Done and Dusted

Well the garden club plant sale is done and dusted for another year. The day dawned dry and the wet stuff considerately held off. During the morning the sun made a much wanted appearance. On opening we were quite busy for the first hour but there was no repeat of the opening rugby scrum scenes of previous years.Try as I might it was a challenge to take photos indoors with sunshine streaming in and under artificial light, so have included just a couple of snippets of my stall. It is in the foreground in the second photo. We hold the sale at the local branch of The British Legion where our club meets. The Legion generously allows us to use a big room for the sale free of charge. This year we decided to 'grow', so we also ran a table top sale and invited a local project for young people with special needs to have a stall. The young people made the items they were selling which included bird boxes and garden ornaments.

True to form all the plants that I took in flower were snaffled up rapidly. These included astrantias, dicentra spectablis alba, polemonium caeruleum, polemonium 'Sonia's Bluebell and geranium phaeum 'Margaret Wison' and heuchera. I had some sturdy specimens of cerinthe major pururescens which were just on the point of opening and was pleased not to bring them all back home with me. Next year thought I must follow the lead of Pam at Hortensia and Maureen at Allotment Heaven who sowed their cerinthes much earlier. Geranium 'Orion' although not in flowers also proved popular. My happiest customers of the day were a couple who bought two insignificant looking teasels and were absolutely delighted with them.

What was not popular this year was tomatoes - no takers at all - I wonder why - normally they are snapped up.



As with all good plant sales I could not resist making some purchases from my fellow stallholders. Filling in some of the gaps in my plastic crates in the way home were geranium 'Brookside', a purple flowering osteospernum, hydrangea 'Annabelle', aconitum carmichaelii 'Arendsii',a horseradish and a pot of three Lilium 'Le Reve'.

Disappointment of the day - I had bribed himself my trusted assistant with the promise of a bacon butty, but the kitchen had run out of bacon by the time he went to order lunch. Somehow a grated cheese and onion sandwich is not the same - the cheese goes absolutely everywhere except into your mouth so why do people make grated cheese sandwiches ? One of life's perplexing mysteries.

The last hour of the sale was very quiet in terms of customers and once again we wondered about the timing of the event. We think that we have the timing right as far as the month is concerned. We hold the sale on a Saturday from 12.00pm - 2.00pm. Is two hours too long ? Is it a good time of day ? Would Sunday be a better day ? Your views would be most welcome. A glorious morning here so I am heading of to the allotment to find a home for my horseradish.