Autumn Sales

My local Agway store has marvelous end of season sales. I can hardly contain myself. Of course it always pays to have a plan before shopping for sales or you may end up with a lot of half price stuff you don't need. I have discovered that if things I want are left over in October, I had better scoop them up, or be prepared not to find them next year.

This happened last year with tree lilacs, numerous and beautiful with their sale tags last fall, and nowhere to be seen this whole season. This year I managed to score  six Viburnum "Cayuga". They have fragrant white flowers in the spring, beautiful red leaves in the fall, and a lovely compact shape the rest of the time. Add the facts that they are deer resistant and that I had just the place for them, and it was a match made in heaven!

I am trying out some new groundcover for light shade called Geum. "Flames of Passion" - it has bright red flowers in the summer. There were also a number of small pots of Heuchera (Coral Bells) left over. it is one of my favorite plants - beautiful foliage in a variety of colors, good manners in the border, lasts into the late fall, and displays delicate little white or pink bell flowers. I bought a flat of "Lime Ricky" with chartreuse foliage as the name implies. I still have room for large areas of shady groundcover, so I will be purchasing Heuchera for years to come.

My other long desired plant is something called "bugbane" or "snakeweed". The genus name has recently changed, and I will have to go get the label to remember what it is. Nevertheless its common name belies the beauty of this perrennial. It has black fringed foliage and tall spires of tiny white flowers with a lovely fragrance. These plants are always pricey, but I found them for less that $10 each on sale.

I had to pass up the almost perfect dwarf Korean lilacs, (Syringa meyerii "Palibin) because I just didn't have a place for them. I hope some lucky person snatches up these lovely shrubs as an informal hedge. They have small but fragrant lilac flowers in the spring, a beautiful shape all summer with small perfect leaves and no powdery mildew. Then in the fall they turn a gorgeous bronze and finally lose all of their leaves at once. Such a sad day.

Lastly, I succumbed to the $10 Viburnum p.t. "Shoshoni" even though I am going to have to work to find a place for it. We all have to buy a few on impulse.

Dwarf Korean lilac

Heuchera "Lime Rickey

Viburnum "Cayuga" in front of swamp azaleas

Viburnum "Shoshoni"