Sanford — 90 miles away — is home to a N.C. flower farm many gardeners consider a destination

Fall is an excellent time for a garden makeover. Whether you are adding to an existing border or bed, or starting a new planting plan, autumn supplies what is needed to get plants off to a good start.

"The soil is still warm and the ambient temperatures are cool. This adds up to a lot less stress on the plants," Amy Overman said.

Overman owns amyflora, a garden and floral design business in the Sanford area. She is also a sales consultant and outreach person with Big Bloomers Flower Farm. Big Bloomers is a hidden North Carolina gem, a destination nursery for the gardener in search of something different. If you can't find it here, you are in trouble.

Yes, Sanford is a long way, about 90 miles, to go to visit a nursery and garden center. But if you are a plant geek like me you better pack a lunch. You are going to be there all day. Big Bloomers has thousands of plants in hundreds of varieties. There are two greenhouses of herbs and one dedicated completely to daylilies. One features hostas and another drought-loving sedums, agaves and yuccas. There are 25 varieties of ferns and an equal number vines.

"John and Gail Foushee opened Big Bloomers in the late '70s," Overman said. "John had no horticultural training and was self taught from lots of trial and error. His passion for plants is sometimes hilarious. He and his wife work harder than any employer I have ever known."

Overman has known a few employers. She worked with Niche nursery in Chapel Hill as manager of retail sales in the late '90s. Niche is a destination nursery that specializes in hard-to-find natives and other perennials. She also worked at Fearington Village where she was on the gardening crew and went on to manage retail sales at The Potting Shed garden shop there. Overman took a break to have children and soon started her own business.

"I was shopping at Big Bloomers all the time and often helping other customers and finally they just handed me an application." Overman said that though people come from as far away as Ohio and Virginia, plenty of people in Sanford have no idea that the nursery is there.

Overman conducts lectures at the nursery and her upcoming talk will be "Fall in Love with Autumn Planting – Perennials for Late-Season Color and Spring Beauty." The discussion is Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. and admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.

Overman said that with so much to choose from, the hard part is narrowing down the selection so she won't talk all day. "The staff of about 20 is so knowledgeable and excited about plants that customers get a completely different experience than shopping at the big-box store."

The discussion will surround choosing the best plants for certain growing conditions. These might include epimediums and holly ferns for dry shade, and the blue wood aster and climbing aster.

"A thing to remember about perennials is that the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third they leap," Overman said. She will discuss native versus non-native plants and sun- and drought-tolerant selections as well as those that thrive in moist conditions.

Purple muhly grass is one of her favorites this time of year.

"We find it requires good drainage and air flow in our wet, cold winters, and it needs to be planted up high on a mound if your soil is clay. Plant it in clumps of three or five, otherwise it looks like a weed when not in bloom," she said.

"The Japanese form of the autumn fern is a really sturdy plant. The variety 'Brilliant' can take medium sun or high shade such as under pines. The fiddleheads are beautiful as they come up already a copper color against the rusty bright orange of new leaves and the darker green of older leaves, she said.

Another favorite is a chartreuse-colored acorus called Ogon. At first impression, this plant looks like a grass. But it is related to the iris family.

"This plant is evergreen for us and will tolerate a huge variety of conditions from well-drained to rich soil to dry shade to water gardens. Deer don't like it because it pokes them in the nose. I love to play that color off of any other plant," Overman said, "because it complements everything so well. Any blue flower or blue glaucous hosta works nice or blue Japanese iris where you get that echo of the fan shape of the leaf."

Just as Big Bloomers has more plants than you can fit in the back of your car, Overman has more recommendations than you can fit in your garden. She went on about Japanese anemones, euphorbias and plumbagos, goldenrods, yarrows and Jerusalem sage. Maybe we could rent a van.

For directions to Big Bloomers visit www.bigbloomersflowerfarm.com.

To contact Amy Overman, email sparkmm2000@yahoo.com.