About $50 worth of plants jumped off the shelves into my granddaughter's arms when we were in Thunder Bay on the weekend. I mean, she is cute and who wouldn't want to come home with her? :)

I was just about to start a thread about my purchases that started coming in today from the catalogues. It has been pretty quiet on the forum the last few weeks so I thought that there certainly had to be someone else in active addiction! Lol!

Yesterday I went out to my first greenhouse of the season and brought home some snapdragons, a trumpet lily, a swan windchime, and an African Blue Basil. Waiting for CT to get their mint and herbs in. Monday brought me my order from McFayden's. Mostly lilies, a couple of dahlias, 2 red maples, 2 itch peonies, and a Prairie Snowdrift rose. Botanus order will arrive early next week. I have avoided the big box stores cause I seem to be a Plant Momma. I can hear them crying,"Pick me, Pick me. Oh please take me home adn give a nice cozy bed to live in". This is why I can't go to the Humane Society! A few bags of glads and dahlias and lilies followed me home before Easter. Most of them I gave as Easter gifts.

I also have an order coming from Vesey's and one from Alberta Nurseries. :) Guess I'd better go back to sleep and do some more digging!

Ginny

Ginny, what did you think of your rose from McFayden's? I ordered Prairie Snowdrift and Bill Reid and was very UNimpressed with them - i mean, what i got for that price. When i got roses from Hortico years ago, they were big, healthy bare-root roses with large root systems already. These were little spindly seedlings.

Other than that, i have the peony Red Charm from them, and Think Pink Daylily. My Botanus order hasn't come yet, which is unusual.

Ginny, what are ITCH Peonies? Sorry, couldn't resist. Last weekend the nursery here was having a huge sale on daylilies and heucheras. I wanted some nice heucheras to plant in the hosta garden. Promised myself I wouldn't come home with any daylilies since I have 2 orders coming in soon. HA! I did look at them tho and at DH urging picked out 3 anyway. Then I went to pick out my heucheras. I bought 2 each Pear Crisp and Berry Smoothie and one called Paris. I also couldn't help but look at the hostas and bought Fantasy Island, singing, to myself, 'de plane, de plane!' so I would remember the name. When I got back to the cart, and DH, I saw he had put 6 more daylilies in the cart. At least he's starting to really get into growing them. Now we're off to another nursery this afternoon. Think I'll buy anything? NAF, the Bloomerang is there and I may just buy a few. Marg

Marg, an ITCH peony is an Intersectional peony which is a cross between a herbacous and a tree peony. I got Julia Rose and Garden Treasure. My peony collection is growing considerably this year.

Marcia, I have never ordered roses from McFayden's as I usually order from Pickerings or Hortico. I agree that it is pretty small. I'll have to pamper it.:)

Ginny

Ginny, I've never heard of an ITCH peony before, thanks for clearing that up. Here I thought it was just a mispelling! Marg

Well, ITCH peonies are more expensive and take a bit more to establish, IMO. They are becoming a bit more popular but many are still very expensive. The only one I have out in the garden is Bartzella but have a few more on order for the fall. Parkland Perrenials is carrying more this year. :)

Ginny

It's Itoh, not Itch. Itoh is the last name of the man that crossed tree and herbaceous peonies.

Tells you I need glasses hey!

Ginny

We went to Toronto yesterday and ended up at the nursery that had the Bloomerang lilac on sale. I bought 6 to plant in a grove. I think once they are established it will look nice. I did get a response on my post asking about the lilac and was told it survived in Z3. We'll see how they do here. We also bought 2 Purple Sandcherry shrubs for $12 each, 2 May Night salvia jumped into my cart and so did some huge pansies that were on for .99. These will go into my hosta bed to add some colour. Marg

Oh I just gotta stay away from the stores. There is just no way to resist! I'd love to put some lilacs in but would have to grow them in pots so I can take them with me. I don't mind digging up the peonies and irises but those little trees can be tough.

The only shopping cart I have these days is a virtual one and believe me, it is full, full, full! Of more peonies!

