Visit Us
The
'Violet Barn' sits high atop the Bristol Hills, overlooking
Canandaigua Lake and the Naples Valley
Come and visit us! Besides seeing all of the beautiful plants here at the 'Violet Barn', spend a day touring the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York. Besides the beautiful scenery, the area is home to a number of wineries, artisans, and gardens.
At left: A view of Canandaigua Lake
Looking north from our greenhouse
For more information, visit www.naplesvalleyny.com or www.visitfingerlakes.com for area attractions, restaurants, shopping, and lodging.
Better yet, stay at 'The Violet House' during your visit! Special accomodations for our customers.
What's at the 'Violet Barn': Everything shown on
this site, plus more.
Take a "virtual tour"
- We grow many varieties not listed in catalog
- A diverse selection of other gesneriads
- A selection of orchids and other houseplants
- Over 30,000 plants on display!
- Growing supplies and "expert" advice
When we're open:
12-5 p.m.
Tuesday thru Saturday, year-round.
Closed on
July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's days
Closed on Sundays and Mondays to prepare
for shipping!
Wheelchair accessible
Though you will see thousands of plants, please be aware that our mail-order customers always get "first pick". As a result, not all plants that you see in our shop and glasshouse will be for sale--many are already sold! Others may be 'stock' plants (from which we get cuttings) or for exhibition only. Just because you "see it" doesn't mean you can buy it --however, we usually can find you plants of these same varieties to buy. We will try our best to accommodate you.
Tours are welcome! For larger groups, please call ahead.
Garden clubs. We no longer have time to travel to give lectures and programs to most clubs. However, we do have meeting space available at the shop--should your club want to hold a meeting at "our" place (after business hours), we may be able to accommodate you (and give a program). Cost is free (we assume you'll buy plants). Call us for details.
When's the best time to visit? Anytime, we're open
year-round.
That said, be best time is when we're least busy with shows
and shipping, this means December through March (also, the plants
all like it cooler). At this time almost everything can be
seen grown-out and in bloom. But don't worry, we always
have lots of plants, even when we're most busy!
International (Canadian) visitors. We can provide a phytosanitary certificate that will allow you to take plants home with you without difficulty. Let us know the date of your visit, and approximately how many plants (of what kinds of plants) you might take home. Provide us with a VISA or MC account to pay for the $45 fee. The inspector visits every 3-4 weeks, and written phytos are valid for 2 weeks after issue, so give us warning far enough in advance of your visit. You may do all of this via the the shopping cart on this site--just state "will pick up at shop, please write phyto" in the comments box before checkout.
Have a "shopping list"? If there are specific varieties that you are looking for, you may want to pre-order them before your visit. Sometimes "high demand" plants are set-aside for our mail-order customers and aren't available to shop visitors. So that you're not disappointed, you might want to have us set aside "must have" plants in anticipation of your visit--place an online order and state "to be picked up at shop on this date".
Location: Violet
Barn at 7209 County Road 12 (corner Griesa Hill)--the
"high" road into Naples! For those with navigation systems,
our longitude and latitude coordinates are 42.666872 and 77.372364
Phone us at 585-374-8592 if
you need help finding us while on the road!
Directions from East or West or North:
NYS Thruway (I-90), take exit 44
Rte. 332 south into Canandaigua
Rte. 21 south, right turn onto Rte.
64 at junction (at T)
Go 200 yards, turn left onto County
Rd. 12 (we're 3 miles from the corner)
Directions from South:
From Rte. 17 (I-86), take I-390
north to Cohocton exit (exit 2)
Follow signs to Naples (Rte. 415 to
Rte. 371 north)
Rte. 21 north into village of Naples
Exiting village, bear left, up "big
hill" (we're 3 miles from the bottom of the hill)
The 'Violet Barn' staff:
Dr. Ralph (Rob) and
Olive Ma Robinson, owners
Growers: Matt Johnson and Frank
Rouse
Full time plant caretaker: Ben Krantz
Part-time staff: Karen Gotham,
Mike Churley, Siobhan Wood, Donna Baran
Gus-gus (Gus) and Dee-dee (the
"Deedster") Robinson, greeters
Because of our busy schedule, not all correspondence can be promptly answered. We are, however, more than happy to answer any questions made by phone during normal business hours.
