I think the same thing happens to me when I go to Home Depot as does to you when you go to Lowes. Lowes must be the big box store best nursery there. Locally here it is Home Depot. I have bought so many shrubs, perennials and annuals there I lost track long ago.

Sounds to me like you had a great haul today :-))

We have both stores here. We shop there quite often.
Across the street from Lowe's where we shop is an Atwood's Farm and Garden Supply. I love going there too. What Lowe's doesn't have, Atwood's does. They often have many plants that the other stores don't carry. And talk about garden tools...theirs are sturdy, sharp and they will last. (and they have free bags of fresh made popcorn you can munch on while shopping).

Sounds like you had a blast, Kay. Oh, isn't it fun to spend money? And I just love Pentas. I think pinks, whites and purples are my main-est colors, with everything else poked in here and there. I don't really plan it. I just pick out what I like and plant it where I can find a space with the right soil type, lighting and moisture level for that plant and allow for sizes. That's about it, really. If I don't like it or the plants don't, then I dig them up and move them.

Lucky you to have been able to buy so much in one trip! :)

We have Lowe's and Home Depot,(big box stores), but no Atwood's.

I did have a blast and had a great haul. What was funny, I had marked my calendar with the extra days I was working this month, One week Wednesday, the next week Tuesday. I had down that I worked Wednesday, the 12th, when I was actually supposed to work Tuesday, the 11th. Here I sit, at work.

I did get the bee balm, the Speedwell, the lantana, the butterfly bush, and the verbena planted. I will plant the larkspur, the pente, petunias, and the herbs tomorrow.

A friend of mine, Beth, sent me a beautiful, huge pot of sedum today. I'm not sure where it will go, but I know it will be beautiful. The cottage/butterfly garden is coming along really well.

It's probably just as well I don't have an Atwood's Annie. I love tools! But I also love plants that aren't the same old thing everywhere you go. There is a new nursery that has opened up here, Andy's, that has some different plants. I love to go there. Of course, I love to buy plants anyway!
kay

I have some Speedwell. I love the dainty little blue flowers. The darned violets have just about crowded it out, so I have been pulling the violets and it is making a comeback.
I have a Magenta Bee balm and a lovely lilac Bee Balm (Bergamot), a wildflower that grows around here. It is so pretty that I dug some and planted it in my garden. I did have another color too. Voles got it I presume, as it suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason. (I need to borrow Glenda's terrier to get rid of my voles - ha ha!)

Many of the little nurseries here closed down. The ones that have popped up don't sell much that is different from what you can get at WalMart or Lowe's, and they charge three times as much, so forget it. There is one nursery down in Chandler owned and run by a lady. She grows all of her bedding plants, annuals and veggie plants too. Big selections of heirlooms. Like 6-packs of veggies or flowers for $1.37 and very healthy. She grows all her own Geraniums too. Just $1.50-$2 for a nice 4 & 6 inch pots of all colors & combination colors and various leafs types. Beautiful Geraniums! Never saw such a selection of Petunias, Dianthus, and things. I got three large pots of tall perennial Primroses for $1.50 each...ones she hadn't trimmed the spent blooms off of yet, so she knocked a dollar off each pot for me if I would take them off her hands. Still, at her regular price they were pretty inexpensive for gallon pots! She sometimes gives me cuttings of her "special" plants for a buck. Hey! My kind of nursery! If she doesn't have it, she will go get it for you. She makes a run every month to Dallas for plants that she hand selects. Her place is going down hill though. She is getting where she can't take care of it all by herself and can't afford to hire help anymore. Hope she can hang in there. I need her!

~Annie

Around here they used to have Franks which was a chain nursery. They had fantastic stuff. I just loved going there. But they went bankrupt and belly under some years ago. I still miss that chain.

The local nearest Lowes here has a terrible nursery department. I hardly ever stop there. Same for our local Wal-mart. But I used to go to a Wal-Mart further east which was across the street from the Franks. That one has a great nursery department. I just don't go much since Franks closed. I used to be able to go and hit both of them. Plus there was also the best bakery I have ever found just about next to the Franks. Used to come home with sort of wonderful cake each time I went out there LOL!