Thanks for the correction Shazam. I was wondering why ITCH was a short form of "intersectional". I have about 12 ITOH peonies coming in the fall! Yay for me!

Love pansies, Marg. Oh heck. I love all flowers. Addiction is now at Art Form status! :/

Marcia ~ how did your peony and daylily from McFayden's do? I rarely order anything but lilies from them.

I got a PO confirmation yesterday for Botanus order and T&T order. So next week is going to be busy!

Ginny

I thought it was ITOH peonies not ITCH but then you are probably itching to get more aren't you? I also got a confirmation that one of my daylily orders is coming soon. Better stop buying and get ready for planting. Marg

The daylily was really nice and is doing fine, and the peony was okay too. It was just the roses that were a disappointment for the price i paid.

We were in town today, and absolutely nothing jumped into my cart. Just bought vegetable seeds and onion sets!

Nothing? Absolutely nothing? Uh oh.......must have a fever coming on. :)

I spent the whole day in the yard and nothing jumped in my garden cart either. :( I guess I gotta do it the hard way.
Hopefully my Dh will dig up the little vegie garden tomorrow so I can get my peas in. Too cold for toms, cucs, and melons.

Still waiting to see what the DL survival rate is from last fall's plantings. I have a few new ones coming soon too. Always huge fans. :)

Ginny

Well not today, but last weekend we were at a 50th anniversary in St. Albert. DB wanted me to see the new Holes Enjoy Center.
Overall, I found it very expensive so only picked up a plant I'd never heard of before. It is Acalypha 'Copperhead'. Right now I'm carting it in and out of the sunroom and it doesn't seem very happy. It better live or I'll be very disappointed.
Otherwise there is no temptation as nothing is arriving in the stores here yet.

Holes is always expensive, IMO! I sure hope it lives! That's a long way to travel but nice for a visit. :)

Nothing really interesting here yet although we do have that little place not far from here for shrubs and such. They have PW's in all the time. But again, I have to put the little brats in pots. I'm tempted. Two years ago Walmart had a really nice selection of lilacs. Maybe again this year? I really don't need anymore of anything!

Ginny

I'm not buying anything until discount season! It was a raging and cheap success last year. I have so much growing in the basement and already potted out into containers. I do need more potting soil though.

I'm waiting for roses I ordered from Corn Hill. They were supposed to ship May 1 so hopefully will be here this week.

Ok. I knew I should have avoided the stores. Went to get some soil at CT and left too much room in my cart. In jumped a white bleeding heart, a Gentle Shepherd DL, a chrysanthumum "Dream Weaver", and a chrysanthemum "Suncatcher". Whew! I almost didn't make it out the door. There were assorted hostas screaming behind me.........and what appeared to be some roses tucked into their dufflebags. Those automatic doors are just not very efficient at stopping those escapees! I guess they don't like it there since nothing tried to escape at Walmart. Just a black lab with a Welcome sign in it's mouth. He told me he wants to go live with my daughter's lab. :)

Orders from Botanus and T&T arrived on Monday and are in pots already. We are back into the cold and wind for a couple of days. Maybe we will be back to spring by the weekend. :)

How's the spring collection coming for everyone?

Ginny

I expect that since it's Mother's Day and there's always sales, that this thread will be quite active in the next few days =:)

I have been avoiding the stores, I do need a couple of apple trees one to be planted in memory of my grandmother who passed this year and one for a new niece. So I'm really trying to stay focused, this is a very dangerous season for me. One year I actually added up all the little purchases, a very stupid thing to do, it almost caused divorce.

Now I just tell my hubby, "What? that has been here for years," "You're just noticing that now"

C

I bought myself an absolutely gorgeous Chihuly rose bush today. If I fertilize the heck out of it, I should easily get enough blooms to make it worth the $23.00 I paid for it. At first I thought I was crazy buying a rose that wouldn't overwinter, but then thought, what the heck? Lunch cost more than the rose did =:)

I also picked up a bunch of rock soapwort. ( I hope it trails and spills over edges like they say it will)

nutsaboutflowers, I've done that with roses lots of times. I figure a beautiful tea rose, often with many flowers already in bloom, costs about the same as a hanging basket of annuals, so why shouldn't it be treated like an annual in climates where it won't overwinter?

