"Money grows on the tree of patience." - Proverb

As you may know, I am a Stay at home mom. My husband has a good job,but when supporting three people and a mortgage it can get tough. That is why I try to be a very thrifty plant shopper. Out of necessity and out of greed probably. I just want more for my money. But there are some things that I have picked up in the small amount of time I have been gardening that I want to share with the rest of you.



1~ As you may know. The biggest tip is to find the clearance section in your gardening center. Mine mostly being Lowe's and Wal-mart. Sometimes however I do get lucky enough to find moderately (notice I didn't say cheap : ) priced plants in nurseries. The clearance section is usually the ones that have been over watered or been in the sun when it need shade or vice-versa. They usually look like crap , but a lot of times they do have hidden potential you just have to find it. Plus, when its $.50 I mean why does it really matter? : )

Take this weekend for example. We went to Lowes (like we do every weekend) and of course we DID NOT have extra money, so I headed first to the clearance section. I was in luck upon walking up there were already people surrounding the carts of clearance plants. The one that was getting the most attention were the annuals in peat pots for $.10. People were going CRAZY! They were all excited and giggly. But being the somewhat greedy gardener I am. I went in search of the Perennial clearance plants. I really didn't feel like planting anymore marigolds or impatiens anyways. That's when I spotted the Calla lilies for $. 50! They didn't have any blooms and to say I know nothing of Calla lilies is putting it mildly. But it just so happened that the weekend before I was at my neighbors admiring her one Calla Lily that she didn't even know she had! So it proved to me that it was hardy in zone 7 and that was all the incentive I needed.
So I ended up with 3 of the small Calla Lilies and 1 big pot calla Lily (that retailed for $17 for $1!!) So all in all I ended up with-

2- Pillow Talk Calla Lillies (red bi-color)
1- Amethyst Calla Lily (purple)
1- (big one!) Crystal Blush (white)
1- Park Princess Dahlia (pink, of course!)
1- nearly dead Strawberry Sunset Hibiscus tree (with a braided trunk!) Oh I hope I can keep this alive!
1- Double wave Petunia (for $.50)

2~ PATIENCE. A hard word, but in the end its just smarter. Whenever I see a plant, I want it in the smalled size possible. (aka. the cheapest) it may take a while to get to the size you want, but that's half the fun right? Patience inspires appreciation. Right now I have 7 hydrangeas that are not even a foot tall that I planted last fall. I paid probably between 5 and 8 dollars a piece from Michigan Bulb. Where as had I went to Lowe's or even a nursery it would have cost twice maybe even three times that! Now they may be small, but they are there and I didn't go bankrupt trying to buy them. Plus it left me money to buy more plants : )

3- I know that all of you gardeners know this one. DIVIDE and SHARE. There are so many Perennials that you can divide and split up and scatter them in other places of your garden. Like the Iris's that were beside our house. I dug them things up divided them and now they are all over the yard!

Plus you can dig them up and Share with someone else. You never know maybe they will have something that they can share with you!

4~ One of the things that many of us thrifty gardeners have to learn the hard way is that saving money is not always the thrifty way. For example. I have clay soil and it is horrible. I have to amend the crap out of it by adding peat moss and manure to help it drain. Well, at first I didn't want to spend the money to buy the amendments. (trying to save money) but in the end it ended up not being the thrifty way because my plants suffered and some died. So the forth tip is to going ahead and spend the money and take care of those plants. That's the thrifty way!

5~ My favorite thrifty tip, EVER is this. SEEDS!!! Even if only half the pack germinates your still only out the price of a plant and you get so many more plants! Seeds are trial and error. Some germinate easier and faster than others and some just aren't really worth the time. Which leads us to the 6th tip.

6~ Knowledge is Power. The thrifty girl knows all about googling and reading up on the plants she tends. She knows that when your planting that knowledge can make a world of difference.

For example. My hydrangeas. The Greek root "hydr" is a reference to water, like hydrate. So it needs A LOT of water. I didn't know this last year, but I guess it wouldn't really matter since we were going through a drought! Get a library card, use the Internet for something other than Myspace : ), Magazines are a great source of information. and of course read blogs. Get other peoples experience with their garden!

7~ Buy self-sowing annuals/biennials such as Marigolds and Hollyhocks. One years cost, many years of pleasure. But be diligent about thinning them out. They could be a good thing eventually turning very bad!

Thats all I can think of right now. I by no means think I know everything about gardening, these are just some of the ways that I save money and I hope that it can help you too!

