excuse me, can't respond to your urgent plea, must run to Home Depot....

Do you hear that thumping, that's me banging my head against the wall. I was just at HD, didn't check out the garden section as I thought by now everything would be ready for the compost box. That'll teach me.

Annette

Yes, my weakness for plants has been raised to an art form. I went to Home Depot the other day and came home with big, healthy "Whirlwind" and "Blue Angel" hostas for $6 each. Oh, and "Autumn Fire" and "Jaws" sedum. Motivation to dig a patch of weeds and reclaim some space. That's it - no more this season.

sniff, sniff, waaaaaaaa.....HD is two hours away for me....oh well they probably didn't get naything new and all the perennials are crispy and root bound right???

My Home Depot has been such a disaster in the garden center, they haven't had much at all this year and I check all of the time. The other day there were shopping carts full of dead plants all over the place. It was clear that nothing had been watered in a couple of days. I kept thinking that I should write an email to them about their sad garden center. But just maybe I will go there this afternoon. Talk about a plant habit!

Hey, you people! I was looking for support, not to enable you all. Don't let me drag you down with me!

Okay, well, if you're all going to HD now, then that must mean it's okay for me to go. Maybe I'll just grab that delphinium. And the Liatris. Hosta, you say....

Your HD must be more interesting than the one near me. I have gone in there several times lately and walked out with out plants. It is the same old same old stuff.

Thanks for letting me know. I will stay OUT of HD for another month.

"Well, they just got a shipment of mature plants in."

Chris,

That was no coincidence, you arriving at HD as a new shipment arrives. I think it was meant to be. :-)

Get back to HD and fulfill your destiny!

I have a HD about a mile from where I live. I believe I was fated to read this email, so guess where I am headed this morning?????? LOL

Marilyn

NOW I DO have a reason to go back to HD and exchange those screws that are a half inch too long...LOL. While I'm at it, I might as well swing by Lowes and check out the five cent area! My holding area is out of room, but, hey, since when does sanity ever enter into these things!

Our local HD and Lowes had lousy plants for us this year. Not a thing that interested me, and I've been back to both a couple of times. :(

I'll make it simple for you... you should ONLY get the lavender that you haven't seen before. THAT you can find room for. :o)

Well, after going to Home Depot about two weeks ago and seeing some boltonia that just came in, (and a beautiful smoke bush)and not buying them because it would have meant spending about $40, then deciding to cave in and go back the next day they were gone! You'll get no arguments from me! :)
Estelle

I am weak. I admit it.
Went back today and picked up a gallon-sized liatris, the delphinium, and a heuchera.

Good news is that the heuchera separated easily into three good-sized plants! Haven't planted the other two yet - hope to divide them up, too.

Ace hardware is selling all their plants half price.I got 2 pots of hosta,divided them up and ended up with 10 hostas.I got a hydrangea bush for 2.50..now I know there is something I need from HD,I am sure I will remember what it is while I browse the garden shop..lol and if I can't find whatever it is I need,I may have to swing by lowes to see if I can remember what it was..
moonphase

Home Depot had reduced price lilies. I got one called Pandora's Box for $6. Then Winterberry Gardens has half price six-packs. So got some purple cleome, asters, and tall ageratum. I got to fill some empty spots in one of my beds. My co-workers all come to see what plants I get on Friday afternoon after lunch! :)

chris,

I need help. I started a new garden bed and now have every excuse in teh world to go back to HD and all the other garden centres.

I'm going to Loblaws (a Canadian grocery chain) this afternoon to get limelight hydrangeas at CAN $19 and bags of black earth. They are on sale now. Shrubs are up to 50% off now, perennials which were originally at $9 per 5 plants are now 25% off. I got clematis for around $5.99, and a rhodo for about $11. A couple of weeks ago, I went in for a couple of peaks and ended up purchasing 20 hicks yews & boxwood for C$4.99 each ---did I just say I'm going back there this afternoon... I need help.

Is there a plantaholic annonymous club?

Ianna

Oh, frankly, I LOVE my addiction. It could be so much worse.

