Last month I visited a couple of plant sales. In this article I'll share photos of what I found along the way.

Read my blogged impressions as we travel together, and I'll be your guide.

An Approaching Storm Cloud

The weather was looking to become quite stormy, but in the morning there was reported to be a moment of sunshine. So naturally I woke up as early as possible to visit the plant sales being hosted by local community garden club events.

One of them was being hosted at a Catholic School. There was actually quite a few different types of plants I was impressed with, and tons of stock that was not likely to run out.

One of the volunteers impressed me with the various cacti she was growing. She demonstrated how easy it is to plant them in to various types of glazed pottery, terracotta, and glass jars.

The daisy table had some tempting items. Everything was blooming today.

Not many yellow plants yet, but this one was a temporary stunner. Everything glowing with radiance.

Exotic Trees

There was a tree specialist offering some very exotic young trees. Look at this spiral cedar I had never seen before.

The tree was a spidery mess, but I wanted to show a detail of the way the curly branches grow naturally.

I thought it was unusual that he had so many Eastern Hemlocks for sale. They did not look very healthy, and I wondered why he wasn't selling any native Western Hemlock or Mountain Hemlock, which probably grow better on the west coast here.

My better judgement told me not to ask, fearing I might insult his business by asking a foolish question. Most likely his Hemlocks weren't looking so hot because they hadn't yet pushed out any needle buds, and the old needles were all turning red and falling off to make room for new growth.

Nonetheless, if he had any of the native Hemlock varieties, I probably would have bought one, but not in the sorry state the trees he had were in.

The Garden Club Has Its Perks

Earlier in the morning I was at another different plant sale, hosted by a different garden club, at a different school.

When you shop at a plant sale hosted by a garden club, there are several advantages, and a few negligible disadvantages.

The entire experience is a bit more akin to shopping at a neighborhood yard sale or thrift store, than a commercial store.

Sometimes people design their plants into artistic and creative arrangements. The succulents grower was designing groups of plants that included many different varieties of textures and colors together. No two arrangements were the same, making each item a unique treasure.

Sometimes the plants include custom wooden flower pots, or special ceramic pottery. The item is priced for the plant, not the pottery. So if I really like the pottery, I consider that a bonus deal!

Often times the person who propagated and grew the plants is standing by on hand, ready to offer advice and information about the plants available.

They have so much genuine enthusiasm and interest to strike up a conversation about the plants. Sometimes they offer exotic varieties, but all of the ones they sell are chosen specifically because they will thrive well in our local climate and soil type, and they are easy to grow.

Here, I was finding lots of overstock on some items, but less varieties than were offered at the other sale.

Thankfully, they had a tree seller here too to capture my interests.

More Trees

Always check the quality and character of the trunk on a tree. This is the primary mechanism for delivering energy between the branches and roots, so it should look healthy without too many scars or diseases.

Sometimes the design shape of the trunk can make a difference in a person's personal preferences.

The trunk is likely to become a visible feature of the tree during the winter months, and possibly visible all year long if the branches are all up high.

If planning to prune the tree after planting it at home, again the design of the trunk might become far more visible.

It's About the Smaller Things In life

Less things were blooming at this plant sale. However, blue flowers seemed to be popping up all over town today.

My friends, you should know by now how vulnerable I am to buying blue flowers.

I walked home, wondering why some of the old houses in the neighborhood were growing some fantastic flowering trees that weren't for sale. Even the commercial stores do not sell the best old time flowering trees that were once popular.

Some of these trees varieties were so old, I think they had been planted and propagated by gardeners generations ago.

When patents, copyrights, and yada-yada prevent commoners from buying plants we could happily choose to further green up the earth for inspiring others to plant more beneficial things into our local habitats, I think humanity's greed and lawful civilization has failed us in a certain respect.

For instance, most nurseries I explore will only stock the same one or two Azalea varieties, when there are hundreds of varieties that exists, but are too expensive for businesses to arrange to sell. There is an Azalea society that offers all the other varieties as wholesale, but their items are not easily accessible to the public most of the year.

Plant businesses have really had to adapt and change over the years.

Not clearly evident, but the native daisies had the very slightest pink tinge on the edges of the petals.

Dogwood was blooming. They look pretty interesting with flowers and no green leaves.

And then these were growing everywhere!

Bells, Bells, Bells!

Such a great morning to be out looking at plants and flowers.

At the end of the day I did end up buying one plant to add to my collection of various mints, but I'll share that in my article next time.

Thank you for viewing with me.

#daisy #dogwood #cedar #hostas #daisies #flowers #blue #bluebells #succulent #primrose #coneflower #petals

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