Black As Dirt Friday Sale - Plant Deals from Dirty People (Send deals, will update) updated 11/30

Posted Nov 25, 2009 by Loren Omoto

Updated Nov 30, 2009 at 10:04 PM

The good gardener does not wait for well-publicized sales to get the great deal. The good gardener roots around at nurseries and garden centers and comes up with his or her own specials.

In a rare new Black Dirt Friday move, I’ll keep adding to this post for a few days. If you send pix and details of your great plant deals to the pcarnathan email link above, I’ll add them to the post. Or, just direct plant lovers to good deals and offer your tips, by commenting. We’ll all love you for it!

We’ve got new stuff and I’m adding it to the top here, instead of tagging it to the bottom, so those of you who’ve already looked can save a few seconds of scrolling.

I love this—Susan Gillespie followed Eric Young’s advice and got a bargain!!

And here’s a Knockout rose rescue of Susan’s that cost $3—a steal. (FOD Janice Vogt loves the Knockouts. I bought two last spring for $15 each and, yeah, I’m not having the best of luck with them. Love ‘em when they’re blooming; questioning my judgment when they’re not, which is most of the time in my ornery garden.) These are spent blooms, and thank you Susan for sending the pix anyway. When they’re in full bloom they are gorgeous.

And here’s a FREEBIE!! Bells! Whistles! Love those freebies!! I especially like this next one, and not just because it came from a cutting I gave Susan many months ago. She stuck it in water and two months later, it was still just a cutting. No roots, no nothing. I had read that blue sky vine takes awhile to root, so I told Susan, “Be patient. Give it time.” I’d never tried it. I didn’t know what I was talking about. So when she sent this picture today, I was thrilled.

As Susan points out, there is no cheaper way for the frugal gardener to find satiisfaction than buying seeds. They are so cheap, you can have dozens of plants for $1—OK, a little more if you buy potting soil and water them. But really, I can’t think of a better return on an investment. e k Here are Susan’s sprouting nasturtiums, which, if she has better luck than me, will give her both beautiful flowers and distinctive, tasty salads.

“The rain nudged my nasturtium seeds into popping up,” Susan says. “Does it get any cheaper than getting flowers from a little packet of seeds? I love it.” Super bargain shopper Eric (Mangoman in the comments) amazes me with his cheap skills. The kid can’t even drive and he’s at every darned garden center just in time for the best buys! He got this 18-pack of begonias for $2.50. He didn’t say where or how. You might want to ask.

And here’s more of Eric’s bounty. We seriously need to shop together! I can’t get these deals.

“I paid $30 dollars for everything in the pic, which includes 21 blackberry plants, 5 3gal muscadine grapes, 26 Blueberry and 1 tomato plant. It was a CRAZY deal and I just couldn’t say no. Also I got some picket fencinig sections for half off! :D :D,” Eric writes. (He has NO room for all this stuff. If you wanna buy some, he’s willing to sell so, like, consider this Dirt post a Craigslist kinda thing. Wheel and deal in the comments.) Eric’s bargain tip: “If you ever go to Lowes/HD, go earlier in the day when they are unloading the trucks. This is when the outdoor managers are there and they are the people that can make deals. They leave at about 2-230 though so get there early!” Eric (Mangoman), you totally rock. I, too, discovered a back-door deal. Lowe’s stuck a bunch of beautiful hanging baskets out front, but there was no sign saying they were on clearance. Turns out they were all $1. (A dollar!!) I learned this from another customer, who got it from the clerk. Lesson: When in doubt, ask. Here’s one of my $1 trailing petunia baskets.

Susan Gillespie doesn’t have a true “bargain” by definition, but she likes the petunias she got for $9.98 a flat. She also got two big hanging baskets of red pentas with white flowersr for $2 apiece at Lowe’s over the summer. Here’s her Christmas petunias flat.

Eric is looking for low, low prices on coffee plants. I’m looking for masses of pansies. Janice is looking for cockscomb (um, so am I.) If you find deals or great plants, we wanna know!

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