Saturday, June 23, 2012

On Your Mark! Get Set! Shop!



Every June White Flower Farm has a tent sale on the Friday before the annual open house event.  For a variety of reasons I haven't been to it in a number of years.  My friend Monique, never misses it. In fact, she marks it on her calendar and schedules a vacation day months in advance.  Another friend from my town contacted me this week to say she was going as well.  Hmmm...I was planning to take a vacation day on Friday.  My local friend offered to drive so we went together.  Litchfield is about an hour from my house on scenic roads and despite the heat wave it was a beautiful morning for a ride.


The sale started at 9:00.  We arrived just after 8:15.  At that point there was still plenty of parking and nursery carts available.  A group of die hard shoppers had already secured carts and staked their spots in line.  People kept arriving and long before the opening bell tolled a large mob had formed.  Most were pleasant and chatty (after all these are gardeners) but you could tell there was a group of militants who meant business.  A few people became territorial when asked to move so traffic could get through the parking lot.  Really?


Every year the selection of sale items varies but it always includes both plants and hard goods.  For many the terra cotta pots are the prize.  You need to be quick and have sharp elbows to snag one of them.  Unfortunately a few people with stickers pre-labeled "SOLD", ran into the sales area within the first minute and slapped the sold stickers on many of the largest containers.  My friend was able to get the one she wanted but had to deal with unnecessary rudeness. 

If you ask me the sticker tactic isn't fair and shouldn't be allowed.  I've never understood that take no prisoners shopper mentality.  You would be hard pressed to find me standing in line for hours in the cold in front of a Target on Thanksgiving night.  An altercation over a TV or video game on sale at Best Buy?  Not likely, but to each his own.  For what it's worth we did report the practice to a WFF employee who seemed to agree it was wrong and said they would look into it.


 
What I came to the sale for was the plants!  Premium annuals were two bucks, perennials four, potted shrubs fifteen and lots of other stuff priced as marked but at a steep discount.  If you've done any shopping at WFF you know the regular prices are not for the faint of heart but even compared to regular nurseries the plants were priced to sell.  And despite the crowd, the supply was plentiful. 

I bought mostly annuals to plug holes in the borders and swap out some container combos I designed that aren't working out.  Eventually I did take a stroll through the hard goods area and ended up scoring a nice obelisk (the larger one from this set) for only $30 and a small Crete pot shaped like a bowl that I plan to plant with succulents and use as a centerpiece on my patio table.  That was $6,


Not a bad haul, eh?


And we managed to pack it all into the car with room to spare! 


No trip to White Flower Farm is complete without a gander at the display gardens.  I love the beautifully designed long mixed border.  So much full season interest using foliage color and texture!


Be still my heart!



Yes, food was part of the excursion too.  Litchfield County is rich in swoon worthy restaurants.  Based on a recommendation from Monique, we took another scenic 20 minute drive over country roads to Woodbury for lunch at Carole Peck's Good News Cafe.  Pricey but great food with an emphasis on local and organic with many vegan options.


Everything I ordered from soup to dessert was delicious including this special fresh peach tart with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  

Not long after I got home a cold front rolled through providing some much needed rain and a break in the beastly heat.  More rain this morning but it's supposed to clear up and turn into a nice summer day.  Let's hope so because I've got some planting to do!

14 comments:

  1. What I'd call a perfect day - friends, finds and food!
    I always love those shots of the car trunk after a good expedition. LOL! And fitting obelisks into the car is a laugh and a half too.

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    1. It definitely was an experience. I think we could have fit a few more plants but too much more in pots and obelisks and we would have had to resort to some creative packing strategies.

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  2. Great haul, nothing like a sale... wish I'd been there!

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    1. I was on the fence about going until the day before when my friend Ann e-mailed me. It's different every year. Some years there are not that many plants. The last time I went before this year there were hardly any. Maybe we should calendar it as a regular outing next year.

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  3. What a haul indeed! (it even looks beautifully arranged, artfully "planted" in your car's hatchback!)

    I love to visit -- the display gardens are awesome. The long Fergus Garrett border is impressive, although too crammed together (and too open-sunny) for my tastes, but the other gardens are lovely and the setting is so beautiful. You got some great WFF bargains, for sure!

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    1. When my friend saw my approach to packing the car she said I would have made a good engineer (she is one). Could I be making too many large scale nursery trips? Let's hope not but I'm pretty much done buying for the season (I think).

      Our different likes and dislikes in gardens is what makes them all so interesting to see. The long border appeals to my preference for a garden designed using lots of foliage color, texture and unusual annuals. I love the plant combinations they choose in that border.

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  4. I can't believe how big everything is in the long border now! I saw it when it had just been planted and it was already beautiful back then. But a totally different garden since the shrubs were all tiny and the show was just the perennials and bulbs.

    It's kind of funny the things that Laurrie doesn't like about it (too open-sunny and crammed together) are the things that I love about it. To each their own!

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    1. You and me both, Kaveh! That whole mixed border style is right up my alley.

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  5. Great prices for any nursery. I've been to WFF once, and that was back in 1982! Beautiful pot with the braid trim. Well done, Sue.

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  6. We'll have to get you out this way to check out the horticultural delights again soon, Denise. In the meantime we have Portland/Seattle to look forward to.

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  7. Hi Sue,
    I really enjoyed your tour. I would never be able to see this nursery, so it was fun to go with you!

    thanks for the follow. I am now following you, too.

    Zoey

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    1. Hi Zoey-Thanks for reading. I'm fairly new to this blog thing. Your garden pictures caught my eye. I look forward to virtually visiting your garden on a regular basis!

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  8. I have been to WFF many times, and bought from their catalog or online even more. And, probably three times at Carole Peck. You have good taste in nurseries and restaurants. (The sold tag gig is tacky.)

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    1. I appreciate fresh, well prepared food enjoyed with friends and family either at home or in a good restaurant :). During garden season it just all comes together.

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