Deals, deals, deals.

Folks always ask me how everything looks so full in my garden. I tend to plant things in tight. And a buy a lot of stuff. I am the bargain hunter when it comes to plants. I've paid so little for so many of the plants in my garden. Lavender's for $1.50, Roses for $2, and my favorite find, a $3 apple tree. This week was a great week for the bargain hunter in me.

For $34 and some tax I scored some incredible deals yesterday. We stopped in our Menards (a home improvement warehouse) to get a new mailbox and I wandered into the plant section while the boys played. They had marked down their clematis in 1 gallon pots. I found an incredibly healthy Clematis 'Jackmani' and 'HF Young' for $7 a piece. I do not have either of these popular clematis, so I was excited to score them. I mixed the 'Jackmani' with my 'Ramblin' Red' rose and plan on putting HF Young on my new mailbox later this week.

Here's a shot of clematis Jackmanii with rose 'Ramblin' Red'

Happiness doesn't end there for this deal lover.

My local garden center does a mid-summer sale each year. They sell all their speciality annuals, perennials and herbs in a fill-a-flat format. Anything you can fit in a flat, is $20. The "flat" is one of those standard low-sided cardboard boxes you get when you buy plants sometimes, if you can picture it. The normal price for the plants included in the sale is $5 a piece.

Last year I went to the register smiling at my curious purchases and said, I wish I had room for one more. The lady at the register looked at me and smiled, "You do, you can fill that thing up!" meaning, I could stretch the sides and squeeze em' in. The only rules are no stacking. For some reason, the sale came early this year. At least it seems early? I'm not complaining. I hit this sale each year, but I usually get stuck with less-then-the-best selection. This year that was NOT the case at all. In fact, they seemed to be fully stocked still.

I can't begin to gather why the sale is happening early, as they perennials are sheltered and hand watered, so it can' t be the rain; I did notice some of the ones I've already planted are a bit pot-bound, so perhaps they needed to get them out of those pots? I'm just happy to have some more treasures in the garden for a dirt-cheap price. This year I squeezed 16 into the flat, and probaby could have fit more, LOL. Do the math, and I saved $60, and came home with tons of plants I'm happy to have in my garden now.

Dracocephalum Argunense 'Fuji Blue'

Platycodon Balloon Flower 'Mariesii Blue'

Salvia 'Caradonna'

Stokesia Stokes Aster 'Blue Laevis'

Echinacea 'Tiki Torch'

Dianthus Garden Pinks 'Helen'

Knautia 'Red Cherry'

Lychnis Rose Campion 'Gardener's World'

Obedient Plant 'Pink'

Phlox 'Nicky'

Delphinium 'Blue Butterfly'

Delphinium 'Pacific Giants'

Delphinium 'Scarlet Knight'

Hardy Geranium 'Blue'

Pincushion Flower 'Blue Butterfly'

All for $34 dollars and tax. :)