Saturday, September 20, 2014

PLANT SALE TIME OF YEAR

We love a plant sale!  Here in Houston, one of the chain garden centers has a great sale.  They do it every year at the end of the season.  All plants/shrubs/trees are at least 70% off.  When you are in the store, some smaller plants are as much as 80% off.  Now we don't buy veggies and/or more unusual plants at the chain places, we prefer the local nurseries and feed stores for their more hard to find local and heirloom varieties, but since we are trying to add more color to the farm, any generic ornamental tree/shrub is fair game. 

We love our greens and of course the seasonal wildflowers in the Spring, but we need more.  So earlier this year, we planted five Vitex/Chaste trees along the driveway.  Click HERE to see that.  They are also known by the more descriptive name of "Texas Lilac" due to their resemblance to lilacs.  We just didn't have enough to line the entire driveway.





We already had one in town, so we ended up buying four more for a total of five.  That should completely line the driveway.

$5 each!



This is what the flowers look like, long spikes of purple/blue flowers.  They have a bit of a scent that is most noticeable when they are in full bloom.



This is Texas Sage. We bought three of them.  They are VERY drought tolerant, in fact, they can go for weeks without water.  A definite plus there.

$4 each!




It is a medium sized shrub that stays green almost year round and in the heat of Summer, it ends up covered in purple flowers.  Even in poor conditions!


Lastly, we picked up these small Mexican Heather plants, five of them.  They are small shrubs that tolerate a variety of conditions and will grow in full sun or partial shade.

$1 each!



They stay covered Spring to Fall in tiny, delicate, pink flowers. They are a great foreground plant and I'd like to scatter a few around the base of some trees near the house.





$37 total for all!  Boom!  Of course, it's still too hot to plant any of these, but in another month or so, it should be good...hmm, that means the sale will still be going on as well.  Might have to check it out again tomorrow.  I'm thinking some yellow color is needed...and maybe red...and white.

Yeah, that's it.
We need other colors!

2nd Man will just roll his eyes I'm sure...but in a few years, when hopefully it is all growing and colorful, it will all be his idea.  :-)


8 comments:

  1. What a great sale and you got some lovely plants! I was reading along in your blog, then got to the last line and let out a good "cackle"......so funny! Thanks for giving me a good laugh this Saturday! :) Have a wonderful weekend!!

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  2. I totally understand what you mean. My sweetie and I have the same thing going, I come up with the idea, or expand on one of his and then when it looks great, his revisionist memory like to tell people it was all his idea. But that's ok, I just let him take the glory, it's all good.

    Have a good weekend, stay dry!

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  3. Y'all did GOOD! You know how to find some great bargains. Those are really going to brighten things up!

    Have you bought any Esperanzas ("Texas Yellow Bells")? They have cheerful yellow blooms from spring until frost and they are also drought tolerant.

    Your farm is just going to be bursting with color soon!

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  4. Texas Lilac!!! I'm jealous, I saw those at my Aunt's house in Sugarland and loved it, but they won't grow up North. Can't wait to 'watch' them grow on your blog, ha.

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  5. These plants look great and I look forward to seeing what you do with all of them but they ARE all in the same color range. I think yellow is an EXCELLENT idea! :-) Pink would be a great color too.
    Happy planting!

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  6. That's good to know about the sage. We've had the opposite problem here this year. WAY too much water. I'm almost ready so start a wild rice farm in the basement.

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  7. Cheep!! Cheep!! Cheep!! oh, what a bargain find. With they grew in Zone 5 or 6. M

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  8. Misspell -- Wish they grew in Zone 5 or 6.

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