2006 CVG Plant Sale

I hope there aren’t too many people out there using me as an event guide. I was looking forward to this past weekend because both the Civic Garden Center and College Hill Gardeners were having their plant sales. I had the dates for the CVG sale right, but I missed the CHG sale by a day. (In my defense, the date was listed as Saturday, May 7th on a College Hill website. The sale was, in fact, on Saturday, May 6th.) I apologize to anyone else that missed the sale because of my faulty listing.

I only made one of the events, but I arrived early and well equipped. The Civic Garden Center annual plant sale started at 9 a.m. on Saturday. I was there at 8:40, towing Tim’s Radio Flyer wagon. I wasn’t the only early bird. The accompanying photo shows just how many people arrived before I did. By the time the gates were opened, there were at least 100 people in line behind me. I was afraid that I’d be caught up in a stampede of eager gardeners when 9 o’clock arrived, but everyone moved along in a pleasant and orderly fashion. One woman even offered to help me carry my wagon up the steps.

I headed straight to the donations booth. The plants aren’t always looking their perkiest, but this is the spot to find large, inexpensive, and sometimes rare plants that are sure to grow here (because they were growing in someone else’s garden just days before.) I picked up a hosta (I like the dark green varieties, and that is getting harder to find!), two spotted pulmonaria, and a large mayapple division.

I paused at the native and shade tables, but the plants were a bit over my price range. (I’m dying to try bergenia, but not at $10 a pop.) I picked up three candytuft and eyeballed the peonies and roses as I headed to my second favorite section of the plant sale: the herbs. I don’t buy many herbs but I like to look at and smell them. I did need more elfin thyme for a new pathway section and I remembered that particular variety being available last year. The elfin thyme was back, and I bought six.

The highlight of the morning occurred as I trundled up the hill towards the exit. A woman commented on the cleverness of bringing a wagon and I told her that I had learned my lesson from last year (lugging plants around in a cardboard box). She turned to go, then looked back at me and said “Cincinnati Cape Cod?” I was thrilled, and oddly embarrassed, to be recognized by none other than Amy, the reader from Western Hills who turned me on to Building Value.

I’m not going to pretend to be nonchalant about meeting one of my readers. I had in fact, actually applied mascara and lipstick and PAINTED MY DIRTY TOENAILS, on Saturday morning in case I should happen to run into one of my internet gardening buddies. I doubt Amy noticed my nails, but I felt the effort to look presentable paid off, all the same.

They say money can’t buy happiness, but money can buy plants and they bring me great joy. I floated home in a bubble of excitement over my new acquisitions and acquaintance. I was disappointed to miss the second plant sale, but I think one event a weekend is all the thrill I can stand.