I'm back!!! Didja miss me, grin? It has been a really good summer for us. Despite what the title says, no we didn't go anywhere on vacation, except out to the Garden Yard and down to Victoria Quay for lunch several times to watch the wildlife on the Canal, aka the Alberni Inlet. A&W loves us, I gotta tell you.
The weather was quite good for most of August, although we had a stretch of two weeks with weather that even Kate said was too hot for her a couple of days. Now that is HOT as she loves the hot weather. Let me tell you, when you go outdoors and it is 111F with the Humidex - for those of you who don't know, humidex is the opposite of a Prairie winter wind chill factor, Island style - you literally can hardly breathe. Don't misunderstand, I am not complaining about the heat, not after the nasty winter we had, just sayin'...
So, how did I really spend my days? Like I said, in the garden. Many an hour was spent watering, dead heading, pruning, transplanting, reconfiguring, hunting for planters....um, lessee what else...oh, yeah, and, um, buying plants. Well, you see, Walmart had some terrific end-of-season sales. I mean, $1.50 for a 12 inch hanging basket? Come on, don't tell me you wouldn't have bought 8 of them too. Or how about all the assorted plants I got for 50 cents? And now it's end-of-season at Canadian Tire. Boy did I get some good deals there so far. Wandering way over to the back of the garden center, I discovered the "discount rack". Jackpot! Nineteen 4-inch pots of Osteospermum for 25 cents each. Yup, you read it right, 25 cents per pot. In the spring, the 6 inch pots sell for a minimum of $4.99 each. Then I paid 49 cents each for 4-inch pots of Fibrous Begonias; same for Tuberous Begonias, Ageranthemums, Rose Mint scented Geraniums, Wave Petunias, and Snap Dragons. And 90 cents got me 9 little blooming seed geraniums, 10 cents each.
Kate gave us a beautiful Red Hibiscus for our Anniversary at the beginning of August, and I fell in love with the plant. Canadian Tire had them, but they were $3.00 more than Kate paid for the one she got us...she spent $4.99. Anyway, I kept checking all month because I knew, just KNEW, they would be going on sale. Yesterday I struck gold! They had the Hibiscus on for $3.99 each. I bought 2 Luna Blush - white with a pink blush on the petals and a red heart - and 1 Luna Red. One of the Blush ones is for Kate's garden. Again I wandered back to the discount rack and again I got bargains. Be still my heart. Six 1-gallon pots of Hibiscus, on clearance, for $1.00 each. They are all Luna Blush too. So, now I have 7 Luna White Blush and 2 Red. Too Cool! More for Kate and Bente!
Then there are all the Gerbera Daisies I have. Some I managed to save over from last year, some I bought this year. I think at last count I had 30 although I gave one to Kate, a gorgeous Orange one. Most of mine are in shades of pink, a few are yellow, one orange and a couple are white. Oh and there are 3 or 4 that are a deep red. In case you haven't figured it out, I am crazy about Gerberas. And I refuse to pay full price for them. The most I spent on one was $3.99. The least, 49 cents.
The Garden Boat is doing quite well. My seeds I planted are producing a profusion of blossoms - Cosmos, Zinnias, Lavatera, Sweet Peas, Calendula. The flowers I bought as bedding plants have thrived. The Gladiolas have produced long leaves but no flower stocks yet. I keep hoping, but even if they don't bloom, they are increasing the size of the corms for next year. Oh and the Tomato Tub has outdone itself. Lots of tomatoes coming and we have been eating Yellow Gallina and Pink Ice Candy Cherry Tomatoes all month. Yes, yes, the tomato tub was waaaaay overplanted with tomatoes, but, I wanted to try different varieties not planted before. Now I know what to plant next year. Black Prince is still the perennial favorite in this house.
Richard has been quite patient, even enthusiastic, about my plant buying. Once, when I was trying to hurry my purchases through the checkout and get them to the van before he saw them, he came up behind me in line and ahemmmed. I whipped around and said "I didn't buy any plants" with a sheepish grin on my face. With a straight face he replied "That 12-step program not working so well for you, hmmmmm."
That's ok, he has discovered the joys of Coleus and is particularly fond of the rust, red, and wine colored ones. I also got him a Kong Coleus, with leaves the size of dinner plates. Today we got 4 Blood Leaf plants on sale, their purple/red leaves are striking next to the variegated pale green and white of the Rose Mint Geraniums.
So that's all for this episode. Tomorrow is another day, as Scarlet O'Hara was fond of saying. Will write more tomorrow. Yes, I really do have that much to talk about.
Oh the Old Bat turned 60 on September 2nd.
Old Bat?
That would be me, silly!
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