Hope everyone has a Great day and Happy Gardening!

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”~ Martin Luther

Yesterday I got out again and took some more pictures! I couldn't resist, it was SO beautiful!
As you can see everything seems to be loving the very unusual wet weather we have been having and we have been saving a lot of money, not having to water the crap out of the plants! LOL : )

Ahhh... snapdragons. every time I go outside I see these and I can't help but stop and notice all the different colors!

You just have to love them with a name like snapdragon.

So many colors on one bloom!


This is one of our five Endless Summer Hydrangeas. Why is it white??? IDK! Its not Blushing Bride either. Its just white. I would complain, but I do love it!

This is the climbing Joseph's coat rose blooming. Another bloom with multiple colors.

Limelight Hydrangea about to bloom!!

When I took the picture of this Dahlia, I didn't really pay attention to the water hose, but I think it turned out pretty good with the yellow center matching the yellow hose.

This is another Dahlia

Of course..another Dahlia : ) They are great those big fluffy blossoms.

As you can tell I have several Unwin Dahlia's and for that is we started them from seed. Another reason why I LOVE seeds! For the price of one plant you get an entire garden full of plants.

I have more, but I will save them for another day!

I hope everyone has a Great day and Happy Gardening!




PS. If at anytime you want to enlarge it.. Just click the picture : )

"An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life."

Finally, I'm back! Every time I decided to go out and take some pictures, I couldn't find my camera! And the back yard had to be mowed, I mean what is a rose picture, when the grass is taller that the roses?! LOL Well, finally yesterday when it cooled off enough that we wouldn't pass out from heat exhaustion, I grabbed my miracle grow and my camera and honey grabbed the lawn mower! So as he mowed the back yard I miracle growed and took pictures.

This is the well that my honey made out of scrap wood. He is pretty new to wood working but I think he did pretty darn good! We both realized that the roof was out of proportion when it went up, but its not really that big a deal. The middle has a planted so I can put flowers in it.

We decided that we wanted it to have a barn look to it, but after painting it I thought it would be a good idea to make it a patriotic planter. Of course later I plan on putting a flower bed around it.

This is the area on the side of the house with clematis and morning Glory's. As you can tell it has A LOT of weeds! I hate crabgrass!!!

Here is another clearance Lantana I got at Wal-mart. Its purple!


I am extremely proud of these Petunias. They are the Dolcissima Flambe Petunias. And the reason that I am SO proud of these are because I started them from seed and they are blooming! To some of the more advanced gardeners this may seem trivial, but to me it is simply amazing.





Another Dahlia... from seed!!!! And its...blooming!! So exciting!

Three of the six herb containers! This is German chamomile (left) Lemon basil (middle) and cilantro (end). I don't cook with herbs, but I love the smell!

No I am not showing off my pretty little car LOL.

Thumbalina Zinnia. The first bloom!




Snapdragon...from SEED!!

So there's not really that much going on in my garden. It seems like every ones having trouble adjusting to the heat!

I hope everyone has a great day and Happy Gardening!

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

Once again I was unable to move the photos .... still driving me crazy, but here are my photos in a very random order. Sorry : (

This is the daisy tree from direct gardening. I think I'm suppose to prune it in to a tree.

Here are my tipsy pots you can tell that they have been really busy growing.

LOL. Random HUH? This is our veggie garden. Well,, veggies and some others.
we have tomato's, cucumbers, veggie squash, (you can use the inside like pasta) birdhouse gourds (YAY!) I can't wait to paint them suckers! cantaloupes, corn, ornamental corn (for Fall of course) with Sunflowers and Nasturtiums threw in for good measure.



This is the brick pathway with the very little hydrangeas (Annabelle and raspberry parfait (tech. harlequin)

This is the clematis blooming! YAY! Clematis Viticella "Royal Velvet" from Michigan Bulb.

I LOVE this Lantana.

Columbine "Swan blue and white"

Endless summer Hydrangea. I am going gray waiting for this thing to bloom!! What is going on??!!

Another random shot. Starting seeds. Once again. A test in patience. I am ready to plant them!

LOL! Another shot of the daisy tree! That is going to need some serious pruning for it to be a tree!

For love of country they accepted death... ~James A. Garfield

I have been trying to post this all day! I don't know whats going on with blogger, but its driving me CRAZY!! I couldn't move my pictures around on my blog like I usually do so its kinda random. But to keep it simple I stuck with roses so it doesn't look so jumbled.






