RICHMOND – A one-woman force in her own right, Annie Hayes tries to get Mother Nature back on schedule.

The petite, blue-eyed dynamo behind Annie's Annuals and Perennials nursery (yes, there really is an Annie), was recently knee-deep in spring poppies, making way for summer.

"Everything was so late!" Hayes said as she plucked out some plants. "It's so sad; these flowers are just coming into their own. But we've got to get ready for summer."

Hayes, a flower child turned garden goddess, handles the demonstration gardens herself at her namesake Richmond nursery, a mecca for plant junkies.

The sprawling demonstration beds greet visitors with a blast of color and scent. The trees and bushes wear little tags that flutter in the breeze and read: "Smell me."

Multitudes of Valley gardeners make the trek – a 140-mile round trip from Sacramento – often several times a season to Annie's Annuals for flowers they can't find anywhere else.

"I've got the weeping blue broom (tree), Philadelphus mexicanus (Mexican mock orange) and sweet peas right next to the entrance," Hayes said after she took a big whiff. "You get hit by a trifecta of bloom and scent as soon as you walk in."

Nestled in a rough-and-tumble industrial area in the East Bay on 2 1/2 acres, the nursery grows more than 3,000 varieties of rare perennials and heirloom annuals.

"We find original species from all over the world," Hayes said. "Those red poppies? The seed came from Greece. We troll the Internet for rare seeds."

By concentrating on the unusual and offering personalized service to match, Annie's has carved a niche for itself as a specialty nursery, one of several in Northern California devoted to a particular plant spectrum.

Now 20 years old, Annie's Annuals found its success in the rising popularity of perennials, not annuals.

"When I first started, I grew a lot of annuals as well as perennials," Hayes said. "People joked, 'Here comes Annie and her annuals.' They thought it was funny, but I said, 'What a cute name!' Annie's Annuals stuck."

Nurtured without growth regulators, the eye-catching plants all come from hand-sown seed. The cottage-style demonstration gardens show how they flourish.

"Our nursery is a different experience for people," Hayes said. "It makes them feel happy."

Annie's 6-year-old catalog (with many descriptions written by Hayes) is a favorite, tempting gardeners with "Dr. Seuss trees" and "super-rare" flowers. The nursery now sends orders throughout the continental United States. In addition, Annie's supplies live plants to about 60 independent retail nurseries including Talini's in Sacramento.

"Mail order saved us (during the recession)," Hayes said. "Our customers are plant geeks. They know we'll have what they want."

Fred Hoffman has known Hayes for about six years and has had her as a guest on his popular Sacramento radio show.

"She's really passionate about what she does," Hoffman said. "She really loves the old-time varieties and heirlooms. She's really on top of social media, too, using Facebook, Twitter and colorful updates on her blog."

Garden blogger Carri Stokes is a devoted Annie-phile. Her Sacramento yard is packed with picks from Annie's.

Among Stokes' favorite finds: Velvet centaurea ("I planted this two years ago from a 4-inch pot and it is about 4 feet wide now with silver foliage, covered in fuchsia flowers and bees!"); tower of jewels ("They are traffic stopping! Every day, I have at least three or four people ask me what they are."); and blue honeywort ("I love this plant because it blooms all through the winter!").

Most of the plants come in 4-inch pots, color-coded for price. Because seedlings grow best if transplanted before bloom, each flat rests under informative signs, illustrated with lots of photos and packed with reasons why to take these plants home.

Stokes finds herself tempted by the plant descriptions on the signs and in Annie's catalog. "I admit there are some plants I would have never bought just based on a picture," Stokes said, "but if it had a really cool story behind it, it ends up in my cart!"

But her attraction to Annie's isn't all about the plants.

"Annie's isn't just a nursery," Stokes said. "The atmosphere at the nursery is fun and colorful – especially for their planting parties! So, my husband – who is not a gardener – enjoys going, and my 4-year-old daughter Alex absolutely loves going there."

At its Richmond headquarters, Annie's staff of 35 keeps smiling while very busy. Rosie the nursery dog (a rescue from a nearby junkyard) greets visitors while supervising the action. (And, yes, gardeners' dogs are welcome to visit, too.)

Starting in her own backyard, Hayes has moved the nursery five times and hopes to add another acre to her current operation.

Hayes, who grew up in a hippie commune, feels natural surrounded by nature. She devotes herself to native plants and romantic, old-time heirloom flowers that had all but disappeared from the commercial market, such as original strains of tall cornflowers, scabiosa, flowering tobacco, dianthus, columbine and agrostemma (corncockles).

How did this single mom get into the nursery business? "I sold insurance – and I was miserable," she recalled. "I took a year off and got a job at Berkeley Horticultural (Nursery) and absolutely loved it."

While working at that nursery, Hayes met another woman who grew plants from seed in her Oakland loft apartment, then sold the seedlings to nurseries and gardeners.

Said Hayes, "I knew I could totally do that." And Annie's Annuals was born.

"Annie is so inspirational," said Claire Woods, who handles Annie's seed and production schedule. "She just had the sense of what she wanted to do and she made it happen."

Meanwhile, Hayes dove back into her flower beds. She had work to do.

"I change it because I like change," Hayes said of her color-drenched landscape. "People like to see something new, and I don't like to get bored. And I get bored really easily."

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