Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Plant Discounts

Plant prices have risen along with gas prices. Yet, landscaping plants remain one of the least expensive ways in which to improve the appearance of your home. Nonetheless, you can save additional money on your plant purchases if you’re willing to wait and think the way the plant vendors do.

While there are bargains to be had at the smaller independent horticultural businesses too, the best bargains on plants are found at the large chains like K-Mart, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Walmart. While some of these “big-box” stores send unsold plants back to the vendor for charge-backs, others are only too willing to get rid of those plants that don’t sell by heavy discounting. Keep in mind that time is of the essence in the plant business. People want to get their gardens in early; therefore early spring is not a good time to find bargains. Business is brisk. Plants are quickly snapped up by homeowners eager to set up colorful displays or to get an early start on vegetable gardens. After the initial period of plant buying frenzy, however, there are some plants which are beaten up by a combination of poor care, buyer indifference, or excessive handling. Some of these plants are terminal, but most are not. Look for the discount stand at any of the big box stores. If you don’t see one, find the horticulture manager and ask. Don’t ask the lowly salesperson who has little authority in the matter.

Yesterday, at a Lowe’s, we went to the distressed plant stands and found a variety of plants which were substantially marked down from their original prices. We heralded a “plant manager” and humbled ourselves by asking “how much for the whole thing?” We were offered the entire stand for one dollar each. Here’s a sampling of what we got:

Moudry Fountain Grass: Original Price 24.98
2 Palalenopsis Orchids : Orginal Price 8.88 each
1 China Girl Holly : Original Price 6.98
1 Sweet Potato Vine : Original Price 9.95

Except for the Orchids, all of the plants were in large one or five gallon containers so they were definitely good value at a buck apiece. We took them home and watered them, along with an assortment of smaller plants (marigold, petunias, and impatiense) which we bought en masse for a bulk price of $3.00. We watered them and put them outside. This morning, all look crisp and ready to grow. We might lose one or two, but so what? The value they add to the landscape was well worth the $8.00 we paid for them.

Rattlesnake Weed (Hieracium venosum)

Rattlesnake Weed (Hieracium venosum)While hiking yesterday, we came across this plant. It was kind of interesting and we identified it by looking, first, in our botany books. Later, we found this photo on the internet. I took some pictures, too, but the plant we photographed had not yet flowered. This plant had some remedial properties--astringent, used as a medicine by the American Indians for gastro ailments. I'll add some of the pictures we took when I get a minute.

thisweekonline.ca - Growing organically is the biggest gardening trend

thisweekonline.ca - Growing organically is the biggest gardening trendHere's an interesting site. I used a little fertilizer last year but I'm trying to go without this year. Organic is me. So far the plants are healthy, though suffering from the colder weather and lack of sunshine.

The lettuces are doing well, however, but the peas are growing more slowly than I thought in spite of my application of natural ferilizer.

I'm hoping that the unsually cold weather will kill off part of the Gypsy moth population which seems to have swelled this year. Those things were imported in the early previous century to make silk. I see a lot of caterpillars, but very little silk. I prefer the Japanese Beetles, scheduled to arrive in late June or early July. I haven't been inspired to see the beauty of the gypsy moth caterpillars whereas those destructive Japanese beatles are admirable little warriors with a beautiful shell.

Hudsonhubtimes.com - 'Hay bale gardening' takes root

Hudsonhubtimes.com - 'Hay bale gardening' takes root

The Age of Botanical Exploration - WSJ.com

The Age of Botanical Exploration - WSJ.com This information will make you a very desirable guest at garden parties around the country.

How to Get Wasps Off Your Deck or Patio

I got tired of chasing wasps from our back deck with a sprayer filled with insecticide. The insecticide seemed to harm us more than it harmed the wasps, whcih would soon return. I also became tired of having wasps chase (and sting) me. So I did some research and came up with the following environmentally safe advice from an HGTV garden expert:

Wasps are territorial, so a natural way to remove them from your deck or patio is to make them think that another wasp nest is close by. A simple but effective way to do this is to take a used paper lunch bag, fill it with air, tie it at the bottom with string and hang it from a branch .

Author Tells of Being Bitten By the Gardening Bug, Battling Woodchucks - Health - redOrbit

Author Tells of Being Bitten By the Gardening Bug, Battling Woodchucks - Health - redOrbit

Here's a book that appeals to me. I'm going to look it up later on Amazon.com. It's fun to read the commentaries which follow after the formal reviews. Of particular interest to me was the battle with the groundhogs. I think most rural gardeners have had some experience with those cute but destructive furry creatures. Apparently, the author of this book never heard of shooting at them or "having them on a plate" along with the garden vegetables he grew. There was a man I knew a while back who made a great stew of goundhog meat. He had a peculiar and colloquial voice.

"Waaaallll (well), bring 'er in and I'll a skin 'er," he told me once when I'd shot a groundhog.

I hadn't shot at a groundhog again until last year when there was a particularly voracious one who had made a home under a shed just a few feet from the vegetable garden. You can keep on reading because my story has a happy ending. Fat as he was, that groundhog, I took aim and missed, watching while he scurried across the yard and into the woods, never to be seen again. I checked for blood; there was none. Clean miss. Happy ending.

