Erratic action

Mary and Linda and I saw the cars turning into The Vagary as we came down the road. The sale allegedly starts at 9 a.m., but it was 8:53 a.m. by Mary’s clock, and as we parked, we saw hungry gardeners already returning to their cars, loaded down with flats of seedlings.

Mary came armed with a list, and Linda also seemed to be on a mission of sorts, but I just wanted to see what might be out for sale. We separated at the entrance to the area where all the plants were set out on tables, categorized by price and affinity to sun or shade.

I wandered among the various plants, reading names I didn’t know, before I came to the table with the herbs. It turned out the prices had gone up since last summer, but the $.50 per plant rise to $1.75 didn’t strike me as too terrible. I grabbed a cardboard tray and picked up a single parsley seedling.

Now, as anyone who has shopped with me will tell you, I’m a sucker for buy x number of items, get them for x price. I’m very good at math, and I can tell perfectly well whether or not it’s a real deal, but I still fall for it every time. Of course, The Vagary folks had one of these deals going. Six plants for $9. I was hooked, and besides, I had Steve’s $20 bill burning a hole in my pocket.

First, I eyed their basil. It looked better than the basil I had already potted at home. Hey, at $1.50 per plant, under the sale price, it went in the tray.

Next, I noticed the chives. My Uncle Joe told me he grows chives in his garden, partially for eating purposes, but also because the flowers were pretty, and lo and behold, they were. Two chive plants with a blossom apiece went in the tray. Next to the regular chives were garlic chives, which may be the only plant I’ve successfully grown from seed. A wave of nostalgia swept them right into the tray.

Finally, around the corner, I spotted some alpine strawberry plants. The sign behind them claimed they were good border plants, and after all, I’d been in search of border plants. Let’s ignore the fact that I was looking for flowers to put on the border of the garden. I just thought about all the blog posts I’d recently read about people using strawberries from their gardens, including one from Christa of Calendula and Concrete, and I decided I needed one. That made six.

But who plants one strawberry plant? Why not two? And, with that, another alpine strawberry made its way into my tray.

I left with seven plants. Mary and Linda chuckled as we walked down the hill to Mary’s car.

When we got back to Mary’s house, Steve asked me where I planned to plant these newcomers.

I had no answers, and I owed him $10.75.