Sutton's Greenhouse - Buy Local

It was pushing 50˚F (10˚C) when I did my run today and the sun was bright and the sky blue.

But it was grey Tuesday until I got to Sutton's. This is our neighborhood greenhouse. Family owned and run. It's not your spic-n-span everything-in-order store. It feels like it's lived in. It's one of those vestiges of how things used to be. Like Spada's that used to be near the corner of Tudor and Lake Otis. You know this is a labor of love because they can't be making too much money from this. The back rooms aren't open yet, but the green and the warmth and the fragrance made for a great stop.

And there are bargains still to be had. Most of the plants for sale in the picture are plugs - little plants in individual plugs of soil. The ones in front here weren't cheap - $1.95 each. But the ones in back were only 25¢. There were too many good ones for me to decide. And if I get them, then I have to care for them pretty quick. So I just bought some seeds, for now, and I'll go back and pick out the plugs I want and can handle.


Before you go get plants at national corporate stores like Lowe's or Home Depot or even Costco, check out the local greenhouses like Sutton's that are run by local folks and much more of the money you spend stays in Anchorage. Even if some things are a little more expensive, you know that most of the plants were grown locally [I called and asked and they guessed about 60% are locally grown.]. That saves energy shipping them up here. (OK, what's the tradeoff between the shipping energy use and keeping greenhouses going here? I don't know, but most things from Lowe's are grown in greenhouses outside as well.) And the plants here are grown by people who know what grows well in Anchorage. And unlike most of the clerks at Lowe's, the people here can answer your questions.

Sutton's is at 2845 E Tudor Rd on the corner of Wright Street and Tudor - a few blocks east of Lake Otis. If you're headed toward the mountains, it's on your left. 907-563-5521