Spelling Test: Culantro or Cilantro?

Well, both spellings are right, and they're different plants in the same family.

I wonder if the security cameras at Walmart caught me snacking on one of their plants. Don’t worry, though, I did buy the plant after nipping off the tip of one leaf.

It was called “Culantro” and that’s the correct spelling. I had to taste it because it’s often mistaken, misspelled, and misnamed for its close relative “cilantro” or “coriander.” So I found out it tastes just the same, only a bit stronger, and bought it.

I also planted it the same day, albeit in the wrong place. I took a gamble and placed it in a sunny spot before reading the card that said:

“Culantro grows naturally in shaded moist heavy soils near cultivated areas. Under cultivation, the plant thrives best under well irrigated shaded conditions.”

The plant is rich in calcium, iron, carotene, and riboflavin and its harvested leaves are widely used as a food flavoring and seasoning herb for meat and many other foods. Its medicinal value include its use as a tea for flu, diabetes, constipation, and fevers. One of its most popular use is in chutneys as an appetite stimulant.

The name fitweed is derived from its supposedly anti-convulsant property.
I bought another herb, too; Thai basil has a licorice or anise taste in addition to the familiar tastes of basil. But more of that later. Right now, I’m going to replant the Culantro in a shaded, moist spot as the growers recommend.

Green Gardening: Honeybees get a boost from supplement

Green Gardening: Honeybees get a boost from supplement

Suburban Lawn Struggles

Fiscally Fit - WSJ.com Terri Cullen writes an interesting column for the Wall Street Journal. She writes about practical things, mostly, and has a common sense approach. If you live in the country, as we do, you might like to see how things work in Suburbia.

Sharp growth in vegetable gardening

DutchNews.nl - Sharp growth in vegetable gardening

Uhh....this is in Holland where the supply of land is much more limited than it is here. Yet, the Dutch have an attachment to farming and gardening that is sometimes lost in America. America has a vast amount of land that can be used to gorw vegetables. We're so lucky here in America-- yet, we prefer Chem-Lawn to John Deere -- Use some of that yard space for a vegetable garden, people!

Expand Your Gardening Vocabulary

Gardening was always so much easier when I was a child. A tomato was a tomato, corn was corn, and the word "flower" applied to as many plants as I wanted. Now I realize what little I know, but still, I'm having fun. Here's a gardening quiz and I'll give you answers at the end. Hopefully, we'll both learn something and perhaps have a little fun in the process.

1. What is the probably the most powerful garden design factor?
2. What time of day and weather conditions are best for planting?
3. What is the difference between an Annual and a Perennial?
4. What is oxalis?
5. What nutrient deficiency can result from over liming or from lime leached from cement or brick and is often found in regions where soil is derived from limestone and in areas with low rainfall?
6. Which plant nutrient is responsible for the healthy green color of your plants: nitrogen, phosphorus or potash?
7. In gardening terms, what does deadheading mean?
8. What is a biennial?
9. What is the term for plants that are resistant to pests and diseases, are often more vigorous and productive and can withstand cold winters?
10. What is the more common name for the perennial myosotis sylvestris?
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Okay, now the answers. I'm sure you'll get them all right. That wasn't so hard, was it?

1. Color is probably the single most powerful garden design factor.
2. Evenings of cloudy days is the best time to plant. If you have to plant during the heat of the day or on sunny days be sure plants are watered thoroughly immediately after planting.
3. An annual goes through its life cycle in one summer, and a perennial will bloom summer after summer.
4. Oxalis is a common perennial weed.
5. Iron deficiency.
6. The plant nutrient responsible for the healthy green color of your plants is nitrogen.
7. Deadheading is removing faded flowers by pinching off the flower head. The plant will spend its energy producing more flowers instead of seed. This encourages more flowers and creates a longer blooming period. Also pinch the central growing tip of the plant. This will produce side shoots further down the stem, creating a bushier plant that will produce more flowers.
8. A biennial is a plant with a two year life cycle, that produces leaves in the first season, then flowers and sets seed in the second season.
9. Referred to as hardy plants.
10. The more common name for the perennial myosotis sylvestris is forget-me-nots

Hot Pepper Habanero - Pepper, Hot - Vegetables - Burpee

Hot Pepper Habanero - Pepper, Hot - Vegetables - Burpee

I usually indulge myself every year by planting a rather large number of hot peppers. The practice is wasteful in terms of land use but I can't resist. Truth to tell, I can hardly eat one of these 10-alarm babies each year but I plant them anyway. I can them or give them away. On the other hand, I snack on a variety of mildly hot peppers that I also plant. Somehow, hot peppers seem to me patriotic. Plant some, you'll see.

Red Lettuce, Arugula, and Barack Obama

Lettuce is a cool weather crop so it's suitable for early spring planting. This year I'm determined to enrich the soil with organic fertilizers. Above is a variety of red lettuce which adds a little visual impact to a salad. I learned about Arugula from the Elite Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and so I planted some of that, too. I've no idea what it looks like. I had to go to an old-fashioned plant and feed store to find arugula. What next? Birkenstocks and Brie?