Another May, another act of gluttony at the Parkdale Horticultural Society plant sale. Okay perhaps there was slightly less gluttony on my part this year — arriving late always helps since the good stuff goes in a matter of minutes. But I just can’t help myself when I see a big container of something-or-other for 2 bucks. It almost doesn’t matter what it is; I simply can not pass up the deal.

Just this morning I was surveying my deck and noticed that in addition to the yearly onslaught of self-seeding anise-hyssop, I was also inundated with wormwood. I kid you not. Wormwood and anise-hyssop seedlings are covering every empty container out there. It’s safe to say I’m good for wormwood for a while. So what do I decide to get because it is huge and only 2 dollars? A pot of artemisia. Mind you it is a different variety, but still….

Here’s the full list of purchases:

• Unknown artemisia – It has pretty, feathery foliage. I couldn’t resist!
• Unknown columbine with pink flowers – So said the tag.
• Red Orach – I probably should have bought more than one pot.
• Egyptian onion
• Chives – 2 bucks for a GIANT pot. How could I resist? How?
• Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii) – For the kitty. She found it the second I got back and proceeded to go haywire. I’ve been growing one in my herb pool for years but it didn’t come back this time.
• (Nicotiana langsdorffii) – I bought 2 containers of this (4 plants). This is my favourite nicotiana. It has adorable little chartreuse flowers.
• Cushion spurge (Euphorbia)
• Beet ‘Bloody Mary’ – An ornamental variety with dark burgundy leaves that seems to be quite popular this year all of a sudden. People are finally coming around to the idea that food can be pretty too.
• Scilla (white) – That’s all it said and they’re done flowering but again 2 dollars for a huge container.

From the more expensive area I bought three alpine plants:

• Allyssum propinquum – Silvery foliage and pretty yellow flowers. Low growing trailing plant.
• Orostachys spinosus – A silver succulent that grows in rosettes.
• Helichrysum plicatum – A low growing plant with fuzzy silvery leaves that have a bit of succulence to them.

As you can tell from all the silvery foliage I went for alpines that can handle some heat and drought. I have one large alpine container and several small containers that look like rocks with holes in them. I made the smaller hypertuffa containers last year for the book but had to nix the project because I had too much content.

Here’s a few pictures of my trusty cart loaded up with plants: 1 | 2

If you’d like some wormwood or anise-hyssop seedlings let me know. I’m going to attend the Herb Fair at Harbourfront this year (first Sunday in June) so we can bring pots for people then. I can also take some scented geranium cuttings if you’re interested. Come to think of it I also have regular hyssop in abundance.

See last year’s entry about the plant sale.