it's shopping time!

Flower alert - they're here!

I was at the Richmond Rd SW Canadian Tire location to pick up something totally unrelated to gardening and spent about a half hour walking around their garden centre admiring the greenery and smelling the flowers.  Wow, it feels good to see plants again!  It was also completely dead and very peaceful.  Ah, lovely!

I was tempted to buy everything of course, and normally at this time of year I do buy my annuals and spend a few weeks toting them inside at night just to get that extra time with them.  But this year I'm away for a week in mid-May (prime gardening season!  I'm not happy about it!) and it will be enough to ask hubby to take care of the veggies and seedlings I've already planted...  so I was good, I was very restrained.  I only bought a few snapdragons because they're frost tolerant and I'll be putting them in the ground this week-end.

They also had colourful tomato cages that I'm tempted to go back and pick up a few of.  Once I decide what colour I want...

But if you're out there let us know what beautiful and interesting things you see!

Comments

[Megan]

I made a visit to Sunnyside a couple of days ago to look around - they have many of their plants out now (I had a lot of restraint, but I did pick up a couple of herbs).

It's getting harder and harder to stay focused at work with this beautiful weather!

[Caitlin]

I did the same thing as you at Costco on Monday to find that their garden centre had opened that day. It was a bit of a frenzy but it was nice to finally be there before it had all been picked through!

[Tammy]

I too walked through a quiet Canadian Tire garden center (just killing time one morning) and was so content to see all of the green healthy plants. I too showed great restraint but I made sure to make a list on my IPhone of plants that caught my attention. That way when I am ready to plant, I hopefully won't get too overwhelmed or carried away=)
I was wondering when does Joe Pye Weed make it's appearance in the spring?

[Calgary Garden Coach]

Thanks for the shopping tips! I actually don't have much time these days to get out and look around so this is very helpful!
Tammy - do you mean when does it start popping out of the ground if it's already in the garden? It is a very late comer - I'd have to go through my old pictures to find an approximate date but I can say that every year I almost think it's not coming back and then it finally starts to grow. It is definitely way too early to be looking for it.
Janice

[Tammy]

Thanks Janice. The Joe Pye Weed was a much appreciated gift last year and I thought I had seen it in full bloom in late June (in past years) in my former neighbours garden along side allium... and saw my allium sprouting but no show from Joe... which made me wonder just when he would make his appearance( if at all... ) So I am hopeful he will make his appearance soon with this lovely change in weather.
Tammy

[random bunch of letters]

So... Have you checked the forecast for the rest of the month? No frost in sight. Planted the tomatoes today, let's see what happens!

[Calgary Garden Coach]

Tammy - depending on how hot a spot it is you may not see it for a while yet, but don't give up!
Random - It's so tempting but it's still so early. Do you have kozy coats or something to put around them if we get a snowstorm in a week? I may pot up my tumbler tomato plants now and keep them on the back step so they can be whisked inside quickly if the weather changes.
Janice

[random bunch of letters]

Yeah, I have cloches just in case.

[Janice Miller-Young]

Its always good to have a backup plan!
:-)

[random bunch of letters]

Let's hope for a long and hot summer!