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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Small economy: Stressed plants

flowersstressed
Midnight flowers

Today, May 25, 2001, at Lowe's I shopped for stressed flowers, hoping something in the markdowns would suit me. Lo and behold! I found three white wave petunias and five marigolds marked a dime apiece because they were stressed. They were/are in three-inch pots. That's 80 cents for all the yellow and white flowers in the wagon.

The Pink Wave Petunias were calling my name. They looked stressed but were not marked down. Another $3.98 gone to the Pink Wave Petunias in the wagon. 

They all looked much better at midnight when it was cooler and a storm was coming. I still have not watered them, but moved them from the wagon to under the porch. I was afraid the wind would batter them further and they would be floating in water in the wagon in the morning.

My credit on a Lowe's card for a return covered most of the flowers today, so I didn't feel I was overspending. Shhh...I have to justify this purchase somehow.

Look at this!
Remember the Wave Petunia that reseeded where I dumped the dirt from the pot? Today, I went out and was shocked to see another plant outside the perimeter of the large rocks.
petuniawavemore


See the lone petunia at the bottom of the picture? That sprang up over night. I will definitely have to  dig it up and put into a pot. Otherwise, the weed eater will devour it.

Okay, so it takes so little to thrill me...lol. Sure, I don't have all the lovely plants early. I cannot/will not pay the price. If I were rich, I would be the rich old lady, dripping in diamonds, shopping for dime plants....LOL, no diamonds in my plans at all.

Okay, today is May 26, 2011, and the stressed flowers are perky. They look even better than they did at midnight night. Just a few short hours out of the sun, AND with no extra water, not even the rain, they have all perked right up. I am amazed and would encourage others to try this route. For ten cents, one can afford to take a chance.

Today, I returned to shop stressed flowers and buy hardware. However, the electric cart gave out halfway to the garden center. Someone pushed the cart the rest of the way to the markdown/stressed plants. I found another Pink Wave Petunia for a dime. I did not take a picture of it. Then, I left (kid still pushing) because I was not going to ask anyone to push me around the store to shop. If Lowe's would keep the carts plugged in, this would not happen.

Okay, so a dime purchase made me happy. Are you chuckling? I am.
Signed, your happy, parsimonious gardener.  

Your turn
Do you purposefully look for marked down plants? Found any lately? Mine always survive unless I further stress them with neglect. Do yours survive?  What is your best or favorite find in cheap plants?

4 comments:

  1. At the farm, we have Amish greenhouses. In mid summer, they are marking things down. I buy their leftover, minimally stressed cabbages for a fall crop. They don't grow very huge but they do grow and yield food. We pay a quarter. They also give things away with every purchase throughout the year. Like Dahlias! Trully stressed plants don't work in our climate I have found out.
    Beautiful flowers btw:)

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  2. My day-old chicks, now grown, were bought from an Amish family. Chickens ran loose in the yard, so these have never been vaccinated and seem to be thriving without any commercial chicken feed.

    Today, if I can muster the energy, I will pot these.

    For a quarter, almost any size cabbage is a deal!

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  3. Yes, I love finding those marked down plants. Lowe's had a huge shelving unit of vegetable plants a few weeks back and I pick up some cauliflower (even though it might be too late) and pepper plants for 50% off.

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  4. Ooops, I forgot that I was going to look for markdowns at Lowe's today. That is my next thing to do and right now!

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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.