As in looty!
Jackpot at Lowe’s yesterday. Several racks of “distressed” plants on clearance. Clearance as in $0.15 for a 6-pack of annuals (do the math, $0.90 a flat), along with other assorted markdowns.
You should have seen the excited gardeners loading their carts, exclaiming, “There’s nothing wrong with these!? Are they really this price? Why?”
Seems a new shipment was due in today, and room had to be made. Apparently the markdowns started Monday night, so if you happened to be there then, you were really in hog heaven. Had I been 10 minutes sooner, I could have snagged more hanging baskets (one woman just ahead of me had 6 or 7 hanging off her cart).
But no complaints, for about $11.40 (and a half-hour “clearance penalty” waiting in line for manager approval), I came away with:
- 6 flats and a couple 6-packs (marigolds, lobelia, petunias, snapdragons, alysum. I gave a mixed flat to my neighbor.)
- 6 small “premium” annuals — great for hanging baskets
- 5 candytuft (their small perennials have been marked down to $2 for a while, I’ve bought at least a dozen so far)
- 1 hanging basket of impatiens
- 1 gerbera daisy
Now, some of these annuals were not in great shape because of the cold weather (and it seems once the store puts something on clearance, they stop watering it, which just breaks your heart, as many people commented). But if at least half of them live, I’m still way ahead. I don’t usually plant many annuals, so it would be nice to enjoy the color this summer.
I also bought (at regular price) a couple shrubs to replace dead soldiers I had returned and gotten a refund for a couple weeks ago
A lot went in the ground or pots yesterday, and admittedly looks a bit sad. I also planted the Topsy Turvy tomato — a “4th of July” my neighbor gave me that she started from seed. Can’t wait to see how that does since I never have any luck with tomatoes.
I still have a flat of lobelia to plant and the hanging baskets to do, but I ran out of potting soil. Bummer that the next week looks to be cold and rainy again. Everything needs some heat and sun!
Remind me I said that come August.
One of the most delightful things about
a garden is the anticipation it provides.
~ W.E. Johns
Writing by Ear 
mel said,
Friday, May 15, 2009 at 7:41 am
wow! that IS a jackpot! hope some of them make it and flourish. maybe most of them will and you’ll be inundated with color and life. : ) happy for you! wishing I had been there, too!
WritingbyEar said,
Friday, May 15, 2009 at 11:59 am
Thanks, Mel. Wish you would have been there too — always more fun discovering treasures with a friend! I was back again today — bought a small flat of groundcover for $2.50 and 2 perfect-looking $15-apiece shrubs (potentilla) for $3 each!
mel said,
Friday, May 15, 2009 at 4:20 pm
that’s IT, I am heading to the home improvement places this weekend!
WritingbyEar said,
Friday, May 15, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I don’t know if all the Lowe’s do the markdown thing — people grabbing stuff were saying how at other stores, they just throw stuff away rather than mark it down (maybe they can take a bigger loss this way?) I have been resisting buying some of the expensive perennials I covet, hoping that when they’re half-dead, they’ll get marked down too…