My local nursery guy is putting plants on sale now. Our season is short and this time of year, instead of having to dump too much he does two-for-one on flats and hanging baskets. Soon, he’ll do it on perennials and herbs.
By the time this happens, the stuff isn’t prime by any means and I prefer to buy annuals in bud, before they’ve even started blooming but at $13 a flat, that gets pricey and my budget this year is tighter.
So, I picked through and thought…these petunias look like shit but let’s try them. The blue salvia looked great and I’m going to go back and buy more this weekend but the poor petunias were chlorotic and puny and sad. But I bought them anyway and potted them and planted some in the ground and the next day, there they were, blooming their poor puny heads off.
Maybe because they know they’re dying…or maybe because they won’t die and they’ll perk up and grow. I don’t know :) The zinnias were too cheerful not to buy and I hope if I dead head them properly. they’ll keep doing their thing. Not sure :)
I have some violet zinnias as seedlings I have to plant this weekend that I grew from seed, and a few more sunflower seedlings that wouldn’t fit in the squash bed. And I bought a couple more packs of marigolds that looked good to plant out in the veg garden.
I hope he has some portulaca left. One came up from seed (through composting) in my cucumber bed and I forgot how I love them because they looked like shit with dead flowers on them in the flats at the nursery but they usually rock all summer long in the heat :)
