Daily Photo

New Orange Cone Flower I love my local Lowes. This was $3 in their clearance dying plants section. I got a yellow one too. You just have to get there soon after they're put on clearance, because they appear to stop watering them.

Home Depot spring bulbs 50% off

I spent 45 minutes digging through the bulb bins finding things that were still viable. I did let myself put several back though. I don't really need any cannas. I also put back anything I've had luck with before so I can try new things. Except the Crocosmia which I've killed twice already, but it's just so darn pretty when it survives to flowering.

I need to stay out of Lowes

These guys got me last year too. $1.98 wildflower roots. They even say nursery grown, though I do slightly doubt that. At this point in the season you should only buy ones you see actual root growth, or the roots are firm not at all squishy, because they don't do great sitting in those little bags for long. I've had good luck with Christmas ferns, trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit. Last years attempt at trout lilies doesn't seem to have worked. The Christmas ferns were large enough to plant out this Spring. Thankfully, I didn't see anything in the clearance section, so at least I didn't bring anything else home. These guys will sit in pots over the summer, and maybe next Spring I'll see what really survived.

ALWAYS Check the Bargain Area

I got five of these tonight at Lowes for $2.50 each, why? They were done blooming, and they had been lazy about watering. They still have full prices on all the other colors. I guess the Emerald Blue was just sent in earlier and they couldn't keep up with it. My aunt wants phlox, so thankfully I just have to keep them alive for a while, rather than find someplace to plant them after the six I planted last weekend.

Actual Gardening

At ten this morning I decided I wouldn't go hiking. Since it was supposed to rain for a few days straight, I figured I'd get some plants in the ground. Especially since yesterday I spent some money on some very nice plants, and didn't want to chance killing them through laziness. I'm a sucker for nectar plants, as I'm always trying to get butterfly pics, and it is infinitely easier if they show up in the backyard. To this end I have 3 types of milkweed, 4 types of bee balm, numerous kinds of mint, some phlox, 5 or 6 kinds of yarrow, a bunch of coneflowers, and 2 kinds of rudbeckia. I'm lacking host plants other than the milkweed, but I'm working on that. I bought a shorter kind of bee balm, a rudbeckia, and another swamp milkweed (which I totally recommend, as mine has been blooming nonstop since June.) The swamp milkweed actually came with a monarch Caterpillar... to add to this I saw a monarch fluttering about today laying eggs on my other milkweed. Hopefully, I'll be seeing some more soon enough. I also had my first experience with spray paint, which I'll likely never repeat. It is the stinkiest, and least efficient way to paint, unless you happen to be painting wicker like I was. With three coats, it still does not look done, but the chairs will at least be staying serviceable for another year or two, so I guess it was worth the irritation. I finished around 7:30. Though technically there were two shopping trips in there when I ran out of paint, and thought I should see what other plants could be found in a bargain area. I bought three Strawberry Seduction Yarrow plants for $1 each. And yes, their first bloom of the year was floppy, black, and dying, but all three were growing back from the roots quite happily. Judging from several I bought last year at the bargain price, they'll bounce back just fine. I also remember eyeing them when they first came in a $6 bucks each. Patience gets the plant, provided it isn't one you must have in which case that's what credit cards were made for. Now if only I could keep a butterfly bush alive through the winter I'd be buying the bargain ones of those too...