I have NO idea what rose this is. I don't remember buying anything that looks even similar to this ??? So my guess is that it was mislabeled. Oh well, I think the mistake turned out pretty great. I LOVE IT! It reminds me of an English rose (my fav) and it smells delicious!

Those miniature roses are blooming like crazy! I have never seen anything that was so... bloomy : ) LOL


This is a close up shot of the mystery rose.

This is the Liv Tyler rose that has finally bloomed. I don't think it looks like the picture so I'm kinda worried. It smells really good, but I am kinda confused.

I think this is another shot of the Tropicana rose.

Another shot of the mystery rose. I do love it!

Yeah... you guessed it. Mystery rose.

I know everyone has to be sick of looking at my roses by now. But I will post other pictures (not roses) later : )

If only I could get this blogger figured out.

And I think our new computer could have something to do with the mumbo jumbo. We have Vista now : (

It looks fancy, but everything is a lot harder to do! Why can't anything be simple??

Anyways no more complaining!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial day Weekend! Be safe!

And while you are eating your hot dogs and hamburgers between taking dips in the pool remember the men and women that made that simple pleasure possible.

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free,

And I WON'T forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me!

Lee Greenwood

Handbook for Life

Today I received this email and I just had to let all my blogging friends read it!



Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's - Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile.


Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't overdo. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.



Society:

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
7. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.


Life:

32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy.

So, be happy.

Perfumes are the feelings of flowers. ~Heinrich Heine

I haven't really had much going on lately. Seems like the only thing that's got any "get up and go" is the roses. Seems like everyday I have another bloom. I do have to say that it tends to be the best part of my day. Walking outside and seeing whats germinating or blooming. And the roses never disappoint. Its always a surprise when that little bud appears. I did not label or write down what is where. Mostly because I didn't want to go all OCD and obsess over what colors looked good together. I just let it flow where it happened to flow. So far it has worked out pretty good.

I am sad to say that I have absolutely no idea which one this is. Maybe Tropicana???

This is the World famous Peace Rose. The bloom is HUGE!!!! My husband asked me yesterday if I had looked at it. I hadn't so he proceeded to tell me that the lone bloom was as big as his fist! If you knew my husband you would now that him saying this was a BIG DEAL! He never ever pays any attention to flowers unless they really stand out. So when he told me that I ran back and looked at it and sure enough that baby was as big as a man's fist.
Some of you may have noticed that the bloom looks a lot like the Angelique Tulips I had posted previously. ??? I love both the rose and the Tulip so its pretty cool!
_____________
- From Wikipedia.

The Peace rose is the most famous and successful garden rose of all time. Over one hundred million plants had been sold, as of 1992. It is a Hybrid Tea rose with very large flowers and a light yellow to cream color. It is very hardy and resistant to disease making it popular in gardens as well as in the floral trade (Beales).
It was developed by French horticulturist Francis Meilland in the years 1935 to 1939. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. The rose became known as 'Peace' in the following way. Early 1945 Meilland wrote to Field Marshal Alan Brooke (later Viscount Alanbrooke), the principal author of the master strategy that won Second World War, to thank him for his key part in the liberation of France and to ask if Brooke would give his name to the rose. Brooke declined saying that, though he was honored to be asked, his name would soon be forgotten and a much better and more enduring name would be "Peace".
The name "Peace" is a trade name; its formal cultivar name is Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland'. The adoption of the trade name "Peace" was publicly announced in the United States on 29 April 1945 by the introducers, Messrs Conard Pyle Co.. This was the very day that Berlin fell, officially considered the end of the Second World War in Europe. Later that year Peace roses were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, each with a note which read:
"We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace".
Peter Beales, English rose grower and expert, said in his book Roses:
"'Peace', without doubt, is the finest Hybrid Tea ever raised and it will remain a standard variety forever".

_________________



This is the Chicago Peace Rose a variant of the Peace rose. I had questioned whether to buy roses that were pretty much sisters, but thankfully they look very different! The peace rose looks more white right now and the Chicago Peace is more pink.

This one looks a lot like the rose at top. once again I am wondering if it is Tropicana. I think the chances are better that this one is since it looks more coral than the more pink one at top.

Ummm... wondering if maybe I should have labeled them... oh well.

One of the lilies received on Mother's Day from my mom!

Too much fertilizer was making my hydrangeas not bloom so now that I have laid off of it, its blooming!!! If your hydrangeas are very very green, but no blooms . Too much nitrogen could be your problem.