Palms in Dallas Farmers Market area downtown.
What a great nursery! With each picture I thought, “that’s my favorite.” So much cool stuff! Did you fill your car?
Ha — no, I restrained myself to one handcrafted pot (the Mike Cone pot) and one decorative metal sphere. I like to buy my plants close to home, and we have many wonderful nurseries for plant-buying in Austin. So it’s usually the garden decor and accessories that tempt me when I’m out of town, especially when I spot things I’ve never seen offered in Austin. Redenta’s had plenty of those. —Pam
Enjoyed your post Pam. I’m not enjoying our weather however, we are suppose to be below zero tonight! So, thanks for a glimpse of spring. Like the crimped cans, they would fit into my tin motif garden.
Spring has to come sooner or later. Right?? —Pam
What an array of fun containers in this post. I’d take any of them for my many succulents!
Yeah, me too, Nell. They carry a nice selection. —Pam
What a wonderful nursery – so many cool things. I bought 3 of those crimped pots in San Francisco at the fling — just love em. But I am smitten with all the color you included in your photos.
Did you? I don’t remember that. Well, you made a good purchase! I’ll have to see how you planted them up next time I come over. —Pam