Enjoying Spring

Last one--I promise!

HD has had an amazing sale going now for for almost 2 weeks--at least in this area...

ALL 4" annuals--62 cents. All Hardwood Mulch bags--$1.37. I think it will all end tomorrow....

I bought a bunch of Snapdragons--and here they sit in that amazingly priced Garden Cart--
by Ames--that sold out all over this area--as it was on sale for $19.97! G-O-N-E!!!!!!!!1

I just have not yet prepared a place to plant them yet....The weather seems so irregular!
Haven't been able to go out and dig and prepare my beds--It is all mush!

Thanks for looking at all this----Gita

I had serious problems with the last two posts.....Seems the Computer froze....
Tried sending them a couple of times....NO luck!!!

Gave up and went away. Hoe these sent OK!

Even my phone was dead! Must be a connection problem somewhere.....

Gita

Hi Gardenmama !

Gita, that Tahiti is very pretty. Maybe this year I'll get to that event where hey dig up all the bulbs for the taking- isn't that where you got them? Did they hold the sale at Leakin Park? Something in my brain about that and you and Tahiti...
I have only one double, its very nice though. White Lion. Reliably double, and since I fertilized last year I got a bloom each on the two bulbs I have. it was nearly a goner a few years ago, but I wanted to save it for sentimental reasons. My DS broke the single bloom one year and felt so bad.

If I remember right, coleup gave me the white bleeding heart which is currently gracing ,y shady bed. Thanks again!

This message was edited Apr 18, 2011 7:30 PM

Beautiful pics Gita, I should have some tahiti around here but I haven't seen them yet. I still have some that haven't opened yet. I love the little daffs that have more than one bloom to each stem. I have several of those types, too.
Talk about dumping bulbs. That was what I did a few days ago just about broke my heart. They had pots of bulbs that went back to the grower and we got credit for them. Which means that they belonged to the grower and the grower said dump them. Over 200 large pots of daffs, hyacinth and tulips went into the dumpster. Just made me sick and after I put them into the hopper they took the hopper directly to the compactor. Didn't let it sit around long enough for anyone to rescue them.

Holly, I have often thought that there should be some sort of program or requirement that all plant vendors must donate non-sold plants and compost them or plant them or sponsor community "food bank" gardens or beautify a park, or nursing home or rooftop...a program like in Baltimore where some one collects restaurant leftovers to serve at soup kitchens, etc. rather than sending it to the dump

Let no tree go unplanted.
An orchard at every school.
Perennials for parks (or parking lots).
Herbs for hospitals.
Fill in our food deserts with veggie starts and colorful annuals..........

What goes in to our waste stream from the "plant" industry is criminal. What if there was on-site composting at HD or Lowes and customers could get a free bucket or two to get their new plants off to a great start... (Economically, trashed plants are already written off as loss or shrink,} Just my 2 cents.

Thanks to all of you who have let me know how the Bleeding Hearts I sent to plant swap last Spring are doing. Hope you all got the colors you wanted! Seems I have a whole new crop of babies this year too. Wish mine lasted all season. It is so sad to have to cut it down 'cause it looks so bad.

This message was edited Apr 19, 2011 8:19 PM

Sally---

I got the Tahiti bulbs over 2 separate years....2008 and 2010.
In 2010--I got them last April when I went to volunteer at Rawlings to help un-pot the bulbs
and get them ready for sale at the Cylburn "Market Day"....Spent 3 hours there doing this...
They only had ONE pot of the Tahiti bulbs--and they let me have it for free for all the work
I did there....
That completed the circle around the W-Sweet bush--and now it looks really nice.

I have photos of the Cylburn Mansion taken June 9,2009, yet I cannot find the rest of the pictures....
SO!--I guess you could Google Cylburn market day and find out when that was....will be?

They sold ALL the different bulbs--3 for $1.

I have seen them for sale in catalogs....

Holly--witnessing such waste is something you just have to get used to.
it kills ma e too--but I seldom get to witness it--I just know it...
All things get thrown out in the receiving Dept. into the BIG dumpster.

I bet the trash-pickers have a field day when they dump this dumpster at the land fill.
Lots of good things to be found there......tools etc---IF they are not disfigured by the immense pressure
of the compacting...

Time for bed.......Gita

ugh. Our counties (Gita and I) both have yard waste composting, but as far as I know , not for the nursery waste. What a big gap in the plan.
And giving away reclaimed potting mix would compete with the store sales of the same.

The best one might do is be in charge of a garden somewhere and be ready with a letter to certify that and ask for donations of clearanced/ excess plantsand materials. I did that once with a bussy, sadly that garden is unmaintained now. Mea culpa. I naively thought if we made something, I'd stay motivated forever, or somebody would adopt it later.

coleup, I'd love that too. The sad part is. too few people have any interest in maintaining growing things.We know too well the amount of maintenance called for.

Judy and Sally----

Tomorrow--Wednesday--Sherri (our Regional "biggie') will be coming to our store.....
She is a nice, beautiful black lady and we always chat....She knows me and my name....

You cannot imagine the plants carnage going on today!......Carts and carts of flats and trays
and a whole 4-level cart packed with 10" HB's....Blooming plants of all kinds--GONE!!!!

Earlier I threw down the chute (because I wanted the pots--and Bell lets me have them)
28 of those Mini Phaelonopsis Orchids--in 3" clay pots. Nothing at all wrong with them!
They sell for $12--I think??? Beautiful--in bud and bloom.....All different colors....
WHY? They had been around for too long. Seems to be a new policy....Need FRESH!!!

I watered straight from 8:30AM until 1:30PM. Then went home...
Started with all the carts throughout the store that had Easter stuff on them.
Then all the gardenia trees and a bunch of Tropicals, which are now jammed at only one
end of the G-House--by the.big windows. Hard to get around between the tables and
the hose does not even reach everything....
Lastly--I consolidated and watered all the Bonnie Veggies and herbs and stuff.
Tow huge runs of tables under a canopy. They have good stuff!
Just as I was done with all that and the watering--the Bonnie truck came and they put
out new flats of lots of stuff. I told the man--"You better water all the new pots--as I just
finished doing all the ones that were there..."

More carts of all kinds of stuff were being delivered all through the day.
EASTER stuff! Enough Palms to make a Forrest....

All the ASM's were setting up those black plastic tables all over. I asked--"What are those for?"
and they said "For Easter Stuff".....ALL because of Sherri's visit...Must look pretty!!!

You know what??? I will bring my camera tomorrow and take some pictures.....

Of course--I will be watering many a thing all day again. My foot is so sore after today!

Gotta bake a cake tonight. We are having a bake sale tomorrow to raise funds for the
Employee Fund Committee (EFC).....

Sally--NO ONE gives donations any more just for the asking....
The asker has to submit a request on their organization's letterhead to the Home Office
in Atlanta. Then they will send a reply to the store and say what or how much is OK.

It is Another World--to you that do not work in Big Box Stores.....
You do what you must--and be thankful that you have a decent (??) job.
I have been there 13 years now. Times sure have changed......

Gita

BTW, I saw an ad couple weeks ago for bell, plant merchandisers--see bellimpact.com if interested tee hee.