Last year Best Friend went to a plant auction in the Amish community north of here in Kentucky. We've been planning for a year to make it in '10. I'd made up a list of what I wanted for this summer's yard work so I would not get distracted.
Yesterday was the day!!
Despite the fact we had severe thunderstorms (and a nearby tornado!) there were a lot of people there.
There were Amish folks who came in many kinds of conveyances...
...and "English" with their autos to buy trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetable plants.
It was held in an open pavilion about the size of 2 gymnasiums. At either end there was a platform where plants were being sold. There were so many plants being sold so fast it was crazy.
Plants were on pallets that were wheeled up to the auction area. There would be a line of 4 or 5 pallets waiting for a turn. They were steadily brought up to the auction area by Amish boys. I was impressed at how responsible they were and how hard they worked with no attitudes.
There were so many beautiful plants being sold.
I'd look over what was in the line-up, then head to the other end of the building to check out what was there. I must have trotted 5 miles yesterday going from one to the other.
Some prices were crazy good and some were crazy bad (you could get it cheaper at Walmart or Lowes!). Since I've been pricing out what I wanted, I stopped bidding on a lot of things. All in all, I think I did pretty good.
And it was as much fun to "people watch" as it was to bid on plants.
Here's what I came back with:
Seven 5 gallon azalea bushes for $8.50 each.
Twelve 1 gallon forsythia bushes for .50c each!!
Two smoke trees for $8 each.
One patio peach tree for $15.
Two hanging petunia baskets for $5 each.
A BUNCH of herbs for about $2 each.
Ten upright mystery flowers for .75c each. I gave half to BF and she gave me half of her cascading mystery flowers. So now we can make several planters.
Plus 4 birdhouses for only $5 each.
So pretty soon I'll be doing some planting! (Gotta finish with that shed first!)
I've never heard of a plant auction. How interesting! Glad you got some good buys.
ReplyDeleteYou got some fabulous deals! I would love to have those azaleas.
ReplyDeleteOh this makes me want to go dig in the dirt too, but it's still a little bit too early here. I love smoke trees, what great prices you got on them! ~Lili
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions and examples, especially for a newbie like myself who lacks a natural sense of web design.
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