I've got three brand new clematis just potted up and waiting for their real home. (Gotta prime/paint the new trellis and put it up first.) I've got an old fashioned snowball bush to plant at the corner of the veggie garden out back! I've got a brand new Dynamite crape myrtle (cause one of the three I put in at the end of the yard doesn't match the others). And then...I'll have to find a spot for that poor little mismatch!! (tee hee) And I've still got a whole flat of wintersowed nicotiana...and I might have to find a new yellow Banks rose now that I've decided to train one up the snag left when that oak blew down last week. And I'd like to put a couple of butterfly bushes next to it...hey! They would help shade what used to be the "shade garden".

See...one thing leads to another. I COULD be buying shoes. Or having my nails done. But what fun would that be???

P.S. The garden centers and big box stores around here have stopped selling six-packs!! Even in spring...none. The smallest plants you could buy were the "landscapers 18 packs" with cells about 2-3 inches across. And expensive. I inquired about the six packs and they said they don't have the personnel to keep them watered. ARGGGGGGGGG! Now that does distress me cause it was always helpful to be able to grab a six-pack of annuals to fill in "disaster holes" late in the season. (And you got plants without having to take out a loan.) Is this happening everywhere?

Linda,
I noticed that too here in CT - the six-pack annuals were gone before the beginning of the summer. I guess that's why - I hadn't thought of that.

Estelle

What I've noticed around here and I have to say it's been going on for quite a few years now is.....
The big box stores start selling the annual bedding plants way too early, people plant them out, the plants don't do well because it's still to cold for them. These usually are the ones in 6 packs.
Some of the more reputable Garden centers are starting to sell them too, much too early as well, wanting to get their share of the money. Who can blame them.
When the proper time for planting out tender annuals (in my neck of the woods) after the danger of frost has passed, all you can find have either been potted up singly or big packs for 3X the price.
These are the same plants as the ones first sold, just potted on. Most of the first ones sold have most likely died or are doing so poorly they have to be replanted. Do I see a stratagy here?
I use to work in a Garden Center back in the 70's and the man I worked for would not sell any tender stock until all danger of frost was gone, he would, only if he knew you had a greenhouse.
In defense of the growers I have to say with all their costs like seed, heating etc. spiraling upwards I can see why they do it.
So if you can, grow your own, if you haven't done it before give it a try, in most cases it's not that difficult.

Annette

Well, I'm afraid I would buy the plants AND the shoes AND have my nails done. Oh wait, I did just that last week. lol!

I usually try and not buy anything new mid summer but our small, local nursery had geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw' in gallon pots so I just had to bring a couple more home. I think it was DebbieCA who enabled me into my first one and it has quadrupled in size in the last two years. I absolutely love the dainty orangey-red blooms on their tall stalks. Thanks Deb! : )

Diana

"Well, I'm afraid I would buy the plants AND the shoes AND have my nails done. Oh wait, I did just that last week. lol! "

Diana,

Are you sure we're not twins that were separated at birth?? lol

Very rarely do I buy anything this time of year unless it is both a heat tolerant plant AND, more importantly, newly arrived at the nursery.

So much of what I see right now in nurseries is battered, and clearly past its prime. I pass on them unless it's drastically marked down, in which case I will snap them up, and give them a try.

Marilyn

LOL, Marilyn! I knew you could relate. There are so many cute sandals on sale right now it's a pity to leave them on those cold and lonely store shelves. ; )

Annette, good advice on growing your own annuals. Most of them are so easy and you can stagger the sowing time so when the first ones are looking tired, the next batch are ready to show off their pretty blooms.

Diana

Oh you guys are cracking me up & making me jealous at the same time! I would pass on the nails, but it would be tough with the shoes...... I haven't gotten many things this year, my budget has been too tight, my mom did get me a couple of Stella D'Oro's and I got a few annuals for my pots. A woman I know had promised to bring me some pieces of perennials from her yard, but alas...haven't seen her.... We have a HD & a Lowes nearby, maybe some perennials for fall planting.....
Holly

Sorry can't help. I've got the same problem. But, mine is buying all the mark down plants that HD and Lowe's have.....and Wally World. I to don't have room but just can't resist....I'm such a failure ;)