I love growing my own plants, so I will knock on doors and ask people for seeds and cuttings. I've made some great garden friends in the process, one elderly lady who nearly landscaped my whole yard because I offered to help her clear out overgrown yard for the plants. She had some seriously gorgeous large bromeliads that sold for $50 each at the one place you could buy them in the area. I must have gotten $1,000 worth or bromeliads and other plants from her for 8 hours of work. We remained friends and I got even more plants from her in years to come. I also trade plants and seeds with people online and off, and dig up, get seeds from, or take cuttings from beautiful blooming natives from the side of the road. I have no pride when it comes to my garden. LOL Of course, I buy half-dead perennials from Lowe's and WalMart markdown racks and bring them back to live. I also live in an apartment complex and have gotten some plants people left behind or gave to me when they moved. I also used to belong to a community garden and got quite a few free plants and seeds from there. I was just figuring how much I've spent over the past 3 years since I"ve lived in this apartment on plants, and it came out to less than $50 and most of that was fertilizer and potting soil. Speaking of potting soil, Lowe's will sometimes mark down broken bags, because they can't sell them for full price. I got 5 bags of nice, organic soil for 50% off by offering to take the broken bags off their hands for a discount. Same for plants with broken pots. I got a beautiful peach tree once for 1/2 price because the pot had split down the side and wouldn't hold water, so it was drying out and dying. But the best and most treasured seeds and plants I get are from GWers. I have such good friends here who regularly send me plants and seeds for no reason at all except they know I love growing from seed and don't have much of a budget. I always pass the favor forward or send them something I know they are looking for.

Feed stores are the best place price wise. I've paid $45 dollars for 50lbs and applied it to the entire property. Once a year is optimal. Of course, I only did it once but I spray several times a year. I probably will try kelp meal before summer kicks in to see if they made any differences. Dchall- what did you mean by not using 45lbs of it in your lifetime? The recommended rate was 10lbs per 1000 sqft, at least I think???

The strict definition of antique is something 100 years old or older. I know that the term has been changed through use to encompass anything with age but "vintage" would be the correct term for it. Also, with rugs/ carpets, there are many truly antique ones for sale and that implies certains dyes and knotting techniques and patterns--- some no longer used. It could certainly be from the 1920's. Aubusson rugs did/do not have the pile yours shows in the picture, and a close up shows that the pile is not very dense, which means it won't wear well and was not of really good quality to begin with. It's very striking and I see the appeal :-) However, I think they are asking that much for the rug based on both the size and unusual nature of the color combination, not the quality or provenance.

Hi Lori. I don't know the name of the company but I bought some at A.C. Moore. It has lace at the top and at the bottom. I'm not sure if they had any other styles or not. If you want and can't find it anywhere else, let me know and I'd be willing to get you some. Let me know. Tammy