Ooooh, ooooh! A Hunter rose leaped into my arms at Walmart yesterday! My little grandson is named Chase because my son wanted a hunting-type name for him, so all i could think of to plant for him was a Hunter rose, but i never thought i'd find it around here. But i did! :)

Yay! Marcia. I just love it when things like that happen!

Ginny

I bought JP Connell, Hope for Humanity and Marie-Victorin roses yesterday. Can't wait to see what height they all wind up at, since there seems to be all sorts of info out there on how short or tall various roses get.

Speaking of roses, I'm interested to see how tall my Emily Carr gets this year, since it had almost no cane dieback this winter.

Today I bought a bartzella ITOH peony on my way home from church. I've read that buying peonies from greenhouses isn't that great, that they don't do as well as ones from growers like Parkland Perennials, etc...but I couldn't resist. I got it for 16.99! It looks healthy, and at that price, compared to 130 or whatever it would be...I had to try! Bartzella isn't one of my favorites for ITOH compared to some of the others, but heck, that price just can't be beat.

I bought my Bartzella from T&T I think, about 4 years ago. It has taken a bit to get going but it's still there. :)

I bought black and black/yellow petunias today. I think I will put them in some painted terra cotta pots on the front porch. Give it that shabby chic look. :)
Now what to paint on the pots?

Ginny

Canna lilies :-)

this was fun reading through your notes

I have not bought so much, it seems this spring I seem to have so much already
Did buy some colourful annuals
I bring several large pots either into my solarium room or into the garage Depending what is in them
Surprisingly I have found that if I put the pots, large pots, of chrysanthemums into the garage, not cutting them back at all they seem to survive and this year I left geraniums in the large pots, even the Martha washington ones and they all survived As well I have tropical stuff in the pots. I am down south for the entire winter and do not bring the pots out until I get back home early May

I do put them out then just to get them out of the house and put some plastic over them as the weather can yet be cold So I always have lots of stuff awaiting revival.
I stick in a few annuals into the pots some of the pots.
One of the best places to get good deals on plants are the horticultural society plant sales Most often they are mature plants. but I missed two of them last weekend attending a family reunion out of town
I am looking for more Japanese Tree peonies The flower does not last long but the plant stays good looking all season They tolerate cold and drought and neglect which makes them ideal as they none the less are stunning

Got a pinus densiflora 'umbraculifera' on a standard today. Let's see if it lives :)

Here on the Prairies, in zones 3 and lower, we have trouble overwintering any tree peonies without a lot of winter protection.

But...the ITOH peonies are no problem to overwinter. I love them!!!

What special plants jumped into my cart today at the McFayden's blowout sale at their warehouse here in Brandon today was...

Itoh peonies, Garden Treasure...$1 each (so I took all 15 that were left)

Red Charm Peony...$1 each also...so I took the 15 or so that were left.

Got a few other things but those were the two special purchases that I am thrilled about!!!

Brenda

Geez Brenda, I would have been thrilled too!
It might be worth it to drive all the way to Brandon for your sale next year!

Had to walk through Superstore garden centre today just for the heck of it. Of course, I was on my way to the store so I had a cart.......an empty cart. I swear they are training them to jump in. I dodged and jumped and swerved but I didn't make it. When I got to the gate there was an Autumn Charm sedum, a Summer Wine daylily, 4 oriental poppies,and a Gold Standard hosta in my not so empty cart.

So I took them out for lunch and chatted up a storm. We decided they could come live at my house as long as they stayed in their spot beside the deck. And only too if they promised not to invite their friend the Twist n Shout hydrangea. =:/

I guess I just can't risk it any more. Gotta stay away from garden centres with this "bed-room" vibe I give off......

Ginny

I just couldn't help myself today.

I heard an Isanti Dogwood calling my name and just couldn't leave the poor thing there.

Honestly, all I needed were marigolds. =:)

Oh Lynn.....that's a nice little one you rescued. I would have to do the same thing. I'm a sucker for a Dogwood. :)

Ginny