I found it! Fairie Perennial & Herb Gardens in Tumwater. Anyone been there? The other place I may hit is Bark & Garden Center, although it may not be specialty enough for me. Am well acquainted with large garden centers. Need inspiration from places with lots of ideas,garden accessories, unusual plants or landscaping, rather than run of the mill plants.

Am still open to suggestions.

Unfortunately for you, Steamboat Island Nursery just closed to retail sales. They might be open by appointment, but that isn't mentioned on the web site, so, maybe they aren't. Bark and Garden is sometimes a place to get good deals on stuff and it is often possible to find interesting or unusual plants there.... still the atmosphere is that of a usual large garden center and I can't say I care much for the owner.

One other place you might look at would be Plantasia. http://www.plantasiagardens.com/ I haven't been there in, let's see, 13 years! So I have no idea what the place is like now and I wouldn't mind seeing it myself.

Oh and one more.... Fairmeadow Nursery, specializing mostly in western/southwestern natives and other unusual and drought tolerant plants. They are on Libby Road and would be open by appointment only if at all. I have a contact email for them; send me a message if you are interested. I haven't been there either, but I should go.

A lot of other nurseries in the Olympia area have closed in the last 15 years. Anyone else remember Olympia Greenhouses? I really liked them under their original ownership.

Geeezzzz--Plantasia is what caught my eye now that I see their website. Not Faire. Although it may be fun, also. Plantasia will be #1 on my list. Bark & Garden may be at the bottom now. And Fairmeadow might be difficult to schedule in an appt.

I saw on Steamboat's website that they had closed. Sorry I never made it there. So many nurseries, so little time.
Thank you so much for your help. Otherwise I would totally have missed Plantasia. And probably run across my earlier notes when I got back to work Sunday.

I couldn't get Maps Search to work but City Search returned The Barn and Plantasia for Olympia.

Here is a link that might be useful: Specialty Nursery Association of Western Washington - specialtynurseries.org

Probably too late for you to get this. Nothing much to add anyway, but Oly is not a real gardening town. Nothing but the basics here. Nothing on a par with Seattle or Portland.

B&G is the only real, full service nursery in town, unfortunately. They do have a decent selection of plants usually, and nice accessories, but the owner .... god save us. The staff can be great, but only people who can put up with a lot of undeserved abuse stay there. It's better than shopping at a big box store, as the selection is more varied and better suited to the local environment, and the staff more knowledgeable.

Haven't been to Fairie Herb in some years. They do carry interesting stuff, but they're tiny. The nursery is in a city residential lot. Plantasia was a bit larger (also haven't been there for many years) but I don't recall any accessories, or any truly unusual plants. The Barn is another large indie garden center, outside of town south of the airport. Some accessories, some interesting plants.

Tsuki Nursery has been making stabs at retail sales. Don't know their current status. Now they have unusual plants, they're mainly a landscaping business specializing in Asian themes. I believe I saw statuary and pots there too.

Then there's the Farmer's Market. Many tiny little nurseries have booths there but usually not much this time of year. Fairie Herb has a booth there, and a dahlia/lily grower a lavender grower, and a fern nursery. Burnt Ridge Nursery has a booth there year-round, he specializes in edible woody plants, including natives. Nice stuff, things you won't find at a garden center. He ships mail-order too so if he doesn't have what you want at the booth with him, you could get it shipped. And lots of artisans have booths there. Not heavy or large stuff like pots or iron gates, but little decorative accent things.

But if you're coming up from Portland, you're not going to find anything here you wouldn't find there.

Not in Olympia but close by in Rochester is Lael's Moon Garden Nursery. Mr. Lael is a fine plantsman and has a very nice display garden that is worth the trip. He doesn't sell the "zonal denial" plants that we are all so fond of but does have many larger size shrubs and trees including Japanese maples and a decent selection of perennials. He will obtain plants for you if he doesn't have them at his nursery. He got an American Smoke tree for me several years ago before they became a little more popular and Steamboat started selling them. I also purchased a sassafras tree there that is doing great and reminds me of my stomping grounds in Tennesee where they are practically weeds. I recommend him over B&G for shrubs and trees. No affiliation,
David

For more...

Here is a link that might be useful: Nurseries olympia - Google Search

Yeah the Barn isn't bad for those of us who don't care for the Bark and Garden Center. I should stop in at Lael's and Plantasia sometime. It wouldn't be that far out of the way from my favorite pumice destination, Great Western Supply.