I know the purpose of this topic and forum is to find frugal ways of doing things. But sometimes frugal is more work and/or less than satisfactory. Several years ago, I bit the bullet and bought a Brother P-Touch labeler. They have several products and some are reasonably priced. But I went "whole hog" and bought the most expensive one which cost me $100 at the time. The current similar model is much cheaper now - around $50, I think. You might try eBay. I bought it to make labels for my perennials. Everything else I have tried which have been mentioned here have to be redone frequently and each time time you lose much of the original plant info. The beauty of this printer is that it hooks up to your computer! I make the labels on the computer, same the label to a file on my computer, then print them out. These labels stay perfect in any weather and sun Forever! If you lose the label, you can look up the label in the computer and print out another one anytime. So you never lose all the original info for your plant. I know this isn't a frugal idea but our time is valuable too and saving time is as important as saving money. I still use mini-blinds but when you break them or your chickens run off with them, its so easy and quick to print up another one. You can make the type size as large or small as you want which is great for me now that I am older and I can't read the old labels with the smaller type size so make another and enlarge the type. Its an investment just like all your other good garden tools and worth it in the long run. Its handy to make labels for everything and they even have iron-on labels. Think about it, Barbara

I always feel bad when I read how other folks have picked up great roses or have a great selection in their hardware stores - my Home Depot and Lowe's never seem to get much in the way of roses anymore. Did rescue an Abe Darby from the clearance rack at Lowe's a while ago (potted) and very happy with it. This year had better luck at Costco with their $20 2-rose boxes of Jackson and Perkins - which included pink double KO's if you are looking for disease-resistance. Good luck with your roses, I am a lazy sprayer myself, mostly because I don't like mixing the stuff, and I try to use organic products - my summers are always bad I'd have to spray every 3 days to really keep down the blackspot.

I had occasion to go to the same LoweÂs I stopped at late last week (the one I was so annoyed at because they had nothing on sale). When I was there before I had run out of time and hadnÂt had a chance to see if they had bulbs. So I went back today with some renovation returns. Hardly any bulbs, and nothing special at all: just tulip mixtures by color, etc. Less than a quarter of what the one I used to go to would have. Phooey. This time though they had reduced small tropical hibiscus to $1. Pots are about a gallon. When I was there last week they were $4 each and still had flowers. None were blooming now but most still had buds: very healthy looking too. So I bought 3. No idea what color they are, but hey, they were a $1. I tried to pick ones that I thought might be 3 different colors. Of course this makes 3 MORE hibiscus I will have to winter inside, in addition to the 4 I have already, but hey. You canÂt buy a houseplant of that size for a $1. They had a few perennials that I know werenÂt there last week since I had gone over everything very carefully then. Not really clearance priced yet, but not expensive, so I decided to get them anyway. A Red Dragon Fleeceflower, a Black Adder agastache, and a Crème Brulee coreopsis. I have wanted one of those for a long time, as people here have said itÂs a better coreopsis than Moonbeam, which I have not had much luck with thus far. The Black Adder looks like a much brighter blue than the agastache I have now which I think is Blue Fortune. Plus I used to like the TV show of the same name with Rowan Atkinson. So IÂm feeling a little less deprived; though not actually feeling lucky yet.

Well I've spent 2 hours on the net and as far as I can tell I have some type of variety of a veronicastrum virginicum what variety I do not know! The flowers are delicate and a light lilac in colour, any ideas? Oh well it is a pretty plant and it blends well in the garden. Have to keep looking for the verbascum. Better luck next time. Don't you just love surprises! LOL