Leave Room for Wandering: Unexpected Greenhouse Treasures

May 31, 2026

Bitter melon vine growing in a greenhouse, one of several unusual vegetables discovered during a spring greenhouse visit.

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green,

We are now fully in gear—planting vegetable gardens and adding annuals to flower beds and containers.

I’m actually ahead of myself this year. Though I’m not counting my chickens just yet. Ahead of myself, meaning… on time. Smile.

I planted snap peas, radishes, beets, and carrot seeds back in mid-April. Though truthfully, my own gardens are often the last to be tended. Clients come first.

Freshly harvested red radishes held in a gloved hand in the vegetable garden.

One reward for getting ahead in the vegetable garden—a fresh harvest of spring radishes.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac offers a nifty planting calendar for vegetables and edible annuals such as marigolds. While many folks consider Mother’s Day the safe signal to plant annuals and vegetable starter plants outdoors, I prefer to wait until around May 22 in Zone 6 here in Northern New Jersey. Remember that surprise two-night frost around Mother’s Day a few years ago?

And if later-season vegetables are planted too early, before the soil properly warms, seeds may rot before germinating.

The Dangerous Part: Wandering

Collection of unusual vegetable plants including cucuzzi squash, bitter melon, long beans, and Malabar spinach at a New Jersey greenhouse.

Some of the unexpected greenhouse treasures I discovered while wandering through Stonehedge Growers.

I rallied on Friday to purchase annuals for a local client and discovered a grower I never knew existed—Stonehedge Growers, a wholesale greenhouse operation tucked right here in our region— that has been producing plants since 1997 using natural growing techniques.

Later that afternoon, I returned to shop for my own gardens and picked up familiar favorites, including Pacifica White Vinca, Sonata White Cosmos, Aloha Blue Ageratum, Durango Tangerine Marigolds, and Coleus ‘Bright Ruffles’ with its iconic chartreuse edges.

Then came the dangerous part—wandering.

That’s when the treasures revealed themselves, thanks to owner Steve Oken, who kindly gave me a tour through the sea of greenhouses while greeting me atop a bicycle.

“Saving steps,” he said, which made me smile as I watched him rally all around the sprawling operation.

Unexpected Greenhouse Treasures

Steve showed me vegetables I’d never even heard of and generously gifted me a few. There was Malabar spinach—a beautiful edible vine with glossy leaves often enjoyed in salads or stir-fries. Nearby sat cucuzzi (pronounced koo-KOO-zah), an Italian heirloom squash also known as snake gourd, already growing with the enthusiasm of Jack’s beanstalk.

“Italian-Americans call it guh-GOOTS,” Steve said.

Young cucuzzi squash plant growing in a greenhouse pot.

Cucuzzi, an Italian heirloom squash, was already growing with the enthusiasm of Jack’s beanstalk.

“One self-seeded last year and climbed all the way up this pole,” he added, pointing high overhead to a greenhouse support post.

Bitter melon was one of several unexpected greenhouse treasures I discovered while wandering through Stonehedge Growers.

Then came bitter melon, its deeply cut foliage twisting delicately around tendrils. While admittedly an acquired taste, it’s treasured in many cultures for both culinary and medicinal uses. Long beans—sometimes called asparagus beans or yard-long beans—also caught my eye. I could already picture them climbing rustic supports in the vegetable garden like living green ribbons.

And then there was Cuban oregano, with thick velvety leaves carrying the most delightful fragrance somewhere between oregano, thyme, and menthol. One touch and the scent lingered on my hands, instantly making me think of my dear friend Elsa, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba as a young girl.

Steve explained he began growing many of these sought-after vegetables to serve ethnic communities in Brooklyn who remembered growing them in their home countries. There’s something deeply beautiful about that—how gardens help preserve culture, memory, and belonging.

Choosing Healthy Annuals

Shopping for annuals and vegetables can feel a bit like treasure hunting crossed with impulse-control therapy. The frenzy of grabbing carts, swooning over color combinations, and discovering unusual plants can lead even seasoned gardeners astray. Over the years, I’ve learned a few things worth remembering before tossing everything into the wagon.

Close-up of Malabar spinach seedling growing in a greenhouse.

Malabar spinach is a beautiful edible vine prized in many cultures for its glossy leaves.

Rather than choosing plants already in full bloom, select those just beginning to flower or still in bud. Plants already investing energy in flowers rather than roots often struggle more after transplanting. Younger plants adapt faster and usually provide a longer season of beauty and harvest.

Speaking of roots, look for fully developed root systems that are not root-bound. No slipping plants out of pots unless invited to by the nursery, though. Determining whether a plant is root-bound is more a matter of feel, kind of like choosing a cantaloupe. Feel the pot’s weight relative to its size and give a gentle squeeze to check whether the roots seem packed too tightly.

Look for sturdy, well-shaped plants rather than tall, stretched, leggy ones. Healthy foliage matters too. Avoid spotted, yellowing, or hole-riddled leaves that may signal disease or insects hitchhiking home with you.

And don’t forget compatibility. Plants sharing the same container or garden bed need similar growing conditions. Sun lovers paired with shade lovers rarely have a happy-ever-after. Nurseries don’t always organize plants accordingly, so reading labels matters.

A Garden for Body and Spirit

Why not mix vegetables and herbs into ornamental gardens and containers?

Together, vegetables, herbs, and flowers create abundant spaces full of texture, fragrance, pollinators, and unexpected beauty.

Kitchen gardens—also called potagers (poh-tuh-JAYs)—may sound fancy, but they’re really gardens that nourish both body and spirit.

Produce Abuse and a Garden of Life Lesson

The mention of feeling the pot to assess whether it’s root-bound makes me think of years ago when I wrote a little piece about what I jokingly titled “Produce Abuse.”

Annual flowers, herbs, and unusual vegetables arranged together after a greenhouse shopping trip.

My annual flower haul somehow became much more than annuals.

While working at a roadside farm stand as a teenager, I watched shoppers squeeze tomatoes half to death searching for the perfect one.

Doug Race from Race Farm Market once wisely said, “If you hear something moving, it’s bruising.” He also joked that buying produce is not like choosing a spouse.

“Live on the edge a little and buy the darn tomato,” he said.

Fresh radishes and cleaned radish greens ready for cooking in a kitchen sink.

The radishes were delicious, but so were the greens sautéed with garlic and mushrooms—an unexpected treasure all their own.

There may be another life lesson hidden in there, too. Perfection is overrated—in gardens, produce, and people alike. Maybe life becomes richer when we stop gripping so tightly, stop overanalyzing every bruise or blemish, and allow ourselves to wander a little more openly through the seasons we’re given. After all, gardens are never perfect. They’re alive.

And perhaps that’s one of life’s lessons in the garden: leave room for wandering, for surprises, and for unexpected treasures waiting just beyond the plans you made, the hopes you carried, or the plants you originally came to buy.

Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone@gmail.com or tune in on your favorite Podcast App.

Speaking of unexpected treasures, the radishes I harvested this week were delicious, but so were the greens sautéed with garlic and mushrooms. It was my first time eating them, and it won’t be my last.

Special thanks to Steve Oken of Stonehedge Growers for inspiring this week’s greenhouse wanderings and introducing me to some unexpected treasures.