Kimberly,
My big problem is that I have to pass Milaeger's every time I travel from my home to Racine. My car sometimes veers into the parking lot all by itself, then I find myself wandering around the greenhouse. I've gotten better through the years, though, not buying more than I can plant in a reasonably short time. I like to wait until the perennials are buy one, get one free!

Hope you have fun finding room for all your purchases!

Julie

Julie,
At least if you go wild, it is a lot easier for you to find the room in which to plant them! The rain we have received is really not helping me get anything planted. It seems like every time I have an hour or so free (where the kids are occupied) it is either raining or the ground is still soaking wet from the rain. When it dried out somewhat yesterday, I was busying doing tons of laundry. One of my sons had an "accident" the night before so I had to strip his bed and wash everything. Then I had to do all of our bedding because my husband has some stomach virus or food poisoning and kept breaking into chills and profuse sweating. I even had to do all of the pillows. I feel so bad for him. He's had severe stomach pain for a few days now. He saw the doctor yesterday and he's going to go back again tomorrow. If it was just the stomach flu you would think he would be past the worst of it by now.

Meanwhile, all of my garden purchases are at least staying well watered while they wait to be planted. I did go out and prune my raspberry bush and tried to get the new canes up onto the trellis where they are supposed to be. So at least one garden chore is out of the way. Oh, and my peacock orchids are finally blooming! I bought some Acidenthera bulbs at Home Depot last year and had great foliage, no flowers. So I stuck the bulbs in my cold room and replanted some of them this year in a huge pot. Even better foliage (tall and spiky) this year that I was mostly using as an accent but just last week I spotted something that looked like buds and they were! Very pretty flowers, odd scent. I can't think of how to describe it but it is much more noticable at night than during the day. I'll have to remember to save the bulbs again this fall. Our house is a 1926 Dutch Colonial and off of the main basement there is a windowless room that stays much colder than the rest of the basement. It's located directly under the sunroom and we just call it the cold room. I've managed to overwinter a few bulbs and just last year I stuck my ivy geranium baskets back there and all of the foliage died down and then in early spring (March, I think) they sent up some pale green/yellowish shoots so I stuck them in a portable greenhouse outside and they look great now. I'm going to try it again this winter with all of my geraniums.

Did you buy anything at Menard's this year? I found a Swiss Balcony Ivy Geranium mixed in with all the other hanging backets for only $7.99. I was really surprised by the selection and prices that they had. I picked up a bunch of sweet potato vines (Blackie, Marguerite, and the new tri-color) for just $1.99 each back in May. Unfortunately, I didn't go up near there for a few weeks and must have missed when they clearanced everything out. One day I went to get something at Walmart and decided to poke around over there and everything was gone. Oh, well. There's always next year.

Kimberly

Kimberly and Julie, I got an email from Milaeger's saying they were going to have a special 'card holder' sale on Aug. 22nd from 8am to 8pm. You have to show your card to get in. The sale for the general public will be from Aug. 23rd - Sept. 3rd. I would love to go but, I just don't have any more room...right now. LOL! Milaeger's is my favorite nursery. I live in Oak Creek and it's about 25 min. or so from my home. Hubby and I go in the beginning of May so I can spend the afternoon shopping. I'm never disappointed with them. I do go to some other nurseries, but none have the selection that Milaeger's has. After we're done with Milaeger's we go to eat at the Italian restaurant almost right across the street. I can never remember the name of it, but hubby loves the pizza there.

Kat

Kimberly,
Yes, the rain has kept me from doing much outside, but it gives me a chance to do my Spring cleaning (finally)!
Acidenthera is a pretty flower, and you must have a lot of energy to dig and store them over winter.

Yes, I did buy a few things at Menards during their close-out sale, among them a couple Clematis that are still sitting in pots, waiting to be planted, but as you say, the ground is still too wet to work. You should see my grass - it's like a hayfield in my backyard. With this humidity, it takes forever to dry out enough to mow!

This rain seems to have given the ants opportunity to multiply and create huge colonies. Anyone else have trouble with that?

Kat,
I got the same e-mail as you about Milaeger's sale. Unfortunately, we'll be out of town that week-end. I know the restaurant you're refering to on Douglas Ave. You must shop at Milaegers in the Racine location. I shop mostly at the Sturtevant location. Hope you find some great deals!

Happy gardening, everybody!

Julie

Thanks for the heads up on the sale at Milaeger's Kat! I have their card but I don't think I gave them my e-mail address and even if I did, we have changed it since then. Roadrunner sure comes in handy when viewing websites with lots of photos, doesn't it?

Did they say what would be on sale? Would it just be for new fall stuff or will the summer stuff be marked down?

No ant problems here. The two oldest kids (Abigail, who is 7, and Matthew, who is 5) were catching ants on the front sidewalk today and drowning them in a container of water. Should I worry they will grow up to be sadists or just chalk it up to being a kid? I did get out there and turned over the ground where I will be planting stuff. After the kids are in bed, I'll go out there and add the compost and if it's still light out, maybe I can even plug a few things in quick.

I know what you mean about the spring cleaning Julie. I found myself doing some of that myself. I guess we were so busy doing gardening stuff in the actual spring that we never got around to it until now. :)

Kimberly

Kimberly, they didn't really say, it just said a 'tent sale'.
I don't have a problem with ants. We just came back from a 2 wk vacation. We have been renting a cottage there since '90. When it get really hot there, these big black ants like to come in the house. And it was hot, so we had visits from them. LOL!
Spring cleaning....what's that? :) My major house cleaning is the week of Thanksgiving. By that time I don't have to worry about my gardening.

Kat

Okay, now I found ants! Luckily they weren't in my yard. I took the kids to the park across the street and couldn't find anywhere to sit down on the grass because of the ant hills. They were everywhere!

Spring cleaning is when the sunlight highlights all of the things that you were able to ignore in the dim light of winter! Usually I am outside when spring arrives and things get put off until later. But if the rain has left the ground all muddy and you are stuck inside and happen to look up at the time of day when the sun is shining inside your house at just the right angle... Where do all of those cobwebs come from?! And the layers of dust on the very high shelves in my kitchen? I could swear it hasn't been that long since I cleaned them. Or has it? Oh, well. It's done.

I wonder what Milaeger's sells in a tent sale? Probably whatever they have the most of in the greenhouse. I just hope it's plants and not clothing or knickknacks. I never go into that side of the store unless I'm on the way to the bathroom. :)

Kimberly

Ant hills are fun to run over with the lawn tractor. I get satisfaction in surprising the ants with a blitz attack. But then I go back and sprinkle with ant dust to kill them off. What are ants good for anyway...aerating the soil?

Kimberly,
The last Milaeger's tent sale I went to featured no plants, but everything else, plant stands, plant hangars, fancy pots, and all the stuff that you hoped wouldn't be there - clothes, jewelry, and knickknacks, even Christmas stuff!
But maybe you could call them ahead of time and ask if they will also be selling plants.

Julie

The perennials are down to 1/2 off at Milaeger's. I resisted temptation but only because they didn't have anything that I really wanted. However, I am considering taking a drive up to the one on the north side of town. Sometimes they have more than the one closest to me, which makes sense since that is where the majority of the greenhouses are located. Anyone know if they grow any of their own stock or is most of it imported in from other sources?

Kimberly

Kimberly, I know they grow some of their own stock, but which ones I don't know. They're having a tomato tasting thing this Saturday. 82 different varieties, from 11am to 3pm.

Kat