Don't mean to beat up on you, as what's done is done - so take these posts as a learning opportunity. Agree with Calliope's post above re: when annuals turn up for sale. I don't even consider planting annuals until the middle of May, even then it's iffy and weather-dependent, and a lot of times I plant the last week of May. Even if temps are okay and are not predicted to dip low, have to take into consideration how warm it has *been* (re: soil temps) and how wet the soil is. Cold, wet soil is death to annuals, and it's common even into May - don't let warm sunny days fool you, if in doubt invest in a soil thermometer and check, and check the soil to make sure it's not too wet. Soil in pots warms faster, obviously, and also dries out faster, so often can get away with planting in planters mid-May or so, but again - have to check the soil. April/early May is tree/shrub, and perennial planting time, it's a different ballgame for annuals in colder zones. :0)

Oh gosh, I don't know that I'd drive 3-4 hours just for this, particularly given how fast stuff goes (and how variable the stock is). Plus a lot of the best stuff is gone by Saturday (at least that was true when they had the bare root stuff -- one year I went both Friday and Saturday, and what was left on Saturday morning was a fraction of what had been there when they opened at 9 am Friday). You also won't know exactly what from their catalog will be available (so I wouldn't make the trip if you've got your heart set on finding a particular item since there's no guarantee it will be there -- last year, just as a sample, they had the iron garden armillaries, garden hats, gloves, lots of planters, tools (I got a great English-made transplanting shovel which was still $30 but a lot less than the regular price). They do also bring in stuff just for this sale, sometimes completely random (seeming) like Telicherry peppercorns and (last year) Stonewall Kitchens jams and mustards. So it's kind of a crapshoot each year -- a fun crapshoot, but a crapshoot nonetheless. If you go at any time other than 8:45 am, be prepared to park a half mile down the road and WALK to WFF. A plus, of course, is that you get to walk through their beautiful display gardens. And all shrubs are usually 30 percent off for the whole weekend. Can't recall pricing on other plant materials in the greenhouses but I think it's on sale, too.

Who went to the plant sale? I got there a little after 7 and had a lot of people ahead of me in line. There were still tons of plants to look through. I'm not sure it would help to get there earlier unless I could block the entrance after I got in until I had a chance to read all the plant tags. lol I got a geranium Johnson's Blue, monarda 'Rasberry Wine' and a haworthia pearl plant. I need to read up on that last one. I assume it's a houseplant. I'll post a pic below from the web that looks similar. I wonder if it would be happier outside in the summer. Violet - I guess it's a good thing that all the woodland phlox was gone when I got to the shade section. I came home and started cleaning out my old pre-icestorm shade bed and found quite a bit of woodland phlox growing down in the weeds. It just wasn't blooming there because it was being choked out. I dug up several little starts. It was hard to get the roots but I think they'll do ok if I pot them up for awhile. Question Violet - When the Master Gardener's have their meetings to pot up plants before the sale, what do they use for potting soil? Is there a way to get that stuff in bulk or do they just use compost? Here is a link that might be useful:

Well, this is a bit off the subject, but, when i was a kid of ten or so, my Dad and Grand-father would take me and my brother on a camping trip, up to Pymatuning Reservoir, in North-western Pennsylvania, for a week of fishing and row-boating, and seeing the sights. (This was around 1933 to 1940.) We had two old WW I Army tents, and cots, blankets, a gasoline stove, cooking utensils, plates, etc. We didn't have an ice chest. My Dad would dig a hole in the creek bank, and we'd keep the perishables there, in the cool water, in a bucket, with a lid. We'd rent a row-boat, and Daddy and me and my younger Brother would go out on the lake and fish. We'd spend a week there, and had lots of fun. We'd turn in at dusk, since we didn't have a big lantern. One night, there was a great commotion outside our tent, and the head-lights of our car were shining into our tent and the horn was blowing loudly! (Around 3 a.m!) I awoke, and asked what was happening. Daddy shouted:"There are skunks in your tent"! Uh-Oh!? "Be very still"! I didn't move, and could hear rustling under my brother's cot, so i managed a peek. And there were two skunks worrying an old half empty can of fish-bait! WOO-HOO! Well, they finally "licked the platter clean", so to say, and ran off. Daddy finally quit blowing the horn, and it all cooled down then. Also, when my wife and i went up to Hammonasset State park, in connecticut, we set up the camper, then went in to town to buy some groceries. As we drove back into the park, we saw 3 skunks walking into a tent that was set up nearby. We watched to see if anybody came running out, but no one did. Then, a car pulled in and four girls got out and started for the tent!! I hollered and told them about the skunks---woo-hoo, they hollered, ran out, got into their car and drove madly away! Don't know if they ever came back! Hammonasset was a nice park to visit. We went there several times. It was close to where our son lived. We went there one 4th. of July when the holiday fell on a Saturday. This was on Wednesday. the park management said we could camp there, if we left on Thursday, as the weekenders would need the space. We agreed, and we left.