I said this year with the gardens was going to focused on growing from seed… but it’s hard to resist the siren song of the garden centre this time of year

I went just to get some soil. But then I saw the Dahlias…

Usually I find the dahlias at the garden centres tend to be a bit on the dull side. But not this year! These, combined with the ones I started myself, and I think it might end up being the year of the Dahlia.

And you know I can’t resist something new and unique…

Have you ever seen golden Hens and Chicks? Neither had I – so I HAD to have them.

I don’t feel any guilt at all about buying this Blueberry plant. One of mine didn’t make it through the winter, and they say you need two for a good crop, so this was a real need. Aren’t those flowers so pretty?

And I don’t feel even slightly bad for buying another rose. Long Time readers will recall that this was the first rose I had at the townhouse. It died before we moved, and I’ve been looking for another one since. It’s also the best smelling rose I’ve ever come across (though my Bolero is a close second). When I picked it up, Dave just rolled his eyes and said “Don’t plant it anywhere I have to walk”.

These didn’t come from the garden centre, but were ordered about a month ago. And it may look like I bought a couple pots of dirt, but their are dormant roots in there. They are Maypop, the hardiest type of passionflower native to North America. I’m just a the tippytop of the range they can grow in – but I’ve always loved passionflowers so I was thrilled when I discovered I could grow them outside here (when I bring the non-hardy ones in for the winter, they always died).

Like the blueberries, you need two to get fruit so I bought a pink and a white

They should start showing some green soon. They will grow up the side of the catio, like the Clematis. I’m so excited!

(And I’ve only hit three garden centres so far…so there’s probably much, much more to come!)